<VV> Scams - You can fool all of the people some of the time ...

[Charles Lee at Proper Pro Per]

Maybe I was wrong to think so, but when I brought my Audi (with the steel 
stud in aluminum housing), I thought I didn't know how to tap the stud, to 
break it loose a little, before attempting to unscrew it.

So, I brought it to a mechanic who should know these things, have worked on 
may similar cars, and be familiar with the procedure for removing 
multi-metal parts professionally.

When I bring a car in for a tune-up because some of the parts are hard to 
reach, I figure I'm paying for the mechanic to reach those parts and fix 
them.

I don't expect him to break the part, being as unfamiliar as I was, and then 
charge me for breaking it and repairing what he broke.

I don't want to pay for 3/4 of a tune-up because the mechanic thought the 
other 2 plugs were too hard to reach so he didn't do them.

No, he didn't build the car with plugs that can't be reached, nor did he 
design the steel stud in the aluminum casting.

But as a professional, he should just plain know how to do these things, 
without messing them up, or not completing the job. (At least my mechanic 
TOLD me that he didn't replace the "hard to reach" plugs, but only after I 
corrected his invoice that showed only 6 plugs !

The $100 he charged was for 20 minutes work that I could easily have done 
myself.  I paid the $100 for the "hard to reach" plugs, which, with his lift 
and other tools I did not have, would have been easy for him to do.

The 80-20 rule is working hard here.

Mechanics do 20% of the effort and satisfy 80% of the market (those who 
don't, won't or can't think).

As a NY Telephone supervisor, Joe Taylor (or you there Joe ?) once said to 
me :

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and
     you can fool some of the people all of the time,
              ... and that's enough."

'Nuff said ?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mygroups" <mygroups at frontiernet.net>
To: "Frank DuVal" <corvairduval at cox.net>
Cc: "Charles Lee at Proper Pro Per" <chaz at ProperProPer.com>; "Virtual Vairs" 
<VirtualVairs at corvair.org>; <AeroNed at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 6:48 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> Jiffy Lube Scam - scams in general


> Frank DuVal wrote:
>> Your friend is very unfair. Mechanics do not rust parts. Mechanics do not 
>> make steel plug shells seize in aluminum heads. They wish these things 
>> never happen. But owners expect miracles from mechanics. Miracles need to 
>> be paid for.
>>
>> How would you remove a seized spark plug?  Would you charge the same 
>> amount of time as a plug that comes out easily?
>> Fair is fair. Time is money. Your friend wanted something for nothing. 
>> Doesn't sound fair to me.
> Well I can see it both ways. On one hand the mechanic should be competent 
> enough to remove the plug without breaking anything (being GM certified, 
> doing plugs several times a week), and yes if the problem was due to the 
> friend's neglect then yeah, I can see how he should bear the cost or some 
> of the cost.
>
> We're in TN (not much salt) and the car was getting new plugs at around 
> 80K miles if I recall it correctly. He has owned the car since new. I 
> can't imagine there being a corrosion problem but hey, I could be wrong.
>
> He went to them to get new wires (a necessary maintenance item he 
> thought), new plugs, etc. He asked them to make the repair and how much 
> would it cost. These guys quoted a price to do the job. He went to them 
> b/c they were the factory trained pros and he was not (don't think he has 
> ever done any of the repairs on that car) and they messed up. So from his 
> point of view they could not carefully accomplish what they should have 
> been able to, their carelessness or incompetence... Two sides of the same 
> story...
>
> Me? Never broke a spark plug on any car or engine ever - probably have 
> replaced spark plugs on several dozen engines over the years. Cold engine, 
> loosen/tighten/loosen/tighten/loosen/squirt of oil/repeat. Apply 
> anti-seize when new plugs are installed. So  far so good. (I did manage to 
> strip the threads out of a couple old VW heads once upon a time... 
> <griN!>)
>
> Chris
>
>