Just is just appalling. “Neon” Deion Sanders is being sued by an auto repair shop for a bill he hasn’t paid in full from 2001. The bill was for $4,265.57, but he says the Good Lord told him to only pay $1,500.00.
This reminds me of the deal the Redskins had with Sean Gilbert a few years back. They were offering him a contract for $4 million a year, but he sat out because God had told him to accept no less than $4.5 million.
The greed I’m seeing in some of these sports stars is really beginning to make me ill.
Why is it that when someone says “Jesus told me …” it’s always going to be something that’s bad for the hearer, but good for the speaker? Does Jesus ever tell these people to pay more for a service than the figure required?
I think Jesus told Deion that he was getting royally shafted. The bill was apparently for 33 hours of labor, $400 worth of parts and $75.00 worth of towing. They replaced the radiator, the starter, rebuilt the carbuerator, fooled around with the electrical system, replaced gaskets and hoses, and “drained contaminated fuel.”
Not only doesn’t that sound like $4.2K worth of work, but it’s a baffling combination of repairs for a car that was apparently running previously. (You only replace the starter if it’s bad, but then, what would that have to do with the cooling system or the fuel system? And how does fuel get contaminated?)
Even if the bill is legit, do mechanics really get paid $100+/hour?
Now obviously I haven’t seen the original estimate, but it sounds to me like someone was padding the bill.
The repairs were for a '61 Continental. Sounds like from the description it had sat idle for awhile. This likely was a collection of problems that had built up and not one that kept him from a daily driving routine.
Here’s what I’d have a problem with… “Sanders had approved and Montoya had approved all the repairs, according to the lawsuit.”
Giving him the okay but then blaming Jesus for reneging on the deal is bullcrap.
Upon reread, I’m pretty close with Finagle on this. They might have agreed on what needed repairing but I’ve not seen mention of an estimate as of yet.
Lets say parts came to around $750. For 33 hours labor Montoya is charging $106/hour whereas Sanders wants to pay 22.75.
What’s legit is probably somewhere in that vast middle.
The one thing you can say for Deion is that he goes asshat in style. I can’t imagine anyone else having the chutzpah to contest a lawsuit with the imaginative Jesus told me so defense. That being said I hope damages are tripled.
Here I was about to get all indignant about this, until I read about the estimate. Sounds like the mechanic saw an opprotunity to make a quick buck off of someone he saw as a sucker. Or someone he didn’t feel would have the time or interest in actually looking at the bill.
You know the mechanic will win because Mr. Jesus-spoke-to-me didn’t fullfill his end of the agreement but at least the mechanic is going to have to pay some legal fees in the process of giving him the shaft.
It might be to you, and you’re free to take your business elsewhere, but if that was that was the published shop rate then there must be a very good reason to charge it, and anyone who contracts to have work performed in said shop is obligated to pay it. I don’t hire lawyers in excess of $150.00 per hour either.
I want to say that Phil Compton, who did the repairs to Deions car, was on the radio this morning. I know Phil as he has done work on my fathers Rolls on occaision.
Phil said that the car came to him on a flat-bed truck and was not in running condition. Where the $1500 number came from is it was a number Phil had given Deions entourage for replacing the radiator. The radiator wasn’t the only problem with the car and when other issues where brought forward, Phil was told “just fix it”. Granted $145/hr for labour is expensive, but the quality of the work that his shop does is great, this isn’t some greasy guy named Dwayne working out of his garage.
I lost the last little bit of respect that I may have held for Deion with this incident. I may have to read the bible just to see where Jesus says it is okay to screw people.
