I feel conflicted and weird. My car’s been in the shop for two weeks. Not because it needed two weeks to fix, or even to order parts or anything like that. It’s been there for two weeks because the putzes who now run the place forgot to look at it, lied to me and said nothing was wrong with it and basically gave me the runaround for a week and a half before fixing it. (It’s under warranty with them for the brakes, and I knew it was a brake problem. The old owner was wonderful, the new guy’s an ass.)
So, my hubby finds out on Thursday that his girlfriend from college killed herself, and he needs the car to drive to Michigan for the service. Great news - Putzes R Us decide to actually work on the car, call me to tell me it’s done and I should come pick it up. They list their hours, 9-6 M-F, blah, blah.
So on Friday, after I called them to verify their hours, we go over there to pick up the car at 5:00. There was no one there. Locked, dark, dead. We spend some time pounding on the doors (front and alley, just in case someone was screwing in the stockroom) but there’s really no one there. I call the phone number, thinking maybe there’s been an employee emergency and the call will be forwarded somewhere. Nothing.
And there’s my car in the parking lot. Unsecured. No gate or anything.
So we took it. We have two sets of keys, of course, so even though the shop had mine, the hubby had his with him.
Are we going to hell? Did we “steal” our own car? I fully intend to pay the bill on Monday, over the phone if nothing else. I would have paid it at the time, had anyone been there as they were supposed to be. I admit my ethics filter is having a hard time weeding out what jerks they’ve been about the whole job in order to look only at my actions.
IMHO, it’s your car. They promised to be available to give it back to you. You needed it. They broke their promise. You took it. No big deal as long as you go back and settle up – at least ethically speaking. I’d also have a hard time believing this would be illegal.
Ethicallly speaking, I don’t think you’re even on shaky ground. Their customer service is awful, they’ve donne a disservice to you, not the other way around. Settle up with them, and find another garage.
Oh this is a good one. They then report the car stolen, and you get to meet the local Police and experience a felony stop with drawn guns.
Yeah, I’d call that a good idea. :smack:
Any chance they left it out expecting you to take it? You say it was warranty work, is there any settling up to do? Granted, a mechanic’s lein is hard to enforce when they don’t keep the car, but if there’s no charge anyway, why not go home early?
They may not notice it at first (hell, even that day according to your OP), but eventually they will report it stolen.
I’d call them up first thing on Monday mornin’, ask 'em if it’s ready, but tell them during the same conversation that you have it. Then chew their asses out for the lack of security, and the lack of customer service. What a bunch of tools (pun intended).
I would refuse to pay the bill until I got a detailed list of what was worked on, and even give them a hard time until I got the original parts back. Yeah, I do take my original parts back.
Tripler
Distributor caps make great pen/pencil holders in my office.
As Rick says, they could notice it’s gone (though it sounds unlikely) and report the ‘theft’ to the police. I suppose you could call the police first and report that it’s NOT stolen, just in case. At worst, the mechanic might try to go for trespassing, but it was an open lot and they did invite you in any time up to 6:00. And judges and jurors have dealt with difficult mechanics before. There’s no way they’d convict.
This is a real possibility. We almost always drop off and pick my car up after hours when it needs something. It’s through the original dealership so that may make a difference. My bet is they figure you picked it up.
FTR, I would have not hesitated to do exactly what you did. It’s your car and you made every effort to pick it up when they were there. I agree with not letting them report it stolen. That might backfire in the most annoying way.
Bad idea. When a vehicle is reported stolen, it’s VIN is broadcast over a nationwide network as a stolen vehicle. Calling the local desk SGT before you call the shop would be most ineffective and they would likely scold you for allowing the shop to think the vehicle’s been stolen.
I’m not a proponent of retribution. If you don’t like the service you got, go elsewhere. No pressure. No anger. It’s a free market society and you can take your business wherever you want. If they continue to treat customers as you feel you’ve been treated, they won’t be in business for long.
Re the line from my post above, “I suppose you could call the police first and report that it’s NOT stolen, just in case.”
I agree that letting the shop report it stolen is a bad idea; I should have been clearer about what I meant. I had no intention to suggest that WhyNot let the shop think the car was stolen, but just to make sure the police don’t start looking for it if the shop does call early on Monday before WhyNot can contact them.
