Crooked – Slimy – Underhanded – All of these describe Mechanics! I personally have never had an issue with any of the mechanics that worked on my cars - I usually go to the dealership to get the work done though and they are very up front about the cost because they want you to return and buy more cars from them. Mechanics that work out of gas stations though are exactly what the stereotype says about them. At least the ones at the Shell on Klahanie Blvd.
Refresh your memory a bit – when L had her car stolen she purchased a cheap car off of Craigslist. This car worked fine for a couple weeks but then started making a grinding noise. She brought it to the guys at the Shell Station to have them look at it and let her know what was wrong and what needed to be done. She chose them because they were within walking distance of the daycare she was working at. L says they called her and told her what needed to be fixed and told her it would be around $675. They also told her she couldn’t drive the car because it was too dangerous. She told them that yes she wanted it fixed but she needed to talk to me first because she couldn’t afford it. She called them back and said that we wanted it fixed and she was told they couldn’t do it until Thursday and she said fine and scheduled it for Thursday. Wednesday L got the call that her other car had been found! She called the Shell Station and spoke with Brad the manager and told him to cancel her appointment – she didn’t need the work done because her other car was found. Brad said OK.
Jump ahead to yesterday – L got a call from Brad telling her she needed to come and get her car and settle the bill for $680!! They had gone ahead and done the work! L never signed a quote – never signed anything saying to do the work. We went to talk to them last night. Of course – Brad the Manager had already left for the day and was going on vacation – be back sometime next week. Dave – the guy who did the work on L’s car came out to talk to us. L told them she never said to do the work and that she had cancelled the appointment – Dave said they had started the work the day she brought the car in! She said she was told the work wouldn’t be done until the Thursday and he said – No, as soon as she said she wanted the work done they started it. I asked if she had signed anything and he said that in the State of Washington he doesn’t need a signature and that a verbal OK is binding. He wouldn’t give on the part that L was under the impression they weren’t doing the work until her appointment. Basically being an Ass and acting like – not his fault the naive 19 year old didn’t understand that the work was being started. We asked – why didn’t Brad say something then when L called and cancelled the appointment – He never said that the work was already started – and they never called to tell her that the work was complete and what the final bill was. She never got a dollar amount until they called yesterday threatening to take her to collections. I figure they saw her coming – naive 19 year old girl.
I will never go to the Klahanie Shell Station again - I will fill up with gas elsewhere - Dave the Mechanic is an Ass – I urge any of my readers that live in the area to boycott them as well.
Bottom line – we are waiting until Brad the Manager gets back next week. Any suggestions on how we should handle this?
De
1 comment:
Keep in mind - you catch more flies w/ honey than vinegar. How you handle the situation depends on what you want out of it. If you're absolutely unwilling to pay a dime and don't care about getting the car back, it appears Dave and Brad have a newly fixed up car on their hands (probably not your best option). If, however, you're willing to meet them halfway you might talk yourself into drastically reducing your bill and retaining the car, which you can now turn around and sell. Maybe you could even try full and open disclosure, wherein you tell them that L's other car was found, so all you're going to do is turn around and sell this car. Having fixed it up for selling, tell them you'll split the profit on the car up to a certain amount. You just never know what they'll go for until you ask. I'm very interested to see how this plays out.
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