jerky mechanic, what to do?

[smurfxlt]

so heres the story, my timing cover went and my mechanic told me to bring it in on the 7th (today), then i went there to talk to him about something and he said actually bring it in as soon as you can, because hes going on vacation this thursday. so i left work early to put it back together and bring it in like 4 days ago, and it hasnt moved since! i went there today to ask when to expect it back and before i could even finish my sentence he says "its not gonna happen this week" which means i have to wait till after he gets back from vacation at the earliest. if you ask me thats complete bull****! my parents have been dealing with this guy for 20 years and i hes the only person ive let touch my truck besides me so far, AND im friends with his son. right after this i went to my friends mechanic to see how much he wanted to do it and he said he doesnt want to do it. i need my truck and i dont know what to do. someone give me some opinions please

 

[joker1457]

so heres the story, my timing cover went and my mechanic told me to bring it in on the 7th (today), then i went there to talk to him about something and he said actually bring it in as soon as you can, because hes going on vacation this thursday. so i left work early to put it back together and bring it in like 4 days ago, and it hasnt moved since! i went there today to ask when to expect it back and before i could even finish my sentence he says "its not gonna happen this week" which means i have to wait till after he gets back from vacation at the earliest. if you ask me thats complete bull****! my parents have been dealing with this guy for 20 years and i hes the only person ive let touch my truck besides me so far, AND im friends with his son. right after this i went to my friends mechanic to see how much he wanted to do it and he said he doesnt want to do it. i need my truck and i dont know what to do. someone give me some opinions please

Damn man sounds like the same issue Im having only I have to take mine back to the mechanic because he messed stuff up in my timing. This guy swears theres nothing wrong. Get any good advice let me know.

 

[33exploder]

you seem to trust this man's mechanical ability with suv but he's not too good with scheduleing.
You have two options:

1. you can act like a jerk your self, rush the job and wreck a friendship.

2. give he some time to do the job right, you had a heads up and still left it there.

 

[alexk]

well if you really need it just take it to ford, tell the guy your sorry but you cant wait for him.

 

[smurfxlt]

you seem to trust this man's mechanical ability with suv but he's not too good with scheduleing.
You have two options:

1. you can act like a jerk your self, rush the job and wreck a friendship.

2. give he some time to do the job right, you had a heads up and still left it there.

i cant rush the job because hes going on vacation, hes not going to be here to do it. and i didnt have a heads up, he told me to bring it in so he could get it done BEFORE he went on vacation, and now hes saying hes not even going to start before then.

 

[smurfxlt]

i would take it to ford but A) they would probably want an arm and a leg to do it and B) this guy is right around the corner from my house so i could drive it there without towing it. i wouldnt risk driving it more than a block or two, the leak is that bad

 

[eXcali]

sounds like your stuck between a rock and a hard place... I would talk to the guy and let him know your concerns. It's unlikely, but possible that he forgot he had you bring it in early to get it done before he goes on VAC.

 

[smurfxlt]

no he remembers, he said hes gonna try to get it to me before he goes but i know hes not. honestly im just pissed he jerked me like this, i mean ive givin him a good amount of business already, my parents have been dealing with him for a long time. i just cant believe i have to wait another week or two to have my truck back

 

[smurfxlt]

you guys wouldnt believe what happened now. im going to take my truck away from this douchebag at 7

 

[Joe Dirt]

Well? I'm sitting here with a bowl of popcorn!

 

[Lacky01]

quite the cliffhanger!

I'm on the edge of my seat

 

[ld50]

douchebag?
Sounds exciting. What time is it?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

dang

 

[smurfxlt]

so i go to my mechanic to see why the ###% my truck still hasnt moved (maybe he didnt hear me the first 10 times i told him i needed it for work). theres a sign on the door that says on vacation from the 12th to the 20th, but he told me the 7th! at this point im really mad, i call his son to come open the shop so i can get my keys, no answer, i call the number on the tow truck and he says he cant let me in till 7. so i call him at 7 get my keys and bring the truck home, then i notice theres a big ass scratch by my tail light that deff was not there when i brought him the truck. then i had my boss from the body shop find me a real mechanic and he told me if it was infact the timing cover gasket like my mechanic told me, it would be leaking oil, not coolant. this was the last time this guy will see my business as it was the 3rd time hes screwed up. i guess this is what loyal business for 20 years gets you.

 

[Spdrcer34]

Not to take sides or anything...but depending on WHERE the leak is on the timing cover, it could be oil OR water. And water is the more likely suspect. Your Water Pump mounts to your timing cover.

Ryan

 

[smurfxlt]

just got back from talking to a real mechanic and he said the water pump i put in a few months ago was defective and the leak is coming from there, he wants 180 instead of the 500 my other "mechanic" wanted and he didnt even charge me for a diagnosis because he knows my boss. AND hes gonna have it done by tomorrow or the next day instead of atleast a week and a half from now like the other guy.

 

[smurfxlt]

Not to take sides or anything...but depending on WHERE the leak is on the timing cover, it could be oil OR water. And water is the more likely suspect. Your Water Pump mounts to your timing cover

yea but the thing is, its not even leaking from the timing cover gasket at all, its my water pump again. im never letting that other guy touch my car again lol

 

[eXcali]

If it was damaged at the other shop I would seek recourse. Did you take pictures of the damage and possibly pictures before hand? The shop will have insurance for matters like this and if he claims he doesn't I would turn him in as it's required in all states that I know of.

 

[ld50]

If it was damaged at the other shop I would seek recourse. Did you take pictures of the damage and possibly pictures before hand? The shop will have insurance for matters like this and if he claims he doesn't I would turn him in as it's required in all states that I know of.

I'd just cut my losses man, it`s your word against his and discussing it just gets everyone angry.
I took my old mustang in for a rear main seal replacement and it took forever, then they said my tranny was screwed up since I was probably too hard on it . They sent it to a tranny shop (the guy's cousin or something) and they said my sincros were all worn out. I went and picked up the tranny to look at it or get a second opinion and after arguing with the guy there, who didn't think I knew anything, and he knew everything about trannies, I left with it after essentially telling that guy to go screw himself.
I quickly realized that when pulling it out the shop had taken the shifter off and lost or forgot to put a 1 inch spacer back in when they re-assembled it. Basically the bottom of the shifter would then bind inside the housing so you couldn't shift it! I went back to the shop and raised hell, and they then re-assembled it for me (they actually found the spacer!). Two days later the leak was back AND I had noticed there was a big dent on the bottom of my passenger's side door, looked like they let it down on something with the door open. I drove in and let it run in front of his garage door there leaking like crazy, while I discussed with the owner how much of a piece of **** he was and how I would be telling anyone and everyone how I was treated there. I even told one of the mechanics that came to the owner's defense to f*** off and added that he was probably the idiot who lost the spacer for my tranny, so his word didn't mean **** to me, go sweep the shop ass-wipe, it`s probably the only thing you can do properly in here. Like Mr. head of oil filters is telling me about how nothing was their fault -jeez louise, how many naive people they screwed over I can only imagine! By then having them touch my car was out of the question anyway.
I felt like burning that shop to the ground. The irony is I could have done the job myself, I just didn't feel like doing it at the time. Anyway a year later the shop was gone, and I hope the owner really suffered over it, if there is such a thing as Karma, he lost his shirt.

I do all I can to avoid using a shop now, but I did find a great guy in town I can really trust for jobs that are out of my range of expertise.

phew, got me all riled up there, boy I was mad at those guys, gets me worked up thinking about it.

 

[eXcali]

It doesn't hurt to contact their insurer and file a complaint. The tricky thing is you will have to find out who they are insured thru, which if they have a business license you can track it thru your local licensing authority. I have run establishments where someone has filed a claim with our insurance company and the burden to prove it is not your fault was on us each time. My dad had a shop and he would do a walk around of the vehicle with the owner and write down any damage much like a rental car company does.