Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 08:52:02 -0400
Reply-To: Puzerewski <Puzerewski@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Puzerewski <Puzerewski@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Subject: Re: scammed? Idle stabilizer
I feel the same way Ken does sometimes. I am a decent "shade tree"
mechanic, and have some parts, and partsmobiles for sale.
Often times, a person will email, call, etc. for a part that I have which
involves a great deal of labor to remove, and the y will offer something
like $25...........The part new is worth $200, and it is going to take me a
couple hours work to remove.............I am not an idiot, my time is
valuable to me........often times the reply I get is that I am ripping them
off or something to that effect.
I cannot count the number of times I have pulled a part when "the check is
in the mail" only to never have the check arrive....thank goodness I never
send the part until I get the check.
My local vw mechanic ( that I have became friends with) and I were talking
the other day about the amount of times he does estimates, etc....for free.
Often times he does not get the work, for he is very thorough, and will not
do a halfway job., so people do not want to hear what it costs to do a real
brake job........he has begun charging for said estimates, and more power to
him...he should!!! A lot of people out there have a good mechanic tell him
what is wrong and then fix it themselves..............at the expense of the
mechanics free advice.
Not sour grapes by any means, for I love helping out, but, time is indeed
money. And unfortunately mechanical work takes time!
Adam Puzerewski
81 westy
74 beetle
86 cabrio
Vanagon Partsmobiles
----- Original Message -----
From: <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 6:49 AM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] scammed? Idle stabilizer
> Oh, I heartily agree with you there. Not too long ago a customer, who I
had
> dealt with before when I first started my business, said he was having a
> problem and asked me what I thought it was. From his description it
sounded
> like the Air Flow Meter to me and I suggested that he test this via the
> manual and get back to me. Well he didn't want to bother with that and
said
> to just get him one. They are over $200 but he didn't seem to care. Then
he
> said he wanted to come down to my shop and have me install it for him. I
> told him that it would only take him a few minutes to do the job himself
and
> he said that he would install it and then drive down to the shop for a
tune
> up. The only day he could come down was a Saturday and so, even though I
> didn't want to, I took some time on my day off to help him. He arrived
with
> the new AFM still in the box. "I thought I would just let you install
it".
> So I did and also fixed an idle problem that he had by swapping out his
> throttle valve and doing a few other things. By the time everything was
done
> it was three hours later (he stood there watching and talking to me as I
> worked so this slowed me down) and we went to settle the bill. He didn't
> want to pay! When I gave him the bill he didn't want to pay the labor and
> said, "I could have done what you did myself." And he didn't want to pay
my
> high labor cost of $30 an hour either, "I have a mechanic that can do it
for
> $15 an hour," he says. The thing that I want to get across here is how I
> felt. This guy was telling me that what I had done was of zero value to
him
> since he didn't feel obligated to pay for it. I could have spent the day
> with my family and friends, but I sacrificed it for this? Well he payed
less
> than he should because I was so angry at this point that I just wanted him
> out of there. And I will never work for him again. So the conclusion is,
if
> you feel like you are getting ripped off by a mechanic don't deal with him
> again and let him know why. But if you have a guy that is trying to help
> you, don't begrudge the man his money because if you do he may not be
there
> for you the next time around.
>
> Thanks,
> Ken Wilford
> Van-Again
> John 3:16
> http://www.vanagain.com
> Office: (856)-765-1583
> Fax: (856)-327-2242
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