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I'm afraid that I have one of the best automotive repair horror stories...


Hi... my name is Bruce
This is my wife's ride, a Y2K New Beetle GLS 2.0L auto.
He's loud, finicky, cocky and a bit of a cheesy drama queen
The epitome of Bruce Cambell

I ha ve one place I take my cars for oil changes, a Valvoline. Its the one thing I don't really do, because I drive so much that would be all I could do with my free time. They all know me and have helped out with my cars numourous times. Any how my wife had a dreaded coupon for Monro Muffler. The charged her $90 with coupon for a basic synthetic oil change... Then tried to sell her about $500 worth of bogus repairs needed 'imediately'... Luckly my petite blond wife is no fool and challenged all the repairs and got the price down to around $70 for the oil change. Closer to what we normally pay. Only half the repairs were needed and I knew about them all and would not let her touch the car had they been really a hazard...

Well after all that a couple days later I find a huge puddle under Beetle Bailey. The person who changed the oil stripped the drain plug.. Okay took the car back, manager said it was a new guy who didn't know better.. I can accept that they plugged with a new one... A week later the plug blows out on the highway, luckily im driving him and I had stopped to help a trucker whose trailer brakes had seized and caught on fire, and it blew as I went to pull away.

Went back the guy who fixed the plug is now the manager, felt terrible and set me up with a new pan and gasket.. Now the car overheated for maybe a second , but little did I know that one should changenthe oil sensors in these mkVI's when that happens... spewed oil all over the motor and was chastised by a new Monro manager on how I didnt know that and it should have been done when I changed the pan... I told him they changed the pan. The changed the sensor for free.

After this debacle Bruce was running not so hot and began eating oil. I got his oil changed right at 3k mark at Valvoline and have them look him over (they found the original stripped oil plug when I was investigating the puddle) and they found oil coming from a few places, mostly from where the oil sensor wasnt in correctly. I babied him, planning on getting the water pump/timing belt changed and all new gaskets.

Alas that oil trail under Bruce came from him all the way down the drive about a month later... I called my wife in a panic only to find her phone on the table... me and a buddy trailed her to work and we just missed her as she went to see a client... As we gave chase her boss called her phone and when I answered my wife answered telling me her car died.

He ran out of oil and locked up... yet another new manager at Monro refused even though I had proof to do anything saying "I took it somewhere else" during the 7k miles I tried to keep the car going. When they finally tore the car apart they said it blew a piston, but not from running out of oil... I gathered his parts fought them to release the car so I could see my motor and even though they killed him at 165k, and apparently I was told the duration of 7k was too long to make a case for a settlement by a lawyer.

So instead I called a mechanic I had wanted to try and had him help me rebuild and drop in a junkyard motor from an '01 wrecked beetle. We beefed the motor up added dozens of new parts and at the end of the day spent just under $2000 in part/tools/labor and "learing mistakes" as it was the first VW he had ever worked on.

About a month later I had my wifes dream car back a new mechanic whose now a great friend of mine and saved me about that much money working on my cars (he most recently changed the head in my Jeep) Bruce is running strong at 190k but we went through about 6months of agony (including the brakes going out on my Century while the motor was being dropped in) because of how poorly the Monro shop was run

CMNTMXR57 wrote:Trust me, you DON'T want to hear stories of customer cheapness...

Ya gotta remember, 99.9% of the people owning/driving automobiles don't give a chit! To them it's just another appliance. Does it work? Yes. Does it need to be repaired? Yes. So how much is this gonna cost me...

Much like a fridge or washer and dryer. Which I will admit, when one of those break, I too try and fix it for the absolute cheapest because... I don't give a chit, it's an appliance! But I'm sure there is some guy out there who is a washing machine fanatic who is rolling his eyes at me because of my cheapness.

Maybe the washing machine repairman knows that it can be got going again for a few dollars, but spending an extra few more can get it fixed so it will give years more untroubled service..........

Roger.

rustyroger wrote:
Maybe the washing machine repairman knows that it can be got going again for a few dollars, but spending an extra few more can get it fixed so it will give years more untroubled service..........

Roger.

OT from cars, but I'll bite:

Some years ago I drove down a side road very near our home, to find an appliance guy with the hood up on his service van. I stopped. The + terminal on the battery was so corroded that I was sure it had not been charging properly, etc. Popped over to my house for some tools, baking soda, vinegar, water... Cleaned that sucker (and the - side too) and jump started the van. Looking good. Near the end of the work, he told me that he was at the house to service a Sub-Zero fridge.

Hey, I said, last week a guy was at the house and told me a nice fridge I have that is in my garage because it won't fit in the kitchen needs a compressor, even though it is only 4 years old. Can you give me a quick second opinion? The dude's demeanor changed like I had thrown a light switch. "Oh, no. If I came to your house (maybe 200 yards from where his van sat) I'd have to charge you like $100 for a service call, and I only work on the high-end appliances anyway." I just stared at him, and without saying another word, collected my stuff and left. What I SHOULD have done was pull out a receipt book and write him a bill for a road service call.

There is more... The first guy....

KM AXer wrote:

rustyroger wrote:
Maybe the washing machine repairman knows that it can be got going again for a few dollars, but spending an extra few more can get it fixed so it will give years more untroubled service..........

Roger.

OT from cars, but I'll bite:

Some years ago I drove down a side road very near our home, to find an appliance guy with the hood up on his service van. I stopped. The + terminal on the battery was so corroded that I was sure it had not been charging properly, etc. Popped over to my house for some tools, baking soda, vinegar, water... Cleaned that sucker (and the - side too) and jump started the van. Looking good. Near the end of the work, he told me that he was at the house to service a Sub-Zero fridge.

Hey, I said, last week a guy was at the house and told me a nice fridge I have that is in my garage because it won't fit in the kitchen needs a compressor, even though it is only 4 years old. Can you give me a quick second opinion? The dude's demeanor changed like I had thrown a light switch. "Oh, no. If I came to your house (maybe 200 yards from where his van sat) I'd have to charge you like $100 for a service call, and I only work on the high-end appliances anyway." I just stared at him, and without saying another word, collected my stuff and left. What I SHOULD have done was pull out a receipt book and write him a bill for a road service call.

There is more... The first guy....

An old British comedy sketch Went along these lines;

Man walks into a lawyers office;

The lawyer; "Good morning Mr smith, five dollars, how are you today?, ten dollars, let me take your coat, fifteen dollars, do have a seat, twenty dollars,. Now, let's have a look at your file, seventy dollars, I think, one hundred and twenty dollars, that we should arrange another meeting for shall we say next week, same time?, one hundred and eighty dollars.
Would you mind settling your outstanding account on you way out Mr Smith?, always a pleasure to be of service".

Roger.

rustyroger wrote: Would you mind settling your outstanding account on you way out Mr Smith?, always a pleasure to be of service".

Roger.

Good One! I'll have to remember that last part for when people "borrow" stuff, and I don't get it back in my hand...