Trying to decide if this is worth the time in small-claims court. So pissed I may just do it on principle. And a little spite.
Last week I had a car towed to get it started. Turns out it was a cable frayed at point of contact with the starter. To the beginning.
I said to myself, “Self, let’s get thing fixed. It’s a good car, you have too many so sell it. But get the starting fixed so you can sell knowing the buyer won’t be screwed.”
I said, “Self, you’re right, it’s worth about a grand, let’s go here.”
Self says, “Self, here’s an ad for a repair shop that lists free towing with repair.”
I said, “Self! That’s great! I’ll call right now.”
3 days later I go to pick up the car. Bill is $104.47. OK, still offers me a good return on a sale. I checked the itemization.
$3.99 for fuse (no problem)
$31.25 diagnostic (sure, they gotta find out what’s wrong with it)
$31.25 new cable (OK, cable’s shot, gotta fix that)
$35.00 towing!!
I call the guy on it, and he said the tow is free if the repair is over $100.00. WTF?!? When I pointed out in his own damn phone book the ad that says nothing about min. repairs, he just gave me the “uuuhhhhh…” response.
Fuck these cocksmokers that blatently lie and get away with it.
I’m thinking of filing small-claims just to try to get them to spend $36 on it so they don’t end up with the money.
Well, not counting the $35 towing charge, the repair bill comes up to only $$66.49. That’s definitely less than the $100 limit that was pre-set, and so they added in the towing costs. Makes sense to me.
Don’t think you really have a valid case there.
If you got the time and money, go for it. The costs will definately cost more then the $35 you spent for the tow. It will definately give them a lesson in advertising though.
The OP mentioned that the ad said nothing about a pre-set limit for the free tow. The ad stated a free tow. I myself would assume, “Hey! Free tow, regardless!”. Kind of misleading.
The gravy is in the punative damages. Get your $35 back and then go for the jugular–aren’t you feeling a bit stressed by all this? After all, you’re a good, responsible guy who was looking out for the potential buyer and this mechanic misrepresents his services in an obvious attemt to bilk the public out of thousands of dollars, $35 at a time. He needs to be taught a lesson!
Carefully examine the garage for any posted signs that say “…minimum repair $100 for free towing” or something similar. Keep bitching to him that you think you were screwed, and that you’ll never do business there again, and would recommend that your friends, family, and co-workers avoid his place as well (do NOT spread false rumors about his place). He may give you the $35 just to get you the hell out of his hair. If not, then go home, chalk it up to a $35 lesson learned, and find a new garage.
You let a stranger with an ad in the phone book take something that you valued to be around $1000, and didn’t bother to check the place out before they did any work on your car? You’re lucky you only lost $35.
This is a company that’s been in business for about 40 years. I live in a smallish town. It’s not like a had Guido pick it up in NYC. Do I have to give a full background of length of establishment, address, phone number and owner name? Or can I just rant about being fleeced. You’re starting to piss me off more than the thiefs.
Duffer, I think almost every state has a BAR, or Bureau of Automotive Repair(california’s name for it). Go to your state’s website and do some consumer research on the existence of the BAR, and also maybe even contact the “smallish town’s” city government about fraudulent advertising.
Have the conversation again, and this time ask that the bill be adjusted down by $35.00.
Only reason I can think of for accepting “uuuhhhhh…” as the response is if you weren’t dealing with someone who has the authority to make the adjustment. And even then, the next step should have been to ask to be escalated to where your request could be handled.
Call the up and demand to speak to the owner. Tell him how you were defrauded and how you expect him to make it right. Tell him that if he doesn’t, you’ll complain to the Better Business Bureau, the State Licensing Board, the phone book company, the local TV station (if they have a ‘troubleshooting’ reporter) and anyone else that will listen
Full background? No. Address, phone number? Absolutely. Written estimate of the work to be done, including the final cost before any work is performed, as well as a signature from you authorizing that work to be done in the first place? I guess you learned the answer to that the hard way.
Rant away. But I’m not the one who went to a mechanic based solely on a yellow pages ad that said “Free Towing.” You’re just the sheep they were looking to attract.
Hostility aside, my sincere suggestion to you is to get recommendations from friends, co-workers, and/or neighbors concerning a reputable mechanic in the future. Drop their name if you choose to go to this mechanic. I am under the belief that at least 75% of a good mechanic’s business is dependant on word of mouth and good reputation. It appears that the jabroni you went to has neither, and has to resort to slippery gimmicks like what you fell for. Any mechanic worth the grease under his nails would rather eat several small meals than one big meal.
Go back to that garage, as others have suggested, and get your money back for the tow. Seriously, if you threaten to let others know what he pulled, that’s the sort of bad advertising that’s just not worth hosing someone $35 over. My personal experience is that when I bought a car a few years ago, I was getting dicked on a transmission job. I still owed on the car, so he wasn’t in any hurry to accomodate me. Promises were made and broken, and he had the car for nearly a month. When I threatened to involve the Better Business Bureau over broken verbal agreements, I got my car back (albeit still without any work done on it), and the $600 I still owed was forgiven, so I could afford to get the car fixed by a mechanic recommended to me by three different people. I’m selling the car tomorrow, and the transmission is still as good as new.
To be fair to myself, they had the only copy of the key, so I couldn’t just go get it like I probably would have. Had to pay to get the keys. Wanted to immediatly dispute the charge and cancel the check to solve this, but I picked it up at 2:30 in the afternoon and he went straight to the bank to post it before the 3:00 pm deadline. No recourse there.
Here’s an analogy that may help. Imagine the SDMB charges you the $5. (approx) Then tells you you can’t post/search/etc. You’d be mad as hell that you didn’t get what you bargained for even though they have your money.
With all the posts about “Big Business” screwing the little guy, I had hoped for a more sympathetic ear. Oh well, if I do the small-claims route, it’ll be handled by the small-claims court. (That’s what the tax dollars are paying for, not like it “clogs up” the court system.) They’re paid even if nobody shows up that day.
First thing’s first-- fuck anyone who tells you to “suck it up and pay it”. I don’t think so, pals. Tell ya what, I’ll send each of you a bill for $20. Why don’t you just suck it up and pay it?
NEVER suck it up and pay it-- the only exception being something that directly affects your credit. In that case, pay it, then dispute it.
In this situation, since you’ve already paid, here’s what I would do:
Return to the shop at your earliest convenience and speak directly to the manager/owner. Explain the situation. Bring the Yellow Pages ad, too, just to show where you thought differently. One of two outcomes here:
a) The manager apologizes for the error and refunds you $35.
b) The manager says he will not adjust the bill, despite you showing him their own ad which has no stipulations about a “minimum repair charge”. You never signed an estimate, either, which means that they can not prove that you knew about such a charge.
In the case of b, you should then:
a) Inform the manager that you plan to notify the BBB and file a complaint. This may be enough to make him refund you then. If he does, yay, the end.
b) Call the BBB, file a complaint with them.
c) Let the phone book company know about their false advertising.
d) Call up your local TV station… most likely, they have someone whose job is to listen to the bad things people have to say about businesses. Depending on how slow the news is, your story could end up on TV. I’ve seen it done, multiple times before.
In the end, you either get your $35 back or you give this business so much ill reputation that they’re going to need that $35 to stay alive. Either way, satisfaction.
However, NEVER EVER EVER just “suck it up and pay it”. What the hell lesson does anyone learn then?
