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Post the things that really drive you up a wall. I will start.
Mr. drops his second set of wheels off to have winter tires swapped on and then decides when he comes back to have you put them on. You already flagged the job and got paid for it. Now you have to take your place out of line for a new RO with more work to earn a living off of to pull this jackasses car in, for free, and take his old wheels off and put the ones you just put tires on and then pack up the ones you just took off all for free. All the while watching a nice gravy RO go to the guy in line behind you. It’s even worse when you are actually working on a car and have to stop while you are on a good pace to make money to do it.
I also hate when you are working on a car that is paying out 14 hours of work and it’s a Saturday and you need that 14 hours to make a week and you are down to the wire and someone comes in for a waiter oil change that pays 0.3 and 0.3 for a rotate and you end up not finishing the good paying job for a measly 0.6.
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lol so true. i love the coustomer i got i said hey your low rad hose is about to burst id get that replaced.(enters donkey coustomer hee haw no no you dont know what your talking about). me: alright but if that blows id pull right over no coolant circulation plus the water pump pumping coolant out of the block wont be so good. two weeks later warped cylinder head
Yes those oil filters are horrible, luckily we don’t have to do oil changes very often since we have a quick lube kid. Only time we do them is if we’re doing a lot of work to the vehicle.
I am going out on a limb. Today a lot of customers have had very bad experiences with mechanics. I am sure that some of them have had good experiences with mechanics as well. Today, I know certain things need to be changed in Automotive. I personally prefer that the customer see’s exactly what I am doing. Also I get the opportunity to explain as I work. Certain things they need to stay away because of safety issues. eg. welding etc.
Second to a house, cars are sometimes people most asset. Therefore they will be very edgy around them. The reality is that for you to do the job you need to put people at ease. I do know there are Characters that want trouble and you really have to weed them out.
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=50392]I am going out on a limb. Today a lot of customers have had very bad experiences with mechanics. I am sure that some of them have had good experiences with mechanics as well. [/quote]
I disagree, I think most people have had good experiences. I think a lot of the supposed “bad experiences” arent bad at all. I think the customer just thinks its a bad experience. I think the problem is what I like to call fixit shops, around here most shops are fixit shops. They do what the car came in for and thats it. So someone has a car for years and years and all they did was take it to these fixit shops, then they happen to take it to an actual repair shop and all of a sudden they need a bunch of work and they think they are being ripped off because none of the other shops told them about any of it.
Know how I said dirty cars earlier in this post?! Well had one yesterday that topped them all! Got a 03 Venture van for a blown brake line, ended up having a broken coil spring on the front, bad starter, a whole list of things by the time I got looking at, got a go ahead on everything. This van was the most disgusting vehicle I’ve ever sat in. The dog smell and dog hair ALL throughout the vehicle would make a doctor puke. It was unreal, that stuff usually doesn’t bother me to the point of wanting to vomit but this nearly put me to that point. Put it this way, this morning I was all done and had to go for a roadtest, it was 20 below zero and I had the window down with my head out the window so I didn’t have to smell it!
Where I work we have a shared toolbox and I hate it when I cannot find the tool I need because the idiot I work with forgot where he left it, or was just to lazy to put it back.
I was working on a van one time and it had a child seat in every seat Mcdonalds wrappers everywhere spilled food, and when I got in smelled the filth I opened the windows only to be swarmed by bees.
Where I work it is mainly farmers vehicles can you imagine putting the plastic seat cover in to protect yourself.
The worst one was an old guy that pissed on himself in the car then I had to get in it to bring the car in just for a oil change.
I can’t stand working for employers. I love working direct for myself i.e. direct with the customer.
If someone is an asshole. I tell him or her that they are being assholes and either stfu or go somewhere else.I only take the work I want.
[quote=”Superman” post=50514][quote=”drthrift035″ post=50392]I am going out on a limb. Today a lot of customers have had very bad experiences with mechanics. I am sure that some of them have had good experiences with mechanics as well. [/quote]
I disagree, I think most people have had good experiences. I think a lot of the supposed “bad experiences” arent bad at all. I think the customer just thinks its a bad experience. I think the problem is what I like to call fixit shops, around here most shops are fixit shops. They do what the car came in for and thats it. So someone has a car for years and years and all they did was take it to these fixit shops, then they happen to take it to an actual repair shop and all of a sudden they need a bunch of work and they think they are being ripped off because none of the other shops told them about any of it.[/quote]
People this day in age tend to be much more vocal about bad experiences than good experiences. Also, as you said, some people will just have their local mechanic or the guy down the road fix something on their 15 year old car with 180k miles. Cars deteriorate over time and basic maintenance is often overlooked. Resulting in a snowball effect. Then when you look at it for a complaint of squeaks, clunks, grinding, and poor handling. it’s like okay, your coil spring is cracked and you need new front springs, your ball joints have boots that are torn to shreds and need to be replaced, your sway bar bushings are rotted, and you need new brake pads and rotors. Then they ask “well what can be done for now because I don’t have much money?” It’s like I just told you the bare minimum that needed to be done to get the car to be safe. If you want me to fix everything that’s wrong on your POS car, you’d be much better off buying a new car.
I refuse to let customer stand over my shoulder and tell me what is wrong and how to fix it.
I have taken car off lift pulled it outside and told customer to have a good day. I DO NOT NEED THE WORK THAT BAD.you mean that like some guys i worked in past that they didn’t even checked minimum thickness for rotors…
i had seen it at mopar dealer that guys that remachine rotors until one side was paper thin…i am sorry that is just stupid and unprofessional…
if some techs did work properly then, we wouldn’t have jobs, right….?
that’s my rant.
boy, i know exactly how you feel!! i had the same problem when i worked at a chevrolet dealership. being a woman, i spent the bulk of my time learning everything i could because i had to prove myself to the guys that i could hang with them when it came to turning wrenches, but what ended up happeneing is i could turn wrenches with the best of them, but they couldn’t keep up with me when it came to diagnosing stuff. i got stuck with all of the ones that kicked their butts, but i never lost a battle. a few years later i co-owned a repair shop with my best friend and that same chevy dealership would send me all of their hard electrical stuff to diagnose. the only good part about the work then was that i was an owner and i was on salary and not starving like i was at the dealership on flat-rate!! so rant away, sometimes it sucks being good at something, lol.
for me my biggest pet peeve is that people think because i’m a woman i’m a complete idiot. even when i co-owned a shop with my good buddy and had that Master ASE patch on my shoulder, the customers would come in and ask for a mechanic. i had one guy actually say to me “no i want a real mechanic”, it was all i had to hold myself back from jumping over the counter. “a real mechanic? how about a technician?”, i asked him “well i can tell you right now i have more experience and know how than all of my employees, if i didn’t i wouldn’t be here talking to you and running this shop would i?” he apologized, took his foot out of his mouth, and after i correctly diagnosed his dirty throttle body causing his low idle problem, and the encoder motor for his 4WD drive on his silverado, he became one of my most loyal customers. just give a girl a chance to fall on her face before you talk to a female technician like she’s an idiot. now i have met a few women mechanics that fit that stereo type, but the industry usually weeds them out pretty fast. i’m actually a post secondary auto tech instructor now and believe me the looks on their faces when they find out they applied to a program with a female instructor is priceless, lol!
very true! i love the techs who think just cause they are putting new pads on it’s ok to use a rotor that’s too thin and out of specs. if it’s out it’s out!
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