Well, I've had some experiences dealing with dealership mechanics, too. My '01 convertible, when I bought it off a college student had some issues. One issue was the fact that the rear brakes didn't work. Both rear rotors were obviously rusty indicating nothing was going on back there. I took it to my local Chrysler dealership. They charged me $85 to look at it and diagnose the problem. Contaminated brake fluid, he said. Wanted $1400 to rebuild all calipers and the master cylinder.
I asked the guy if the car had a proportioning valve, which, to me, would explain why only the rear brakes were out. He said no, it doesn't have a proportioning valve, it's the master cylinder. I said, I doubt that because if the MC went bad, there should be a problem in diagonal brakes, because the system is split diagonally, not front/rear. So he starts with a song and dance about he's a certified mechanic and would stake his reputation on what he was saying, that I didn't know what I was talking about and that the system was split front-to-rear, blah, blah blah.
I said nuts and took the car to a local guy who replaced the proportioning valve (it does have one as it's a non ABS vehicle), and flushed the fluid for about $200. Brakes are fine, working at all four wheels now.
If I had paid the $1400 to rebuild the whole system (EXCEPT the proportioning valve) it would not have fixed the problem. The guy would have spent hours rebuilding parts that could be replaced for far less money. I still would have had to get the proportioning valve replaced.
Don't get me started on the guys at the Mercury dealership. I have never once been able to bring the car in there for a repair that didn't require a second trip to finish the job. My feeling is, now, keep your expectations low and double check everything afterwards.
Sorry, guys, but there's another side to every story.

 

oh I agree completely I can say for the most part I have been stuck with fixing other techs F ups.

 

Absolutely, Without a doubt....So theres no need to be sorry. There are good and bad at every profession.
When a car does something wrong, the first thing to come to mind, is that "I'm Going to be robbed". In many cases, sad to say, this is true. There is dishonesty and incompetence plaguing this, and every other industry.

Now, ....If youve read tthru the entire post, These guys as well as myself, have made references to specific issues. which are "Common" to a work day for a Tech.
I dont know it all, far from it. In fact with everything there is to know, in comparison, I know Nothing.....But to have someone who knows less than nothing, call me a thief, before I have even gotten the car in a service bay is un-acceptable to me.

I made references in my last post, about a Pulsing brake pedal on ice, I made references to a "Swervy Car " lamp and poor acceleration on Ice. I also made references to an Ice covered windshield, and broken wipers.......AND ALL of these customers REFUSED to pay a Diagnosis charge, Because the Vehicle should be covered by the terms of their warranty....!!!
Now , Most techs get paid on "FLAT RATE", which is based on work produced, NOT HOURLY CLOCK TIME.
If I were to spend a mere 15 minutes with each of these cars, between Driving it in, Checking the oil, checking the air pressures in the tires, topping off the winshield wiper fluid and all the other inconsequential stuff thatCustomers have come to EXPECT as part of vehicle maintenance, Road testing the vehicle and writing the ticket as "no problem found, advise customer of proper operating Charachteristics of the system" I just lost almost an hour of pay out of my pocket, because I did not "PRODUCE" any work. You as a customer would certainly NOT want , or be willing , to pay Diagnostic charges on a car that no trouble could be found with, would you???? And If I insisted to be paid for my time spent looking at your car to determine that it is indeed functioning correctly, I would be accused of being a thief.
I know this is going to sound harsh, and it isnt meant to.....But I dont go to work to service vehicles....I go to work to feed my family.....And if I have to spend my time reading and explaining the pages of your owners manual,Because you dont understand how it works, or you didnt read it yourself, My Family Starves...

Sorry, but there are NO customers in the world that I like THAT MUCH.
I didnt design the car with the 200 dollar ignition key, Nor the Car with 19 inch tires , available from only One Vendor, or the PCM that only accepts One Vin Number programmed into it. I didnt diagnose the car That came from "Your Guy" who said the Computer was bad. I did what was asked of me.
Truthfully, My biggest Beef with Clientel, Is the warranty Customers.....
PHYSICAL DAMAGE Is not Covered under warranty....If a RAT, Or a Squirrel were to get under your hood, and chew thru a Harness, Your car will not start....It is not a factory defect That caused the issue, But The customer is hell bent at us, because their brand new car doesnt start. Who pays the Tech to look at it, Who pays for the tow, who pays for the repair???? I didnt Chew the harness, so Certainly not me....I didnt accidentally hit the switch that disabled your power outlets, or the one that disabled the sliding doors, I didnt put the bubble gum wrapper on your floor, which made its way under the "Stow-N-Go" latches. But I did spend my time looking at it, and at the end of the day, I have to bring home "Cheese And Crackers " for dinner???? I know its a burden, and an Unexpected expense. But why am I paying for a customers Negligence.....

A Parting Thought.....If you walked into McDonalds with a Nickel in your pocket, what would you buy????? NOTHING...There is nothing on the board for 5 cents.....Now My question....WHY DID YOU BOTHER TO GO INTO McDonalds In The First Place?????

 

Okay, one more story. Years ago I worked at the Experimental Garage for Ford at the Dearborn proving ground. Mostly we worked on prototypes for upcoming models to try to get the kinks out before they went into production. One day somebody brought in a current model Lincoln because of brake problems. Apparently the owner knew a big high muckey-muck in engineering and couldn't get satisfaction from the dealer for his continuing brake problems. They pulled the brakes apart and found they were all blue and burned badly, but could find no problem whatsoever with operation of the system. So they put all new brakes on and, on a hunch, got the owner to agree to a "test ride", where our mechanic rode with the owner for a half-hour or so to see if he could learn anything. Sure enough, the customer was a "two-foot" driver, right foot on the gas, left foot on the brake. Only problem was the guy never let up on the gas once he pushed down on it. He would regulate his speed with the brakes, and was dragging the brakes all the time.
We always felt we should try to design cars to be fool proof, but we drew the line at trying to make them idiot-proof.

 

There is my point exactly!!!!

Now if you were the tech at that dealership, who lost your shirt , only to discover this scenario....Wouldnt you be upset????

I also have been doing this a long time, And Ive learned to accept that I cannot Fix STUPID...But Having to pay for "someone elses" stupid is something that I dont think I will ever be able to swallow.

 

The biggest problems with dealerships are the service writers, not the techs. Too many opportunities for illiterate service writers to ineffectively communicate. In a lot of peoples' eyes, they're fluff. If the writers are former service techs, that's an entirely, more customer-positive, story. It's the dealer's responsibility to make sure that their staff is trained. It doesn't take a secret shopper to know the diff.

If a client doesn't want to pay for diagnostics, he won't get them, because HE DIDN'T ORDER THEM!

 

And apparently You, myself and the three others who posted on this thread are the only human beings on the planet who believe this....

Its your Job.....Tell the guy UP FRONT, that THERE WILL BE A DIAGNOSTIC CHARGE IF YOUR CONCERN IS NOT WARRANTABLE......

As I told my Writer just this morning....If you dont think that he should have to pay diagnostics...Then he doesnt pay them....Fine...no problem there.....BUT YOU WILL BE OPENING YOUR WALLET.....AND HANDING YOUR HARD EARNED CASH TO ME....Reach into your pocket....not mine.....

And this seems to make absolutely no sense to anyone , because The writer, and the customer, as well as The SVC manger and Jr SVC Manager, all stood there with their mouths open in shock....

No , Maybe its bad for biz...But frankly, I dont care if the guy walks out or not...I'm not doing it for free......

 

This whole thread is one of the basis for me going into biz for myself. I own my own mobile repair for chrysler,dodge and jeep and in doing so cut out the middle man the service writer. There are good ones and bad one like techs like cashiers like any one in the service industry. I get to handle all teh info asked and coming in to make the correct call in what would need to be done and how to handle it. I also get to handle the money side of it when it comes down to what and how some one can pay. Do u tip a waiter that gave u his best service and did ever thing u asked of him? Your dam right you do the techs are the man behind the curtain U asked us to do something we did it to the best of our ability and either U cant afford it which is all fine and dandy or u dont want to have it fixed which is also your call your car but u haft to pay for what was due which is at least a one hour check out charge in most cases.


the service writer is not doing any one any good to just say its ok I dont want to hear u bitch so I wont charge you. They get paid off how much they do every month and most of them have the whole shop working for them or a team of tech working for them so they can loose 90 bucks no big deal but not to the one tech that's 25 bucks gone.

This is also how EVERY SINGLE SHOP WORKS ACROSS THE USA. not just dealers.
Dam we need education in our schools about service stuff and basic economics. This freeking word runs off it u would think that it should be something we should be learning in school. I had my parents and myself to teach me.

=)----

 

Y'know, I think people have no idea how the repair business works, just like they have no idea how their car works. You can see it on these forums. "Hey, my car is making a funny noise, what is wrong?" and they expect you will be able to know precisely what is wrong because you are the expert and they have described the problem to you with precision. They think of a car an an organic whole, not a collection of parts. They don't know, but if you asked them, they would figure you fixed the car by waving a magic wand over it.

 

And staying True to form....

My magic wand cost me money, and unless you have one of your own, I suggest you crack open your wallet before I wave it around at your car....

Now that I have calmed down a bit in the last few days.....

We dont invite perfect strangers to our homes and give away all of our food, we (In most countries) do not give away our wives and children.We all have someting special, that BELONGS to Us, and wouldnt dream of giving it away......

As for a Tech...We worked hard learning our craft, and we were paid in Knowledge....That knowledge is ours to do with as we please. So most of us trade it for cash to pay the bills and buy food, and keep a roof over our heads.

Where I get confused is this...The customer must have had a Job at some point, and knowledge of his or her own CRAFT, that they traded for cash to Buy their Car.... All things being equal...if Knowledge was to be given away, He would be walking...and I wouldnt have to fix his car!!!!

A wise old man once told me..... If everything in Life were free....we would all be penniless.