engine and drivetrain Reasonability Check

[Roundeie]

I'm not even concerned about the law. The Twenty years I've been using them now makes me want to question every job they ever did for me.

[Hans]

I agree. It is unreasonable to run up a $1750 bill without consulting the client beforehand.

[merlin]

At the shop I work at the hours charged would be the time to do the rear seal and then to pull the shaft and swap the components. I don't have the estimator book with me but I would consider doing it between 4-6 hours. The other question I have is WHY was the shaft balanced and why did they separate the rear can when you don't need to do that. you undo it at the down pipe.

 

good luck

Merlin

[Roundeie]

Funny thing...when I went in to pay I railed on the service manager for the unprofessional treatment as well as the amount being out of line with both expectation and other estimates. I was given a slight discount.

Yesterday I received a call from the same service manager noting after discussing with the 2 owners (it's a small shop) they were offering a $150 refund. Told him to keep it. I think it had something to do with "never bringing another of my vehicles to them".

[willys]

it sounds like you had 20 years of repairs that you were happy with and this one time you were not - not a bad record for a shop willing to tackle older cars and calls you after you let them know you were upset to offer money back.

 

Jeff

[Roundeie]

That's valid...

[13]

No help whatsoever but I find if you can do the work yourself you will be much happier with the end total

[bluedevils]

how was the quality of the work? 

[morfiya]

ok here is my thought NO reputable shop does buisness like that.  every shop has a labor rate that should be posted also if your putting in a(water pump) lets say on a 71 o2 you then look it up in the labor rate book if the book say 3hrs you then x that by the shop rate this system was installed so there can be some kind of standards of fairness in the automotive industry. some times it works great for the tech  and sometimes it doesnt if he can do the job in an hour he still gets paid for the 3, now if he comes in hungover and it takes him 8hrs he eats that. at any rate shops like that give us techs such a bad rap 

[Roundeie]

how was the quality of the work?

Job out of driveshaft was great, r n r of exhaust was ok except rear hanger was left off, seAls not leaking, r n r of shift bushings ok.

That said I still have doubts now about all the other work I've paid them for.

[Beaner7102]

If you have not paid for the work yet, you have the upper hand.

If he wants $1750 for 12 hours work, give him half and show him a time quote from another shop stating 4 hours. Then say you are being generous and paying the extra 2 hours.

But you will never return the the shop EVER again, as they supplied no quote, and if they thought the tech was taking so long, why didnt they halt works and discuss with you what further work was needed to fix it right. 

 

I have had repair bills blow out, but I was pre-warned by my shop with a simple phone call saying "its a lot worse than we expected, more parts needed etc." That is just how a good shop runs.

 

Keep records of all communications, write down each time you called, who you spoke to, what was said, just in case you need to legal up.

Beaner7102

[saaron]

Hey - I feel for you.  I had a really similar experience to yours last year.  Took my car to a place that I have taken it for 15 years.  Haven't been there lately.  They did the work I requested, found other things wrong, which OK, fine, the car is old, let's do the work you're recommending.

 

My pain was around the one piece of work they did, they didn't really finish.  Left bolts not torqued down, left a bolt off.  When I told them about it, I didn't get the reaction I thought I would.  I thought they would be concerned about it, but I didn't get that feeling.  They kind of said they did what they were supposed to do.  Like it was fine when it left their place, and in the 4 miles home, everything came undone.

 

Net net, I had the same reaction you did - I'm not coming back.  But it is rough when you trust a business, and they go off the rails on you. It's really disappointing.  It's not like there are 50 places you can go for good work on old cars at this point.

 

Scott

[BLUNT]

it sounds like you had 20 years of repairs that you were happy with and this one time you were not - not a bad record for a shop willing to tackle older cars and calls you after you let them know you were upset to offer money back.

 

Jeff

 

This is a great example of how you have to be on your game every single job or transaction. Lots to consider here and no disrespect to OP but everyone makes mistakes. Something went wrong with this deal but it sounds like they knew it and are trying to help. Customers dont remember 100s of perfect deals but they sure do not forget the bad ones