Do certain cars attract less than desirable customers?

It has proprietary interface so it only works with their host app iirc. Claims they can control quality that way. No argument there just very specific, capable and appropriately expensive for anyone except a pro.

Cheapest generic ones sometimes charge for app dload. I found more than acceptable wireless dongle w/free app download under $100. Has many great features of more expensive types. If my current unit ever croaks, I’ll probably choose it or one like it.

I have had to deal with these types as well. I charge a minimum fee in town and travel charges based on the roundtrip time to other towns or rural locations. People think it is wrong to have to pay the same rate as I charge businesses because they are just a consumer. I then ask them if they could find anyone else to come out to provide them service and they say no. I tell them that if I were to provide the service for a lower price to residential customers than business customers, I wouldn’t be providing service for them at all. They then seem to SOMETIMES understand.

I have had to deal with this type of customer many times. The worst one called me about recovering data from an all in one PC and transferring it to another one onsite. They had taken the old dead all in one to every place within 100 miles and they refused to do the work. I told them that yes, I would do it but it would be time consuming and expensive. They didn’t care as their only pictures of a dead relative were on it. If I could even attempt to do it, they were more than happy.

Anyway, I get out there and it was like a one hour drive one way so charged them 2 hours for the drive time. The all in one PC was one that had to be cut apart to access the hard drive containing the information. I found a diagram of the unit online and cut so that I wouldn’t damage the hard drive. I was able to extract the hard drive intact and recover their data. They seemed very happy, paid me, and sent me on my way. They also sent me with the remains of the old junk all in one as well as a couple other old PCs. Then the next week I start getting nasty and threatening e-mails saying how I charged them too much because my prices were too high after they had agreed to them and that they DEMANDED their old PCs be mailed back to them. I explained that I would mail them back after I inquired about postage, charge them for time inquiring about postage, charge them for postage, boxing the items up, and my time at my normal hourly rate to send them back. I was going to go to the UPS store and have them pay for that. Anyway, I got several more threatening e-mails (basically extortion) and blew them off. I never heard back. The old units were basically outdated trash and I had already ripped them apart to be recycled.

People are unbelievable.

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slow minivanSomeone posted this on facebook recently and I couldn’t stop laughing. It seems like the people with a silver Chrysler minivan around here always drive like idiots. Obviously others have had the same observations.

So if someone came in with an overheat problem, you would tell them to pound sand?

No, they would be told to sit and wait until their engine and radiator cooled down to the point where it was safe to open the radiator cap.

We didn’t have a problem with people who revealed that they had an overheating problem. However, we had a couple of dangerous situations as a result of people who knew that their heat gauge was red-lining, and only asked for the attendant to “check the radiator”.
:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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i went through a dangerous situation as a result of overheated radiator in which i got burns all over my arms. from an old ford… nothing scary, but i still have some scars. it could have ended up a lot much worse. the conclusion: check the radiator often! I tried to solve this problems for a really long time and I have spend a lot of time searching for answers on pharmacy reviews

Re checking overheated engines, if you squeeze the upper radiator hose and find that it is hard from pressure it is unwise to loosen the radiator/reservoir cap.

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Check for what? I thought the lines on the overflow tank should be sufficient and the fact that it is not overheating.

That person referred to his “old Ford”, so perhaps his car doesn’t have an overflow tank.

Funny, that reminds me of a story. Actually it’s not funny at all.

20+ years ago I worked at a garage that was one block off the freeway. One morning a woman who had been sitting in rush hour traffic pulls in and says she thinks her car is overheating and could we check the radiator. My coworker goes out, lifts the hood, and finds the car does seem hot. He reaches to squeeze the upper radiator hose to check for pressure and BAM, the plastic upper neck of the radiator snaps off. The upper hose (at just below waist level) spews a geyser of steam all over his groin. By the time we got him in the back and his pants off the skin on the inside of his thighs was already blistering. It was 2 weeks before he could walk normally again.

You can be careful, mindful, and aware, and sometimes you can still get hurt.

Sometimes, even using good judgement from years of experience accidents happen. Looking back I am grateful that there were never any serious injuries in my shop.

There’s no guarantee that the radiator will “suck up” the coolant in the overflow tank. There’s many failures where the overflow “just sits there” as the radiator depletes. Trusting that “coolant in overflow = full rad” is unwise.

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There is often some confusion in the terminology of an overflow tank and a reservoir. Coolant is checked at a pressurized reservoir but not at an unpressurized overflow reservoir. But then for many of the uninitiated there is no difference.