Issue with a performance workshop... help!

[tel408]

I feel for you mate

I work out of a automatic gearbox shop, rebuilding torque converters. My boss now dose not give quotes. he will give you an estimate, or ball park figure. And the reason for that, is we dont have x-ray vison, and cleary can not see exactly what the problem is.

We have a AWD Audi in the shop at the moment, to have the gear box, and converter rebuilt. The converter would cost about $300-$400 to rebuild. When the gear box was removed, I was given the converter to rebuild. And this is were the problem now starts. When I opened it up, I found that because of hard driving, there was exstensive damage, and the converter is unrepairable. And being a ZF box, a new converter has to come from germany, and is going to cost us $2000 to buy, and a two week wait.

Now my boss would have given him an "estimate", but now he will have to contact him to let him know the job will cost a lot more. Thats just the way it is.

Now Iam not siding on the repairer that did your job, as he should have contacted you as to any cost rise because of unforseen problems. But this is the type of thing that comes up all the time.

[wkd-windza]

Find the right ombudsman, i think it may be the Motor Trades Association of Australia. Ive dealt with all sorts of ombudsman and found them to be very quick.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by tel408

My boss now dose not give quotes. he will give you an estimate, or ball park figure. And the reason for that, is we dont have x-ray vison, and cleary can not see exactly what the problem is.

This is an entirely reasonable approach.

Just the other day I was going to do the rear wheel bearing in my ute. I planned to do the job myself but needed a local shop to remove/refit the bearing to the axle. I went to a local place I have used before and asked for a firm quote.

They quoted me $44.00 to remove/refit the bearing to the axle if I bought it in. I thought that was a good price so I asked for a firm quote for them to do the whole job including changing the oil in the diff which would have cost me ~$50 to buy myself.

The price came back at $132 labour, $50 oil [$182 total]- I supply the bearing.

I thought that was a very good price and for the money there was no point me wasting a morning lying on my back in the shed so I booked it in for the next day.

When I pick up the car, the bill is $306.00.

Now, I can see that a little extra time may have been needed (though I start to wonder why they bothered quoting me in the first place...) and the car does indeed feel much nicer - as you would expect with a new bearing.

But.... I had rationalised $182 as being an acceptable price to save me doing the work. If I did it myself it would have cost me ~$90 and a couple of hours. I simply would not have spent $306 on getting it done had I had teh choice.

[Stattic]

With autos I understand there's 7
million things that can need replacing and most places say this beforehand
at least your boss calls to say there is extra work, these guys opened it up, said it was basically ok bar the one thing and charged me $1000 extra after deciding my basically fine diff needed a reco
big difference

[iliov]

Originally Posted by Stattic

With autos I understand there's 7
million things that can need replacing and most places say this beforehand
at least your boss calls to say there is extra work, these guys opened it up, said it was basically ok bar the one thing and charged me $1000 extra after deciding my basically fine diff needed a reco
big difference

As said earlier go in there with 1800 cash say here it is and take your car back. Don't let them get away with charging you 1000 more. That is an absolute joke.

[EBTom]

I had a somewhat similar experience with a local workshop.
I was getting a death rattle from the EB motor and took it to a reputable VACC accredited workshop close to my work at about 10am.

2 guys came out, had a look and a listen and said "yeah sounds like your bottom end bearings are stuffed but its hard to say until we can have a look".
So I asked what is involved in having a look, having decided that if it was going to cost over $500, id just get a new motor from the wreckers.
They said "no problem mate, we just chuck it up on the hoist, pull off the sump and have a look inside, 2 hours max". I figured about $150 was worth having a proper diagnosis so i gave them the go-ahead.
Later that day (about 4pm) i get a call from them saying my water pump was leaking, so i gave them the go ahead to replace it and they informed me the car wouldnt be ready until the next day.

Late the next day they call, i go down there and get a bill for $900.
Seems they neglected to tell me that to pull the sump off, the k-frame needs to be dropped which is like a 6 hour job. Then once the sump was off and it was confirmed that the bearings were the problem, they replaced them without asking me. When I questioned them about it, they claim that once its all pulled apart, it would be stupid to reassemble it using the old ones so they didnt bother calling.
I said a few choice words, paid the bill and never went back.

Good luck to the OP. I was pretty agro about a couple of hundred bucks so i can only imagine how ****ed you would be.

[Stattic]

new update; just rang up consumer affairs to check my rights and they told me unless there was a reason that i could not be contacted (which there was not) they have absolutely no right to do any work that i have not approved. they said i can either pay what i believe i owe them and try and get the car back OR pay them in full if i have trouble getting the car and advise them that i am taking them to the tribunal
they said it costs $36 for a tribunal hearing so believe me i will go for it.
i will offer them 1500-1600, i highly doubt they will go to the trouble of showing up to the tribunal for $400 and risk all the bad mouthing i can unleash.

in fact.. is it a good idea to show them this thread? i havent named names yet but if i show them theres a thread on the most popular ford forum in the country 3 pages long saying how shifty they are they would be pretty keen on stopping me releasing their name
just putting it out there because bad publicity isnt going to help my cause if they dont know about it.


oh and consumer affairs said if im in doubt of their work i can get another mechanic to check it out and they will have to pay the bill if for example the diff hasnt been reconditioned

[Stattic]

just to let everybody know, i have my car back and whilst im not 100% happy with the way its turned out i am satisfied with the way the mechanics handled themselves and i most probably WILL be returning
im glad i didnt name them because id feel very guilty right about now lol

i want this post to stay for a day or 2 so people can read the update then i will ask a MOD to delete the thread
also i now have a mint condition fully serviced ute diff for sale (single spinner 3.23 fairmont ratio)
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...63#post3031363
thanks for the support guys it was good to have 15 or so sympathetic ears to vent to lol

[GreenMachine]

Can you tell us what they did to make you satisfied? Seems they had an awful lot of ground to make up.

[Stattic]

it seems there was a bit of a misunderstanding from both sides which added to the confusion and look i can tell these guys are being straight with me, the price was adjusted and as a bonus turns out the diff centre off my car was in good nick and should offset the cost a bit more than i thought
they also adjusted my handbrake for nothing while they did the diff because i mentioned it CONSTANTLY squeaked so i was very happy to drive the car in silence for once (well... you know lol), that squeak was so embarassing
i also viewed the invoice from the diff shop so i know they havent just upped the price and pocketed the extra cash, i ended up paying less than the job was worth, they actually lost money on the job
so even though i blew the budget anyway, i am pleased with the way they dealt with the situation

[chrisfpv]

Looks like everything turned out alright in the end, happy for ya!

[Stattic]

Can mods please delete this thread? Thanks guys