I am so sick of mechanic's!

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 79raven

Funny thing is he wants me to do a pest inspection on his home when I recover from my injuries because he doesn't trust anyone else to do it..... and he was after mates rates. Yeah ill give the ***** mates rates.

The local vet misdiagnosed my workmates dog, it cost him over $2000 in fees and the dog died a few days later, anyway she comes in for an alternator for her Territory.

She complains about a few hundred dollar bill, coming from her it was pretty hypocritical.

I said we should have charged her the same as her vet bill for your dog .

[cobramania]

All industries have some who do that sort of thing, but it's only some & they create bad feelings for the rest of the industry.

Having said that, I've just finished getting quotes for some new tyres, the ones I want are top quality high performance tyres in a large size, so I knew they were going to be expensive.
I got 7 quotes from different tyre places & the range from cheapest to dearest was about $150 per tyre different. I got all quotes via email, so I had them all to compare & had them in writing.

The most expensive quote spelled everything out in detail & then gave me a few other similar performance but cheaper options, the cheapest place gave me a few options but was vague with the detail, only listing/mentioning the brand of tyre I wanted, not specifically the type of tyre I asked for. I've no doubt if I went here, I would've got the wrong tyres fitted or they would've charged an arm & leg above the quoted price cause they quoted a different tyre.
Other places were generally vague quoting $xxx per tyre, when I had specifically detailed description of the tyre type & size I wanted & asked for price fitted & balanced.

The tyre place I usually go, had prices somewhere in the middle, but they spelled out the quote in detail as per what I asked, & I know the guys are very good, take care with their job & really seem to have the customers best interest at heart, (or mine at least, the manager loves my cars & is a huge Ford fan too). I'd rather pay a little more & go to them.


I know how difficult it is to find a good mechanic, & I'm very wary of vague quotes, & verbal quotes, unless I know them well & totally trust them.
Good tradesman are upfront & honest even if they do make a mistake with a quote, they will usually either cop the losses on the chin & quote more carefully next time, or tell you they got it wrong & ask/negotiate a new price with you, even if they still have to cop some loss.

[mungdungas]

i think the crux of the matter is that as consumers we need to be a little more educated in the things we purchase,yes things can go wrong when the mechanic quotes for a job only to find its a much bigger job or he has found other repairs that need fixing along with the original work that needed doing.Anyone remember when jerry harvey was sooking about all his customers buying online the chinese crap he was flogging in his stores,he tryed to get the gst put onto all online purchases instead of just the stuff costing more than $1000....market pressure forced him to open an online store to compete,we the consumers had a victory! double the quoted price for a repair without even a phone call is not on & it wouldnt hold up at the tribuneral for fair trading either,which is something that should be mentioned to him when you tell him you are not paying twice the quoted price.What this mechanic seems to be unaware of {& alot of other business as well** is that we are all only a keyboard away from each other so now you have learnt this guy is a rip off merchant & you have educated all of us that he is as well his $400 profit may have actually cost him much more in the long term

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by 79raven

Funny thing is he wants me to do a pest inspection on his home when I recover from my injuries because he doesn't trust anyone else to do it..... and he was after mates rates. Yeah ill give the ***** mates rates.

2 things

I had a pest inspection on an investment property once, turns out they missed white ants, Bloody pest guys are all shonks, you cant trust any of them.

Is that a fair and reasonable statment?

I wouldnt think so

Originally Posted by 79raven

I have lost my job due to injuries that happened at work ( former boss refuses to pay compo and I have no claim because I didnt sign a piece of paper I did not know existed) 2 months ago and am on the dole,

How can you charge any thing for inspecting some ones home for pests?

Bloody dole bludgers there all doing cash jobs on the side

Man I know not all people on unemployment are taking advantage of the system and I assume your not either. But when you make statments like mechanics are rip off shonks I think you need to look at the big picture

All **** takeing aside, I think you need to talk to work cover and perhaps seek leagal advice, if you worked and got injured at work your entitled to workers compensation

[flappist]

In addition to the above, in that you seem to have no issue in doing cash jobs while collecting unemployment benefits I am wondering if were also doing cash jobs for your previous "boss" and that may be why you are not elegible for compo.

If you were a PAYG employee then the compo has nothing to do with him and all you need to do is get a doctor's certificate and wander off to put the forms in.

On the other hand if you have been playing "the game" doing so will bring you to the attention of Centrelink and ATO et. al. which may just ruin your day (or possibly several years).

[mik]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

Whether the price sounds alright ( which coincidentally it doesn't ) is an irrelevance , the fact the actual bill was nearly double and they then tried to make out they were doing poor Raven a favour is whats at issue here . Also I do NOT believe for one second they quoted per side in the first place . If a woman rings a hairdresser do they quote to do half her hair , if you ring Bob Jane for a set of tyres do they quote on two ?

Agreed , after re reading the post, I got it wrong, I was thinking he got a new rackas well.

[graham7773]

To the op, I have been doing my own mechanical work for 45 years and any mechanic who cannot do both side upper and lower ball joints on a falcon in 3 hours should not be a mechanic! Especially when they have all the right gear including a press, air impact socket driver and the other needed things at hand. I think most of the members here agree that you have been badly done. Give him the $400 you agreed on and let him take it further if he wants to. Small Claims would laugh at him.
Flappist, in defence of the op, people on a Centerlink payment are legally entitled to earn $150 per fortnight before earnings affect their Centerlink payment. How do I know? I am in receipt of a disability/age pension.
I agree with your comment/suggestion that he take a doctors certificate to the relevant insurer for compensation

[Itsme]

Now I know why they close posts, getting bit off topic & personal here, some presumptions.

[T3ts50]

Originally Posted by GTPete

Can you pay by credit card so you get your car back then dispute the charge with your credit card company?

Wouldnt work, finance companies dont handle disputes like this, they only handle disputes if the transaction was fraudulent.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Note to self get quote in writing.

[79raven]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

What industry are you from, 79Raven?

So I can simply hate every one in it even though I may only know 1 or 2 people in it who are less than perfect?

I was in pest control. In that industry if your quoted $3500 for a barrier treatment thats what you pay. Pest control prices are disgusting but you will find not too many tech's that will up the price after the jobs done.

The Car is an Ef, been around for about 17 years and ball joints aren't a job that would turn out to be any different than any other Ef ball joint job. If anything else needed to be replaced thats different and I would expect a call before works been carried out. Whats been done is the bloke knows that once the cars done, if I dont pay what he wants I dont get my car. Its becoming a common practice for mechanics to do this, we have all seen it so trying to act as if it was an accident is just insulting my intelligence.

I could have done it myself but to tell you honestly my body wont allow me. I have 3 bulged disk's in my back, one in my neck, shoulders that dislocate frequently for no reason, early onset arthritis on my hands and now tendon damage to both knee's. I tried to do a simple harmonic a few weeks ago and got as far as removing the thermo fans before I had to stop. The Ball joints were desperate and the car was not going to move until they were done, meaning I have to walk everywhere with the injuries ( even to buy food for my kids). Mal's and garage 263's quote was what I ran off. I got a $500 credit card to pay for it to be done and did not book the car in until I knew I had the money. If I had been told it was going to cost almost $700 I would have not booked it in until I had the money. Mal also knew my situation because I am honest and tell it like it is, that way people know the lot and aren't in the dark when dealing with me.

Right now I havent even got $10 to put petrol in my car to drive down to see Mal, so I have called all day. The mechanic I spoke to yesterday has dropped the price from $693.46 to $506.46 and apologized. I have taken that offer but I still want to talk to Mal. He is a family man and like I said knows my situation and has always been honest with me ( very important to me), so I want to know why he would try this on me and why he would do it right when he knows I am financially rooted. I am happy I got that money back but I am still ****ed as its still over $100 more than I was quoted. That $100 is nothing, but to me its half my weekly wage on the dole and would feed my kids for a week. I called Garage 263 and asked them and $400 was the right price for both. I will be using them from now on because I still have to get the Harmonic done soon and unless Jesus comes out of my weatbix and cures my injuries I just cant do it. The bloke knows at garage 263 that I cannot afford it and he will get the work when I can afford it. I will not ask for a job to be done unless I know I have the money, its only fair.

[KIWI-1]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

All the people on here saying there are good mechanics about? I would really love to know where they are because i have only ever had one good mechanic.

Andrew Barlow at Precision Automotive Ballarat.

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by 79raven

I was in pest control. In that industry if your quoted $3500 for a barrier treatment thats what you pay. Pest control prices are disgusting but you will find not too many tech's that will up the price after the jobs done.

Sorry to say but Ive been bitten in this way more than once

O I had to move stuff, cost goes up.

we found this cost went up

not all but its happend.

I would argue the motor industry is no different

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by lilmattie

It's pretty harsh to throw it in for *all* mechanics. You'll find people like that across all the industries.

Youre right, its just the 99% that ruin it for the rest of them.

[79raven]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Sorry to say but Ive been bitten in this way more than once

O I had to move stuff, cost goes up.

we found this cost went up

not all but its happend.

I would argue the motor industry is no different

The difference is in pest control is once that chemicals in the ground, thats it. If you got an inflated price for moving stuff and refused to pay it, then the only thing the pest controller can turn around and say is until you pay it I am going to remove all the soil that has chemical in it.
Me personally, I could not live with myself if I quoted a price and then charged more. If you quote a price and it turns out to take longer or cost more, well its on your back. That is how you learn to give the right quotes. Hell I did a barrier treatment by myself on a hoarders house, moved everything to do the job and moved it back once I was finished. The boss had to have added it into the price because it was there when the quote was given.
The only time I have heard of pest controllers charging more for moving things is when they have been informed in the quote that the stuff needs to be moved and you have not done it. It would have been in your quote that if stuff needs to be moved it will cost you more. Most people either forget or cant be bothered crawling under there house to get the stuff out. If its in the quote that extra costs will incur if its not moved, well you have been told. Its not like the price has doubled because the pest controller forgot to tell you the quote was for only half the job you asked to be done is it?
To tell you honestly, pest control is a horrid job, in line with cleaning toilets for a living. Its bad enough to be crawling under houses no higher than a dolphin torch, digging trenches 6" deep all round while dealing with snakes, spiders, rats, mice, roaches, broken glass, bricks, rocks, leaches, exposed nails and all sorts of other crap and then to have the customer refuse to clean there rubbish out beforehand ( and normally they sit back and watch you pull all there crap out and then act as if they had no idea even though you have told the it was there). I always took it on the chin, some dont and I dont blame them.

[flappist]

Well I think this has reached its conclusion.