I got a hold of a mechanic who evdently was not competent. $1,700 for several repairs the problems are happening again. Air doesn’t cool,rack & pinion (after 3 put in) needs replacing. All this was done less than 6 months ago.I’ve move about 75 miles away. The present mechanic says there is welding/glue? on the boot/seal. What makes it worse is the 1rst mechanic is a prominent member of my previous church.I need advice on how to deal with this effectively but nicely. Suggestions? ( single, middle age lady!!)
First, find out what your original paperwork says, in terms of warranty, parts and labor. The rack and pinion should have had a decent warranty for that part. The labor may be out of warranty, but I would confront the first mechanic with the report you have and let him explain/re-do the repairs, or refund some or all of your money.
On the AC, I suspect he merely did a fill of the system without repairing the leak. You will need to start over, there.
Second choice is the have the second mechanic do the repairs needed and then go to small claims court to gain reimbursement from the first mechanic, for faulty work. In this case, you need pictures of the alleged poor/bad work, especially the glued boot, or whatever. If the work is out of warranty, then it may be harder to win your case.
The fact he is a member of your previous church holds no weight for me in these situations.
Call your mechanic to discuss the situation and be as nice about it as you can. Keep in mind the following: You don’t ask, you don’t get!
It helps to know the details behind the repairs, but if this guy replaced the rack and pinion 3 times then he’s incompetent.
If he did not replace it at all and charged you for it then he’s a liar and crook.
I’m assuming this glue on the boot business means someone tried to seal a hole in a steering rack bellows from the sound of it.
If a steering rack is leaking fluid from a bellows then that is a rack problem and even new boots is not going to fix it.
Any chance this guy saw fluid dripping, gooped up a hole, called it good, and then charged you for a rack?
I don’t see a tactful way out of this. Documentation from the new mechanic about what’s going on and approach the guy, politely at first, about a refund. If not, a small claims suit is a possibility.
Prominent member of the church means nothing. Some of the biggest weasels on earth attend church every Sunday.
I used to work for a new car dealer and the dealer along with the general manager and sales manager were higher ups in one of the area’s biggest churches every Sunday. Their sole purpose for attending was to sell cars. All of them drove a demo to church every Sunday and on Saturday afternoons the priority was to make sure their “Church vehicles” were cleaned and ready for sale. Customers who were awaiting delivery of new cars they had already paid for were shuffled to the back and told to “come back on Monday”. Hallelujah.