OY! SEARS! "Slowly I turn" One of my first "young" experiences was with the local Sears. It seemed a reasonable place to get a new "DieHard" battery or radial tires. I'd heard stories, however. Just out of curiousity I put a piece of scotch tape on the hood so I could tell if it had been opened. I never could figure why they would need in the engine compartment just to rotate tires.
When I was young there were times I couldn't have afforded a repair except to charge it on the Sears card. Sometimes there wasn't a choice. I'm sure I witnessed a lot of alternators and water pumps sold to a lot of unsuspecting customers. > From: Loren Faeth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:49:32 -0600 > To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Mechanics lean - need advise > > I stopped last summer in to a local trans shop to ask what the charge > would be to replace a seal. This is a national chain, owned by part > of the local JF cult church that has no accounting of the finances to > its members, but all the "elders" are nouveau riche, popping up > apartment buildings and commercial buildings like mushrooms in a hot > wet spring. > > Anyhow, they started this song about they could not replace just one > seal and how if I left the car they could do an estimate etc.... So > I caught the drift and walked out while I still owned my car. > > I like how Hans said the jerk started talking as if talking to a > blonde. This guy was starting the same kind of bluff. > > It is not just local fly by night operators you need to be aware > of. Beware the national franchise too. In fact a family owned local > shop that has been there for years is more likely (IMHO) to be > straight than a franchise. > > Any good trans shop should be able to tell you to the penny the cost > of any job. > > When we lived in Hawaii, I took the escort (Diesel) into Snears to > get the oil changed because I could not figger out how to get rid of > the used oil at the time. This one guy comes out of the shop looking > like he was going to have to pay for destroying an aircraft carrier.. > all serious... and says he has bad news, and I need to come with him > into the shop... (that was my first clue. Snears was always real > snitty about not setting foot in the shop) He shows me the rear > shocks where he had obviously just squirted oil from a can on them > and said my shocks were leaking and if I didn't let him replace them > I was surely going to die.. etc. I said today is a good day to die, > and I am NOT paying for new shocks, and please put my car down so I can leave. > > PS: the same shocks were still on the car and working just fine > years later when I sold the car. They still did have oil running > down the outside, caked in dirt. (still from the squirtcan) > > At 10:31 PM 1/22/2008, you wrote: >> this is not the story i've heard like this. i know someone whose car was >> similarly kidnapped by a transmission shop. i wonder if they have some sort >> of professional journal or something similar that is advocating this con. >> >> she has a modern xj8 that was not shifting to her satisfaction so she >> brought it in to a local big transmission place for their "free" >> evaluation. the explaned how they see this all the time and it can be fixed >> for a few hundred dollars. >> >> then it turns out that upon further study that the transmission is totally >> hosed beyond any repair and $4k would be required for a new tranny. she >> figured that at this figure she really needed to get a second opinion and >> explained that she was coming to pick up the car. >> >> then the fun started. the shop explained that the car that she had driven >> in could not be driven out as the transmission had been disassembled as part >> of the diagnostics and labor for this disassembly and reassembly would be >> $1700. should she not pay that amount, not only would she not be given back >> the car, but a mechanic's lien would be filed. >> >> she then hired an attorney and now is trying to recover her car via this >> attorney. >> >> we live in a world of thieves. know who you are dealing with in any >> transaction. >> >> On Jan 22, 2008 9:23 PM, Hans Neureiter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>> <How much did you agree to pay in writing? >>> *All verbal* >>> >>> <Did you give those morons your only key? >>> *No >>> * >>> <Is your car where you can get to it? >>> *It's locked up in their shop. >>> * >>> <They haven't hooked up the cable like you agreed >>> to pay them for, they don't even have the cable, and you didn't look at >>> the car to verify the cable was linked up right before you agreed with >>> them that the tranny was toast. >>> *Not that simple. It was a Junk Yard tranny, so I trusted them to say it's >>> toast and agreed for a rebuild. Price is not an argument. Getting them to >>> deliver is the problem.* >>> *First I was confident but than encountered Lies, Excuses and Smoke >>> Screens >>> (reason for delay: Fine tuning the valve body because it will not shift in >>> 3rd?). That got me to question their integrity. Now I am the bad guy and >>> can't get my car back.* >>> >>> On 1/22/08, Mitch Haley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Hans Neureiter wrote: >>>>> At 5:00 PM I got a call saying the tranny is trashed and needs a total >>>>> rebuild for $ 2100. >>>> >>>> Time to run, run, run. If you were going to pay $2k for a tranny, >>>> you'd buy it from Rusty and have somebody reputable install it for you. >>>> >>>> Time to do some searching on the state gov't web page, anything I >>>> tell you about Michigan law wouldn't be applicable and might be >>>> out of date anyway. >>>> >>>> _______________________________________ >>>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>>> For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >>>> For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>> >>>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>>> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Hans Neureiter, Houston, TX >>> '82 300SD, '95 E300D >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >>> For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >> For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > Loren Faeth > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
