Automotive consumer protection laws?

[akcrogers]

Anyone know much about laws related to consumer protection, especially those related to the automotive industry?

Heres the deal:

Some of you might remember my sister's truck that I posted up here a while back. Giant blue 94 dodge. Anyways, she brought it in to a local shop to get the steering box replaced (under warranty from previous owner). While it was in, they discovered the driver side wheel bearing was shot. She told them to replace it. Next they find the ball joints were bad. Okay, so she calls the previous owner because she is looking at around $1000 in work now, and just wanted to see if he knew about any of it.

He was totally surprised because he had just had the driver side wheel bearing replaced on 6/14/03 at Midas, and has the receipt. So we go back to Arctic Tire, the place that is doing the current work on it, and guess what! They threw away the bad wheel bearing... and the trash truck just came.

So, now we are kinda f'kd, Midas won't even touch the whole deal because we didn't bring it to them, plus they are saying their warranty is non-transferable even though it isn't stated ANYWHERE on the warranty printed on the receipt. They might be willing to look into it if we had the bad wheel bearing, but w/o out it, we are sol. Arctic Tire is just like, we replaced it. Can't do anything about it now. The Midas receipt also shows that the baljoints were bad, and weren't replaced, so I don't think Arctic Tire is trying to cheat us on that, and I've only ever heard good things about them. However, its just screwy that they threw the bearing away, and makes me really wonder.

Any ideas? (other than molotov ****tails). I don't even know where to look into the laws regarding this kinda stuff, so even the slightest idea would be good.

Thx

 

[mrboyle]

It is not uncommon to throw away the old parts once removed from a vehicle, unless the owner of the vehicle requests the old part prior to the work being done. If we kept the old parts off everyone's vehicle there would be no room to work in the shop.
Also, one of the things you will need to learn with a modified vehicle is that parts are going to wear 2-3 times faster than the same parts on a stock vehicle. If you wan't to play you gatta pay.

 

[ok89]

Did you tell them to go ahead and replace it or did theythrow it out before you told them to go ahead and replace it. I would think the only case you would have is if they threw it out and you never told them before hand to replace that specific part.

 

[jimbo74]

yup, what he said... i work at wheel works and we go through a ton of parts... customers dont get them back unless they request it before we start working....... if they dont request it, it gets filed in the circular file cabinet....... when that file cabinet is full, i take it outside to the file archives.... the file archives get hualed away by a big truck once a week......

on friday i had a lot of work done to my truck..... i wanted the old parts, but forgot to ask them... i knew i wasnt going to get them back, although if i really wanted them they prob could have fished them out.... my truck runs a lot better now, and passes smog, so i really dont care...... i think they also replaced a carb linkage spring, b/c it is a lot tighter and the gas is harder to push than before.. i checked the cable and no play in it... the spring is a lot cleaner than everything else on the carb too

 

[jimbo74]

if this place is really screwing you over, call the state BAR or consumer affairs and see if there is other people with similar problems... it may incite them to file an investigation about the company's possible shady practices...

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by jimabena74
if this place is really screwing you over, call the state BAR or consumer affairs

What is a "state BAR"?

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by jimabena74
on friday i had a lot of work done to my truck

You claim to be a mechanic, why then would you have someone else work on your truck?

 

[akcrogers]

The truck was originally in to have the steering box replaced. On Thursday I went in and they said the wheel bearing needed to be replaced, and I specifically said that I wanted to see it when they pulled it out. Under Alaska law they are not allowed to throw out parts if the customer requests it, so the law is definitely on our side. Plus, they replaced the passenger side ball joints w/o asking, which breaks another piece of consumer protection law.

I'm going to go in on Monday and ask for them to discount parts and labor as a compromise, but otherwise will probably take it to small-claims as they have broken several laws, and the judges often side with the consumer in automotive claims.

 

[ok89]

Yep, if what you say is true then you have a very good case I would think.