Date:         Thu, 6 Jul 2006 08:19:10 -0700
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Mechanic had to pull transmission again, what would you do?
In-Reply-To:  <11dcddf80607051643u1f44de14s99fcb820e9644f04@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

>  I did SORT OF sanction the use of used parts
> (indeed the whole transmission was used. When he suggested a new
> clutch and flywheel I said: "Can you look at the old ones and see if
> it is OK to reuse them? But if its not then order a new one". That
> said, whenever he sugested a new part I said "no problem". The message
> could have been unclear, but was intended to be really "just to try to
> reuse what was pricy if it still seemed OK".  Indeed I replaced the
> perfectly functional starter at the same time because of the ease of
> access during transmission removal. I would not have blinked if he
> said we should get a new $17.82 release bearing.


Yeah, that's kind of a tough spot to be in, for both y'all. We run into
similar things all the time at work (locksmith/access control in
particular). My boss calls it "last man buys".  No matter what fool
originally installed the system you're repairing, and no matter how terrible
a job he did, if you come to fix part A and then a week later part B craps
out too, they look at YOU! Normally we follow the policy of "when in doubt,
change it out", but sometimes the client is cost conscious (usually property
managers with a limited budget) and asks us to reuse as much as we can. When
that happens, it turns into a bit of a crap shoot. We have to then start
gauging the DEGREE of doubt about the serviceability of a part. Generally,
we end up leaving in expensive parts and only replace the cheap ones, but
the mindset of "save money" is already there. Sometimes we'll leave a crappy
low voltage transformer that would only cost $20 to replace, and sure
enough, that's the next part to die. Usually, if they're a decent client,
we'll just replace it for the price of the part if it's not too hard to get
to, but nowadays we always HEAVILY disclaim (in writing) all work where the
client asked us to save money because otherwise we'd spend half our time on
non-paying callbacks. Really, if you make cost is the bottom line, you'll
pretty much always end up with a compromise job and something, somewhere is
probably going to die early. I think the best way to get a "max quality" job
done is to say "change whatever you would change if this was your own". If
you've got an honest technician, you'll pay a little more, but the system
will be less likely to fail, and if it does happen to fail, he'll be more
likely to  stand behind his work and fix it.
In the case of your crapped out bearing, It seems like the mechanic feels
really bad because he knows he probably should have just replaced it when he
had the chance because it's a cheap part that's hard to get at, but at the
same time, you DID ask him only to replace parts that looked unserviceable.
Personally, I'd pay him the $200. I don't have a lot to go by, but he sounds
like an honest guy who knows what he's doing, but got the poopy end of the
stick on a tough judgement call and had to eat a whole bunch of labor on it.
200 samoleans seems like a fair compromise.
--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"