automotive service....it can't be just me

[jszucs]

SO I know I'm picky, and I can be a total D. but I would never be outwardly rude, or pipe up for no reason and I go the extra mile when I bring stuff in for things like an alignment. I give them a spec sheet, car takes special sockets (I provide them in case they don't have) I have my programmer with me in case they need to check / reset / or program anything (and I know they don't have a vag com) I got security bolts off wheels, lug nut caps ECT, it's ready to go.

 

I have also marked every suspension bolt, every adjustment sleeve ECT.

 

So while I'm waiting they return a new X1 M which has stagard rims with the back rims on the front and the front rims on the back....and they are MAJORLY poking on the front..... OK maybe they were just rushing. So they return my car..and guy gives me a spec sheet, tells me the only thing they could not adjust was front caster..... which is total BULL.... The only thing on the front not adjustable is camber (unless you add plates or do it with crash bolts and don't even think you can do crash bolts on the front. The supposed initial front toe was lef 0.00 right -0.05 which even for me is close enough why would they have adjusted to left 0.10 right 0.00 you made it more off. Next I go out and check bolts and sleeves, non moved, no tool marks. The lug bolts on all 4 rims were WAY off torq spec 3 of 4 were 39-44 foot pounds and spec is 87 foot pounds. The tires were under inflated at 33#'s door marked 36#'s TPS monitors freaking out, MFD scrolling all kinds of messages, and TPS light on dash. Just sad.

 

I can not be the only one that has these problems.

Edited June 13, 2014 by jszucs

[88-cnqst-tsi]

I have not had that bad of an experience but I brought my car to Goodyear to get a new cat put on for smog because I needed to have it installed at a "smog certified shop". I tell them to only cut the old one off then weld a new one and make some new hangers to replace the stock ones.

Well first off they held my car overnight when they first said 3 hours, the welds were terrible and they only welded the bottom and there were pieces of wire all over them and looked like they didn't have the gas on, did not make a single hanger so the whole exhaust could wiggle and when I go to pay they wanted just over 500 and they guy starts going on, on how my car runs hot at 195 and how the o2 doesn't work at idle and a bunch of other stuff when I told them to only touch the exhaust and nothing else. that was the first and last time I ever went to a shop.

[JohnnyWadd]

That's sucks they are loosing customers by screwing up your guy's alignment and other things. I have a story like this from Tim's Turbos. I send people to my old shop instead of local stores for alignment because I know the guy has attention to detail. They get away with a lot of bull crap because most customers don't know the difference. Edited June 13, 2014 by JohnnyWadd

[importwarrior]

took my car to a shop to get it aligned and they

basically told me it is a fixed position type setup.

there is nothing to adjust type of reply. other than

the tie rods. I politely asked for my car back.

[JohnnyWadd]

took my car to a shop to get it aligned and they

basically told me it is a fixed position type setup.

there is nothing to adjust type of reply. other than

the tie rods. I politely asked for my car back.

 

That's so crazy because even the first gen computer alignment machines have out cars and adjustment illustrations built into them.

[jszucs]

That's so crazy because even the first gen computer alignment machines have out cars and adjustment illustrations built into them.

 

No worse then that for me. I GAVE them the spec sheet, which they could clearly see marked that only front camber was not adjustable. I gave them a bit set they would need. When you got someone coming in and giving you the specs and making notes exactly how they want it set up. + every adjustment point is clearly marked. How can you not know they know what's up and try and pull a fast one on them.

 

If you don't want to do it, just be straight up and tell me, if you don't know how, just ask me and I'll come show you. I only don't have the rack..... heck just rent me time on your rack and let me at her. I can't even seem to find anyone to go to, and anyone that I use to know is retired, dead, or super old school and does not have the modern stuff.

[IntercooledFlatty]

seems to me MOST service guys suck and they just want the big $ bing bang boom stuff and could care less about doing cool stuff for cool peeps. it's sad when i go to a shop and I KNOW more about what they are getting ready to do than they do. i brought my wife's turbo PT to the dealer, under warranty, to get the tps reset or replaced from how it was acting i KNEW it was the tps. i tell the service " kid " check the tps first to save you guys some time, he says what's that ? ... because it was warranty work i replied just call me when you guys get the car correct... f n morons

SO, i go to pick the car up and the service dept. is closing early for a bbq or something and big bubba is the only one there who can " bring my car out " cuz they wouldn't let me walk back there and drive out myself, again , and when he gets out of the car he looks like he just walked through a puddle of used diff oil and it's all over the carpet and door sil cuz he was a fat bastage and couldn't get his foot over the sill without rubbing it all over. i gave him the " look " , took many pics showing the location of where the car was and left cuz there were no managers on premisis, and politely called the next day to speak to the manager letting him know i was coming over to meet with im to show him how my wife's car was delivered.

they cleaned and replaced the damaged areas and i never saw big bubba there again... they also changed the tps

[mr-starion]

seems to me MOST service guys suck and they just want the big $ bing bang boom stuff and could care less about doing cool stuff for cool peeps. it's sad when i go to a shop and I KNOW more about what they are getting ready to do than they do. i brought my wife's turbo PT to the dealer, under warranty, to get the tps reset or replaced from how it was acting i KNEW it was the tps. i tell the service " kid " check the tps first to save you guys some time, he says what's that ? ... because it was warranty work i replied just call me when you guys get the car correct... f n morons

SO, i go to pick the car up and the service dept. is closing early for a bbq or something and big bubba is the only one there who can " bring my car out " cuz they wouldn't let me walk back there and drive out myself, again , and when he gets out of the car he looks like he just walked through a puddle of used diff oil and it's all over the carpet and door sil cuz he was a fat bastage and couldn't get his foot over the sill without rubbing it all over. i gave him the " look " , took many pics showing the location of where the car was and left cuz there were no managers on premisis, and politely called the next day to speak to the manager letting him know i was coming over to meet with im to show him how my wife's car was delivered.

they cleaned and replaced the damaged areas and i never saw big bubba there again... they also changed the tps

 

 

 

I would of ended up in jail lol. I had a situation with vw. They charged me 200$ to clean my brakes and adjust my calipers... It was brand new with 10000 kms on it. Since when are hydraulic calipers adjustable??? I went in for recall and they come back with this suprise.

 

I think that was the worst ive ever lost it on someone. The police came and took me away lol. I was ready to rip the guys head off

[Malykaii]

Being a pro mechanic... I am very weary of my own kind. No one touches my cars. Got a flat once and had a tire shop touch it. Told the guy to hand thread the lugs and then hit the gun 2 clicks. Doesn't listen and crosses the tread and fires away till it almost strips.

 

Do guys not understand math? Do a good job, get a tip. Dont and get yelled at. I had days where I'd double my pay with tips when I worked for an indie Audi shop.

[jszucs]

well I have run it up the chain, me and the regional are going to have a sitdown. I want to see there certs stripped for the inproper inflation to door card spec, and under torq of lug bolts, and for laying that anything was even adjusted.

[MainstreaM]

I used to sell parts to these clowns. Just as bad on my end. They would call with symptoms and expect me to tell them whats wrong with it and sell them the cheapest part I had then charge their customer dealership prices. If it wasn't that guy, his counterpart would call and ask for the cheapest sensor. This guy would just throw parts at the problem til it went away then charged the customer out the butt for all those unnecessary parts and labor all thanks to his laziness/stupidity.

 

Kane

[MainstreaM]

Being a pro mechanic... I am very weary of my own kind. No one touches my cars. Got a flat once and had a tire shop touch it. Told the guy to hand thread the lugs and then hit the gun 2 clicks. Doesn't listen and crosses the tread and fires away till it almost strips.

 

Impact guns do not touch any of my vehicles. I give them my torque wrench already set, any necessary sockets, and stand outside the bay door and watch. My red quest had 11 out of 20 lugs cross threaded and subsenquently broken off when I tried to remove them due to the tech's laziness in using a impact. Most of the time, I load the wheels up in my truck and take them to have tires put on, car doesn't even get on shop property.

 

Kane

[jszucs]

^ yep I always take them raw rims (typiclly already broken down and fully cleaned) and have them mount and balaence. But unless I can rent time on a rack somewhere, I'm stuck giving them the car for an alignment.

[IntercooledFlatty]

I load the wheels up in my truck and take them to have tires put on, car doesn't even get on shop property.

 

Kane

 

same here, my buddy owns a tire shop. he throws MY stuff around like i'm a regular customer too so i started doing most of the work myself like putting the wheel on the machine with the tire ready to roll on with no weights on it cuz he'll scratch the wheel taking them off , he mounts it, i load em back into my truck

[jszucs]

^ that is what I want and what I use to have. My uncle was an instructor for GM for like 20 years and I had access to EVERYTHING I could have ever needed. When he retired that really sucked. If only there was a shop that would just rent me time on there rack.

[87redcat]

Now... I rarely say this but... imagine those guys working on aircraft...

I do work for a regional jet company and have flight benifits. I will drive where I have to go unless it's across country.

and my company had the best maintenance numbers out of all the USA's carriers including the majors.

 

some days I just shake my head

[Turbo Cary]

I work for a major automotive repair company on the east coast and have seen/dealt with lots of things.

 

As a tech I am highly disappointed with today's techs. I went to school, got my ase certs and have worked hard to be where I am. Unfortunately most company's want to hire crappy labor and expect dealer quality results. Hell I have people come into my shop with no tools, no experience and just want to work on cars. We don't hire just everyone but the quality of people applying is bad.

 

You should not have accepted the car with those alignment results especially on a printout. A difference of .02 or less is ok with toe but any more will cause the wheel to be off or pull. I have a somewhat old Hunter alignment machine but can do cars up to 2012 so I'm glad. It will even show the adjustment locations and how to change them for you if your not sure. So for them to argue that you can't do it is ridiculous unless they are using a super old machine with cables and stuff like that.

 

Ask for the alignment to be redone and watch them do it. Ask for a certified tech to do it and if they don't have one ask for a refund.

[88-cnqst-tsi]

Impact guns do not touch any of my vehicles. I give them my torque wrench already set, any necessary sockets, and stand outside the bay door and watch. My red quest had 11 out of 20 lugs cross threaded and subsenquently broken off when I tried to remove them due to the tech's laziness in using a impact. Most of the time, I load the wheels up in my truck and take them to have tires put on, car doesn't even get on shop property.

 

Kane

 

geez that's bad, I guess I lucked out when I got my new set of tires, they put them on and they guy saw that the PO stripped a stud a bit so he tapped it, replaced a few lug nuts and replaced the old stem seals

[viper1355]

I work on the parts side... Most of these guys are morons chasing the bottom line. I tell people to stay away from any chain shop, none of them know what they're doing. I used to deal with a shop where their head tech borrowed all his specialty tools from my rental program. There are some good shops out there, but they're really hard to find. It's taken me 2 years since I moved out here to find one shop that I'd trust to handle even normal cars... And I still wouldn't be too sure about him working on anything heavily modified.

[Hoosierquest]

Now... I rarely say this but... imagine those guys working on aircraft...

I do work for a regional jet company and have flight benifits. I will drive where I have to go unless it's across country.

and my company had the best maintenance numbers out of all the USA's carriers including the majors.

 

some days I just shake my head

 

Luckily there is enough redundancy in aircraft huh? Lol. That and every thing is on paper.

 

When I worked on general avation (mostly piston engine aircraft) I was astounded by the number of older mechanics that could not work on their own cars and would come ask me a rookie in the avaiation field for car advice.

 

[TexasQuest]

It's a shame, it really is. That's why it's so important to know as much as you can about automobiles today to avoid these situations the best you can. Luckily for me being in the automotive industry for several years and in the car hobby scene I have been able to make good connections with people I can trust if there is something I can't quite figure out automotively.

[vbrad511]

I used to sell parts to these clowns. Just as bad on my end. They would call with symptoms and expect me to tell them whats wrong with it and sell them the cheapest part I had then charge their customer dealership prices. If it wasn't that guy, his counterpart would call and ask for the cheapest sensor. This guy would just throw parts at the problem til it went away then charged the customer out the butt for all those unnecessary parts and labor all thanks to his laziness/stupidity.

 

Kane

 

^^This^^

I had a "mechanic" friend that did this on a regular basis. Didn't know what was wrong with the car, so threw things at it until he got lucky. "This was bad, which caused THAT to fail, which caused THOSE to fail" is what he'd tell them. I witnessed this a few times and quit referring friends to him. He's also the same guy I bought my first Starion from. Instead of having the sludged up radiator cleaned (so the fans would turn on), he wired the fans to a switch inside the car. Thing is, he wired them to run backward. They blew out TOWARDS the radiator. And this was a guy I trusted.

Gotta be careful out there. Read the reviews, talk to your friends.

[Malykaii]

Here's the deal with the auto industry. They want you to show up with tools (1,000$ if you went to h.f and sears, imagine s.o.) and will pay $10 an hour if you have expirience. Thats like $9 an hour after your tool expenses. If you do tire shop or have no real tools/expirience think $8. And tech school... you walk into a job with 20k debt and they offer $8 since you have no expirience.

Just based on that.... tell me what kind of people your going to atract. Anyone with a brain and social skills is going to pour coffee. Pays the same and no one expects me to brng my own $1000 espresso machine.

Any good inteligent mechanic I know is constantly looking for an out. Hence you end up with good techs moving to construction, electrical, elevators, or any government job.

 

Hence I used to work for an indie Audi shop but now am hitting 25y.o. box trucks with a hammer for ups. Guess whats harder andnwhat pays better.

Edited June 14, 2014 by Malykaii

[viper1355]

Here's the deal with the auto industry. They want you to show up with tools (1,000$ if you went to h.f and sears, imagine s.o.) and will pay $10 an hour if you have expirience. Thats like $9 an hour after your tool expenses. If you do tire shop or have no real tools/expirience think $8. And tech school... you walk into a job with 20k debt and they offer $8 since you have no expirience.

Just based on that.... tell me what kind of people your going to atract. Anyone with a brain and social skills is going to pour coffee. Pays the same and no one expects me to brng my own $1000 espresso machine.

Any good inteligent mechanic I know is constantly looking for an out. Hence you end up with good techs moving to construction, electrical, elevators, or any government job.

 

Hence I used to work for an indie Audi shop but now am hitting 25y.o. box trucks with a hammer for ups. Guess whats harder andnwhat pays better.

 

This is also true. I constantly get asked by people why I'm not working on the other side of the fence. I always give the same answer - I don't work half as hard and I bring home more at the end of the day.

[87redcat]

 

 

Luckily there is enough redundancy in aircraft huh? Lol. That and every thing is on paper.

 

When I worked on general avation (mostly piston engine aircraft) I was astounded by the number of older mechanics that could not work on their own cars and would come ask me a rookie in the avaiation field for car advice.

 

Redunancy is a good thing. and these days everything is on a computer.lol Thank God for printers!

 

Ive told my co-workers, if this job tanks, I'll be behind the parts counter at one of the big chain stores (again...) "Hi, welcome to advance how can I help you"

Edited June 15, 2014 by 87redcat