bad experiance @ Sears... Was - Re: mechanics

["Peter Walsh" <cerksies@hotmail.com>]

Hello,

I am so paronoid when other people work on my car.  There is only one 
mechanic i fully trust.  The other eve when i went to sears to get my 
tires put on (i ordered 2 Falcon Ziex 195/50/15 Hrated).  I obviously 
cannot put 50 series tires on my rims w/o bitching them up and I also 
cant balance them.  I figured I would let a "professional" do the work.  

Got my car to Sears.  I asked if I could bring it into the garage.  For 
insurance reasons (i understand them) the guy had to drive it in. Only 
one or two of the workers there could drive stick.... damn.... Anyway, 
they were gonna put it on the lift, but they saw that my Jetta bumper 
cover (looks schweet...) was too low and would touch it.  So, he put the 
car in the area w/o a jack so that he could manually jack it up w/ a 
hydraulic floor jack.

The guy that was working on my car wasnt gonna do this (since i was 
getting both front tires replaced). So, he had ME move the car onto the 
other lift that they have... (the kind that is red and its kinda like 
two ramps that you drive on and it lifts the car about 1.5-2.5 ft in the 
air. Im told that this is an alignment lift?

Everything is all fine, tires are put on, etc.... So, the other tech 
gets into my car to back it off of the lift. I have a golf ball shift 
knob on and the shift pattern is off.  The guy obviously never drove a 
VW before when he asked me where Reverse was.  I said "It's up and to 
the left, you have to push down".  So, he is trying to JAM it into 
reverse, its not working and eventually pops the linkage off.  Damn! So, 
we think the linkage is under the car and the monkeys are going to push 
my baby off the lift.  Right as the front wheels come off the lift, my 
bumper cover catches in the front and rips right off, putting a huge 
crack in it. Its not fixable.....  Anyway, we eventually found the 
linkage still in the engine compartment... make that, I found the 
linkage in the engine compartment.... And they said they would pay for 
my bumper and all that. I paid $85 for it, but I should have said i paid 
like $175 or $200 for it.  O well.  I ordered my new bumper and it 
should be in this week sometime.

Pete

>>   Just curious, how many of you do your own work on your Rocs?  I 
dont
>> know about the rest of you, but I am paranoid of giving my car to 
anyone
>> to work on it.  Please tell me I am not alone, heheh  =)  Plus, when 
I
>> do the work I know that nuts and bolts werent left out.  Sorry for 
the
>> off topic post, I just started wondering why people with cars they 
deeply
>> care about are quick to let other people work on them.  
>> 
>>  Andre'
>>  Neon Green 79
>
>I'm with you Andre', no one touches my main Scirocco but me.  I've seen
>people I trust do some things carelessly occasionally.  Once, when 
checking
>the air conditioning on my wifes 92 Passat, they left off the little 
plastic
>covers from the metal refridgerant line fill valves.  They set them on 
top
>of the strut tower and closed the hood on them...luckily the twist it 
put
>in the hood wasn't permanent...they people are human too and will make
>errors.
>
>==Brett
>
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