Meeting people as a mechanic.

[LaserSVT]

I like to hear mechanic stories so lets hear it from you grease monkeys. Here are a couple from just this week.

Interesting customer conversation.
Customer: How much for brake pads?
Me: I would like to look at the car first, free of charge. Why do you think you need pads?
Him: Other shop said it needs pads. My pedal goes to the floor.
Me: *inspects car* Rear wheel cylinders are blown, you have no brake fluid. Very dangerous. $250 to overhaul the rear brakes and you will be safe again.
Him: Other shop said $50 and that it wasn't dangerous so just give me my car back. (other shop is "The Shop" in Waco)
Me: *to his two friends* Don't get back in that car.
Me: *hands waiver and instructions that car is not fit for street use to have owner sign* He signs it and says "we mus not know what we talkin bout".

They leave and promptly drive into the streetlight pole. I helped the police with why it happened. The cop happened to see the whole thing as he was sitting in Stripes waiting for people to run that light.



Next interesting customer.
I look at the car and tell him it has one hell of an oil leak but cant find it. He informs me his belt was squeaky so he poured engine oil on it like you are supposed to......... WTF!? He went on to say that's how its supposed to be done when a belt squeeks. I pointed out his PS pump and alternator were no longer spinning because of the oiled belt. $40 was too much for him for me to clean it and put a new belt on it.

Some people.




Another interesting customer from yesterday. Old dude comes in with a 95 F-150. Says it runs rough in the morning and would like it fixed. I go to pull the truck in and there are NO brakes. Pull it in, see the master is empty. So as I pull the distributor cap (can see the PCV was spraying oil on it) I tell my partner to add some brake fluid. Customer shouts "Don't do that! It will just all pour out!" ....... *bang bang bang the head on the lift* Huh? Look under the truck and the rear brake lines are completely ripped off the axle. I ask if it just happened. Nope, been like that for a year........ REALLY? How the hell do you stop? Prayers and pixie dust? I told him no way was I gonna make his truck go better before I made it stop better. Made some new lines from scratch and did a complete fill and bleed. Only charged him $120 for it and you would think I was holding him up at gun point! LOL




Also had a customer very upset at me because I wouldn't let her have my shop cat. She even tried to guilt trip me. LOL


So lets here y'alls stories.

[jdgregory84]

I was a service writer for Five Star Ford for a year and Jesus Christ. I always thought that it was funny because you could tell one person that it was gonna cost $2,000 for a major repair and them be okay with, but if you had somebody come in for a recall and you recommend minor maintenance things like coolant flushes, brake job, or something like that, they freak out call you a crook, then come back a couple of months later blaming the mechanic for fucking with their car because their brakes are grinding or their vehicle is now overheating. I loved the money but quit because some of the people were just too much to deal with. Unfortunately I was too young to realize that it's that way no matter where you work.

I even had one guy start yelling at me when he wanted a couple of maintenance things done and I told him that if we were running a special that would save him like $10 plus it included something else (can't remember what it was), basically more work for less money. While he was yelling I told him "Hey, if you shut up for a second and actually listen to me, you'll see that I'm trying to help you out." From then on out he wouldn't deal with anybody but me.

[propellerhead]

Interesting customer conversation.
Customer: How much for brake pads?
Me: I would like to look at the car first, free of charge. Why do you think you need pads?
Him: Other shop said it needs pads. My pedal goes to the floor.
Me: *inspects car* Rear wheel cylinders are blown, you have no brake fluid. Very dangerous. $250 to overhaul the rear brakes and you will be safe again.
Him: Other shop said $50 and that it wasn't dangerous so just give me my car back. (other shop is "The Shop" in Waco)
Me: *to his two friends* Don't get back in that car.
Me: *hands waiver and instructions that car is not fit for street use to have owner sign* He signs it and says "we mus not know what we talkin bout".

They leave and promptly drive into the streetlight pole. I helped the police with why it happened. The cop happened to see the whole thing as he was sitting in Stripes waiting for people to run that light.

They probably thought you fucked with their car when you inspected. In their minds they were never wrong.

[JC316]

As a direct mechanic, no stories. As a dealer/mechanic, yeah.

First one was a Mazda B4000 pickup. I got it with a fender bender and a check engine light for the stupid EVAP leak. Fixed up the fender and fixed all of the EVAP issues. Keep in mind that I put 200 miles on this truck with diagnostics and the trip home. Sold it to people that were very happy to get it. Next day I get a call saying that the check engine light came on, it died, puked all of it's oil AND antifreeze on the ground. Their "mechanic" said that the freeze plugs caused all of this and it was going to need a new engine.... After I told them that it was highly unlikely that all of that happened and I wouldn't be taking it back, it was miraculously an easy fix and they were fine...

Next one was a Cavalier. I bought it from a guy that drove the SOB from Austin to Dallas with no issues. It was a total beater, been hit, door didn't fit, etc. The COP boots were shot, which caused a code. I fixed all of that, and again, drove it over 100 miles. People came to look at it, I told them all of it's faults and sold it dirt ass cheap. They brought a "mechanic" with them and agreed to purchase it without a test drive. I insisted that they test drive it while we filled out the paperwork, so they sent their mechanic to do it. He starts the engine and immediately revs the cold engine to the limiter, peels out down the driveway, comes back, and signs off on the car.

Next day I get a call saying that it drove all the way to longview and then the check engine light came on, the transmission wont shift, and their mechanic says that it needs both an engine and transmission. They demand a refund, I say no, they accuse me of rigging it to go exactly 80 miles and then break.


Finally, a feel good story. Bought a 94 Grand am with low miles on it. Sold it to a lady with a kid, told her that once she buys it, it's hers and don't bother me about it. 15 minutes after she buys it, she calls me back saying that she hates it and asks me if I would give her money back. Since it was only 15 minutes and she was straight with me, I said no problem. Next day another person comes to look at it, loves the car, buys it and I told them the same thing, don't bring it back. 15 minutes later it's back in my driveway and I'm starting to think that this car is cursed. I asked him what wrong, he replied nothing, but I think you left some money in the cars console... Um...no. He hands me an envelope that says "happy birthday" and has $150 inside.

At this point, I don't know WTF is going on, then it dawns on me that the lady the bought it might have dropped it. I told him that and that I would get it back to the right owner. Called the previous lady up and she confirmed the name on the envelope and that it belonged to her son. She was frantically looking for it and didn't expect to see it again. My hats off to the guy that bought it, he could have EASILY pocketed that cash and no one would have known.

[whitetrash]

The only issue I ever had in a shop was our IT guy flipped shit on me for putting regular transmission fluid in his car instead of synthetic. I had no idea i was supposed to use synthetic. We rebuilt his trans in trade for work and it was an off the books thing so there wasn't any paperwork. Ended up not mattering as the trans had to come back out because the rebuild kit had the wrong band for reverse.

Now when I worked in the tire shop it was constant entertainment. People with cars not worth a grand would refuse to let us drive them and then try to say we caused damage. That was easy to dodge since we had several cameras.

And I had a guy want a warranty on a tire that we did t carry anymore, so I showed him what we had at the time. He got all pissy and yelled at me, my desk girl, and demanded a manager. I dropped, and just mean dropped, the clipboard with his paper work on the desk and he went off about me trying to hit him with it. I leaned over on the desk, and completely straight faced told him if I was gonna hit him he had better damned wish it was just with that clipboard. Little fucker ran off and found the manager himself after that lol.

[BP]

I've had a customer tell me our reman engine made too much power and blew up his transmission.

Just yesterday I had a shop claim our engine was wrong and it broke their transmission, even though it came out of the exact same model. So we sent another engine and transmission, even though they only paid for the engine. Ever broken a pump from not having the converter stabbed correctly? This guy did and our sales rep believed him.

Most of the problems I get are when shops don't realize cars have computers now and things have to be initialized. You can't just replace a transmission in a new car and expect it to work.

[stephen4785]

When i worked at VW I drew a job on a brand new Jetta(20 something miles on the car). The ticket said "Adjust bolts". I have no idea what that meant so I talk to the service writer and he points me toward the owner that's still there. We walk out to his car and he tells me that he's a pilot at Lockheed and informs me that he's a very important person. I open the hood of the car and he says "I can tell that all of the engine bolts are loose because they're not lined up". I have a discussion with him about bolts and I can tell that he's getting more and more upset. He cuts me off and in mid sentence and then tells me that I will align all of the bolts and im gonna do it right now. I told him I wasnt touching his car and he could pull it out. The service writer ended up pulling it out to the front drive after the guy threatened to have the whole dealership torn down.

When I was a mechanic at Midas this cute little Asian lady brought in an 80's model Jaguar that she just purchased and said the brakes were squealing. I lift it up and take the wheels off and notice that every caliper bracket is broken and someone had drilled small holes around the cracks and stitched them up with coat hangers. The only thing holding the brakes to the car were coat hangers. The whole car was a piece of crap. Every fluid leaked, tires were bald, suspension was worn out and the battery ground was just a bunch of coat hangers taped together. I show the car to the service manager and the other techs and then show the Asian lady. We tell her that the car is not safe to drive and my manager types up a letter that were not responsible for her car. Before she left I told my service manager that I think it's a scam and she probably gonna have a guy bring it back and demand free work because we messed up her car. We documented everything and took pictures. She leaves with the car and an hour latter she comes back with her husband. The car came back on a flat bed with no wheels. He said that she drove out of the parking lot and all of the wheels came off. The owner of that Midas gets involved and the cops come out. 2 weeks latter I get my paycheck and it says "$0". I found out that the owner had another mechanic replace the front struts, brakes, and hubs and was charging me for it. Even with all of the information we had he said that there's no reason the wheels should've fallen off and I left the lug nuts loose so I was charged for it. The car made it about 10 feet past the parking lot next to the store, all 4 wheels "fell" off and no lug nuts were still on the car. I'm pretty sure she pulled into that parking lot, her husband removed all of the lug nuts, and when she turned right to go out on the street the wheels fell off. I ended up loosing $600-700 over the deal.

[Baron Von Crowder]

I did my best to not deal with customers when I was at the dealership, that was the service adviser's job.

Now at my shop in Venus. we get a LOT of crackheads that stop in asking for mechanical work. I make it a point to turn most of them away right off the bat, but there are some that will be persistent and think their sob story is going to change that. One that stood out in my mind was a tweaker that was going from shop to shop trying to save a buck or two. He asked me about changing something out for him and wanted a price. After repatedly telling him I didnt think his problem would be solved by replacing whatever it was, he finnally just asked me what I would charge him to do it anyway, and I quoted him about twice what I figured it should be. He then scoffs at me, says that the three other places he's been to were less than half that. I asked him why he was wasting time going to 4 different places, and he tells me he didnt have the money.

[SS Junk]

I was a service writer for Five Star Ford for a year and Jesus Christ.

I've met a fair share of service writers/managers and techs and have the same thought. They were all full of shit and would sell their children for a dollar.

[Cooter]

last time I tried to buy a kid, they pulled the bait and switch on me... said I had JUST missed the kid for $1, but they had a really nice kid available for $4...

sonsabitches!

[stephen4785]

When I was a mechanic at Petro a truck driver an owner/operator thought our a/c prices were too damn high. So he bought a case of r134 from Walmart and proceeded to put every can into his truck in our parking lot. After the 10th or so can we see this cloud of smoke coming out of his truck. He brought it back in and instead of paying us to evac the system to replace a schrader valve we replaced a line and his dryer.

[CRASH]

I ended up loosing $600-700 over the deal.

That business establishment would have mysteriously burned to the ground a week later.....

[BP]

That business establishment would have mysteriously burned to the ground a week later.....

Midas generally builds their stores out of fireproof materials and the glass is bullet resistant for this reason.

[Lone Star Performance]

Had a kid call me and ask if we can do a Supercharger and turbos on his 2010 Camaro. I told him yes, but it's not the best idea for a daily driver and more for show. He says "oh, ok it's just that the turbo cars always seem to beat the supercharged cars in his video game"

[helosailor]

Firestone generally builds their stores out of fireproof materials and the glass is bullet resistant for this reason.

Fixed that for ya.

Had a guy call on Monday and say that his truck got broken into and that they stole his battery. He wanted to get a new one from us because his battery was still under warranty. I had to, in great detail, explain the difference between a warranty and an insurance policy.