PI$$ED off IN AZ

[Kzof]

Sounds like a story near my neck of the woods, ( cant verify) I heard a guy took his Ferrari into a local shop because he had a check engine light on. They pulled it into a bay reset the light with no other work and then handed him a bill for I think I heard 150 bucks. Sounds like a good way to make customers happy and retain their biz. I stopped in thisshop once and was met with the worst attitude I have ever met.

[double ugly]

Like stepping over a quarter to pick up a nickle.
John

[Jerry Clayton]

Now granted they do great work and the car runs better than ever----


Haven't you also had this distributor/carb deal at two or three other places back in november/december?

[double ugly]

The shop being discussed re-curved the distributor in December. I had the carb adjusted at another shop in Dec. but they didn't have the parts to fix the base plate which is why it went to the shop in discussion.
John

[Jerry Clayton]

Does it run good now?

[double ugly]

Didn't I say that a few posts ago??????

[Jerry Clayton]

Yep, you said it in the first post when you were peed off----That's my point.

Based on what I have seen over and over again, these cars show up with more things outta whack, that nothing is a simple job--half the time it is poor electrical like bad grounds or corrosion, fuel supply issues or vaccume leaks. Oil changes in a high performance car are not something for Jiffy Lube type operations, and the system that has remote filters and coolers take special care or a engine can be destroyed on start up

Anyway, I'm glad that its running good and just wish we had some decent weather here for our guys. Biggest news up here is the NIU shootings which pretty much has everyone bummed out. One of the girls killed family is from Carol Stream, which is a town that has annexxed all around us in this neighborhood.

How long ago did you retire from flying??

Jerry

[double ugly]

It's been 14 years. Burned out after 28 years of 2 hour pre-briefs, 2 hour de-briefs for a 1.3 hour flight. You?
John

[Jerry Clayton]

Day after Thanksgiving 97---came home with a eye infection, later developed ice-pick head aches

Miss it??? sometimes when I look up at a clear sky sunset and see a contrail headed west---but then realize that those guys will be looking at that sun for hours

I'm really sorry about you being upset about your car, but most of the responces were hang the mechanic and how cheap oil and filters are at auto zone or advance----

And unfortunily you probably aren't done yet because mixing race gas sporaticly with pump gas will effect your mixture so much that it will not run the same when your fuel load gets back more toward pump gas

Jerry

[double ugly]

We don't have 93 octane here just 91 so I mix some race gas to get the octane up a little. (10:1 CR) The tech was puzzled as to why some gas was vaporizing out of the carb after shutdown and wanted to try a higher octane hence 5 gallons of 111 octane. It didn't make any difference. I checked after I got home and it still showed some vaporization from the carb.
John

[Danr55]

Have you ever tried Lucas Octane Booster? It's about $9.00 a bottle and is clearly marked "Not for street use" That should be some indication of how well it works. It's easier to carry on long trips than race gas and it mixes just right with 25 gallons of 91 octane. My 11.5:1 cleveland motor likes it just fine. The carb mixture setting is about the same as it is with 110 octane, leaded race fuel.

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by Danr55

Have you ever tried Lucas Octane Booster? It's about $9.00 a bottle and is clearly marked "Not for street use" That should be some indication of how well it works. It's easier to carry on long trips than race gas and it mixes just right with 25 gallons of 91 octane. My 11.5:1 cleveland motor likes it just fine. The carb mixture setting is about the same as it is with 110 octane, leaded race fuel.

Lucas octane booster or ANY octane booster NOT work as well as race gas.

[Woodz428]

I normally agree with Jerry, but have to go with John on this. Over twice the estimate is a little much, I think. I know the purpose of business is to make money, but I have seen shops that have a "sliding scale" for "special" customers that helps make money.It sounds like he was there the whole time and could have been informed along the way that the cost had doubled. I will admit that I am probably not at that shops' income level...but I do sleep well at night.

[Danr55]

I agree Bill, but you can't always get race gas when you are 150 miles from home. So taking a run to Payson or Flagstaff or places farther away than one tank of fuel will get you poses it's own set of problems to consider.

[Jerry Clayton]

Woods

The work he had done wasn't double the estimate--granted the total bill was over double what the carb estimate/quote was but he had additional work done--over another $350 by his own numbers, which does still leave aprox $100 for something---They offered to reduce the bill

[trularin]

WOW!!!

Please do not take this wrong, but What were you thinking?????

I am still thinking about this. Dang.

[Woodz428]

Jerry, I agree that it wasn't the carb work alone that generated the bill, I still think that a responsible business owner would have been informing the customer as the tab was altered instead of springing it all at one time. I am sure that John was expecting a taller bill, but double...without some preparation along the way is still a big "sticker shock". I am not making any comments one way or the other regarding the prices charged, I've lived in enough areas to know that labor rates vary. I am commenting on the lack of communication on the business' part. If, the customer hadn't been prepared for the total, they wouldn't have the opportunity to say whether or not they wanted it done at that time if they weren't informed. I ,personally, consider that poor business practice.

[powerslide]

John got "screwed" or "hosed" - don't go back. Word will spread, just look at this thread! Some of these guys see us role up to their shop and think we "just fell off the back of the melon truck" He might get away with overcharging in the short run, but bad business practices will eventually catch up with him and the economic laws of nature will take care of the rest...

[ttmb]

Originally Posted by double ugly

It's been 14 years. Burned out after 28 years of 2 hour pre-briefs, 2 hour de-briefs for a 1.3 hour flight. You?
John

One of the perks of retirement of course! (And I do know what you mean.)

[Baz]

My 'Tin Top' is a 2001 WH Holden Statesmen. It's a large, luxury sedan and
2nd from the top of the range of GM vehicles in Australia.

It has a 10 stack CD player in the boot. Recently, I couldn't get the CD player to work and was getting a flashing error message with a code No. displayed on the digital readout screen of the radio unit.

I perused the manufacturers Handbook and found the appropriate code No. The printed recommendation was for me to return the car to the local dealer which I did. The Service Manager inspected the car and attached some meters to the CD then told me that the entire CD player and stacker required replacement. It would cost me between $1,200 and $2,500, depending on whether they put in factory or reconditioned parts.

I was walking out of that Service centre dumb founded. There was a guy behind me waiting his turn. He pulled me aside and told me that he had identical problems with his WH Statesman. He was also told the same thing by the dealers representative. A friend of his told him to pull the boot (Trunk) lining out, locate the CD Stacker and pull the plug out, leave it out for about 60 seconds, then replace it.

It's just the same as when your Internet goes down and you disconnect the Modum for a short time. When you re-plug it and try again, everything works fine.

When I got home, I done what was suggested to me. Guess what. The CD hasn't stopped since and it took me about 10 minutes to fix and zero dollars.

I wonder if that's all the dealers do and then rip the s*#t out of the customer. I've only been back once to that dealer and that was to give the Service Manager the biggest spray that he has ever experienced.

Baz.