That’s not what I’ve heard and read, and more than once, by the way
Like I said, by all accounts, the judges often/usually side with the customer, even if disclaimers can be produced
One reason is what you state, the car owner gets fed up with how long it is taking or ambiguous results. As I recall in the OP’s particular situation , that wasn’t the case. The OP had made some repairs themselves, then taken the car to the shop where presumably the shop discovered a problem in one of the repairs. It seems like in that situation – agree, this wouldn’t be the usual remedy, the shop just fix the problem the OP caused – but I could see where a diy’er might simply want the car returned so they can fix what they as a diy’er fouled up in the first place. Either b/c they didn’t trust the shop’s assessment, or they wanted the personal satisfaction of doing it correctly themselves.
In that case at least be honest upfront with the shop and let them know your intention if they find something that can be fixed DIY. In that case ask for a diagnosis.
I was generalizing with my comment. In the OPs case it’s completely different. The car was dropped off with a carte blanche authorization.
When facing questionable situations such as the OP’s here I have sometimes offerred some vague time weeks in the future to call me back in hopes of an opening and other times I’ve given an outrageously expensive sight unseen estimate and called for 50% up front. Needless to say I never saw the cars. Cleaning up the messes made by DIYers is a losing proposition and businesses don’t stay open long working on losing propositions.
What we have here is a man with parts bought at McParts stores hanging haphazardly from an automobile in hopes that a shop will properly install them and warranty the repair charging only the clock time to correct the obvious criritcal issues while being held liable for any hidden problems or even new problems that occur anywhere in the front suspension and brakes. Does the word LITIGATION come to mind for anyone else?
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lol … @Rod_Knox , maybe overstating your case a bit? The OP could just have made a mistake in their diy’er repair is all. Not an uncommon thing for a diy’er to do, especially something like a snap ring not fully seated. Car repair is often a learn by doing thing. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. I don’t think most shops would complain when they found a mistake was made by the owner doing a diy’er repair. They’d just fix it up the right way, and show the diy’er what happened.
If there was a process mistake, it was the car owners telling the shop to do whatever needed to be done. But even that probably wasn’t a mistake. What needed to be done got done.
Overhead costs suck up nearly half the profit from a HARD days work @GeorgeSanJose. And regardless how well meaning the OP was his mistakes are his to pay for and not a shop owner.
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No disagreement.