Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 11:29:06 -0400
Reply-To: Christopher Gronski <gronski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Christopher Gronski <gronski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Mechanic had to pull transmission again, what would you do?
In-Reply-To: <6da579340607060819y57504fd0jbc33d377d7f41f6e@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I should have mentioned, after all that, he replaced the first dead
bearing with ANOTHER USED BEARING from the other transmission. Despite
me saying "Are you sure that is a good idea after the first one
failed?" his reply was something like "Well it is a used transmission,
used flywheel and a used clutch".
Honestly I think he re-used the first bearing because he was in a bit
of a hurry to get me out of his shop and did not want to order one,
and same again with the second bearing. He was going on holidays for
two weeks and wanted this off his plate.
I'm going to give him the $200, but if the second used bearing fails
its all on him.
Chris
On 7/6/06, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 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"
>
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