All mechanics are crooks!

[skerocdriver@juno.com (Shawn C Meze)]

On Sun, 7 Apr 2002 10:15:46 -0700 "Larry" <rocco16v@netzero.com> writes:
>I would have to side with Mark on this one. My many years of dealing 
>with
>cars/mechanics leads me to feel that he is right on the mark (so to
>speak...)
>And I must give him a LARGE helping of credit for not coming back in a
>defensive/aggressive response to Chris' post.
>Mark, you have my respect.



Im not siding with anyone here but I do agree with what Mark said
completely. From his experiences, he is right in what he say. Ive had the
same experiences but from a shop mechanic employee standpoint, let me
give you some insight as to why this happens. 


1) People are only your friend when they need a mechanic. Otherwise, they
don't see you. 

2) People will befriend you, expect to pay you once, then return to have
other work done and not pay you and you will do it because your now
"friends". (WTF is that all about, dunno but its true.)

3) Customers are stupid. FACT or they wouldn't be in your shop with a car
that makes a "clikity-clankity" sound from "somewhere under there". So,
since they're stupid you fix their car only to have them some back in a
day insisting that the brakes you fixed have now ruined their tranny or
some other completely unrelated part of their car.  

4) This is solely my own opinion here but I think that anyone who has a
drivers license should know about the mechanicals of a car. They should
know how it works, what the components are ect. Just like how pilots
learn about how an airplane works, same principal only not as detailed.
Its not to punish them, its in their best interest to know these things.
In the end its their own fault for getting ripped off. If you insist on
being naive about cars, expect to pay for it in the end. That's just
fact. Sad but true. 

5) Typically, the smaller shops will provide a great service for a very
fair price. They HAVE to in order to compete with the bigger shops and
dealerships. If I had to use a mechanic, this is where i would go. 

6) ASE don't mean SHIT! ASE is the ability to go take a damn test,
decipher their lawyer written tests and get a 70% or better. How easy is
it? I have 3 so far. Whoo-hoo. Doesn't mean nothing since there is NO
hands on testing which after all, is only where it counts. I know master
technicians who cant install brake pads correctly to save their lives. 


I work at a dealership, I can tell you that while the opportunity to rip
off customers is there, its not always taken. When I first started
working for the dealer, we were free to take as much time as needed to
find and fix the problems. We might go over on time but the THEN owner
didn't care. His main priority was to take care of the customer first,
worry about the money later. This fit my profile perfect because by
nature, I don't thrash thru my work. Im slow compared to the demands of
other shops but when im done, it never comes back for something I did.
That's just how I do things. (I try anyways, ive got the human factor to
work with here.) I just prefer to do a through job the first time than
thrashing thru a halfass repair only to see "comebacks" rolling in the
door. 

Our owner retired last winter and his dickhead son-in-law took over. He
squeezes the shit out of a penny. Everything is hurry up, don't do all
that just get it out the door. So we hurry, do a quoted 12 hr job in 8
and he still bangs the customer for the full quoted 12 hours. That's
wrong and its bullshit. 

I don't know how much longer ill be with this place because we went from
being this completely honest for the customer and always helping the
customer out not always using the full quoted amount to now were getting
every nickel we can get. Pisses me off. Its just a real shame that this
is how business is done out there. 

For a shop of only 4 tech's and 9 road tech's, We were the #1 Toyota shop
in the nation for the last 3 years in a row for Service excellence. I bet
this will be the last time. I digress.......... 

Ah well. I still love working on all my VW's. Except for changing out
exhaust systems and manifolds/headers between the 82 and 84. It SUX but
its done now. Other than the Autox today, That's been my fun for the
weekend. 


Shawn Méze
86' Jetta GLi 8V   88' Corvette -SS 30- 2001 SDR Solo2 Champion
82' Scirocco GTi -FSP 54-   79' "Project FSP Scirocco"  84' Scirocco 8V
The Fastest, Quickest, Cleanest and best looking Scirocco(s) in all of
San Diego!
http://www.Geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1308/index.htm


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