Smeldini

I have a story (its true) that I would like to share with this fine bunch of people at DTR. This is not to say anything bad about the mechanics, I am one myself in the Refrigeration industry. Here it is;
2014 I had taken my 93 W250 to a Trans mechanic in Woodland,Ca. to see if he could fix my trans problem. Not knowing anything about Auto trans I let him tell me what it needed. Lots of $$$ later , it didn't do much.
8 months later sheared the flexplate east of Fernley Nv. Got towed in with a car trailer behind my truck. $$$. Toe truck driver recommended this repair shop there ( on Saturday) so i left keys and a note. Repairs=New flex plate, scared adapter plate but ok $$$,Super long story so I'll skip a bunch. Drove from Sac to get it, got home and had a puddle of engine oil. Called them, drove it back. They called and said Rear main leaking due to flex plate braking . I said ,why didnt you see this when trans was out? they said they didnt notice it. Hard to believe cause it was "Lake Titicaca" on my drive way.
Whatever ,please repair $$$. Weeks later drove back there to get it. Coming back a few miles before i was home ( 300 mile round trip) setting at a stop light the truck started wobbling. Got home took off inspection plate and the TC/flex plate while running, looked to be warped. Another long story, called fernley again and per that Fernley mechanic, I took it to Woodland mechanic to check out. Cheaper for Fernley mechanic to not send toe truck, he would pay local guy. Woodland mechanic said TC was dented up, Thats the problem. Called Fernley, at this point i'm getting angry. I told them that who ever pulled the trans second time,,must have dropped the TC, they said no way. Well I just bought another TC and the labor to install it $$$......... , Fernley DID NOT pay the local guy, I did.
I don't mean to sound like i'm complaining, it just was a bad experience for me . Shame on me for being a dummy. It wont happen again. It is a privilege to have you guys to talk to about stuff, hopefully i can return the favor.

NJTman

I completely understand how you feel, as I've been taken through the ringer myself, only by my (former) toyota dealer whom I bought my 94 SR5 pickup. They screwed me royally, after years of being loyal to them, and purchasing 2 new vehicles from them.

on the other hand,

I just changed my cracked flexplate out myself, using a friends shop. Nothing more satisfying than doing the work myself, (although quite painful due to getting old), but at least I knew I torqued every bolt, tightened every clamp, inspected every part, cleaned and lubricated what needed.


That being said..

It's difficult at best to find someone trustworthy.....

patdaly

Sadly, that's more the norm than the exception these days. Around here, we used to have multiple quality repair shops.

Now we are down to literally one fully trustworthy place and he is getting ready to retire........ I almost wish I would have started my shop back in the day.

But I am also to the point where it would be killing my old bones.

j_martin

You have to watch it. I don't mind making a decent profit if I have you work on my machine, but don't pad it, and do it right.

I had a drivers side CV joint apparently going out on a Caravan, and took it to the shop I had trusted. Left a key with the note, "Suspect drivers side CV shaft bad. Verify and replace." I had checked the price for a new shaft assembly at NAPA and it was about $55. I expected them to throw it on the rack, visually verify the bad CV joint, order one from NAPA 3 blocks away, and put it in.

They called me and said it was done in a few hours.
$50 test drive
$153 shaft assembly
$180 labor
$27 shop supplies
Tax, etc.

On the rack, it's less than an hour job to replace the shaft. I blew my stack and got the truck back for about $185. I haven't had that shop do anything for me since unless it was under my strict supervision, like do a combustion gas in coolant test.

Mistakes happen. I had a shop misdiagnose a cold weather ignition failure on my Honda as a coil. I had to do the heat gun diagnostics myself and found the PCM to be bad. I gave the owner a good natured ribbing about it. We remain friends, still trade, and he is helpful in ways I couldn't get anywhere else, like printing the fuel line diagrams for an 88 Dakota 4x4 so I can bypass the load sensing proportioning valve that chit the bit.

cougar

Only twice have I had a mechanic/shop stand behind their failed work. 1st was VW of America. They fixed everything except what I brought it in for. They refunded my money and fixed the original problem for free. Exceptional customer service there. The second was a little 1 horse shop in Montana. He replaced an electric fuel pump on my Jeep. 300 miles later it quit in Idaho. He paid for everything. Nice guy.
More and more it seems their business practice it to keep you coming back for the same problem or charge you a ridiculous amount of money to fix it right the first time. They will also pray on your ignorance and that is what most of them will assume. So you wind up paying for an expensive over haul when in reality all you needed was a cheap $3 o-ring.
My phone book has a lot of red lines through advertisements and phone numbers of shops and mechanics. Honestly, I've gotten better service from shade tree mechanics off Craig's list.
Sorry for the rant and a lot more than my 2 pennies worth.

BigIron70

We call them hacks, I always replace rear main seal when I pull trans for overhaul. High mileage vehicles such as yours are more prone to seal leaking. Takes very little additional time to replace seal. Torque converters do not warp, most likely it was dropped or not torqued properly. Time to call BAR and your lawyer if they do not make it good for you. These shops seem to be popping up all over the country now with the cheap labor coming from south of the border.

Dieselbuilder

Years ago when I was a truck driver and listening on the two way a comment was made " I would pay double to have the job done once " words to live by

BigIron70

This is so true