Auto Repair

-

I have been going to the same auto repair shop for a long time - like 30 years.  Only when we owned a Toyota, Honda, Acura or Lexus.  The last couple times, I have not been thrilled with the quality of work, the way I've been treated and the cost of services.  The owner is still great, but his staff sucks.  There's this guy named Ralph who is the customer facing service writer.  He's fat and he has tattoos all over his hands like Jesse James.  Every time I would bring a vehicle to him he would tell me something was soon needing replacement like a ball joint, a tie rod end or some rubber bushing.  I wouldn't have the work done because the suspension is tight and turns track properly.  At any rate, the next time I would come in for an oil change or something, he wouldn't tell me the same part was failing.  He'd find something else.  I'd be like WTH - if this part was failing last time why isn't it failing this time?

There were times when I'd get done talking to Ralph and the owner (Ian) would follow me out the door and tell me your car is fine and is in good shape.  Like WTH?  Your stupid service advisor just told me all this shit is wrong with my car and you're telling me it's fine?  Go fuck yourself.

Anyway two weeks ago I brought my car in for an oil change.  They told me the valve cover gaskets were failing and quoted $795.00 to have the valve cover gaskets and spark plug tube seals replaced on the car.  I knew the work needed to be done because at times you can smell oil burning off the exhaust manifold dripped from the valve covers.  I thought the price was too high...

When I had my corvette I started going to a small independent shop that was always super busy.  Usually a one to two week lead time to get work done.  They did excellent work on my corvette but don't like the lead time for the appointments.  I made an appointment for today and dropped my car off yesterday.  Charley called me this morning and informed me the price for the same work plus a cabin air filter.  The cost came up to $665.00.  That's 130 dollars less and I'm getting additional work done.  

I think this scenario goes back to having the right people on your team.  Ian has always been a straight shooter.  But what does he have this ass clown Ralph working for him?  Is Ralph screwing all their customers?? Is Ian in on it too?  But comes out to do damage control because I've known him over half my life?  Whatever the case may be - I won't be back to his shop.  I'll continue going to Charley's shop and deal with the wait time.  At least I won't be getting a screw job in the bung hole.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I shoulda been a mechanic

-
I often say I should have been a mechanic or a carpenter.  Probably mechanic.  Our front door lock mechanism has been acting up.  It has a typical entry from the front where you push down with your thumb to turn the cylinder to open the door.  The back of the door door knob fell off because it had gotten loose and stripped out the holes.  Turns it out it was much more than that - I had to figure out how to get the entire front pull door handle off to fix it because the latch mechanism fell apart.  I learned this after replacing the door knob and it was still not working properly.  I figured out how to get the pull door handle off and it hit the ground and fell apart into like a dozen different pieces.  I had never seen the mechanism together....  with some trial and error I figured out how it works and was able to time the mechanism and put it back together.  I rebuilt it!!  All the plates, gears, levers, pins, springs and gears. ...
Read more

My Mom Died

-
On Monday my mom proclaimed the promise of her baptism. After years of suffering from dementia, she was restored; made whole on the other side. One thing you may not know about my mom is she was tough as nails while having the grace of an angel. She carried my dad through some medical scares and was a huge advocate to him getting the care he needed with her medical background as a registered nurse. Roughly 10 years ago I was charged with taking mom back to Pennsylvania to see her dad, my pappy when he moved into a nursing home. We went to his house and there had been some changes to the back porch. It was my job to take care of mom. I saw my uncle and leapt up onto the raised porch. There used to be a railing around the porch. Mom tried to do the same and tripped on the ledge letting out a yell. Her leg got pretty torn up and was bleeding pretty bad. We got her into the house and decided she needed to go to the hospital. Mom never flinched or complained about the situati...
Read more

I've seen things

-
The last couple days of my mom's life...  don't quite know what to say about them.  I remember last Sunday when I came to her house and saw her slumped in the chair barely able to move after the medication fell out of her mouth and onto her shirt.  No one was available to change her shirt.  I asked my Dad if he would do it and he declined.  I did it.  It was the most awkward thing.  I had her told the clean shirt up to cover herself as I carefully removed the dirty shirt.  I planted by eyes next to her head looking at the back to her chair and was able to help my Mom be comfortable while preserving her dignity.  There are some things about your parents that you shouldn't know.  Like what an 80 year old body looks like while deprived of nutrients and exercise....  So there was that. Then seeing my Mom in the hospital bed after she could no longer walk.  Laying there with her head cocked to the side and her mouth open as dying pr...
Read more