Should I have just let it go? Problems at a mechanic

[StartingEarly]

I took my vehicle in to get a recall fix done on it and they do an inspection with the recall.  I told them the steering wheel was excessively loose.  They told me it was outer tie rods, when I told them that another place I had taken it to said it was inners they treated me like a child and wouldn't even have the tech take a second look.  The universal joint for the steering wheel was the actual problem AND HAS A TSB ON IT through the manufacturer and they still missed it.(I had heard bad things about them and wanted to see if they would miss it, which they did) I asked them if the loose universal joint could cause the issue and again I was treated like I knew nothing about cars and they were adamant that it could not transfer to the wheels. 

I took the vehicle back to the place that told me it was inner tie rods (a rational idea since universal steering joints rarely get loose).  They let me look at the vehicle with them and were sorry they had misdiagnosed it.

I went back to the Ford dealer to let the service manager know that the people working there were not very competent and that they had treated me very unprofessionally.  They had me put it up on the lift again and look at it to find that they had read the technicians paperwork wrong.  They called it a "simple error".  I would have called it that if it would have been them telling me that and then me correcting them and then them going with me to find the real problem together.  They did none of that and were incredibly rude.  Normally I let things go, but this is a very serious safety issue and could lead to some mom losing control of her vehicle with the kids in it some day when they misdiagnose it.  So I think I did the right thing but I'm not sure.  Someone may lose their job, I have no way of knowing, but if they did the replacement would likely be more competent and less condescending.

[Dodge]

Never let it go. It's a service industry, and they gave you bad service. The manager wants/needs to know when these things happen.

[Flyingkea]

Welcome to a womans world! :P
All jokes etc aside, I think, yes, you are right to report it. At the end of the day, the technician had a job, and failed to carry it out with an acceptable and professional manner. Mistakes do happen, it's part of being human, it's how you respond that is important, and belittling others is not on. I'm not sure of company protocol, but for a first offence, retraining, and a warning would be more likely than a dismissal. Or if it has happened before, shows a pattern and allows the company to take appropriate action.

[StartingEarly]

The funny thing is I'm actually a guy, with facial hair, and I was wearing my maintenance hoodie from my paper mill when I was talking to him.

[Flyingkea]

The funny thing is I'm actually a guy, with facial hair, and I was wearing my maintenance hoodie from my paper mill when I was talking to him.

haha yea, I did check if you were a guy before posting. I often got talked down to when taking my car to the garage. It's annoying and unprofessional. I did have fun with the carsalesmen when buying my car though, asking about things like when things like cambelt was last replaced etc. the look of consternation when they couldn't answer my very basic questions...   /gloat

[Mr. Frugalwoods]

"Can you show me?"

Is my magic sentence at the Mechanic's.  A good mechanic will have no qualms about bringing you into the shop and showing you exactly what they are talking about.  If they won't do this, or act super put out, then find another mechanic.  You aren't paying them to be a dick.

"If you were looking to fix this on the cheap, what would you do?"

Is another.  Lots of (good) mechanics default to fixing it the "right" way, when a perfectly fine repair or replacement with a junkyard part would do just as well.  My mechanic loves being asked how to do things more frugally.  He even gives me ballpark figures of what to expect to pay at a junkyard for particular parts so I don't get ripped off.

[pzxc]

StartingEarly, you obviously know enough to be able to catch them on something like this, and bravo for doing it (even though you kinda expected it would happen, that's no excuse for their behavior). The worse part of it isn't that they made a mistake (happens to the best of us), but that they wouldn't admit to it and treated you condescendingly.

I'm a guy, but I don't know as much as you about auto mechanics, though I know the very basics - I feel confident doing anything up to and including changing my own oil, that's about it.  Computers were my first love, and I devoted all my time to it and never did the car thing, though my dad and brothers were big into it. (Dad worked for Ford most of his life).

And I wanna thank you for standing up to them this far.  People need to get called out on shit.  ESPECIALLY if it's a safety issue - but even if it's not, even if it's just a matter of general principle, they need to get called out. And it doesn't happen often enough.  This is just like a situation where someone cuts in line, and will anyone say anything? Usually not. But sometimes there's somebody who won't put up with shit like that and calls them out.  Every single person in that line is silently thanking that person for having the balls to actually stand up to someone doing something stupid and/or rude.  So THANK YOU.  (And it's really awesome when that someone who calls them out is like a 6 foot 4 250lb dude or something, and the offender turns around and is is like CRAP and gets all meek and apologetic, LOL)

A lot of us get taken by bad mechanic shops.

But I wouldn't pursue it any further than you already have. At this point everyone who can learn anything from it has already learned it, the rest aren't gonna learn shit and escalating further has no possible gain it could only turn out neutral, or badly.  So let it go :)  Until the next time you stand up for the rest of us :)

You sir are a hero :)

[StartingEarly]

I don't know about hero, I am just done with the whole steering issue.  It's been an ongoing thing for like a year.  "it's the inner tie rods, no it the rack, no it could be both, no, it's the column"  I mean seriously?  Hold what needs to be held in place and jiggle it, it's not rocket science.  I wasn't about to throw parts at it until something stuck.  It would have been 250 for inner tie rods that weren't bad, about a grand for a rack that wasn't bad (electric power steering is expensive) then finally 200 to fix the intermediate steering coupler that was the problem the whole time.  I admit partial fault for not checking the TSBs, that was totally my bad.

[pzxc]

Yeah, that's the thing.
Many of us spend thousands of dollars "throwing parts at it" because that's what the mechanics tell us to do

[The_path_less_taken]

I don't take my car to the local Ford dealer for very similar reasons: I don't want to be spoken to as though I rode the short bus to school AND have you rape my wallet at the same time. One or the other is bad enough.

Also: mechanics are encouraged to throw parts at it. They are paid a commission. Especially at dealers: they are expected to put every bell and whistle possible onto a bill and do every test possible to pad that bill.

Find yourself an honest mechanic and them keep him. Fuck that: share him!

[Primm]

The funny thing is I'm actually a guy, with facial hair, and I was wearing my maintenance hoodie from my paper mill when I was talking to him.

No, you shouldn't have let it go.

My first comment until you said this was "do you have breasts?" Nothing personal of course! I've rebuilt my own car twice (as in complete engine and gearbox rebuild, respray, the works) and I still get grief like that nearly every time I take it somewhere. Some things I can't / won't do at home - brake rotor refinish, clutch relining, that sort of thing. I take it places. I've had "professional" mechanics talk down to me and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about when I walk into their shop with a starter motor I pulled out myself and asking them to fix it. I actually had this guy ask me why I didn't just drive the car in because it would be easier if they could have diagnosed the fault with the bits in the car still. Um, because the starter motor is fucked, dude! So the car won't start...

Sorry, I have a long list of issues with car people who do it for a living. The list of places I will actually take my baby to is short, and some of them are a long way away.

[woodnut]

You were probably right by letting them know.  I'm more passive and figure it won't change anything by bringing it up.  I just vote with my dollars.  I do not go back and if friends or coworkers ask for recommendations I tell them not to go to so-and-so because of this particular experience I had.  In general because of experiences like this, I've sworn off dealerships and the national chain places.  They always want to upsell, different techs and service reps every time you go in.  Although not easy to find a good one, I prefer small independent shops that specialize in just one or a few makes of vehicles.  Or even better, DIY for the easier tasks.

[guitar_stitch]

I did have fun with the carsalesmen when buying my car though, asking about things like when things like cambelt was last replaced etc. the look of consternation when they couldn't answer my very basic questions...   /gloat

If you asked me about a cambelt I would probably give you a look too.  Timing Belt is the common term. 

[Goldielocks]

Let them know.  Feel confident that likely no one will lose their job, but someone might get a tense conversation.  Or not, if that is what the shop is normally like.

[neo von retorch]

I did have fun with the carsalesmen when buying my car though, asking about things like when things like cambelt was last replaced etc. the look of consternation when they couldn't answer my very basic questions...   /gloat

If you asked me about a cambelt I would probably give you a look too.  Timing Belt is the common term.

Ha I was thinking the same thing. I had to web search that. But this reminds me of this summer when I bought my used car with just under 60k on it, and the salesman was trying to sell me an extended warranty / maintenance contract. He kept saying "but you're going to want to change your timing belt in just a few thousand miles!" Well, I'd really like your techs to give that a whirl, considering that my car doesn't have one... it's a timing chain.

[cartechguy]

You need to report it to the OWNER of the Dealership.  This is why the auto industry gets a bad rap.  Under no circumstances do you EVER treat a customer like that even if they don't use the dealership for repairs.  If you are there for a TSB or RECALL your a customer and need to be treated with respect.

The manager and tech would have been on VERY thin ice with me and the 2nd time around they would have NO JOB!!

I have no problems bringing a customer into the service area and showing them and educating them on there vehicle. That was my job!!

[Flyingkea]

I did have fun with the carsalesmen when buying my car though, asking about things like when things like cambelt was last replaced etc. the look of consternation when they couldn't answer my very basic questions...   /gloat

If you asked me about a cambelt I would probably give you a look too.  Timing Belt is the common term.

Interesting, I had never heard it called timing belt until I moved to Australia, in NZ everyone I spoke to used cambelt. Anyway that was just an example, there were a few others things I'd ask about only to get plaintive "why are you asking me things I don't know look? You are supposed to just say "oooh nice car" and hand over teh moneyz" looks.
Anyway, the point is, the dealer who treated me with respect, and answered my questions ended up with my custom, and those who were condescending didn't.

[Forcus]

No, I wouldn't have let it go. But then again I got so fed up with service that I just do my own even if there is a warranty.

Second what someone said about going to the owner. As long as you are truthful, don't feel ashamed about posting an experience on Yelp, etc. People do look at those things. I found a car I was interested in this week at a dealer on the east coast, read awful tales about them that seemed legit, and now that dealer won't be getting my business.

For whatever reason it doesn't seem like car dealers (sales and service) get the concept that people are getting smarter, more educated, and cars are becoming more of a commodity, so things like credibility are one of the few things that can be used to distance yourself from the competition. Just don't get it..

[StartingEarly]

There are some quality shops, but I took the vehicle three places and none of them knew it was an intermediate steering shaft without me telling them it was and all had estimates written up for parts to fix what they thought it was.

[MrsPete]

Welcome to a womans world! :P

Yeah, that's true.  I've taught my two girls, who are both old enough to drive now, that when you take your car in for minor service, they will ALWAYS find "something else" that needs work -- and it'll ALWAYS be something relatively small (couple hundred dollars) and something that sounds quite dangerous.  Your brakes, for example. 

Some places have even asked me to sign something up front saying they can "just go ahead and take care of any little problems they find".  Um, no. 

Here's an example:

Once when I was still very young, I went in to pick my car up front something minor -- I'm going to say an alignment -- and the guy told me he'd realized my brakes needed tightening, so he'd gone ahead and done it, knowing I'd want to be safe.  It'd only be $XX.  I guess some people just say, "Oh, thank you so much.  Please take my money", but I pointed out that I had not authorized that work, and I was pleased he did it on the house . . . but since I had not authorized it, I would not be paying.  He countered with, "Well then, I'll just loosen your brakes up again", to which I answered, "No, you won't.  First, I know you aren't going to do MORE work without pay.  Second, I forbid you to touch my car again -- ever -- and if you do anything other than hand me my keys this very minute, I will call the police." 

I did speak to his manager, but he didn't seem to care.  I suspect the guy was just following orders.  I think it was their method of "upselling". 

[Forcus]

I will grant that people tend to underestimate the amount of tools required to work on todays cars. I think it's ironic dealerships are willing to be dishonest because it only hurts their business - fixed costs like tools over a great number of customers means an overall lower shop rate and potentially a competitive advantage over independent shops.

Another thing when dealing with a dealership. They often don't use factory parts!! Common sense would say that if you go to the Ford dealer you will get Ford / Motorcraft parts. I used to run parts for an auto chain and guess what, many of my stops were to dealerships. Some of that was for expediency because of odd things they didn't have on hand, but I ran a number of parts the dealers should have had in stock (brake parts were a big item). My guess, more margin and the customers didn't think to have to ask for factory parts.