Hey,,, I wanna rant

[TheGrey]

What a frustrating, infuriating situation!
Let us know how it turns out!

[buckshotbarlow]

damn, this sucks. Hope you get ur funds. Ar you out a lot of funds for the repairs?

[Byte Stryke]

Damned Shame man, hope you get it all squared soon

[Superorb]

That guy needs to be a man and pay his obligations. Stupid entitled bastards. The only thing he is entitled to is an ass beating. That's the only thing these idiots understand.

[Mtn.man]

Still waiting, check in the mail, still locked.

[tmleadr03]

Customers can be a real pain. There have been a few that have caused way more stress then any vehicle ever did.

One that always comes to mind happened when I was running a shop up in Lakewood. This ladies S10 Blazer broke down, would not run. Her husband called me (long time customer) and brought it over. Ended up being a fuel pump, so we replaced it. Over a month later (if memory serves it was about three months) he calls again and her car wont run again, but it will fire for a short time if it sits. So he tows it over and I diag it. Fuel pressure regulator gasket in the throttle body failed and it was flooding the engine. I call him back and sell him a throttle body gasket and new regulator. He oks the repair. The day after I finish the repair his wife calls and demands to know why I have been working on her car with out her permission. After all it is her name on the title. She did not authorize the repair.

She comes in, raises hell. Real evil woman quite honestly. Talking to her on the phone would get my blood pressure up like you would not believe. She called me a liar, incompetent (I should have diagnosed the fuel pressure regulator when the fuel pump went out), claims that I am just in the business to take advantage of women (christ I didn't know I had that option) and just plain acts like a bitch.

She tries to say we are braking the law by working on the car with out a signature. I explain that no, under CO law if a vehicle is towed in you can perform repairs with out a signature. And we have record of the phone call. She claims I overcharged her for the repair since she called the dealership and the parts I told her we replaced would not have cost that much (not the right part, but still a difference of 10 bucks). I explain what we did. And why.

This goes on for a week. Finally she and her husband come to pick the car up. He pays for the repair in cash (seriously this is a 250 dollar repair). I think that is the end of it. The husband looks straight up embarrassed the entire time he is there. Strange to see someone that big look sheepish.

A week later we get a certified letter from her demanding we refund the money or she will take us to court. My response was "Bring it bitch, I am willing to die on this hill". The owner caved and cut her a check for the amount of the repair. I would have taken a day off from work to spend in court. I would have spent my own money to hire my own lawyer to fight her. I would really have been willing to spend a grand over 250 bucks. God she pissed me off.

I didn't get pissed being about called incompetent. I am not perfect, and I do make mistakes when working on cars some times. What sent me through the roof was being called a liar and a cheat. I was completely willing to go scorched earth over that.

[Aloha_Shooter]

^^^ Wow.

Just be happy you're not married to her.

[tmleadr03]

^^^ Wow.

Just be happy you're not married to her.

After the first aggressive phone call with her I actually hit something. And I do mean that literally. I am a very level headed person for the most part, takes a bit to get me rilled up. I was lit. I had to hit something repeatedly, go for a walk away from the shop before I cooled down enough to trust myself on a car with out breaking something. If I had PTSD, she would have pressed that button.

[Ronin13]

Wow, this all makes me happy I'm practically retarded when it comes to mechanics. I can change my oil, filters, brakes, alternator and that's about it. I don't know how I would be able to handle terrible customers who are difficult in paying. Glad I'm not in the service industry as I've seen my share of horrid customers in the insurance world- but if you don't pay in this business, we just cancel you.

For instance, had a person call to get a quote on their home, it's somewhere in the 4,000 square foot and in a very nice area (we average to be about $200/sq ft for replacement cost) so it comes in at just over $800K for coverage. She says "Well xxxx company has me insured for $450K! Are you guys trying to rob me!?" I simply said "Ma'am, we estimate the replacement cost based on the size of your house and the cost per square foot to rebuild." Her response: "Well the market sucks, my house is only worth maybe $400,000 right now." "Ma'am, insurance doesn't care what you can sell your house for, it only cares how much it would cost to rebuild if you had a total loss tomorrow." This went on for about 5 min, telling her that she was way underinsured and if we were to write the policy we would have to try to be as accurate as possible as they would send and inspector out to figure out the actual replacement cost. She said that we were terrible at our job and hung up- wasted a 15min phone call on someone that didn't understand, and didn't care to understand. Fine, just trying to educate her so she doesn't get screwed. I really hope the house doesn't burn down, because she could maybe build 2/3s of the house with the coverage she has. And it shows that whoever her agent is figured it would probably cost $500-something to rebuild, and their company offers 120% replacement cost coverage, so he just deducted 20% and called it good.

[rondog]

Sounds to me like that trailer should either be moved to a different location or you should remove the wheels. If he cuts the lock, yeah, he broke the law. But getting anything done about it might be a different story, even FINDING the guy might be tough. I wouldn't expect the Sheriff's office to hurry right over to prosecute some schmuck for stiffing you on a repair bill. He can't cut the lock and take the trailer if it's not where he thinks it is, and if it is there, he can't pull it away without any wheels on it. Cover thy ass as legally as you can. Even though the law is on your side, getting resolution may be tough.