Since the cost of an attorney is so expensive looks like small claims court is your best choice. I agree keeping it short in front of the judge is probably the best thing. Most local libraries have copies of the law, my advice would be search them making notes/copies of all statute numbers and how they read that the mechanic is in violation of and use that as your argument. Do your bashing using the law not just bad mouthing him. Most if not all laws are probably also available over the internet now. This will show the judge you’ve done your homework and know exactly what the law is and will also give the judge exactly where to look for a resolution.
About 25 years ago when I moved from KY-NC I got stopped by a state trooper a short while after moving and he wrote me a ticket for not having my driver’s licence changed from KY-NC. The trooper made a mistake of saying the reason he stopped me was the KY tag didn’t look right (duh, it wasn’t supposed to look like the one from NC), in other words he had no reason for stopping me other than I was out of state. As I was exiting his car he also told me verbally where I could pay the fine even though it was printed on the ticket, but never mentioned anything about a court date or that I could fight it, I told him I’d see him in court and his actions gave me determination to beat him in court. It was still a couple weeks until the court date so my brother and I went to the library and started studying, the law stated the drivers licence of a new resident must be changed within 30 days of becoming a resident which I had been in the state for over 30 days, we kept studying and found that under NC law you were not assumed a resident until you’ve been living in the state for 6 months and that no non resident could be issued a NC driver’s license, therefore I had 7 months from the date I moved into the state to have my license converted to NC. I went to court without a lawyer with statute numbers and statutes copied and used this as my defense the judge ask if I had a valid KY driver’s license, I told him yes and gave it to the judge for inspection. The case was dismissed. I lost a days wages going to court which was about the same as the cost of the ticket, but I proved the state trooper didn’t know the law as well as he thought and that this was one out of stater he couldn’t pick on. Again, another matter of principle, the trooper stopped me for no reason except I was from another state, thought he could write me a ticket and I’d go pay it, people travel from state to state every day and shouldn’t be harassed just because they are from another state.
I also want to thank you/your family for your service and dedication to our country and it’s citizens. To answer the question about the mechanics possible former service record, if he’s a veteran I also thank him for his service, but no it wouldn’t change my outlook on his present action. Please don’t allow this man to continue to do this to other people. In case you haven’t noticed though my previous posts, I will go to almost any length to prove I’m right (when I am) and get my point across.
@hwertz: “Well, there’s a shop here that’s about that bad. They charged me $200 to replace a lower radiator hose (which is about a 15 minute job) AND managed to do it wrong --”
Well, since we haven’t heard from your mechanic you’re clearly living in the same little fantasy world as me, instead of the big scary real world that [some other people] live in.
Geez, I go away for a couple days and you guys start talking about whipping out your DD-214s and comparing them. All you need is rum and the lash; you’re already one third of the way to Churchill’s navy.
Like a juicy rumor, this thread has exaggerated way beyond the stated facts. I have been closely monitoring CNN for the report of a shop owner being lynched from his Rotary lift.
As I stated from the beginning, if he works out of his garage and is not incorporated, he isn’t entitled. Call the police to accompany you and retrieve the car. If it is a legitimate business, he has additional protection but also additional responsibility. It doesn’t look like he met those responsibilities. IMO, it’s time for legal advice. Unless someone here claims to be a lawyer, it probably excludes the rest of us !
While we are at it, shouldn’t this site have a link for shops to avoid or at least be able to give a bad review for them. I am aware of the list for the “good” ones, but I think the ones to avoid could come in more handy.
I can see problems with reviews of shops and just like internet complaints where someone faults the car for a problem there may be more to the story.
If a good review is posted does that mean the shop is really outstanding? Or does it mean the review was put there by a shill or the shop owner themselves? Or does it mean that the review is from someone who got great service and is the exception rather than the rule?
If a bad review is posted does that mean the mechanic is a crook or screwed up; or does it mean the customer is upset and leaving a bad review because they have buyers remorse over an estimate, does not understand why the repair was needed and any procedures involved, and so on?
Like complaints.com there needs to be an option for a response.
When the internet reputation for sale business went ballistic it became overwhelmingly obvious that it would be difficult to ascertain the honesty and ethics of businesses. For a price the world could be convinced that Hitler was a pawn for the Polish Army.
I see OK’s point. Actually I happen to have a pretty poor rating related to my services. It was from someone who got arrested couple of hours after the posting the review. That person was having erratic behavior and putting peoples life in danger. But that review is still there for everybody to see. I haven’t noticed any change in my traffic and nobody has mentioned it to me, so not sure if anyone has taken it seriously.
I think all anyone can do when posting reviews or feedback about an individual on the internet is give their personal experience, but enough good reviews usually implies good service and many bad reviews reflect poor service. I once had trouble on the highway a couple hundred miles from home and called AAA to tow my car, not only did they tow it and call a mechanic in on Sunday the tow truck driver took his personal vehicle drove us to a restaurant so we could get something to eat while they were working on the car, gave us about an hour to eat and returned to pick us up.
Large corporations are now taking LEGAL action against poor customer service complaints that can be viewed by EVERYONE. In some cases they have forced the sites to remove the bad ratings.
Also many of the high-praise ratings of a company (especially the large ones) are actually bought and paid for. And in some cases even pay someone to write a unfavorable review about your competitor.
If one wants to see a good example of people trashing honorable people then look at eBay. A few years ago eBay removed the ability of a seller to leave a negative feedback for a buyer but not the reverse of that.
This means the worst of the worst can, and frequently do, vilify a good seller with negatives and the only thing the seller can do is leave a bad comment that is shown as a green positive.
EBay will of course remove that comment unless the deadbeat or scamming buyer is praised.
It hardly seems fair that a buyer who bids for fun with no intention of paying, has buyers remorse, or is running a scam to end up with both product and money is allowed to flourish there but that’s the way it is; and why I quit selling and ended most of my buying there a few years back even though it puts a crimp in my antique motorcycle fetish.
There are buyers on eBay right now with 100% positive feedback and a long history of being a scammer or deadbeat bidder. They’re deadbeat bidders to me but eBay, as part of their whitewash program, refers to a non-payer as an “unpaid item dispute”. What a farce.
There are also many ebay sellers who imply their products are in very good condition, but in reality are not. My wife and I collect a couple patterns of antique glassware and there have been several times the seller would say no chips, cracks, etc, but when the item(s) were received there would be multiple chips or cracks. One piece I bought several years ago was from a seller with 100% feedback, when I received it there were 5 chips I counted and 1 crack which had ruined it’s collectible value and the seller expected me to pay return shipping of about $20. on an item I’d paid about $40 for and had already paid to have shipped. This was before ebay changed there policy where sellers couldn’t leave negative feedback for buyers. I left the seller negative feedback because this was clearly the sellers error, yet they retaliated with negative feedback saying I was lying. I received many retaliatory negative feedback from sellers for similar reasons. Since then I’ve bought and sold on ebay for the past several years and maintained a 100% feedback rating, because when I sell I list any defect I see in my items even it I think it’s nothing and offer a full refund including shipping if the item has been misrepresented. So far I’ve never had anyone have a problem with any of my items.
ok4450, even with all it’s flaws, I think eBay did the right thing. It’s a true “the customer is always right” philosophy, and if you don’t share that philosophy, you’ve got no business working in retail or sales.
I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with private sellers on eBay and Amazon, and they expect a high rating whether they’ve earned it or not. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purchased something, only to discover the seller doesn’t have the item, or the item isn’t the one in the picture.
In any retail transaction, the seller has no right to rate the customer. I have the utmost respect for you, but some people just don’t have the right attitude when it comes to dealing with customers.
Elisabeth, if you are military you have 2 routes that aren’t as available to most others:
Go to your local JAG and ask for legal assitance - it’s free and the JAG works for the base or post Commanding Officer which means he can elevate it to a level to get action.
Go to your congressman - there is nothing that gets a Congressman’s attention like hearing that a service member in his or her district is getting ripped off and when your representative gets involved things usually have a way of working themselves out. Don’t just accept rotten treatment - it only encourages the bastards.
My LORD GOD ALL MIGHTY is this discussion STILL ongoing?
In Philly…if this were to happen…we would have settled it with a shotgun, a flatbed, and six of my boys. Now I know, absolutely without question that this is NOT the same thing going on here, but to be honest the Coverts have a lot going for them. When they finally present their case to any judge they will WIN…hands down. This whole situation is just fodder for the water cooler for us…the CT peanut gallery.
These nice folk will work this out. They don’t need us at all… Sure its fun prognosticating what would happen, what should happen, what might happen, what we would do, what your brother would do, what his bakers wife’s nephews son would do, what her priest said do, what she should do, what the local laws are…WHAT ROSCOE P COLTRAIN would do if he were there…What Daisy Duke heard happened once, what Cooter said his dog did a time ago, what the General Lee insinuated, what she would do if she were there…ETCETERA …Persona non Grata…Ad Nauseum…INFINITUM… WE got it from ALL angles…and 160 posts bolster my opinion.
For Christs sake let this thread DIE…These nice people will come out on top in the end…I promise…any court or mediator will side with the offended party without question.
This is a fact…they were wronged. They may pay some of the retards asking repair fee…or all of it…up to them…I’d partially pay and figure it out later. If he held my car…that’s where the shotgun, six friends and a flatbed would come into play.
Let these nice folk figure it out…OBVIOUSLY we gave our collective opinion. We are done now…This post should close at the risk of inflating more systolic pressures across the nation. I think the Coverts would agree…we gave our opinion EN FORCE…
Goodnight…lets go to bed. These people will come out on top in the end…
Thank you and Goodnight I’m here all week…theres a free buffet in the conference room for all of you…
Whitey, my reference about eBay is that it’s chock full of scammers and whiners and many sellers who have done nothing wrong get punished for it in a variety of ways.
One very common ruse is to buy an item and then file a disupte that the “item is not as described”. EBay orders the seller to refund the cost + shipping upon return of the item. What happen is that the buyer then returns a package with something in it but not necessarily what was sent to the buyer originally. In one case a buyer returned a car stereo but when the seller opened the package they found a brick. In another case a seller found wad of used underwear and in some cases eBay allows the buyer to keep the item and the money.
If you were a seller on eBay and some buyer pulled a stunt like the above on you would you not want the ability to leave a negative and warn others?
Sellers have gotten computer CPUs and laptops back with hard drives, memory sticks, or cards removed.
Here’s something I bet you didn’t know, and it aggravates me that I can’t remember the ID of the seller.
Did you know that Best Buy has a shell company that sells on eBay? All or most of those returns to BB end up at this outlet. This seller (based in CA I think) used to get negatives in the hundreds per month for dumping off inoperative electronics or electronic items that have had parts removed. (hard drives, cards, and so on.)
What’s even worse about this is that BB claims to be green and will haul off and dispose of your appliances (at a 100 bucks a pop) and electronics when they make a delivery. Guess where that junk they haul off ends up?
For what it’s worth, I’ve been a member of eBay for 13 years with almost 600 FBs and not one negative or neutral in the entire time. (About 2/3 as a seller and 1/3 as a buyer.)
In that time I’ve left a total of 7 or 8 negatives and every one of them for the same thing; the buyer never paid me and did nothing but make excuses for weeks on end as to why they did not pay. In my opinion, these people who bid on and won an item and did not pay deserved the negs they got. Each one cost me a wasted auction, time, and listing fees which are not refundable.
