Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 15:22:23 EDT
Reply-To: Benjita@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Cory Zumbrennen <Benjita@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Mechanics just dont listen!!!!! (no VW, long)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I have a grotesque example of mechanic error and not listening. This was
several years ago when I had a BMW 325ix. For those of you who are not
familiar with BMW's they have a series of lights on the dashboard that
indicate when it's time for a service. Sort of like a countdown. Anyway my
service lights had counted down to the point where it was time for a tune up.
So I brought the car into MARK'S FOREIGN CAR SERVICE OF BOULDER CO. and made
an appointment to have the tune up done. I come back that day to pick up the
car and everything is A-Okay, I drive about 20 miles and the car is feeling a
little more peppy thanks to the tune up, when I notice that the service
indicator lights have not been reset. So I turn around and bring the car back
to MARK'S. Mark himself says okay no problem he'll reset the lights. To do
this you need to have a special reset tool that hooks up to the ECU and you
need to follow a specific procedure. Mark tells mechanic #1 to go take care
of it. I wait. Mechanic #1 comes back to mark in a few minutes with the
special BMW tool and says that he doesn't know how the tool works. At this
point I stand up and say, "You need to be carefull resetting the lights
because you can damage the brain." both of them look at my with thinly veiled
contempt. And Mark says in his thick German accent, "Vee know vhat ve are
doing here!". I sit down properly chagrined. A few minutes later Mechanic #
1 comes in and says that the lights have been reset and I'm ready to go. I go
out to start the car and absolutely nothing happens, dashboard lights up but
the car won't turn over. I tell Mark he says that he will look into it but
can't today so call him tomarrow. I walk home.
The next day I stop in hoping that the car has been fixed. It hasn't. I talk
to mark and he says that my ECU has been fried and that I need a new one which
will be about $900. I of course tell him this is your fault you did this to
the car. And I pull out my Bentley manual which specifically states that
failure to follow the proper reset procudure may cause damage to the ECU. He
absolutely denies it!! He tells me I don't know anything. I am literally too
shocked to speak. I finally say, "How can you say that, it is obvious that
you are responsible for this." At which point he tells me to get my car off
of his property!?? At this point I'm thinking that this guys nuts and if I
don't leave he's probably going to beat me. My friend and I push the poor car
across the street. A few days later I go back there and tell Mark that I am
taking him to court. He does not even look at me or acknowledge my presence.
6 weeks later is the big day I've done all this research into the problem, I
have my Bentlry, and I have my own personal testimony that I typed up and sent
to myself immediately following the event, which had remained sealed and dated
by the post office waiting for it's day in court. I go to court and Mark
doesn't show up. The judge asks me, " Do you swear this is the truth?" I say
yes he bangs his gavel. I have the judgement against Mark for $1000 + court
costs. In my elation I go straight over to Mark's and show him the judgement,
he looks at it, and writes me up a check, and says, "You are not right here,
you have punished me for something that I did not do, I would lose more money
by having to go to court(and missing work) than I will paying this judgement,
that is why you won." I just walked out. They guy's obvoiusly in his own
little world, and thought that he could push me around because I was a young
18 year old.
Thanks to any of you who read through this. Outside of the people who were
involved I've never talked about it....feeeels gooood:-)
As a side note Mark's Foreign Car Service continues to grow they just expanded
and remodled their facility??? Mystery to me.
Cory
'86 Syncro Westfalia
In a message dated 98-06-10 14:38:35 EDT, Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA writes:
<<
Frequently the mention of small claims court can get some results.
I had a similar situations with the local Ford dealer and my Escort
and a clutch stutter. He knew that me representing myself and him
hiring a lawyer and my complaint being a matter of public record
(not to mention the BBB) would mean that he would loose more money
than just absorbing the cost over-run. He decided to cover the
whole thing, just as we agreed - before the work started. For the
record, I never got mad at him, I just assertively suggested what my
options were and that I was prepared to do, and I refused to accept
his explaining away his shop's incompetence of the moment. I had to
go throught 2 levels of management, but it worked.
Good luck. Malcolm S
> Hi all,
>
> Well today I went to Hendrix VW in Middletown CT and had a very bad
> experience. I had told the guy that I had an 87 VW Vanagon Syncro...I
> specifically told him it was a syncro just like Mike Jones which he has
worked
> on. He said he understood and when I asked him to do the starter he quoted
me
> a price of 50 bucks well I questioned that with are you sure your talking
> about the syncro? You do realize some people say that you have to lower
the
> tranny to get the starter out. He said yes and so I made an appointment
for
> today. Well after driver an hour to get there and waiting around for an
hour
> and a half waiting for him to have time to put it on the lift he starts
> working on it and has the stupidity to say to me ...."I did not realize
this
> was a syncro" I told him that I specifically said it was on the phone..and
> then said that he's worked on Mike Jones and mine is the same. Then he
tried
> to tell me that Mikes Starter is set up differently.....I dont believe that
VW
> changed the placeing of the starter on the 89 syncro did they?
>
> It is just getting to me that mechanics can just quote you a price and then
> tell you they can do the job and then totally revoke everything they said
and
> tell you that you were wrong!! If a mechanic does not know anything about
a
> syncro why dont they just tell you instead of lyeing to you and playing
guess
> work.....I could play guess work myself but I wanted a professional to do
it.
>
> Thank you for listening to me and I hope no one else has experiences like
this
> because I left there without my new starter because he didnt have enough
time
> today. Anyone know any shops around the CT and Mass area that have done
> starters on Syncro's. Thank you .
>
> Tim G
> 87 gl syncro(166k) >>
| 
