I better stick to body work

So this couple in there 80's stopped by a little over a month ago,... and they had wheel bearing issues. So I get them a 3 quote's. They say they can't afford the expensive ones so I say you can go with a middle of the road ones to get you by. So they decide to change out all 4, just to be safe. I even went and picked there car up and returned it to them so they didn't have to get out. Total for complete job was $370.

Well anyway one of the bearings only last about 3 weeks since there is a one year warranty on them it isn't an issue. So I did free of charge. No Biggie. Well less than a week later she calls me to tell me her ABS light is on,.. and she is upset,.. which is understandable. So I tell her to take it to a shop that can put it on a scanner. So she does,.. and instead of coming back to me to tell me what was wrong with it she just has them fix it. Well they charged her $675 for 2 new timkens bearings. So she comes back to me for a refund, so I give it to her.

What sucks here is I quoted her $589 for all 4 timkens bearings. Which included labor. They said they couldn't afford that.

Well just today she calls me to tell me she has no brakes. She then proceeds to tells me that the bearings that I changed out caused the problem. So I explain to her that she probaby lost a brake line,... she says No it's those bearings.. So she ask me to go check it out. So I said sure i'll be there in about an hour. Well minutes later she calls me back and tells me never mind. She is going to take it to another garage. Phew thanks and good riddens

2 lessons learned here:

1) NEVER give options,... only use the best.

2) Stick to paint work.

This poor elderly couple s going to get raped at the next garage. I feel bad for them but it is what it is.

That blows man...
My Mom's 96 Camaro started to have the pass key issue. She took it to the dealership and the quoted her over $800 to fix it. My Dad was into electronics and boxes of resistors in the house. Two hours later I fixed the issue for nothing out of pocket....

I would have been quick to point out to the people had they gone the right way the first time and I would have deducted the price of the parts at the very least from their refund as those are the ones they picked....

You try and be nice and help people out...

Jarrod,that elderly couple were not the only ones getting raped here!
Jim

Good try Jerrod, sorry it didn't work out. Been there, done that, never works out well for me either. Cheap unit bearings are lousy, they aren't worth the cost savings.

Did you get the old bearing back so you could return them and get at least some of you money back?

Mike

Been there done that, it's hard but common sense plus good intentions don't allways work out in your favour. Sadly they will not remember that you tried to give them a break by giving them the choice and bending over backwards, all they will remember is that what ever you did for them cost them more money in the long run....


It hurts but chaulk this one down to experience

Sorry for the troubles my friend!!!!

No good deed goes un-punished.

Brakes, suspension and tires are the things that kill if they go bad. Almost anything else you can pull off the road and call a tow truck. There should be no such thing as a "cheap" fix in these categories. If its your own car and your doing the work than thats another story. You only have yourself to blame but don't expect anyone else to do it cheap for you.

20 years old or 80 years old, it doesn't matter. We live in a society of Walmart shoppers. This nice old couple obviously had the money to do it right the first time. The problem is they never seem to take responsibility nor do they even remeber they asked you to do a cheap job. All they see is you did the work and it broke.

Chaulk it up to experience. Sorry you had to learn the hard way.

Bill

I have learned that cheaping out gets you no where and can relate to this. The only bearing hub assemblies I'll buy are timken, the other brands crap out and throw an ABS light extremely quick. Learned that on my Riviera.
I did the brakes on my aunt's Civic for the price of the parts and am still dealing with it months later. The slightest sound comes up and I have to look at it. Luckily nothing is actually wrong but the mechanic is always to blame.

Thank all and I like I said from now on i'm just going to stick to painting. Sadly this has happened to me time in and time out. But as of right now I am not going to do this anymore. So glad I came to my senses at the tender age of 44 and not 65. Should have been 25 though.. So my kids will get this instilled in them for sure.

A couple of thoughts:
I've been down the 'charity' road too. It never ends well. I don't go down that road anymore. Maintaining a car costs money - either by buying a new one or repairing an old one if you don't do it yourself. People who don't realize that are in for a rude awakening.

With old people you never know on the finances. I know one guy who's literally 87 years old and still does his own tire rotations on his cars. I believe he is loaded, but his mindset is utter cheapskate.
I also know of many old people who relied on social security for a bulk of their retirement and are on fixed incomes. Their disposable income has gotten eaten up by increased property/school taxes (especially here in NY) and increased costs of additional medical care. I have heard reports from trustworthy people that these folks are now skipping a meal a day and turning the heat down to 60 in the winter to save cost but are too proud to tell anyone so you'll never see them applying for food stamps or going to a soup kitchen. And these aren't in what you'd call "poor" neighborhoods either. I was shocked when I heard that about a month ago, again, from a very trustworthy source.

So lesson learned on the repairs, and you never know about folks and what they can afford.

So true Joel so so true.

The smartest thing you can do when family ask for car repairs is recommend someone
else.If you go ahead and do the work for that family member anyway and something
goes wrong,just tell them they got what they paid for!I know that sounds cruel but when
you do free work on a family members vehicle and something goes wrong,its always
your FAULT!Even if the new problem is totally unrelated to the work you did,its still your
FAULT.
Jim

Jim sure glad I have never had that trouble. Cause my family automatically takes there stuff elsewhere.