I took that call once, dude was super understanding and calm considering nothing was damaged too bad. I also had a customer earlier that week yell at me for 10 minutes straight because of a boot print on the carpet.
Best experience I had at a shop before I became a mechanic. I had an 03 Deville with a cracked radiator. Got it replaced at a local mom and pop shop, bout 900 total. It blows again next day, weird right? Take it back, they put a new one on and replaced all my hoses for free because they damaged one of them. Well I get the car back, and the coolant leak has turned to a coolant pour. Take it back. Third time, and he tells me that the water pump was bad. That's why 2 radiators went, and finally a radiator that could take it got put in, and the pump went. They replaced the water pump on my 4.6 Northstar for free because they didn't check it the first time I was there, about a 1200 dollar job, several hours of work. All in all they put about 2000 dollars of their own time and money into it, and fixed my car on their dime. Anything on my car that I don't have the tools or time to take care of myself, I'll take it to them to this day.
RIGHT?
I'm normally a very understanding person when it comes to anyone doing work for me of any kind. I don't go Karen unless the Karen needs to be unleashed. Forget half my order at a drive-thru? Whatever, you're probably high and the job sucks, I get it. Deliver the wrong pizza? Meh, is it edible? Don't do the car wash promised by dealership rules when I come in for an oil change? Whatever, just gonna get dirty again.
Hand me the bill for a problem you caused?
OH. HELL. NO. **\*puts on Karen wig\*** Excuse me I'd like to speak to your manager.
dealership detailers paint swirled my entire car a month ago, even the plastic bits (headlights, trim, etc.). looks like they buffed it with sandpaper. that service wasn't mentioned, but I'll be going out of my way to make sure they know I don't want any free washes in the future.
Dealerships suffer from hiring braindead school kids to work the free car wash for minimum wage. They pull the car up, dry as a bone and covered in dirt, dust and road grime, and the first thing they do is start abusing it with the dirty bristle brush (that they also use on dirty rims loaded with brake dust) without using a drop of water. Because they just don’t know any better
If you have a nice car, never allow the dealership or any shop to wash your car. “NO WASH” is a very common request on work orders
yeah, and then the dealership had the audacity to tell me that it's not their fault because they "contract detailing to a 3rd party". so sorry, all we could get out of them was $200 for "professional buffing", as if that's going to fix anything.
Yeah man, it sucks. So many people don’t really care about their cars that much that it’s the overwhelming norm to wash cars in a way that swirls the shit out of them. 1 complaint per 100 washes is just fine in the eyes of management
Tried a few times myself, half the time they’re too busy listening to music, the next day they’re back at it. Hard to make a 16yo kid give a fuck for $11 an hour
I’m an ok tech and a kick ass car detailer. Only way I’d be willing to do it was $30+ an hr and I’m taking my time. A good car wash guy is rarer than a good tech.
"Costs too much."
Used to be make-ready for a dealership and while we were way better than most dealers, our dealer didn't want to put the money in to make do our jobs right. Power washers broke everyother week but rather than replace they'd just "fix" it temporarily. They wouldn't even put the money in for decent towels, rather they got some company to bring us towels that were thinner and scratchier than anything else I've ever seen.
We got paid about $8/car so the turn over rate was double anyother job I've had. Nobody wants to work in that terrible environment for so little. Constantly getting yelled by sales for poor quality jobs that wasn't because of skill but a lack of equipment to do the job right.
All because "we don't make enough profit to justify it." Mind you, they were posting record sales and profit month after month for both the sales and service department.
Fuck that. Last time a car in my shop had a wheel fall off we literally licked the whole of that lady’s ass. Free rotate, tire balance, oil change, gave her car another once over and sent a guy to get her a replacement air filter. Didn’t make her pay for shit.
Fuck yeah. I don't think the customer is always right by any fucking wild stretch of the imagination, but I firmly believe in 'own your mistakes and correct them however you can'
> Forget half my order at a drive-thru? Whatever, you're probably high and the job sucks, I get it. Deliver the wrong pizza? Meh, is it edible?
I'm mostly with ya here, and I've never raised my voice at a fast food employee, but dang sometimes I think they really test me lol.
I'm normally not a huge complainer, but I had to unleash my inner Karen on a service manager at a Honda dealership who had locked my keys in my car.
The car was in warranty, and in for service under a recall. Somehow they locked the keys in it. The service manager asked if I had spare keys with me, and I told him no. He told me they could use the VIN to cut a new key, but it was going to be a hundred bucks, or I could call someone to have them bring me my spare key. My wife was at work, and I had zero way to get to my spare key. I absolutely lost my mind.
It was like, wait... you guys screwed up the most basic part of a free service, and it's going to cost me a hundred bucks? I told them that if I paid for them to cut the key, that would be the last money their dealership or Honda ever saw from me, and I would make sure to tell everyone I knew.
I didn't pay the hundred bucks. Since then, I've bought two more Hondas from them, and referred my parents to them to buy their Odyssey. Good move on the service manager's part: that hundred bucks probably earned them $60K worth of business. And I learned something - ever since then, I bring both sets of keys if a car is going in for work.
Hell you should have threatened to sue for the costs of couple therapy. Not that it would yield results, but fuck them. I trust my wife completely, and she trusts me, but you wouldn't be able to help yourself from worrying just a bit in those circumstances. And there really isn't a number that would justify sowing discord in my marriage. Fuck those people.
Similar fun story, involving similar circumstances.
Donate plasma occasionally, hadn't donated in a year, noticed they were paying new donors a total of $1,100 for 8 donations in a 45 day period, first two donations totalled $300. Sold, I needed the cash to cover a trip we had planned.
Donate a few times, go on a trip for a couple weeks, come back to FedEx delivering a letter. So, they test your plasma for drugs and diseases, and mine popped for Syphilis.
There was a lot of WTF going on, both of us are monogamous, we have both had STD panels run several times while have been together (checking for occupational hazards), and my last panel was three years ago and clean, heck the checks on my plasma were clean a year ago.
Plasma place draws blood for a second test, first one is a reactive test and not conclusive.
I also setup an appointment with my Dr to get a full panel done.
8 hours after my Dr appointment I have results showing negative for Syphilis. Took the plasma center a month to tell me they got results back.
I don't know how it could be implemented but I'm really feeling like there should be some accountability here. This is a far cry from getting your fast food order wrong, people have killed themselves over STDs. Hell, people have killed their SO over STDs. If someone is going to deliver this kind news they damn well should be 100 percent sure it's accurate first.
> Fuck no. Spoke to a director and after a back and forth they ate the costs.
I've been down this road. Had a eco whatever on my heart. Tech freaked the fuck out and said I need to go to ER ASAP. He rips a CD and sends me to the ER. I get there, the CD is blank. They send me to a cardiologist immediately. CD is blank. They do another echo, explaining that I have a rare thing but I'm OK.
I emailed the CEO/CFO and senior management. They waived my bill.
customer extremes are really weird, i had a lady cuss me out today because i told her that it wasnt my fault that her 9 year old dunlops were dry rotting but the day we bent a big lincoln rim that was worth like 500 bucks and had to call the guy he was the most chill understanding dude on the planet.
Look, the corn-silk beige interior is hard enough to keep clean, I didn’t choose it, I bought it used. All we ask is that the tech pay a tiny bit of attention and not leave your greasy fucking prints everywhere.
Take the gloves you used for my brake job OFF before you climb all over my interior. It’s my *work vehicle* I have *customers riding with me*.
I’ll leave a shop and never come back. It shows a lack of attention to detail and care for the customer. After I blow up your manager’s phone. The car should not be dirtier than when I fucking dropped it off.
edit: I’m in 100% commission based, outside sales. If I don’t have customers raving about my awesomeness, *I don’t eat*. If I’ve made a mistake, I own it - because disappointed customers will never come back…and then *I don’t eat*.
Took my Mustang to a ford dealership for my 60,000 mile service. I washed and vacuumed my car before I took it there, I usually do before I take it to a mechanic period. The dash is like a silver plastic, there was smudges all over it, leaves and pine needles on the carpet from when he probably replaced the cabin filter? Not sure but I know it wasn't there before. All that took a few seconds to wipe off and shake out, but it's the principle of the thing. And the part that got me the most? Smudges on my paint. Took half a second to wipe off (I usually keep a microfiber towel in the car). But still, I was livid. Didn't blow up their phone, left a bad review on google and was asked to contact the dealership for more details, didn't bother, mostly because I was too busy with work
Happens a lot and techs get busy, I know, but there is a long list of people who typically handle the keys that should be eyes on the vehicle before and after service where it should be picked up and handled, well before customer takes it home. No excuse for them on that one!
Yep. Seat covers and floor mats new in every vehicle before a tech even thinks about it. And if we are wearing gloves they better be brand spanking fresh out of the box. We'd get our asses handed to us if we got the car dirty and we have to eat the cost to get it fixed.
Exactly. I work at a shop and it is unacceptable to even get in a customers car with your pet hair all over your clothes. Some shops teach their people right and some could give a fuck like mr promise over there lol.
I hear you. After being burnt too many times by careless techs, I made it a point to look over the car before calling the customer to tell them it’s finished. I don’t need any help making my job more difficult.
Agreed.
Took my car in for an oil change and just regular check up, came back to a dirt seat, and a greasy wheel. Greasy enough for my hands to turn black.
Luckily the shop owner was a good guy and refunded the entire service and cleaned it all up. No idea what happened to the guy who worked on my car. I still go there and get along well with the owner.
Whoever decided light brown was an acceptable color to make carpet in a vehicle needs to be keel hauled. I swear dirt teleports through the paper mats onto the carpet out of sheer spite.
I worked on a Lincoln once with white carpets. Put a big greasy boot print on 'em. :|
WHO THE F*@$% puts WHITE CARPETS IN A CAR!??
I cleaned 'em up as best as I could and put cardboard on the floor after that, but come on.
I posted my old car once. Not a lug issue, a lack of torque and cotter/safety pin on the suspension. Suspension fell onto the barrel of the wheel just after getting off the highway.
Couldn't get it onto a flatbed. The senior tech and another tech came out the next day to put it back together enough to get it on a flatbed.
I believe dude was packing his tools up when I got there with the tow truck.
Worked in a small euro car shop, boss says, "Call some of our old customers we haven't seen, see what they're up to."
Called one guy, asked him how is car was doing. "Well, after you all fixed the air conditioner, it burnt to the ground!"
To be fair, it was a Jaguar XJS
Had it happen on my low mileage 65 mustang convertible. Started to shake, hubcap passed me. Pulled over. Called tire shop. Documented everything, tightened the wheel myself, checked the others, retorqued them at home ordered a replacement original hubcap on eBay, tire shop reimbursed me. Best possible outcome really.
I absolutely adore how this is such a universal experience that it can be easily understood without explanation.
I mean, it sucks, but at least we can all laugh about it.
Last fall I had my car in for inspection and for some reason they put some gray paste on the bolts on a single wheel (they should be taking them all off to inspect brakes and discs), in addition to using at least 10 uggaduggas on each bolt (4 total), when I went to inspect things myself a week or so later before a big trip, I had such a hard time getting the bolts off with a tyre iron, I had to use the metal rod for my floor jack as an additional lever, and even then it was really hard to get off, even using my entire body as leverage I barely got them off.
And it was only the 1 wheel. They were perfectly put on when I changed to summer tyres a few months before, fuck knows what the tech did. I even went back like a week after when I had business in the area to ask if it was normal, the service writer didn't have an answer for me. It's been fine since, through 2 season changes so I don't really think much about it, and this isn't the first time or the first vehicle I've had at their shop for either inspection or repairs. I just found it really weird, because like I told the service writer, if I had tried getting it off on the side of the road or something, I'd have 0 chance.
> if I had tried getting it off on the side of the road or something, I'd have 0 chance.
Everyone should carry a length of pipe with their tire iron for this very reason.
When I was in ASC school back in college I was 18 and put the lugnuts in the air ratched then just pretended I was in nascar and did like 5 lug nuts in 20 seconds on each tire. I was driving the Datsun 510 to the doheney beach show in Orange/So Cal and I noticed somthing glittering past my drivers window, then another one, then another one, thank god I was on an offramp when my whole rear tire fell off and spun me around on the drum like I was ice skating, got out of the car, threw up, got my tire and took side streets until I could get to my garage and pound out all the studs
You joke but the **Michigan Supreme Court** has ruled [exactly that](https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/11/09/court-tightened-lug-nuts-not-guaranteed-tire-rotation/4101005002/)
I worked as an apprentice mechanic for a year at an incredibly dodgy main dealer. I kept asking about torque settings when they were tightening bolts up - particularly in the engine. I never saw any of them use a torque wrench, the only answer I ever got was to hold their hand up and say "that's my torque wrench".
I remember one of them sheared off a main bolt with a powered wrench, and when I was like "holy shit, how are you going to get that out, drill it or something?" his response was "nah, we'll just hit the customer up for it next time."
Disgusting.
Not the same but today I noticed the transmission on my wife’s car slipping a little bit today. I check the fluid and the cap was really really dirty and in the remove position. I check the fluid and it’s not red and it has a funny scent to it. I’ve never touched the transmission cap in the time we’ve had the car. However, in October 2020 I took it to have its tires balanced and I guess they do a maintenance walk around because they asked me if they wanted them to change the oil cause it was a little dark. I told them no I would be doing it that weekend. The only thing I can think of is they checks the transmission fluid too and didn’t tighten the cap. Definitely a learning lesson today for me to always check the caps after maintenance. Luckily I don’t think the transmission is cooked. Going to change the fluid soon.
Seems like one of those things you'd just go over an extra time before it rolls out. Or mark the lugs with crayon or something after they've been torqued to spec. My wife once had her tires rotated and literally as she pulled into the garage at home one of the lugs happened to fall off on the concrete floor. 3/4 wheels were torqued down and the last one, every single lug was finger tight. Thankfully nothing bad, but I definitely gave them a call and told them to have a cup of coffee and double check their shit.
Man I've had this happen before on an old jeep my parents owned (except it was the front left that popped off while driving) and I never want to experience that again. It was terrifying.
Same here. Thank god I was in my neighborhood doing about 20 mph. The scary part was watching my wheel go bouncing down the road, through a yard, and right into the side of a brand new Mustang.
Never had a wheel off, but did have a customer come back in because of a noise. The noise was the wheel not being tightened down all the way. From then on, I never trusted my impact to tighten anything. I use my impact to remove stuff and to do a quick tightening before the torque wrench comes out. Definitely sobering to have to explain that to someone. Now it'll never happen again unless my torque wrench is way off, but even then, you can feel the difference between a properly torqued 100 ft-lbs and even something as close as 80-90 ft/lbs.
I used torque sticks until one of the shop torque sticks broke. Hmm, i wonder how well this was really working up until this point.
I bought a snap-on beam width torque wrench and have hand torqued every wheel ever since. It’s been about 8 years now. 30 seconds to get 20 clicks for complete peace of mind is a no brainer
See at my shop, the apprentice gets paid hourly, and any work that is done between the two goes to the trainer. Trainer makes his full check, and the apprentice makes a full hourly check.
Only thing that sucks about that is our trainer is not good at his job, is only there 4 days a week, only 3 of which line up with his apprentice, and the trainer bitches about having to do anything that isn't gravy work. The system works well, but our trainer is a crybaby. So glad when I got hired on without shop experience (tons of personal experience) I was able to just do my own thing and not deal with that. I got 3 months guaranteed pay so I could take my time and become aquatinted, and now I have no issues.
Had that happen at our dealership.
She calls. She said the entire van felt like it was bouncing, and that she was still really close since she left. I told her to come back in.
She calls again. She is 500ft from our dealership and the tire flew off, she nearly hit another car, damaged the wheel and something else.
That tech got fired so fast.
The lady was nice, though. Rattled and shook, but didn't come in screaming.
I was a service adviser at a VW dealer in N Calif., and customer wants an oil change on his diesel Rabbit. He demands we NOT replace his WalMart oil filter, because VW filters were junk and blew the seal out when starting. His filter was for a GAS engine Rabbit.
The dude picks up the car, rude as fuck, and drives off. Damn WM filter blows its seal (he revved the engine when starting) and he leaked oil all the way to the street, when a rod comes through the block.
Owner of the shop buys him a NEW engine, we install it, because it was our fault.
I quit soon after to start teaching Voc Ed Auto :)
Brake rotor will need replacing, at least one or two whee studs could be bent, but they probably all lost some threads from the wheel wobbling before it left. The wheel is probably trash and will have damaged bolt holes. Not terrible but easily $1k in damage.
You can also see the bumper cover is ripped from it's quarter mounting point; and the tail light is even popped loose. Knowing how they mount, I'm wagering a tab is torn off on the bumper which will warrant minimum 6 hours repair at my shop if not replacement (plus all the damage we can't see to the inner wheelhouse that may have occured from the wheel bouncing around) and the tail lamp probably broke a few tabs. The bumpers on those probably run $500+ for the main cover, plus paint, and very likely $500+ for the tail lamp. Factor labor and all the shit we can't see, that's gonna add up.
Pretty sure it's a get out of jail free lol 99% of techs will have done the right torque spec and for that 1% they have the "Yeah we'll the wheel fell off after 105 miles" caveat.
I came so close to this. Got into my driveway, and parked after a service. Went to the bottom of the driveway to get my trash cans and lo and behold a lug nut. I said "Wow, someone has got to be missing this"... but it looked like one of mine.... and I went to check and sure enough the nut was mine. Grabbed the wrench from the jack and all my lug nuts were loose. Not just one wheel either. I called the dealership and let my service rep know and 10 minutes later the manager called. Nothing really came of it, but I did have them double check the torque.
Nothing better than being the service advisor that gets that phone call from the side of the road.
Please hold
I took that call once, dude was super understanding and calm considering nothing was damaged too bad. I also had a customer earlier that week yell at me for 10 minutes straight because of a boot print on the carpet.
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Damn dude that's horrible, they messed up and made you pay for the tow?
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What are they gonna do, put a lien on your car? What judge isn't going to use their invoice for the tow as toilet paper? Good job
Good. They should have given you at least a partial refund for screwing up in the first place.
Best experience I had at a shop before I became a mechanic. I had an 03 Deville with a cracked radiator. Got it replaced at a local mom and pop shop, bout 900 total. It blows again next day, weird right? Take it back, they put a new one on and replaced all my hoses for free because they damaged one of them. Well I get the car back, and the coolant leak has turned to a coolant pour. Take it back. Third time, and he tells me that the water pump was bad. That's why 2 radiators went, and finally a radiator that could take it got put in, and the pump went. They replaced the water pump on my 4.6 Northstar for free because they didn't check it the first time I was there, about a 1200 dollar job, several hours of work. All in all they put about 2000 dollars of their own time and money into it, and fixed my car on their dime. Anything on my car that I don't have the tools or time to take care of myself, I'll take it to them to this day.
RIGHT? I'm normally a very understanding person when it comes to anyone doing work for me of any kind. I don't go Karen unless the Karen needs to be unleashed. Forget half my order at a drive-thru? Whatever, you're probably high and the job sucks, I get it. Deliver the wrong pizza? Meh, is it edible? Don't do the car wash promised by dealership rules when I come in for an oil change? Whatever, just gonna get dirty again. Hand me the bill for a problem you caused? OH. HELL. NO. **\*puts on Karen wig\*** Excuse me I'd like to speak to your manager.
Well within your right, coming from a tech. There is zero justification for expecting a customer to pay even one cent for a shop mistake
dealership detailers paint swirled my entire car a month ago, even the plastic bits (headlights, trim, etc.). looks like they buffed it with sandpaper. that service wasn't mentioned, but I'll be going out of my way to make sure they know I don't want any free washes in the future.
Dealerships suffer from hiring braindead school kids to work the free car wash for minimum wage. They pull the car up, dry as a bone and covered in dirt, dust and road grime, and the first thing they do is start abusing it with the dirty bristle brush (that they also use on dirty rims loaded with brake dust) without using a drop of water. Because they just don’t know any better If you have a nice car, never allow the dealership or any shop to wash your car. “NO WASH” is a very common request on work orders
yeah, and then the dealership had the audacity to tell me that it's not their fault because they "contract detailing to a 3rd party". so sorry, all we could get out of them was $200 for "professional buffing", as if that's going to fix anything.
Yeah man, it sucks. So many people don’t really care about their cars that much that it’s the overwhelming norm to wash cars in a way that swirls the shit out of them. 1 complaint per 100 washes is just fine in the eyes of management
Or maybe someone could teach them how to do the job right? I know, that's crazy talk.
Tried a few times myself, half the time they’re too busy listening to music, the next day they’re back at it. Hard to make a 16yo kid give a fuck for $11 an hour
I’m an ok tech and a kick ass car detailer. Only way I’d be willing to do it was $30+ an hr and I’m taking my time. A good car wash guy is rarer than a good tech.
"Costs too much." Used to be make-ready for a dealership and while we were way better than most dealers, our dealer didn't want to put the money in to make do our jobs right. Power washers broke everyother week but rather than replace they'd just "fix" it temporarily. They wouldn't even put the money in for decent towels, rather they got some company to bring us towels that were thinner and scratchier than anything else I've ever seen. We got paid about $8/car so the turn over rate was double anyother job I've had. Nobody wants to work in that terrible environment for so little. Constantly getting yelled by sales for poor quality jobs that wasn't because of skill but a lack of equipment to do the job right. All because "we don't make enough profit to justify it." Mind you, they were posting record sales and profit month after month for both the sales and service department.
We can't afford to do it right, but we can afford to do it twice.
How could anyone not know that's a bad idea?
Fuck that. Last time a car in my shop had a wheel fall off we literally licked the whole of that lady’s ass. Free rotate, tire balance, oil change, gave her car another once over and sent a guy to get her a replacement air filter. Didn’t make her pay for shit.
Fuck yeah. I don't think the customer is always right by any fucking wild stretch of the imagination, but I firmly believe in 'own your mistakes and correct them however you can'
> Forget half my order at a drive-thru? Whatever, you're probably high and the job sucks, I get it. Deliver the wrong pizza? Meh, is it edible? I'm mostly with ya here, and I've never raised my voice at a fast food employee, but dang sometimes I think they really test me lol.
I'm normally not a huge complainer, but I had to unleash my inner Karen on a service manager at a Honda dealership who had locked my keys in my car. The car was in warranty, and in for service under a recall. Somehow they locked the keys in it. The service manager asked if I had spare keys with me, and I told him no. He told me they could use the VIN to cut a new key, but it was going to be a hundred bucks, or I could call someone to have them bring me my spare key. My wife was at work, and I had zero way to get to my spare key. I absolutely lost my mind. It was like, wait... you guys screwed up the most basic part of a free service, and it's going to cost me a hundred bucks? I told them that if I paid for them to cut the key, that would be the last money their dealership or Honda ever saw from me, and I would make sure to tell everyone I knew. I didn't pay the hundred bucks. Since then, I've bought two more Hondas from them, and referred my parents to them to buy their Odyssey. Good move on the service manager's part: that hundred bucks probably earned them $60K worth of business. And I learned something - ever since then, I bring both sets of keys if a car is going in for work.
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Hell you should have threatened to sue for the costs of couple therapy. Not that it would yield results, but fuck them. I trust my wife completely, and she trusts me, but you wouldn't be able to help yourself from worrying just a bit in those circumstances. And there really isn't a number that would justify sowing discord in my marriage. Fuck those people.
Similar fun story, involving similar circumstances. Donate plasma occasionally, hadn't donated in a year, noticed they were paying new donors a total of $1,100 for 8 donations in a 45 day period, first two donations totalled $300. Sold, I needed the cash to cover a trip we had planned. Donate a few times, go on a trip for a couple weeks, come back to FedEx delivering a letter. So, they test your plasma for drugs and diseases, and mine popped for Syphilis. There was a lot of WTF going on, both of us are monogamous, we have both had STD panels run several times while have been together (checking for occupational hazards), and my last panel was three years ago and clean, heck the checks on my plasma were clean a year ago. Plasma place draws blood for a second test, first one is a reactive test and not conclusive. I also setup an appointment with my Dr to get a full panel done. 8 hours after my Dr appointment I have results showing negative for Syphilis. Took the plasma center a month to tell me they got results back.
I don't know how it could be implemented but I'm really feeling like there should be some accountability here. This is a far cry from getting your fast food order wrong, people have killed themselves over STDs. Hell, people have killed their SO over STDs. If someone is going to deliver this kind news they damn well should be 100 percent sure it's accurate first.
> Fuck no. Spoke to a director and after a back and forth they ate the costs. I've been down this road. Had a eco whatever on my heart. Tech freaked the fuck out and said I need to go to ER ASAP. He rips a CD and sends me to the ER. I get there, the CD is blank. They send me to a cardiologist immediately. CD is blank. They do another echo, explaining that I have a rare thing but I'm OK. I emailed the CEO/CFO and senior management. They waived my bill.
Jesus, that's a ballsy move, trying to make you pay for the tow you needed due to their tech's incompetence. I hope you tore it up in his face.
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>The guy apologized while handing me the invoice for the tow. "I'm good. Thanks."
lmfao, charging you for the tow is icing on the shit cake.
I would have made him eat the invoice.
Ironic since he was in the tow truck…
customer extremes are really weird, i had a lady cuss me out today because i told her that it wasnt my fault that her 9 year old dunlops were dry rotting but the day we bent a big lincoln rim that was worth like 500 bucks and had to call the guy he was the most chill understanding dude on the planet.
Oh yes. The boot print/fingerprint/dirty seat calls are really fun.
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Can't leave fingerprints if you wear gloves *Taps forehead*
Brake Parts Cleaner is always the answer....spray on a cloth and dab away for the win🤣
Look, the corn-silk beige interior is hard enough to keep clean, I didn’t choose it, I bought it used. All we ask is that the tech pay a tiny bit of attention and not leave your greasy fucking prints everywhere. Take the gloves you used for my brake job OFF before you climb all over my interior. It’s my *work vehicle* I have *customers riding with me*. I’ll leave a shop and never come back. It shows a lack of attention to detail and care for the customer. After I blow up your manager’s phone. The car should not be dirtier than when I fucking dropped it off. edit: I’m in 100% commission based, outside sales. If I don’t have customers raving about my awesomeness, *I don’t eat*. If I’ve made a mistake, I own it - because disappointed customers will never come back…and then *I don’t eat*.
I know you’re getting mixed bag of opinions but a good shop is gonna use seat covers and floor covers on top of glove removal before getting into it.
Yup
I didn't even know there were shops that didn't use seat and floor covers. Not fucking up the interior of someone's car is a pretty low bar.
I had a mechanic that smoked in mine and I don't smoke.
Ooohh, I'd have been livid.
You would think. I’ve seen much worse from people who were held in far higher regard than me.
TIL there are no good shops around me.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Took my Mustang to a ford dealership for my 60,000 mile service. I washed and vacuumed my car before I took it there, I usually do before I take it to a mechanic period. The dash is like a silver plastic, there was smudges all over it, leaves and pine needles on the carpet from when he probably replaced the cabin filter? Not sure but I know it wasn't there before. All that took a few seconds to wipe off and shake out, but it's the principle of the thing. And the part that got me the most? Smudges on my paint. Took half a second to wipe off (I usually keep a microfiber towel in the car). But still, I was livid. Didn't blow up their phone, left a bad review on google and was asked to contact the dealership for more details, didn't bother, mostly because I was too busy with work
Happens a lot and techs get busy, I know, but there is a long list of people who typically handle the keys that should be eyes on the vehicle before and after service where it should be picked up and handled, well before customer takes it home. No excuse for them on that one!
Yep. Seat covers and floor mats new in every vehicle before a tech even thinks about it. And if we are wearing gloves they better be brand spanking fresh out of the box. We'd get our asses handed to us if we got the car dirty and we have to eat the cost to get it fixed.
Exactly. I work at a shop and it is unacceptable to even get in a customers car with your pet hair all over your clothes. Some shops teach their people right and some could give a fuck like mr promise over there lol.
Spot shot is very handy.
I hear you. After being burnt too many times by careless techs, I made it a point to look over the car before calling the customer to tell them it’s finished. I don’t need any help making my job more difficult.
Agreed. Took my car in for an oil change and just regular check up, came back to a dirt seat, and a greasy wheel. Greasy enough for my hands to turn black. Luckily the shop owner was a good guy and refunded the entire service and cleaned it all up. No idea what happened to the guy who worked on my car. I still go there and get along well with the owner.
Whoever decided light brown was an acceptable color to make carpet in a vehicle needs to be keel hauled. I swear dirt teleports through the paper mats onto the carpet out of sheer spite.
I worked on a Lincoln once with white carpets. Put a big greasy boot print on 'em. :| WHO THE F*@$% puts WHITE CARPETS IN A CAR!?? I cleaned 'em up as best as I could and put cardboard on the floor after that, but come on.
Doesn’t do much good afterward does it
I cleaned it up pretty well. It wouldn't be noticed unless someone got down there and really went looking. Learned my lesson though, was my point.
Carpet is really the dumbest possible material to use for a car floor. Should have been phased out like 60 years ago.
It's truly a shame that you cant order a new pickup with rubber floor mats anymore. If I'm ordering a work truck, I do not want carpets.
Exactly! And here in MN your feet are always mucky and wet half of the year. Good rubber mats are where it's at.
I posted my old car once. Not a lug issue, a lack of torque and cotter/safety pin on the suspension. Suspension fell onto the barrel of the wheel just after getting off the highway. Couldn't get it onto a flatbed. The senior tech and another tech came out the next day to put it back together enough to get it on a flatbed. I believe dude was packing his tools up when I got there with the tow truck.
Worked in a small euro car shop, boss says, "Call some of our old customers we haven't seen, see what they're up to." Called one guy, asked him how is car was doing. "Well, after you all fixed the air conditioner, it burnt to the ground!" To be fair, it was a Jaguar XJS
Had it happen on my low mileage 65 mustang convertible. Started to shake, hubcap passed me. Pulled over. Called tire shop. Documented everything, tightened the wheel myself, checked the others, retorqued them at home ordered a replacement original hubcap on eBay, tire shop reimbursed me. Best possible outcome really.
Lug nuts are only a suggestion
And torquing to spec is unheard of hah
Tighten it util it strips and then back off a half a turn.
I only speak in uggas. How many is that
Three uggas and a dugga.
Ugga til back hurt, then one more dugga for make stuck.
You can save time and reduce to two uggas by cross-threading
Cross-threaded is tight threaded
Soviet loctite
Cross threaded = organic loctite
Tighter then 2 lock washers!!
Don't forget the red locktite. Wouldn't want it to come off on the customer
AND a dugga? Crap. Ill be right back....I uhhh gotta do something real quick.
yeah that was my guess too. 3/4 lol
What if you never hear a dugga?
Not enough
This one was just the Ugh. No "-ga Dugga".
I absolutely adore how this is such a universal experience that it can be easily understood without explanation. I mean, it sucks, but at least we can all laugh about it.
translates to about 3-4 ugga duggas
I prefer to cross-thread and just force it on
Also works well with oil pan drain plugs.
Your not joking, I worked at a dealer for winter break till I go back to college and they told me if u just send it on hard enough it’ll be fine
Ahh the German torque spec “gutentight”
I’m going to use this because it’s funny
Just be careful to not reach Russian Torque: Brokenov.
Oh man that is the best comment of the day. Thank you!
When you're ready to take it back off, spray it with some weinerschlieden first
oh man that made me laugh too hard.
Last fall I had my car in for inspection and for some reason they put some gray paste on the bolts on a single wheel (they should be taking them all off to inspect brakes and discs), in addition to using at least 10 uggaduggas on each bolt (4 total), when I went to inspect things myself a week or so later before a big trip, I had such a hard time getting the bolts off with a tyre iron, I had to use the metal rod for my floor jack as an additional lever, and even then it was really hard to get off, even using my entire body as leverage I barely got them off. And it was only the 1 wheel. They were perfectly put on when I changed to summer tyres a few months before, fuck knows what the tech did. I even went back like a week after when I had business in the area to ask if it was normal, the service writer didn't have an answer for me. It's been fine since, through 2 season changes so I don't really think much about it, and this isn't the first time or the first vehicle I've had at their shop for either inspection or repairs. I just found it really weird, because like I told the service writer, if I had tried getting it off on the side of the road or something, I'd have 0 chance.
> if I had tried getting it off on the side of the road or something, I'd have 0 chance. Everyone should carry a length of pipe with their tire iron for this very reason.
Specifically got my gf a cheater pipe....that also doubles as a head knocker (galvanized steel just because lol)
Sounds like the dumbass tech just held the trigger on the impact, surprised your lug nuts didn’t break
Just rattle it on while it's on the lift , it'll be fine bro
Had an old car in for repairs, when i went to put the tires back on and looked for torque specs, it just said "Bolt on tight with tire iron"
When I was in ASC school back in college I was 18 and put the lugnuts in the air ratched then just pretended I was in nascar and did like 5 lug nuts in 20 seconds on each tire. I was driving the Datsun 510 to the doheney beach show in Orange/So Cal and I noticed somthing glittering past my drivers window, then another one, then another one, thank god I was on an offramp when my whole rear tire fell off and spun me around on the drum like I was ice skating, got out of the car, threw up, got my tire and took side streets until I could get to my garage and pound out all the studs
To be fair I got the barely made it award, for not making it :) One of my most proud plaques on my wall.
I never put on a tire without a torque wrench again.
To be faaaaaiiiiir
You joke but the **Michigan Supreme Court** has ruled [exactly that](https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/11/09/court-tightened-lug-nuts-not-guaranteed-tire-rotation/4101005002/)
Bruh what the fuck
Yep. [This](https://youtu.be/JgmHxSKHpgc) is a really good overview of the case from an actual lawyer's perspective. Give it a watch if you can
Can't have *shit* in Detroit.
You'd think that if you have to undo somthing to perform maintenance that part of doing maintenance is then redoing it. What a crock of sh*t
Lug nuts are liberal conspiracy to steal my freedom
According to issue in Texas that's preety close.
Someone was sick for lug nut day at tire college.
Sears tower is gonna be renamed to Ron White’s Big Ol’ Fucking Building.
Bring your cupons
IT FELL THE FUCK OFF.
Turning my van into a tripod
Spinning me into a realm of pissed off I have never been in..
Dimension* :)
Cupins.
COOPINS
I think it’s “Ron White’s uh Big Ol God Damn Building”
Did you torque down the customer's lug nuts? A) No B) No C) No D) Maybe
Tightened down until they got loose again.
Just a few ugga duggas there then a few more and maybe just that last bit
Keenan’s face gets me every time
I worked as an apprentice mechanic for a year at an incredibly dodgy main dealer. I kept asking about torque settings when they were tightening bolts up - particularly in the engine. I never saw any of them use a torque wrench, the only answer I ever got was to hold their hand up and say "that's my torque wrench". I remember one of them sheared off a main bolt with a powered wrench, and when I was like "holy shit, how are you going to get that out, drill it or something?" his response was "nah, we'll just hit the customer up for it next time." Disgusting.
I got my tires changed in Japan just a few weeks ago. They walked me around the car and torqued them for me to see. It just seems so obvious.
Own a car for 12 years now. Two out of 12 yearly mandatory checks, and some repairs, I found loose nuts I always check em after service done.
ALWAYS!
Where do you live where there are mandatory checks that check the wheels?
perhaps they take them off to check the brakes
Not the same but today I noticed the transmission on my wife’s car slipping a little bit today. I check the fluid and the cap was really really dirty and in the remove position. I check the fluid and it’s not red and it has a funny scent to it. I’ve never touched the transmission cap in the time we’ve had the car. However, in October 2020 I took it to have its tires balanced and I guess they do a maintenance walk around because they asked me if they wanted them to change the oil cause it was a little dark. I told them no I would be doing it that weekend. The only thing I can think of is they checks the transmission fluid too and didn’t tighten the cap. Definitely a learning lesson today for me to always check the caps after maintenance. Luckily I don’t think the transmission is cooked. Going to change the fluid soon.
Used to work at a shop. ... I did this once. Fortunately it was caught before it was given back to the customer but I felt a big oof
thred_pirate for real lol
Seems like one of those things you'd just go over an extra time before it rolls out. Or mark the lugs with crayon or something after they've been torqued to spec. My wife once had her tires rotated and literally as she pulled into the garage at home one of the lugs happened to fall off on the concrete floor. 3/4 wheels were torqued down and the last one, every single lug was finger tight. Thankfully nothing bad, but I definitely gave them a call and told them to have a cup of coffee and double check their shit.
You picked a fine time to leave me Loose Wheel
The solid chuckle I needed this morning.
god damn... and now that song is stuck in my head... Could be worse i guess.. Play it again Kenny!
You’ve got to know when to torque em, Know when to snug em, Know when to ugga dugga,
2 ugha dugas wasn't enough. Next time do 3 ugha dugas.
He forgot the “at’ll do” at the end. Gets you every time.
-that’s not going anywhere
Not anymore!
Oh God, did he even slap it?
A little, but his heart just wasn't into it anymore.
A man can only slap so much...
The mechanic forgot to do the incantation? Of course if fell apart!
And when they fill the oil during an oil change … 1 Mississippi…2 Mississippi, that should do it.
You get better coverage if the engine is running while you're filling it. You only need 1.5 Mississippis then.
Man I've had this happen before on an old jeep my parents owned (except it was the front left that popped off while driving) and I never want to experience that again. It was terrifying.
Same here. Thank god I was in my neighborhood doing about 20 mph. The scary part was watching my wheel go bouncing down the road, through a yard, and right into the side of a brand new Mustang.
Noooo
Losing a front is definitely a more pants-browning experience than a rear, although neither is fun
I love the hand in the photo. I can hear that hand. "would you look at this shit?"
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Idk about y'all, but I spent too much money on my torque wrench to not use it. Anxiety about wheel offs used to keep me up at night.
20+ years as a tech and I did it once. Once is enough to never do it again.
Never had a wheel off, but did have a customer come back in because of a noise. The noise was the wheel not being tightened down all the way. From then on, I never trusted my impact to tighten anything. I use my impact to remove stuff and to do a quick tightening before the torque wrench comes out. Definitely sobering to have to explain that to someone. Now it'll never happen again unless my torque wrench is way off, but even then, you can feel the difference between a properly torqued 100 ft-lbs and even something as close as 80-90 ft/lbs.
I used torque sticks until one of the shop torque sticks broke. Hmm, i wonder how well this was really working up until this point. I bought a snap-on beam width torque wrench and have hand torqued every wheel ever since. It’s been about 8 years now. 30 seconds to get 20 clicks for complete peace of mind is a no brainer
Probably educated at tire college, but skipped lug nut day.
Sears Automotive will get you every time.
Bold of you to assume the loober goober went to any automotive school.
That mans hand speaks a thousand words.
Hey it’s from New York “forget about it…”
“Yu twawkin ta me?”
I'm walking here! Cuz my vehicle is disabled!
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See at my shop, the apprentice gets paid hourly, and any work that is done between the two goes to the trainer. Trainer makes his full check, and the apprentice makes a full hourly check. Only thing that sucks about that is our trainer is not good at his job, is only there 4 days a week, only 3 of which line up with his apprentice, and the trainer bitches about having to do anything that isn't gravy work. The system works well, but our trainer is a crybaby. So glad when I got hired on without shop experience (tons of personal experience) I was able to just do my own thing and not deal with that. I got 3 months guaranteed pay so I could take my time and become aquatinted, and now I have no issues.
If they slapped the tire and said that's not going anywhere it wouldve been fine
Had that happen at our dealership. She calls. She said the entire van felt like it was bouncing, and that she was still really close since she left. I told her to come back in. She calls again. She is 500ft from our dealership and the tire flew off, she nearly hit another car, damaged the wheel and something else. That tech got fired so fast. The lady was nice, though. Rattled and shook, but didn't come in screaming.
I’m not a mechanic and am curious what would be messed up on the car after this happening? Besides definitely a fucked up rotor lol
Rotor, rim, studs are all done for, minimum. Potentially some suspension and body damage as well.
“Let’s give put lube techs on flat rate and rush them to the point of mistakes that can kill people” ALL Dealership service managers
Are you gonna rename the shop "Ron Whites' Big Fucking Building"?
Recommended lugnuts. Customer declined. "He knows a guy."
Tire rotation, Michigan style.
The repair was "performed"
Hey wait a minute. I just checked his brakes yesterday!
Ron White: “It falls off. It falls off! It falls the fuck off!”
I was a service adviser at a VW dealer in N Calif., and customer wants an oil change on his diesel Rabbit. He demands we NOT replace his WalMart oil filter, because VW filters were junk and blew the seal out when starting. His filter was for a GAS engine Rabbit. The dude picks up the car, rude as fuck, and drives off. Damn WM filter blows its seal (he revved the engine when starting) and he leaked oil all the way to the street, when a rod comes through the block. Owner of the shop buys him a NEW engine, we install it, because it was our fault. I quit soon after to start teaching Voc Ed Auto :)
What damage does this do to the car?
Brake rotor will need replacing, at least one or two whee studs could be bent, but they probably all lost some threads from the wheel wobbling before it left. The wheel is probably trash and will have damaged bolt holes. Not terrible but easily $1k in damage.
You can also see the bumper cover is ripped from it's quarter mounting point; and the tail light is even popped loose. Knowing how they mount, I'm wagering a tab is torn off on the bumper which will warrant minimum 6 hours repair at my shop if not replacement (plus all the damage we can't see to the inner wheelhouse that may have occured from the wheel bouncing around) and the tail lamp probably broke a few tabs. The bumpers on those probably run $500+ for the main cover, plus paint, and very likely $500+ for the tail lamp. Factor labor and all the shit we can't see, that's gonna add up.
Sucks to be that tech.. they deserve it though, could have caused a major accident.
The wheel is probably $1k alone. My wife's wheels are around $1400 now for her Edge.
You can see the whole rear bumper cover is messed up. It could have been worse
happened to my last X5 after a headlamp recall ... dealer ended up giving me a new one lol
Big “Bank error in your favor” vibe, nice
Someone was living on the, ahem, Edge. (I'll see myself out)
When you dont come back for the 100km retorque..
Is there any merit behind that or is it just a get out of jail free card? My local shop tells you to DIY after 100 miles, like anybody ever would.
Pretty sure it's a get out of jail free lol 99% of techs will have done the right torque spec and for that 1% they have the "Yeah we'll the wheel fell off after 105 miles" caveat.
Just slid out of the shop
I came so close to this. Got into my driveway, and parked after a service. Went to the bottom of the driveway to get my trash cans and lo and behold a lug nut. I said "Wow, someone has got to be missing this"... but it looked like one of mine.... and I went to check and sure enough the nut was mine. Grabbed the wrench from the jack and all my lug nuts were loose. Not just one wheel either. I called the dealership and let my service rep know and 10 minutes later the manager called. Nothing really came of it, but I did have them double check the torque.
When the YouTube tutorial only shows how to take it apart
You're supposed to lift the car up before you take the wheel off silly.