Fuck you Mr Mechanic

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m usually a level tempered peson and this is my first ever Pit thread. But this has pushed my buttons to no end.

I went to have my car serviced today. Nothing special. Just a once over to make sure everything is fine.

When I came back to pick up my car this afternoon I was met with a 25 or so year old guy who appeared to be intoxicated

AP: Hi I’ve come to pick up the green lancer

25: Sorry, I cant actually let you drive it

AP: WHAT? Why not?

25: Its unsafe

AP: WTF? Its perfectly safe

25: No. No it isnt

AP: Well what the fuck is wrong with it that makes it so unsafe?

25: Well all four tires need replacing

AP: What? They’re a month old!

25: They’re to bald. Your oil tank needs to be replaced, your fuel line is severed, your clutch is out of line and your brake calipers need to be re-glossed

AP: My tires are NOT bald, i had new ones put on there a month ago. My oil tank is absolutely perfect, my fuel line is severed? oi dickweed! if it were, i’d be losing a fair bit of petrol, which i’m not my clutch is a racing clutch fitted a month ago along with the tires and brake calipers are never glossed o how the fuck do they need to be re-glossed?

25: (PAUSE) um well you see…It’s going to cost $800

AP: LISTEN FUCKWIT THERE IS NO WAY I’M PAYING $800 DOLLARS FOR YOU TO FIX IMAGINARY THINGS AND TO RE-GLOSS MY BRAKE CALIPERS! NOW IF YOU DONT GIVE ME MY KEYS AND MY CAR RIGHT NOW I’M GOING TO CALL THE POLICE AND HAVE YOU CHARGED WITH POSSESION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY. AND THAT MEANS NOW FUCKWIT!AND IF YOU KEEP LOOKING AND MY BREASTS I’M GOING TO CASTRATE YOU RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW WITH YOUR OWN WRENCH!

I do not understand why the fuck mechanics and other tradespeople think that i’m a dizty fucking half wit. Yes, I’m a young blonde but I know my cars.

ARGH!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

2

You should have led him on.

“What kind of price can I get for a blinker fluid replacement?”

3

If you know so much about cars and your car is in fine form, why did you take it to a mechanic for a once-over? Taking a car to a mechanic like that-with nothing wrong, no specific complaints-is an invitation to get the fucking of a lifetime.

In your haste to vent your bile, you didn’t tell us how things turned out. Did you end up getting buggered for $800? DId you take the car back without paying? What heppened?

Sam

4

Right. Let’s just assume every mechanic is a total fucking scumbag. Ass.

5

:swoon:

6

I’m a mechanic and I can tell you that the primary reason we do that sort of thing because so few people know anything about how an engine actually works. I say “we” but I assure you that I don’t cheat people and I make sure I do a good job. A lack of knowledge about the fundamentals of how the vehicle, or in my case equipment, operates makes it easy to take advantage of someone and very difficult for them to double check our work.

It isn’t you it’s just that a lot of mechanics don’t think most women know anything about engines. It’s true that a lot of men don’t know much about them these days either but I guess old habits die hard. I’ve found that my wife has a hell of a hard time at places that sell boats or automotive parts while I have an easy time.

I’ve never owned a boat in my life but my wife had one before we got married. We went looking for boats one day and a sales person approached us. After making it clear that the boat we owned wasn’t mine and I had no idea what we were really after he still wouldn’t address my wife. We had the same problem at an automotive parts store here in town. Every time he’d ask a question my wife would answer but he refused to address her. We don’t shop there any more.

Marc

7

What do you have to do to get your car back?

8

First off, :swoon:

next !!!

How stupid can this mechanic be? If he was going to lie then the least he could do is make up something not completely outrageous.

Fuel line severed? How the fuck does the engine start then?
Brake calipers need re-glossing?!? Wtf does gloss have anything to do with their function?

PPPPPPPPLEEEEEEEEEASSSSSSSSEEEEE tell me your car is an evolution VIII because then i’d really be laughing.

9

… I’d be worried that he broke something, now.

10

What the heck is brake calliper glossing? :confused:

11

Works for me.

12

I can recommend a really good mechanic if you want. His shop is in Darra, but it’s worth the drive – the last time I took my car in he fixed it for free cause it only took him 5 minutes, the time before that it literally cost me more to get my car towed there than it did to get it fixed.

13

I believe it’s the PAINT on the outside of the caliper.

seriously WTF?

14

I’ll bet the mechanic meant or said de-glazing, not re-glossing. In your angered state you couldn’t possible have remembered everything he told you word for word.
Aside from that, the guy was just doing his job, (except the “I can’t let you drive this car” part) that’s what you took the car in for. I would have asked to see all the problems he found and have him show you every specific point on the list.
Was he the same guy that inspected the car? or did he read some hen-scratch that the ‘real’ mechanic scribbled down on the work order?
And why get so frustrated? A statement like, “I can’t let you drive this car” could be taken several ways depending on the way it was said and by who said it. If he was truly concerned about your safety then he might have been sincere, if he just wanted to pad his wallet then he may have come off a little smug. The part about the new tires would have me scratching my head, are you sure you got new tires and not a good set of used ones? It seems rather fishy that someone would try to get a tire sale out of a person whose clearly driving around on new tires. There are tons of other car related problems that they could have made up. Alignments and suspension parts come to mind.
Again, all these things you should have been able to visually inspect. I would have insisted!

Other questions too;
If you just had the car in for extensive work a month ago, why back at a different shop so soon??

Why go off half-cocked so quickly on the 25 year old?

Did he physically retain your keys and stand between you and your car?

Would a simple no-thankyou have sufficed?

Was this checkup part of a free oil change promo?, or was it a scheduled visit?

If you take your car in for the free oil change promo, the guys are going to look extra hard for problems to re-coup some of their losses, expect this.

15

Atheist Princess, it took me forever to find a mechanic that doesn’t patronize me, and surprise! I had to stick with the professionals. I find my local Midas to have efficient, polit men working there, who clearly tell me what’s wrong with myjunker, what needs to be repaired immediately, and what can wait. Look around for a better mechanic. I know you get better prices when you go away from the big names but (and especially around here) the smaller the place it seems the more…well…countrified they get.

I have met people like this, who think they can get away with anything just because I’m female. I don’t like to drag my boyfriend along just to show I have a man, but if I have to, I will. The Midas people don’t necesitate doing that. (Valvoline is pretty good for minor things, and cheap, too.)

16

ToeCutter survived, apparantly.

Just wait til I tell FiFi about this!

17

A racing clutch? Is your car an Evo?

18

Unfortunately, all too often a mechanic will take advantage of the situation. I’m sorry if you are offended by this, but it is merely the truth. It’s taken my wife and I years to find a dealership that doesn’t pretend she’s not there when we both takt one of our cars in, or completely condescend to her. We hear horror stories all the time about situations like the above, and I’m not shocked.

So yes, the default is unfortunately “scumbag” in the industry, though there are many examples of excellent mechanics who are honest, trustworthy, competent, and dear god, even decent people when it comes to serving women.

Sam

19

Last time we were looking at used cars, the saleman was talking to my husband, not me (I’m the one looking for my car). I was fine with that; he could bother my husband all he wanted, while I was free to snoop around the car. And once we decide to buy, he doesn’t get the sale. I use my husband as an excuse to not be pressured when I’m looking on my own, too. “Well, that sounds like a great deal. I’ll have to go talk to my husband, and see what he says.” and I’m outta there. So long, sucker. My husband has mentioned that he actually gets pressured by salespeople to not be a wuss, and make decisions (like buying a car) without his wife. Wankers.

As for the OP, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had the guy at the parts counter start helping the guy in line behind me instead of me. I second what Aanamika says. I go to a nation-wide chain of service stations (Petro-Canada, for any Canadians reading this), and while I’ll never buy gas there for political reasons, their mechanical people are topnotch, and never condescending. They have actually come a long way.

20

Thats what I do. And I’ve worked as a mechanic!

The punk was blatantly trying to rip her off! There is no way a “no-thank-you” would have sufficed, unless it was followed by a “fuckwad”.