Archion

Lets see, Tech's I have fired over the years:

Late model 300zx custom twin turbo,NEW motor install, Left Timing idler loose... FIRED

Q45 tune up... With a butterfly impact... FIRED

Oil Change mid 60's E-Type V-12.... Left drain plug sitting on rack and never put oil back in it... FIRED

just a few of my favorite's...

TPony

Yikes! Thanks for sharing with us..

casdds11

I had a 90' Jetta numerous years ago that had a new rim and axle replaced due to a minor accident with a curb. Work completed at a VW dealership in Gainesville,Florida. Decided at the last minute not to drive home on I 75. (2 hours away). 30 minutes later wheel flew off in biggest intersection of town during lunch hour traffic. Their reply "sorry"

Another story, had a 95 Z28 that need a coolant flush and replacement while taking my boards in Gainesville 4 years later. Come to pick my car up 2 hours later, I see my car on the lift getting reamed out because the tech spilled coolant and water all over the engine. "we are getting the water out of the spark plugs?

Needless to say DON'T GET YOUR CAR SERVICED BY THE HILLBILLIES IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA!!!

danomano

I worked for Midas Muffler in the 80's and we hired a guy from Firestone and these are some of his horror stories.

He was told by the service manager to paint the cat so they can charge the customer for a new.

A customer came in and was going on a trip and wanted a free checkup. Mechanic could not find anything wrong so service manager told him to F#$@ something up so we can charge the customer.

Old parts clean and put back in but charged for new.


Now Midas seemed pretty honest but they would like to scare you in saying you might only have 3000 mile more on what you came in for left before it goes bad. I always wonder how they could tell how many miles were left on something? I never witness them lying or being dishonest.

Also after I left I bought a GMC Jimmy used and wanted to check the brakes. I could not get the back brake drums off the axles.(must have been run through deep water). So Midas used to have a free break checkup. I took it to one I did not work at and play stupid. It took the mechanic an hour per side of heating and beating the drums off. And the shoes were shot. So I told the guy I will bring it in next week when I get paid. Went to Checker Auto bought the stuff I need and fixed it myself.

Man I am mean!

shaners90lxhatch

Sorry to hear about your crazy and extremely disappointing trips to a dealer.Surely if the manufacturer had total control over who these dealerships employed, situations like this would be even more uncommon. I have had bad experienced as well and I have heard stories that make these seem like jokes, but there are good dealers out there. I have seen people get engines covered thousands of miles out of warranty, services done at a fraction of their listed price, tires replaced for free to a family that couldn't afford new ones, et cetera. It may be hard to believe but there are many more good dealers than there are bad ones. Deciding not to have your vehicle serviced (at someone else's expense mind you) because of horror stories like this is more ignorant that forgetting to tighten a lug nut. You still go to the doctor after hearing stories of perversion, tools left in people, wrong drugs given and the like. The sweetener in Diet sodas have been known to cause cancer for years and I bet there are people in here that will drink it until the day they die. Prostate cancer is the leading cause of death for men over 40 and I bet only a handful of you guys have had the lovely exam we all look foreward to. My point is that as ignorant as some technicians can be, they are still people that make mistakes just like you and deserve the benefit of the doubt. It is more ignorant to succumb to childish fears like this than to deny your warrantable vehicle proper service from someone who, odds are, still knows more about taking care of a vehicle. **Not an insult***

555*

Took my car back in to have my driver door handle replaced because it wiggled. Picked my car up and drove home , I then decided to clean the car the next day(sat), when I relaized there was scratches down to the bare metal like someone had taken keys to my door jamb and just scratched the hell out of it. Called the dealership and they said they would look at it but didn't think they did it...yeah ok. Long story short, I MADE them fix the door jambs and they proceeded to tell me never to bring my car back there ever again. I havent called any of the higher ups about it yet since I don't plan to take anything back there anyways but I was pretty appauled that they pretty much called me a liar. I hate dealer****s, seems like my car loves em though with all the problems I have with it.

rex7010

I worked at dealership's for over 20 years... that is all you hear ( bad news .. never good news ) ask yourself this... when was the last time you heard .. take your car to this place to have your warranty work done...!!!!!! NO NOT THE MODS THAT YOU ARE PAYING GOOD MONEY TO HAVE INSTALLED ...the dreaded fix it under warranty work...!!!!! (rattle / squeak / etc. etc. )

the mechanic gets ripped off doing these warranty repairs.. some are so bad.. it takes you longer to find the car then it does to fix the car...

how would you like to get paid less to do something at your work..??? doesn't sound fair does it..?? but that is how it is on warranty work.. the mechanic gets screwed almost every time...

some may say .. well you are doing your job.. true.. but how would you like to get acustomer that brings in a list longer than your arm full of complaints..??? the mechanic has to eat also right..
???? have you ever been on a Snap-On truck and know what the price is on tools just so you can do your job as a mechanic..?? big bucks trust me...

yes I will agree that sometimes a mechanic will make a mistake.. are you perfect...???

what should I do then you ask..??

get to know your mechanic.. if the first one is no good .. find another one... then ASK FOR HIM every time....!!!!!!
throw the guy a tip if you had warranty work done.. he just lost money working on your car BTW...!!!!

bottom line.. all you read is negative about dealerships.. yes I have seen a lot of bad things myself.. oil left out of car after a oil change.. but if you worked as a mechanis for a month.. you would understand more.. trust me again... why was the oil not put back in the car..??? probably because some service writer distubed the mechanic while he was doing his job and he forgot is why.. ( prob.somebody waiting on getting warranty repairwork ) no joke...!!!!

so next time .. put yourself in the OTHER guys shoes... all mechanics are not bad...

end of rant...


Rex

btorlv

Two good stories. I had a aerostar with a main seal leak they replaced it 3 times still leaked. Then a new crate motor still leaked. When i went to pick up the car the service manager said he called ford on my behalf and would replace the whole car i never had to ask. It was a 92 with 35000 mi and i got a 94 with 12mi. It was a ford dealer in glendora ca. I also had a 02 accord that had a whine from the rear of the car at 64mph. They had the car for a week.Two techs and the manager plus the rep worked on the car.The service mangar said he would the noise no matter what it took. He even had a guy pull down the rear seat and listen from the trunk.I went in one day and they had new car from there lot on the next rack and where replacing the parts from there car to mine.When i got the car back they had washed and hand waxed the car and the whine was gone. Dealer was in diamond bar ca i swear both stories are true. There are also good dealers out there.

jerjan

I see that Archion has had some direct involvement with the same stuff i did. I am so glad to be out of the auto business, too much stress for me.

jerjan

In reply to rex7010. You are absolutely right! I had some great mechanics! And they got screwed doing warranty BS. Factory warranty labor rates suck. So the answer from my owner was to hire salary rate apprentices to do all the BS warranty bumps and rattles. Warranty work is a loser for everyone from the customer to the owner of the dealership to the manufacturer. Our sister dealership when I managed the Nissan service dept.was a Honda franchise and they had about 15% of the warranty work we did! It's all about quality control at the manufacturer level. The Hondas were awesome about detail on thier cars and the Nissans were crap!