hey guys i put my car in the shop a couple weeks ago to have the bushings on my doors re-done. the guy charges me $50 for two door kits which is ridiculous but with $100 labor the total being $150 i thought that was a fair price being it is a PITA job.

i pick up the car and the doors close like a new car and im a happy man. when i get home i look at the hinges a little closer and they did all the door pins and bushings but not the roller guides. i go strait back to the guy and show him the next day. he tells me drop it off and he "will take care of it". long story short when i pick up the car for the second time he tries to hand me a bill for another $115 including another door kit set @ $15ea. i told him that it was part of the first job i had already paid for and you said you would take care of it he says thats not what he meant. he explains that it is two different jobs but he never told me a price and the estimate paper he gave me when i dropped it off said no charge. he tells me go ahead and take the car so i did. now should i go back and pay the guy? looking at the hinges the old rollers were hanging off broken why would that not need to be fixed? i think im in the right what do you guys think?

 

keep the car and move on .

you paid for the job the first time and they didn't do complete job .

they made it right and allowed you to take the car w/o paying the extra costs which tells me they realized they missed it the first time -
the mechanic that did it tried to skimp on getting out of doing everything
as needed for the original repair - or that is a stand up shop and mistakes happen - but they made it right and no harm / foul on your part.

 

yes but the guy acts like i still owe him $115 and if i want anything else done im going to have to pay it. its no big deal to go somewhere else i just dont like being burned and try not to burn others. im starting to do all my own work from now on (at least try) tired of mechanics games. i feel im in the right and it was all one job not two different jobs. just seeing what others think, is $150 a reasonable price for the work performed?

 

If he acts like you still owe him money, even though he told you to take the car and not pay the 115, I don't see how you can trust him for anything else, ever. Even if you do go and pay him.

If your conscience won't let you sleep at night go ahead and pay him, but I don't think it's necessary. But I wouldn't take the car back there any more.

 

yeah thats pretty much where im at with it, i can sleep at night no problem lol and yeah i've been thru countless mechanics since my mechanic moved away its always some kind of bullshit. i see these guys going in and figuring it out as they go, so i can do that myself.

 

I'm sorry but if you did not specify you wanted the rollers changed also,your fault.
I don't know what all kits are available but anytime I've bought hinge pins and bushings,that's all I've ever got in the kit,bushings and pins,no rollers.
If the rollers came in the kit,he probably would have installed them.

Sorry,I know it's not what you wanted to hear.

 

See no problems here or a need to pay. They did an incomplete job and you called them on it. They recognized it and took care of it though not smoothly. In the end you were allowed to take the care and are happy with it. If he acted like you owed him $$ you would have not been leaving with the car. I wouldn't write him off as a shop yet. Whatever you may want to get done next time get a written quote for it and you will be fine. Enjoy the car and don't worry about it. If you feel partially bad then bring them a good lunch or breakfast next time you stop by.

 

thats why im asking ive seen kits with and without. the one with everything is only $18 on ebay i was charged $50 for both kits on my receipt.

 

yeah i think that would be a good idea but i dont even plan on returning to that shop i feel the job took longer than expected and he tried to re-coop his losses at the last minute. i got a written quote the first time but on the return trip it was "ill take care of it" and my receipt even says no charge. but when i went to pick it up he wanted more money.

 

Just don't go to mechanics.

It'd cost less to buy the parts, do the job, screw it up, buy the parts again, and do it again.

- Eric

 

lol yes sir thats what im thinking, im just gonna be on here asking a million questions lol

 

That's what we're here for.

- Eric

 

^^Thank you!

 

Eric, how did you know my modus operandi?

The receipt says no charge- move on.

 

Best way to learn: See one, Do one, Teach one.

Second best way to learn: Try to do one, screw it up, Do it again the right way.

- Eric

 

I kind of agree here with 30 dreamin. Every job is going to be an adventure with an old car. Even work on the houses. If things aren't spelled out, there's huge grey areas. Also, few shops will sell you parts at internet prices with no mark-up. My best advice is this: Make the best deal you can with him so you're both somewhat okay with it, if possible. It's a small world, and you never know when you'll meet him again.
Just one man's opinion.

 

When I did mine, the detent roller kit was 25 and the pins and bushings were 18.
Paying for them to remove the doors and install seems ok if they rehung the doors straight. The detent rollers can be replaced without removing the doors (if they know about a dremel tool). So they are not out much for doing what they should have done in the first place.
If I was a shop owner, I would have made sure the customer know what was going to be replaced before the work is done. To keep a good reputation, I would have changed those rollers at my cost, since it is even easier when the hinge is out. New pins and bushings and leaving a crappy roller would not fly well with me.

 

Everyone suffers from bad communication moments - it does not mean they are dishonest or do bad work. Many people shy away from confirming what is expected of them and that leads to problems. However, there are some people out there who take great pleasure in getting one over on you.
The bottom line is - do you trust the guy when you look in his eyes?
Did he do a good job in the end?
If the answer to either of these is no then walk away and don't llok back.
If yes to both, then some thoughts:
$50 for a set that cost $36 online is not a rip off; high markup maybe but he has overheads, spent the time to order, pay and process delivery.
$100 labour - I do not know how long it takes so cannot comment.
$115 for the second round - well if he had thought of the rollers the first time how much extra time would it have taken him then? If not much then I would feel ok paying for the kits and a small amount of labour, but not more. He will eat some, you will too.

 

Well said

 

I agree. Even with new bushings installed, if the rollers are shot the door still will not open and close smoothly. If the guy was replacing the bushings, he should have told you the rollers were bad too and needed to be done as well.

 

You beat me to it Darrell....a real mechanic would have told you you needed the rollers, and wouldn't have done the job unless you agreed to do them! I don't want to hear about lack of communication or misunderstanding....pretty cut and dry.

 

It was poor communication the owner should have asked for it and the mechanic should have asked if he would like them changed. The mechanic could have been trying to save the owner some money? In the end I dont think he over charged $50 for the kit and $100 to install seems very fair.

 

Ok you said you was a "happy guy" with the bushings. Did he also do a good job of installing the detent rollers? If so just to keep things cool, just incase you need his services again, offer to meet him in the middle pay him half since he failed to do it the first time as you expected. And since as a mechanic he didnt bother to tell you or mention the rollers the first time. I have found if you dont mention it they wont do it! Every little thing has a price these days. If it was me i would have done it all the first time since i was already there. Sounds like it was obvious they needed replaced. But again sometimes its nice to have a mechanics help, even though i can do most everything myself...... a friend never hurt anything!

 

Mechanics seem to have a bad name but, there is good and bad in every thing . as a tech there is a lot of things I try and up sell and some things I miss some times there is so much that you pick the worst stuff and not try to scare the customer away now with that said .I do try and list everything and I got to say my shop manager would not allow us to charge on a come back and if we missed parts needed then he would eat the part while I ate the labor. I think that the shop realized they were in the wrong and that why you dove away with out paying anything so I don't believe you should even think twice about it

 

Bernhard, are you in the car repair business? There are very few pieces involved in rebuilding the hinge, hence, not much "gray area" for miscommunication. If this guy has ever done this sort of job before, and being a mechanic of any kind, he should have known just replacing bushings and pins again could lead to premature failure of them by not also doing the rollers. Kind of like bringing your car in for brakes, and it needs rotors also.....but the mechanic just puts pads in! But who knows, maybe the guy isn't a real mechanic? Guys like that guy are a big reason the car repair business gets a bad name.....

 

Took it to the shop to have the pins and bushings replaced,said doors closed like new,why change the rollers,why not change the strikers and the door latchs also you
got what you requested the first time,then went back for additional work.Maybe the shop should have recomended doing the extra work when you first went there if they felt the rollers needed replacement.You said doors closed like new which leads me to believe the rollers were good.
I think he treated you fairly,at the very least you should pay for the extra parts,and put the shop on your list of places to go for car repair.