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Keep your cool, I’m sure this sort of stuff happens all the time where a customer takes a car in to be fixed (with problems not disclosed to the shop) then comes back and claims they weren’t there before and caused by the shop.
DON”T do something that will make the situation worse!
If it goes to small claims court just tell your side of the story. And if you did work on it and she didn’t pay – make sure you file a countersuit.
whats the damage complaint? what would it take to resolve. Can something be worked out for both parties?C8-)
Did I miss a post with some background info? Nothing worse than being accused of something you didn’t do– I agree you should keep your cool and tell your side of the story. Judges are pretty good at figuring out who is telling the truth. Do you have insurance coverage? If so, you should get them involved quickly.
Quoted From Rick:
Did I miss a post with some background info? Nothing worse than being accused of something you didn’t do– I agree you should keep your cool and tell your side of the story. Judges are pretty good at figuring out who is telling the truth. Do you have insurance coverage? If so, you should get them involved quickly.
+1
It happens all the time. People try to get issues fixed for free.
What is the background story?
the background story is she brought the 2003 mitsubishi eclipse 3.0 6 cyl to me to change the timing belt and water pump. i found about 12 other major problems with it before i even started working on the car. im being blamed for the head gasket being blown the valves being bent and the timing belt not working correctly even though i followed instructions on it to the T. so im being footed with a 2600$ bill and im pretty sure she is gonna take me to small claims court which is why i didn’t say what i really wanted to which was “you can take that receipt and shove it up your ass” lol she asked me for a receipt 2 months ago right? she avoided me for 2 months and then i got an email saying that if i don’t contact her making arrangements to pay her back i’m being taken to court (keep in mind she didn’t pay me and avoided me for like 2 months)
Did you document those 12 other problems on the estimate that she signed to authorize you to proceed with the timing belt repair? If not, did you document them anywhere?– an email to her, notes scratched on a notepad? Are you working with anyone else that also saw the condition of the car?
Also, what condition was the car in when you got it? Was it running? Had the timing belt broken or just skipped a few teeth? Was the timing belt fine, but just due for a change?
Quoted From Rick:
Did you document those 12 other problems on the estimate that she signed to authorize you to proceed with the timing belt repair? If not, did you document them anywhere?– an email to her, notes scratched on a notepad? Are you working with anyone else that also saw the condition of the car?
Also, what condition was the car in when you got it? Was it running? Had the timing belt broken or just skipped a few teeth? Was the timing belt fine, but just due for a change?
what was the condition of the car when it showed up on your door step
running,towed,needed maint. not trying to bash you.just trying to figure
this out.it was running (although i don’t know how the hell it was running) i was working with 2 of my friends that saw all this stuff wrong with it and the lady didn’t care to tell me about any of this, i documented everything that i found wrong with the car that she did not inform me of, i have documentation of it all so i have that part its just gonna rest on the judge’s decision on this one, also documented is the text saying “i can’t afford a top dollar mechanic so i was hoping that you could do this”
Quoted From Rick:
I think you need to be careful about this. You don’t want to say “you get what you pay for” because that would sound like you are less than professional. I don’t know your situation, but even if you’re working under a shade tree at home you can have high standards. What I think really happened here is this car came in with a very bad misfire. The correct diagnosis was that it was badly out of time. The car was poorly maintained and the owner, strapped for cash, let maintenance and the other bad symptoms slide so that it did further damage to the vehicle. The valve was bent when it came in, the head gasket was bad when it came in, but she had no way to know that because the timing was masking the symptoms of these other problems. She recommended a timing belt and did that job correctly, but when finished, the other problems became apparent and now this customer that is strapped for cash, that she tried to help out by doing this job at below-market rates is trying to make her pay for all of the customers prior neglect of the vehicle.
rick you hit the nail on the head, i do have high standards on what i do, and dreamer you always come to the rescue =) thanks guys i was freaking out so much that i didn’t know what to do also i checked the antifreeze and it was mixed with oil that was the big indicator of the blown head gasket.
I know you’re venting to some extent, but as you get through that, you should think how you’re going to describe this. I think you mean to say that when the customer brought the vehicle in, it was running so poorly that you were surprised it was running at all. So what did you do (briefly) to diagnose it and what did you find?
Quoted From SarahCraziness:
it was running (although i don’t know how the hell it was running) i was working with 2 of my friends that saw all this stuff wrong with it and the lady didn’t care to tell me about any of this, i documented everything that i found wrong with the car that she did not inform me of, i have documentation of it all so i have that part its just gonna rest on the judge’s decision on this one, also documented is the text saying “i can’t afford a top dollar mechanic so i was hoping that you could do this“
I think this is pretty important part of this story. You get what you pay for these days. It sounds like you was trying to help her out to the best of your ability.
If you followed all the factory service manual’s directions, checked and double checked your work, as well as rotating the crank by hand to make sure there was no piston to valve clearance issue, you should be fine, particularly IF the vehicle was in running condition when you handed it back to the customer.
Also if the vehicle was in ‘poor’ shape with all these issues, sometimes if you fix one problem, another will occur.
Then for this customer to avoid you for 2 months as you claim makes me think that there trying to take you for a ride unless they can prove and have documentation that the work you did caused the issue. Plus with this customer not paying you doesn’t help there case.
I think this is pretty important part of this story. You get what you pay for these days.
I think you need to be careful about this. You don’t want to say “you get what you pay for” because that would sound like you are less than professional. I don’t know your situation, but even if you’re working under a shade tree at home you can have high standards. What I think really happened here is this car came in with a very bad misfire. The correct diagnosis was that it was badly out of time. The car was poorly maintained and the owner, strapped for cash, let maintenance and the other bad symptoms slide so that it did further damage to the vehicle. The valve was bent when it came in, the head gasket was bad when it came in, but she had no way to know that because the timing was masking the symptoms of these other problems. She recommended a timing belt and did that job correctly, but when finished, the other problems became apparent and now this customer that is strapped for cash, that she tried to help out by doing this job at below-market rates is trying to make her pay for all of the customers prior neglect of the vehicle.
What would a shop have to protect them in cases like this, if anything?
Do you have that?Sometimes the douchiness of some people really surprises me.
This person must have thought to herself at some point “hmm, I think I’m going to rip off that helpful person I know for $2600 by blaming her for things she didn’t do”.You need to be prepared to clearly explain to the judge, whom you have to assume is not a mechanic, why it is not your fault that the car ran worse after you fixed it. Rick did give some explanation, but I would think that you will have to give more details. So prepare your defense and if you can bring any expert witness with you that has been in this field a long time to back you up, that would help too.
This is why I won’t fix anyone else’s car as a favor.
Quoted From twiggy02919:
You need to be prepared to clearly explain to the judge, whom you have to assume is not a mechanic, why it is not your fault that the car ran worse after you fixed it. Rick did give some explanation, but I would think that you will have to give more details. So prepare your defense and if you can bring any expert witness with you that has been in this field a long time to back you up, that would help too.
This is why I won’t fix anyone else’s car as a favor.
Amen to no side work. The money is good but the headaches aren’t worth it.
Been there done that
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