Fraud? What would you have done?

[Marco]

Ok, to make a short story long....A while back I went to a local tire shop to get a set of tires for my car.......

I won't tell you the name of the company but it was a nationwide company whose name rhymes with "wirephone"...

I was at work, on the road, when my boss called me on my coworkers cell phone. Apparently the manager of the tire shop called my workplace and told my boss that my car needed brakes, that the front disc brakes were 98% gone and the back drum brakes were 95% gone....

I returned the call to the tire shop after the bosses call and told the manager to just replace the tires, that I would replace the brakes myself.....

I got the car, took it to a friend of mine who owns his own mech shop (he doesn't get into tires)....but I figured I'd change the oil beings it was due and my friend agreed to work on the brakes....I trade him help for some projects in return for his help with my car...

...anyway I drove the car onto the hoist, lifted it and took off the tires and the back wheel drums of the car.....the pads were nowhere near the stated wear told to me by the manager, and the wear percentages were also listed on the receipt I received....

There was a meaty portion of the pads left, I would say at least three-quarters of the usable pads left, all the way around the car......now I know what my mechanic was thinking when he gave me a strange look when I told him the tire shop told me it needed brakes desperately......my car had app 25,000 miles on it at the time, not that mileage neccessarily dictates brake wear....

So I changed the oil, put the drums and wheels back on, and just sorta forgot about it......I was tempted to at least call the manager back and ask him what the hell is going on down there, I'm figuring they're trying to drum up some business making needless repairs......I thought about writing the corporate office and possibly filing a complaint with the BBB.....in all probability the mechanic on duty would have been deemed to be in erred judgement and be held as a scapegoat by his superiors....probably one of those times a nastygram was warranted but I chose not to.

I have passed this story on to close friends of mine and have made a firm vow to not do business with this shop again....I'm not some little old lady they can fleece at will.....I do remember seeing a story on "Dateline", I believe it was, where they rigged a thoroughly inspected bait car with marked parts just to see what shops would run them through the wringer in needless repairs and marked parts that were billed for but not replaced....I'm just wondering now what they gouged me for on the last car I took down there....

I'm just curious to know what you would have done.....maybe thoughts on the projected outcomes....

 

[kickserv]

I can't think of a business with more crooks then the mechanic business.

Love to know how much $$ car shops have "stole" from consumers.

and yes...........I saw that Dateline you were speaking of.....sickning :nono:

 

[Simply In The Red]

Thanks for reciting my thoughts on why I stay from some of the nationwide chain stores. Some people tend to trust a large chain store more than an independent location because they place their trust in name recognition or they believe that a large chain is not willing to lose their reputation. A lot of these places just rely on the integrity of their managers or service writers, some of whom will take a chance since you can usually get away with several jobs on gullible people before you have to deal with one knowledgeable person. That one person's anger can usually be subdued with a refund or discount. It's too easy to take advantage of the situation.

BTW, this can also happen at a dealership.

 

[Marco]

My mechanic friend has been working on cars since he was young, I grew up with him and have known him for around 30 years.....he was always fixing something....

He's been doing mechanic work as a profession for 20 years now, about the last 10 in his own shop.....he has a labor rate that is a bit cheaper than the surrounding shops....he has a rock solid reputation in the area he's working in and his shop is always busy.....if there was ever any story like this coming out of his shop, first off I'd probably be in disbelief, then figure secondly that the earth was hurling through space in a straight path to the sun......

He spends his spare time raising his family and taking tests and classes related to work subjects and has gotten pretty deep into the volunteer fire department and becoming an emergency medical technician.......it would be a gross understatement to say he has little time.....he gives a lot of himself to the community..

Nice to know there are some honest ones out there......I try to pass business his way when I hear someone looking for a good mechanic.......the guy's meticulous about work and honesty and it's reflected in the clean condition of his shop......I've had no hesitations about bragging up the guy and sending people his way......

Maybe that's part of the reason he's so busy......he tells it like it is and doesn't sell people needless repairs.......I think the customers realize this and send thier friends there too.....If I even knew jack $hit about cars I wouldn't set up shop anywhere near him.....too established and honest and way too big a reputation to compete against.....knowledgable....

Starting to sound like I'm ready to swing from his nutsack, but it's all true........

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

I had leak in brake line and took it to have it checked many years ago and left it there with instructions to fix it.
Got back and had huge bill and was told master clyinder was bad and they replaced it.
My leak was by rear wheel so chances of this being true was remote. I open up hood and looked at master cylinder ,which was clean as a whistle (looked new) however the four nuts that hold it on had never had a wrench put on them ever as paint was in tack on all contact points. I asked them how they took nuts off and put back on without peeling paint on nuts. Manager gave me one of those looks like how dare you question my integrity, left and gave me no recourse but to pay.
But as fate would have it what goes around comes around.
Seems that spring some asshole dropped dye marking pellets that navy uses in water in his swimming pool and you can't scrub it off the paint in pool. Appears he had to drain pool and have repainted.

 

[Marco]

In retrospect I should have probably filed a complaint with the BBB and sent the corporate office a nastygram.....

I remember a few years back I saw a man pull up to a gas pump at a filling station....he was driving an suv and towing something that looked like a short trailer/barbeque type rig.....

I approached him to find out what he was doing.....found out he worked for the state and was testing the gas pumps to be sure the pumps were dispersing the correct amount....

....the pumps had to be correct inside a certain range.....if too much gas was given away the store owner would be screwed and the state would lose tax revenue......if too little gas was pumped the consumer would be ripped off.....

Would be nice to see the state drive a few bait cars around and rack some of these crooks....

I remember another show like Dateline did a test with appliance repairmen......took a spade clip off a lug off a fan in the freezer compartment of the fridge and then called repair companies to see what they'd fix and get billed for.....a few repaired the item properly by replacing the spade clip back on the lug and charging the homeowner for a standard service call......most saw the spade clip off and decided to rack the homeowner for new fans and whatever they thought they could get away with....

What bugs me about the show is they never told you who the honest companies were in the test......You'd think, or at least I would want to know, which company to call that you have a pretty good feeling about being honest with you in that area that the test was run......if anything it would be a huge reward to the repair companies that played it correct, receiving added business and improving thier reputation with the public......

About the worst thing I saw was a hidden camera in a basement catching a washing machine repairman taking a piss in a laundry sink right next to the washing machine....try explaining that one to the boss......