Gee... For some reason this reminded me of a story.. as an electrical contractor.
Couple bought a house. After moving in the wife discovered the freezer in the basement had quit working and the contents had spoiled. (Not a large loss.) She tells the husband who discovers that none of the electrical receptacles in that area of the basement were working. The rather "dominant" wife (SWMBO) incites the husband. Rather than simply look into the homeowner's warranty, they go straight for the "big guns" and have their attorney send registered letters to the real estate agents. Communication is pretty much broken down with no attempt to simply solve the problem first. The previous owners have moved out of town but the new homeowners try to engage the original builder with accusations of "faulty wiring" etc. Never mind that the house now two years old passed all inspections. As a favor to the general contractor I agreed to make a polite service call just to see if there was a simple solution. The homeowners wouldn't allow me to enter on the first trip but insisted that both real estate agents had to be present. The new homeowners are satisfied with nothing less than "we'll sue!!!" What did I discover? It was obvious that code would require a GFIC device on the receptacles with the unfinished concrete floor. I located it hidden behind stacks of moving boxes. The husband had plugged an extension cord into an outdoor receptacle which was protected by the same device. When he had plugged his block heater in on his diesel the frayed cord on the car had caused the device to trip. I was amused! All that was necessary was to press the reset button on the device. Imagine everyone's response, the appetite for "crow" ..his pennance of having to live with that "barracuda." What added to the amusement was that the husband didn't realise that the hard cold morning starts were related to his block heater not getting electricity and was blaming the mechanic, trying to hold him liable for the problem with the car. > From: "Gary Hurst" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:49:32 -0500 > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Mechanics lean - need advise > > the M16 just never works out in this modern age. you just get dragged off > to jail and/or the looney bin. people you don't even remember ever meeting > come of of the woodwork and tell the news how they knew hans would snap long > ago. the shop still keeps your car. > > due to the bimby business, i have had some contact with mechanics of the > sort who do not actually practice their trade as a professional business. > as they have no tax id number, most wholesale houses will not sell to them. > or perhaps they buy in such small volume that they can still buy cheaper > from us than from the wholesaler. > > i've had the following conversation on more than one occassion. > > "yeah, i need a fuel distributor for that car i've been working on" > "why do you think that?" > "well, i replaced a, b and c and that didn't fix it, so it has to be the > fuel distributor" > "no it doesn't, but i'll send you one anyway" > > ok, so then he installs the fuel distributor and it doesn't help. but he > has 500 in that part and his customer has 800 in it. so he actually does the > work and really figures out what the problem is. costs $3 to fix. car runs > great. customer has spend $1500 for a part requiring a $3 part and 2 hours > of real diagnostics and thinks his mechanic is a genius. > > i cant tell you a one of stories like this. > > auto repair is a pretty crooked enterprise. know who you are dealing with > and pay attention. > > On Jan 23, 2008 12:31 AM, Hans Neureiter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Gary; you are right. >> This kind of thing happened to me some 20 years ago. >> Alfa Romeo Giulia sprint GT Veloce (what a machine). >> Rebuilt the motor, but I could not get the damned thing to run right. Took >> it to Forristalls. Drove it there. >> They insisted it need s a rebuild. 2 weeks later I had to pay their labor >> and expenses, some $ 2500 (in 1986, mind you) and had to get a tow truck >> to >> get it home. They broke the front cover by standing on the alternator. >> After I replaced the front engine cover a buddy of mine made a small >> adyustmet to the IP rack and the thing took off like a rocket. >> I sued. The Court notified me that the Constable could not serve the >> papers. >> "No body here with this name". >> I think it's time to load the M16 >> >> >> On 1/22/08, Gary Hurst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> >>> we all know, hans, that you are being robbed. you have been the victim >> of >>> a >>> con and will probably need legal help to thwart their attempts to >>> successfully extort from you. >>> >>> On Jan 22, 2008 9:47 PM, Hans Neureiter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> >>>> One of the items that alarmed me. >>>> I asked for the used parts last Thursday: "but they are no longer >>>> accessible. Discarded. Should have asked me earlier". >>>> Texas law requires the shop to have the parts available on demand. >>>> Time for a lawyer and a rental car. >>>> >>>> >>>> On 1/22/08, Mitch Haley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Allan Streib wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Possession is 9/10 of the law. Then negotiate payment for the >> parts >>>>>> they actually installed. >>>>> >>>>> I'd sure want to see proof of the MBZ total rebuild kit that was >>>> delivered >>>>> to them while they had Han's car. I'd also like to see the totally >>>> toasted >>>>> bands/clutch disks that came out of the car. The latter would be his >>>> right >>>>> in Michigan, but I think TX is a bit less strict. >>>>> >>>>> The moral of the story is take it to another shop for a 2nd opinion >>> any >>>>> time somebody wants to rebuild your tranny. Corrolary to that >> theorem >>> is >>>>> that there a lot more people who think they can build a Benz engine >> or >>>>> tranny than there are people who can actually get it right. Seems >> like >>>>> if they did the bench work right they wouldn't be messing with the >>>>> valve body after they put it in the car. >>>>> >>>>> In this case, the tranny apparently worked until a control cable >> fell >>>> off. >>>>> 99% chance it would have worked as well as before once the cable was >>>>> fixed. >>>>> >>>>> Mitch. >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________ >>>>> 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 >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> 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 _______________________________________ 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
