Shop Ripoff Story Time

"Almost A Wooden Bird" (AlmostAWoodenBird) 03/05/2015 at 14:32 • Filed to: None

7

28

Well hello! Between the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the past few days and Tavarish's !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I remembered a recent story I wanted to share. Now, I'm generally my own mechanic. Not to boast, but I'm on of the best I know (I have no friends), so when a problem comes up I'm quick to fix it. However, one thing I can't fix on my own is a tire alignment.

I drive a Chrysler Crossfire - they're finicky, but I finally had found a shop that treated me nicely and did a good, simple tire alignment with no "you have to install some blinker fluid." Now, my car developed a pull over the winter that was reminiscent of a NASCAR car blowing a tire, except it happened constantly. So I go to this shop and tell them what's up, and they say no problem.

There were about 3 cars in this 5 bay place, so comically I waited 4 hours for them to put my car on a lift for 5 minutes to come back and tell me that my tires were bald, the wheel bearings broken, my 'steering shaft' about to explode, and basically that it was insanely dangerous to drive. So he starts drawing up the bill: "Oh yeah it'll be about $200 per side for those bearings and I can get some tires for about $200 each and that steering shaft MAN I DON'T EVEN KNOW."

But when I pressed him for more information, or to show me any of that, he started stuttering and making hand gestures to explain what a steering shaft looks like. THEN HE TELLS ME, hey bud, I'll open a line of credit for you and you can pay for all of this later. To which I promptly replied "give the keys back." To which he grinningly said "Drive safe!"

Anyway, I took it to another shop, turns out the brand new tires I bought for one side were so new they were throwing the other side off due to a tread difference, so I bought two new tires for the other side (dumb in retrospect) and literally every problem went away. The tip off should have been how many irate customers I saw while waiting - but I guess the tl;dr is: Get second opinions if you don't trust a mechanic's prescription, and find a good, trustworthy shop.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 14:39

4

I said earlier that I can't even find a shop that will do an alignment correctly. I guess that I'm not the only one.

thebigbossyboss > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 14:45

1

Aligning my car was a saga. It's not really any of the shops fault though lol.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/my-car-is-fina…

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > thebigbossyboss 03/05/2015 at 14:47

0

Wow. All that for a cavalier?

thebigbossyboss > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 14:54

1

Yes. What was I supposed to do? Keep driving on a broken suspension?! Plus some aspects like going to Ogdensburg and doing the fronts were kind of fun.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > thebigbossyboss 03/05/2015 at 15:00

0

I don't know. I just remember having one and absolutely hating it.

thebigbossyboss > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 15:04

1

I like mine although last year a lot of crap went wrong at once. But slowly but surely, I fixed it little by little. :)

E92M3 > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 15:12

1

Regular alignments are the biggest scam in the automotive maintenence industry. Unless you've bent something (which needs to be replaced), already replaced a suspension part, or lowered your car you don't need one.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > E92M3 03/05/2015 at 15:17

0

You don't need them as often as they say, but they aren't a scam. They just need to be done as needed. It also seems like newer cars need it less often. I checked my BRZ a couple of times and it was always dead-on, whereas my MR2 definitely gets out over time.

CalzoneGolem > E92M3 03/05/2015 at 15:18

0

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > thebigbossyboss 03/05/2015 at 15:23

0

It will keep running, that's for sure. I never saw a problem with the car until it was rear-ended by someone. It just bored the piss out of me and was mediocre in pretty much every measure apart from reliability. Say what you will about the GM 2.2 engine, the things keeps going.

Gonemad > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 15:24

1

Anyway, I took it to another shop, turns out the brand new tires I bought for one side were so new they were throwing the other side off due to a tread difference,

You can't replace each side separately. Either you change the rear tires or the front ones, never just the left or right, exactly because of that. And no matter which one is worn out, you will always put the newer tires on the back. An understeer is easy to correct, but losing the rear to lack of traction is not. No matter if you have RWD or FWD either, or even if you have a working differential or not.

Trains get their steel wheels worn out as well, and they need to be reshaped every now and then. Each axle is done at the same time, or the whole thing derails.

thebigbossyboss > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 15:25

0

It is boring. I am getting bored of it. But in my opinion that's not the cars fault.

BJ > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 15:25

7

The real lesson here is that tires are always replaced in pairs, either the fronts or the rears, or as a set of 4, but NEVER EVER replace both tires on one side.

thebigbossyboss > E92M3 03/05/2015 at 15:25

0

I needed one. New struts. Old struts broken.

vicali > BJ 03/05/2015 at 15:29

2

Mechanic probably saw that and

Pixel > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 15:33

3

I remember a story(but not from where) of a guy who'd completely rebuilt the front steering/suspension in his early-70s camaro. All new ball joints, bushings, control arm shafts, tie rods, pitman arm, etc. The works.

Brought it to a local shop to get it aligned and the mechanic came out and told him they couldn't align it because his tie rods were bad. He said they'd literally just been changed, but the guy stuck to his claim. Got the manager involved and the manager backed up his mechanic. Even when they were all standing under the car and he was pointing to the stickers still on the visibly brand-new parts the shop employees continued to insist they were worn out and needed replacing.

Brought his car to another shop, and they had no trouble aligning it.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 15:39

1

I haven't had any true horror stories personally. Some things I experienced:

1. Took my mom's car to Active Green & Ross to get leaking heater core replaced. They overbilled by 3 hours and tried to charge me for a new heater core AND a 'recored' heater core. Had to argue with them for almost an hour. Got the labour reduced and the "recore" removed off the bill after I threatened to show their BS invoice to the Ontario College of Trades... who have the power to revoke things like mechanic licenses...
http://www.collegeoftrades.ca/complaints-and…

2. Took my mom's car to get the brakes serviced at the local Ford dealer... which was fine. But the idiot mechanic used an airgun to tighten the wheel lug nuts. I discovered that when I attempted to rotate the tires. Drove back to the dealer and told the service manager that I shouldn't have to explain to them when and how to use a torque wrench... as well as getting them to remove and retorque all the lug nuts properly. Not a ripoff per se, but if I got a flat tire, it would have meant having to tow the car instead of being able to change the tire.

3. Took my Ford Festiva in for service due to to the check engine light being on and it sputtering a lot. I was guessing it was an 02 sensor or an air intake sensor. They did a BS "diagnostic", replaced the 02 sensor and told me the car was "ready". I asked them if the problem was fixed. The answer was no. I asked "Well why the hell would I want my 02 sensor replaced if that's NOT what is causing the problem???". So after doing some real diagnosis, they figured out the car was throwing two codes in sequence (which they would have seen if they did a proper diagnosis) and found the air intake sensor (the real culprit) was throwing off the 02 sensor. They tried to overcharge me for a new part. I found a local replacement at half of what they were asking.

4. I bought a Saab and took it to the same mechanic I used with previous cars. The problem was he wasn't a Saab specialist, didn't have the Saab WIS and thus, couldn't properly diagnose problems. I wasted some money on some repairs that were unnecessary in hindsight. It wasn't sheer incompetence... it was more a lack of familiarity combined with not having the necessary equipment and not wanting to turn away business that (ethically speaking) he should have turned away.

Note that the first three was when was young/inexperienced when it came to car ownership. And #4 was a learning experience that if you have an unusual car, it's a good idea to go to a specialist.

But from these dealers, I learned many dealers and chains make lots of money charging for basically spending 5 minutes reading a code (which any idiot can do for little or no money), charging you for an hour of labour and calling it a "diagnostic".

These days I would never take a car to the dealer or a crappy chain like Green & Ross or Mr. Lube for repairs or maintenance.

The worst story I heard from others was my mom's boyfriend. He had a Jetta TDI and it was due for a timing belt change. So he took it to the local dealer to get it done.

They did it wrong.

When the idiot mechanic changed the belt, he set the timing as if it was the gas engine. He probably fucked up other aspects of the job as well.

Within 10,000Km the new belt snapped and the engine was destroyed.

On the bright side, he was able to make the dealer put in a new engine at their expense.

Almost A Wooden Bird > BJ 03/05/2015 at 15:42

1

100%

Almost A Wooden Bird > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 03/05/2015 at 15:45

0

These would make anyone leery of visiting a shop! Everyone should be a mechanic on the side, geez

Almost A Wooden Bird > Pixel 03/05/2015 at 15:45

0

It's like tire alignments are some magical thing no lay-person understands!

Almost A Wooden Bird > thebigbossyboss 03/05/2015 at 15:47

0

Holy crap! Did you need new tires after all of that?!

thebigbossyboss > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 15:51

1

I suffered on them through the rest of the season (I am in eastern canada) so when spring comes (should be sometime next month) then yes I will.

Almost A Wooden Bird > thebigbossyboss 03/05/2015 at 16:25

1

Believe it or not I may have had more luck snow driving with one lower-tread tire as it put all the power to one side, haha. But I'm pretty OK with having decent tread with this winter!

E92M3 > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/05/2015 at 17:24

0

It would only be out if the bushings, tie rod ends, or ball joints were considerably worn. That or your control arms, or steering arms were bent. In all those cases those items would need to be replaced prior to an alignment. It frustrates me that people are sold alignments every other time they get their "free" tire rotation.

justAnother G6 > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/05/2015 at 17:36

1

I college I had a '84 Mercury Cougar (rebaged Thunderchicken) that I took in to have the brakes done. (I would have done them myself for much cheaper, but my GF was on my case and didn't / doesn't always trust my mechanical ability with her life) So they tell me that the calipers are freezing up and have gouged the front rotors. Basic pads, rotors & calipers with a brake bleed. Shouldn't be that tough.

I pick up the car, a bit steamed it cost me $500 especially once I find out the local parts store had the same items for a fraction of the cost. I pick up my GF at work since we were driving 3 hrs. to visit her parents. When I go to back out of the spot in the parking lot the car won't budge. Even at WOT, all I got was a bunch of noise. I kill the engine and start poking around, not sure exactly what was wrong. I find a pair of vice grips clamped to the rubber brake line going to the rear drums. Absolutely livid I call the place. I tell them what I found, how I found it and that I was quite displeased. You know what they told me?

"Oh yeah, we've been looking for those. Could you bring them back?"

That is how I got a $500 dollar pair of vice grips.

Almost A Wooden Bird > justAnother G6 03/06/2015 at 10:45

1

!!!!!! Now that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Hope they were nice vice grips, at least

Almost A Wooden Bird > Gonemad 03/06/2015 at 10:47

0

Yeah, total oversight on my part - definitely a live and learn moment - but I hadn't realized how old the non-replaced side's tires were. In my memory I had just bought them! But in my memory I just graduated college too, and that was a bit ago as well, haha.

justAnother G6 > Almost A Wooden Bird 03/06/2015 at 11:30

0

Apparently that is a fairly common approach when bleeding just the front brakes. Not that that made me any more content.

Pretty sure the Statute of Limitations is up on that one considering it was almost 15 yrs. ago.