Camaro owner records mechanics abusing car, scheming to get damages paid for

[SandEagle]

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motora...s-abusing-car-scheming-damages-152707580.html

This time, the voice recorder hidden in the door pocket catches employees doing several burnouts and hard launches in the Camaro; Clark later says the techs drove it harder in 20 minutes than he had in three years. Once back in the shop, the mechanics realize the Camaro's clutch has been fried, and come up with a plan to blame the damage on Clark, saying to "write it up as him buying a (expletive) clutch," while saying another part failed under warranty so that General Motors would pay for its replacement.

You can hear the entire exchange, including the profanity, here. A lawyer for Best Chevrolet, in a request to Yahoo Autos to take down this story, told us in an email that the audio was "misleadingly edited." Clark has said the dealership has threatened to sue him over the audio, but has also spoken with him about buying the Camaro back. The dealership may soon learn that in the Internet era, one burnt clutch can create quite the stink.

messed up story here and another reason to have hidden cams in your car.
-techs take car for joyride
-burn clutch
-try to pin it on owner
-lawyers for dealer try to take down story and sue owner

pass the word on this one.

 

[mmntech]

When will these places learn. When you get caught with your pants down, pull them up quietly and hope nobody notices. Don't run around pantless and accuse the person you screwed of lowering them. Rules of good PR right there.

 

[rsutoratosu]

That blows, thats why when I have a major repair I wait for the car the entire day, make sure they dont take it out joy riding

 

[slag]

That blows, thats why when I have a major repair I do it myself so I don't have to worry about anyone else abusing my car or trying to screw me for repairs that don't need to be done or for damages that they caused. I also know it will be done correct without throwing unnecessary parts at it.

 

[nerp]

Wow. Those bastards. Yeah, this is why I wait for my service appointments at the dealership.

 

[SuperSix]

99.9% of mechanics and repair shops are scammers.

 

[WilliamM2]

99.9% of mechanics and repair shops are scammers.

Must be horrible to live where you do.

 

[Slammy1]

I took it to a local place to have my rear brake lights fixed. They worked for about a week and blew out again, but that's not the story. I pick up the car and the check engine light is on. The mechanic, who seemed anxious already, goes off on how I brought it in that way and that he noted it on the initial inspection form; which is an obvious lie as I would have definitely noticed. So I pop the hood and start looking around. Meanwhile they try and look like they're helping diagnose the car. There it was, they pulled the air filter in hopes of selling me another and forgot to plug the O2 sensor back in. Wait 30 seconds, light goes out.

 

[phucheneh]

I should really make a thread about my employment experiences at some point. Eye-opener.

Cliff notes: Last workplace starved me until I made below Federal minimum wage. Fucked customers harder than I've ever seen (and I used to work for luxury car dealers). Fucked me just as much. When I finally stormed out, they kept my rather pricey collection of tools because they claimed I owed them money. Took over a year and court action to get them back, after they essentially finally realized they could be indicted. They're 'dead to rights,' so to speak, on multiple felonies, including theft, (attempted?) extortion, fraud, and destroying evidence (erased work orders). I subpoenaed paperwork that concretely proved that their claim that I owed them money was bullshit, and they had in fact defrauded a certain carmaker out of about $12000 to cover their asses (and then some), since no one there was competent to finish the vehicle I was working on when I left.

I'm still looking for a lawyer to go back after them for punitive damages, since they essentially got away with something that would put a person (as opposed to a corporation) in prison for 10-20 years or more.

...and that's pretty much par for the course with your automotive dealers. And the auto service industry in general. Fucking shithole.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Must be horrible to live where you do.

America? This is pretty much the norm across the country. It's rare to find a trustworthy mechanic.

 

[phucheneh]

America? This is pretty much the norm across the country. It's rare to find a trustworthy mechanic.

If you get lucky, you can get treated pretty well at some dealers. But you'll get raped on prices, there's still a chance a retard will work on your car, and they're still defrauding the car manufacturer.

That latter bit? Every single dealer I've ever seen. And it's like the car manufacturers don't even care- essentially, you cover their losses when you buy a car.

Independent or franchise shops can be okay, but the afore-mentioned retards are still pretty ubiquitous. It's more about management. Chain shops (corp owned) usually suck because their management gets paid bonuses based on sticking it to you and underpaying employees.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Camaros are made to be abused. Stop crying and pay for the damned clutch already.

 

[Scout80]

America? This is pretty much the norm across the country. It's rare to find a trustworthy mechanic.

That's why I prefer my small-town dealership. If they tried to pull something like that the entire town would hear about it and business would become rather difficult.

 

[jagec]

That blows, that's why when I take my car to the dealership, I print out a bunch of stories like this one, give them to the manager, and preemptively threaten to sue them if anything happens to MY car. That way they know to take me seriously and give me the best service ever.

 

[sygyzy]

I think mechanics are the most un-trusted profession and for good reason. For me the other one is dentist. Basically any job where the consumer is not well informed and where recommending an necessary job or fix can rarely hurt the situation, there's room for abuse.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

That's why I prefer my small-town dealership. If they tried to pull something like that the entire town would hear about it and business would become rather difficult.

I will do anything short of taking the motor out of my car to avoid a mechanic. My wife recently needed a motor mount replaced for her Honda. I told her I would do it myself (this was before I looked up our paperwork and found we had bought the extended warranty)and she told me she didn't want me to do it, that she'd rather have a professional do it. I told her that no one else cares about this car more than I do. Well we had bought the warranty so it was an easy decision to take it to the "pro". I dropped her off at the dealership to pick up the car and follow her home. We got half a block down the road and she pulls over to tell me there is a noise. I get in and hear a terrible rattling. I pull over pop the hood and one of the motor mount bolts isn't even threaded in more than an inch and it's probably a 4 inch long bolt.

 

[twinrider1]

1977, my sister had taken her brand new Camaro in for something very minor. They call her to let her know they scratched the paint, but give them a couple days and they'd fix it right up, no need to come down to the dealership. So she tells dad and he hops up right away and they go to see it in person......
Turns out they had really creased the whole side of the car; fender, door, and quarter panel, while unloading another car from a carrier.
The dealership hemmed and hawed around, but a few letters to Detroit and she eventually got a new car.

 

[mmntech]

I think mechanics are the most un-trusted profession and for good reason. For me the other one is dentist. Basically any job where the consumer is not well informed and where recommending an necessary job or fix can rarely hurt the situation, there's room for abuse.

Dealer mechanics are especially notorious. My dad's company used to run RAM trucks. Every time they went to the dealer garage to fix something, something else would always go wrong. I think their game is to get you to say "f--k it, take me to the show room".

 

[SpatiallyAware]

There is a HUGE need for a good chain of auto repair shops.

I swear, I have seriously considered starting a franchise-based nationwide auto repair shop. You would have a web based gopro installed in your car and could watch every single thing that happens via a website. I really do think many would pay the 30-40% extra for this. $140/hr versus $100/hr, charged 'actual' time versus book time. Each one would have 2-3 mechanics who are paid good money and are offered partial ownership status after 4-5 years, with a few lesser paid guys who are still heavily supervised for smaller work.

These stories make me absolutely sick, and they happen EVERYWHERE. If you have a performance car it is absolutely being beat on by these mechanics.

 

[exdeath]

So glad I never have to deal with this.

 

[ViviTheMage]

This is why I'd love it if dealers would just get rid of the franchise concept, and cut the US into regions, and allow only ONE dealer. You can have mom/pop shops sure, but 1 true/genuine/authorized dealer in a specific region... similar to how Caterpillar does it with their equipment.

 

[ViviTheMage]

There is a HUGE need for a good chain of auto repair shops.

I swear, I have seriously considered starting a franchise-based nationwide auto repair shop. You would have a web based gopro installed in your car and could watch every single thing that happens via a website. I really do think many would pay the 30-40% extra for this. $140/hr versus $100/hr, charged 'actual' time versus book time. Each one would have 2-3 mechanics who are paid good money and are offered partial ownership status after 4-5 years, with a few lesser paid guys who are still heavily supervised for smaller work.

These stories make me absolutely sick, and they happen EVERYWHERE. If you have a performance car it is absolutely being beat on by these mechanics.

This would work well, but the hourly rate would be rape. If you could do this around $100 an hour you'd be set.

If I recall, insurance costs are what kills auto shops.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

This would work well, but the hourly rate would be rape. If you could do this around $100 an hour you'd be set.

If I recall, insurance costs are what kills auto shops.

There's no way to do it at $100/hr, and I've actually put quite a bit of time into calculating this.

Keep in mind most repairs don't take that long. Yes it's $140/hr.. but those are actual hours versus "book hours".

Insurance is terrible, but again... every single thing is recorded. Part of the reason insurance is such an issue is shops are notorious for covering everything up.. Having everything "open" would drastically reduce liability, in my opinion.

 

[ViviTheMage]

There's no way to do it at $100/hr, and I've actually put quite a bit of time into calculating this.

Keep in mind most repairs don't take that long. Yes it's $140/hr.. but those are actual hours versus "book hours".

Insurance is terrible, but again... every single thing is recorded. Part of the reason insurance is such an issue is shops are notorious for covering everything up.. Having everything "open" would drastically reduce liability, in my opinion.

That is right, I was thinking book hours. I know some shops spend 3-4 hours on something, but only charge me 1-2 hours, I generally like that, honest about actual time worked.

I think your idea is good, but getting people to trust you off the bat would be difficult IMO. Plus, I never trust shops that work on 'everything' (ie domestic and non).

 

[SilthDraeth]

That is right, I was thinking book hours. I know some shops spend 3-4 hours on something, but only charge me 1-2 hours, I generally like that, honest about actual time worked.

I think your idea is good, but getting people to trust you off the bat would be difficult IMO. Plus, I never trust shops that work on 'everything' (ie domestic and non).

Shit, if they got a flash drive with a recording of the work done upon request, then no reason not to trust them off the bat.