Is it illegal for auto repair shops to do this?..... (1 Viewer)

[Paul Padilla]

If the truck wasn't your livelyhood then this is what I would have recommended to do at the time. Hindsight, of course.

The attempt to call is completely irrelevant. "You weren't home/didn't answer so I did a bunch of work anyway.!??"

I agree that the BBB is essentially worthless. Tons of businesses choose to not even register with the BBB because the only thing it can do is harm them via complaints such as this....regardless of the complaint's merit. You might help someone else by filing the complaint but it won't get anything done for yourself.

Definitely look into the DA's office and consumer affairs. They're the only ones who have any real power to do anything. You're may not get any cash back, but again, hopefully this won't happen to someone else.

Speaking to their corporate office could go either way. They might step up and offer you a discount or a few free oil changes if they're smart. Or, they could give you the total runaround. Keep your emotions out of it and simply try to find out what their policy is for estimates. Do this only after finding out what your local laws have to say on the subject so you have all the facts.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

It wouldn't hurt to publish the name of the firm either, or threaten to go to the media. Bad press is not good for business, and as long as you aren't libeling them, they have no legal recourse. If it's a chain, there is even more pressure on the franchise to make things right, since head office and other owners don't like their businesses being given a (well deserved) bad rap.

 

[Paul D G]

Talk show host on KFI in LA just got back from vacation and bitched that on both flights the airline provided substandard food service (both times missing he and his wife). He told the stewardess this and she told him to sit down. He said he was a host on a major market radio show and unless he got proper service he'd tell his story to the world. She told him to sit down or she'd call the pilot.

Which he knew perfectly well would mean he'd be arrested for harrassing the flight crew.

So he sat down and what did he do repeatedly during his first show back?

-paul

 

[Chu Gai]

To those who've said to take your complaint to a higher level in the corporate chain, I say go for it Kevin. From what you've said, what happened in your situation is likely illegal not to say unethical. I can only recount one story I had with Midas. I needed new struts which they installed and came with a one year warranty. The nature of the warranty was that if there was a problem, I'd get a new set of struts but I'd have to pick up the labor. Now strut failure doesn't often come quickly. It's usually a gradual thing such that one day you find you're bottoming out where you never did before. Well, the 13th month it became obvious there was a problem. I took it back to the same Midas and after checking the car, he agreed the struts were bad and told me my cost would be somewhere in the vicinity of $200 for labor. I objected stating that a lifetime of just past the warranty period was unacceptable for whatever Monro struts they installed. So, I contacted Midas' corporate office and spoke to a woman there and recounted my story. We then spoke again after a couple of days and she concurred that the practical lifetime of these shocks should have been much greater. What she did was authorize the shop I visited to do the repairs and Midas corporate would pick up the labor charge. Net cost to me in dollars was nothing although a few days went by.

Maybe in your situation what will happen is that corporate will pick up the labor charges also. If you don't get the answer you like at the first level, ask to speak to a supervisor and just go higher up the food chain.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> If nothing else, it will be on public record that they are unethical.

No, it would be put on record that you claimed they are unethical. Not all complaints that are filed are valid- there are some pretty unreasonable customers out there. (Not saying the story in this thread is like that.)

And how many people would bother telling the BBB about a POSITIVE experience with a company?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Point taken Chris. However, the more noise you make, the more likely something will be done about it.

I had a situation with Hyundai several years ago. Both my sister and I had the same model year, and both of us had been complaining about a problem with the transmission during its scheduled maintenance at the dealership, which they claimed was normal. My sister drives a lot more than I do. When her car reached 80K kms, the tranny went, two months out of warranty. The dealership quoted her $2800 to fix it. After looking up the problem at a car defect site and determining that this was an inherent problem, I made a few calls to corporate, they still would do nothing. Finally, I took the story to a few newsgroups, explainaing the situation, and how it was being handled. A few days later I get a call from the dealership saying they will repair the transmission for $300. I told them that if my tranny died at 80K, they'd be hearing from me... it did, but by now the dealership was gone. Had I not made a fuss in the first place, my sister would have been out more than the book value on the car.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

That's the answer!

I wouldn't have written a cheque in the first place, there was no financial agreement and they had no business doing anything without your consent. I've never even heard of a reapir shop or even dealership that would operate under such circumstances without a required signature underlining a contractual agreement...

You should have gone to a reputable body shop to get an estimate for the work and than offer them the equivalent. If they were unhappy, too bad, Let them take you to court. I highly doubt they would have prevented you from driving off the lot and if they even tried something like that, I'd have the most overstated stringent and inexorable lawyer's letter faxed to their office that same afternoon agressively threatening action. They'd hand those keys back with a quick apology and eat the expense.

If I were you I'd issue a stop payment immediately. $10 is insulting. They obviously think they can take you for a ride, I wouldn't let them.

 

[John Spencer]

Well, as soon as he stops payment on the check, he becomes a criminal. That's the same as writing a bad check in the first place in the eyes of the law. Then these dirtbags have recourse to sue you for writing them a bad check. And they can be really ugly with that if they so choose.

 

[Paul Padilla]

I'd have to agree on that one. Kevin has the vehicle with the repairs done and (hopefully) in working order with any parts that were installed. For all of that, he (begrudgingly) paid for the work in good faith until he could investigate his recourse. Stopping the check might only be a viable option if he had reasonable proof that the work was not done which isn't the case. Even in that scenario, the shop could make Kevin's life hell in the mean time until it all got sorted out.

Settling the dispute of the price and the work being authorized needs to be handled separately. Sometimes being "right" in the moment just isn't worth it.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

The only problem with making payment in the first place is that it provides a good argument that you agreed to the work being done, and the price for doing it. I lost a suit that was similar in nature for that very reason, despite believing my case was solid going in. The judge figured I had a change of heart after the fact, which I didn't.

 

[Paul Padilla]

I see your point, but it sounds like he wasn't in a position to prolong the confrontation. Simply refusing to pay and taking his vehichle would have had police knocking on his door regardless of paperwork because there were undoubtedly other witnesses at the shop who could corroborate that the service was done.

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Well, the corporate suits called me today to say tough luck. This was my first and last experience w/ Mr. Transmission.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Have you pursued this at all with any consumer relations agencies?

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Thanks Jeff, I'll try tomorrow. Georgia Office of Consumer Affairs?