AUTOPLAY REPAIR WIZARD FOR VISTA

How much do you think this is worth? $500, $125 or $35? The answer is...all of the above.

This part was a source of a $500 car repair back on Day 158 for L'il Red. When my dummy light went on and the car wouldn't start, I knew I was in big trouble and probably was looking at an expensive car repair bill. My normal mechanic couldn't take me for several days, so I had the car towed to a different shop. After a day and half, they finally called and found this part was the source of my problem. See that little fray on the cable? That is what cost me $500. The place where I got it fixed called and asked me if I had my timing belt replaced recently. Well, recently (as in last year) I did...apparently when it was replaced some cover wasn't shut tight and its taken about a year to fray (fry!) this cable. I asked them to save the part and when I saw it, my immediate thought was this thing cost $125?

I was ticked off that I had to pay $500 for something that wasn't my fault, I determined I would never go back to the mechanic again, I was going to go storming into the shop and demand they remedy the situation and reimburse me, I was going to make them look bad in front of all their customers. Yes, I was mad! But, I was also going out of town and decided I would deal with it when I got back from all my trips as I didn't want to be mad and ruin my trip.

Yesterday, I had finally calmed down enough (it's been almost a month since it happened) and there was no reason to be rude and make a scene, so I just called and asked to speak to the manager. He said to bring the bill and part in and that he would see what he could do, so I did. When I got there, he went to talk to the guys out in the shop and was out there for awhile, so my thought was that they were going to claim innocence. I was already thinking up a comeback, they should at least pay for part of it, pay for the labor, pay for the part, etc. But, he agreed to reimburse me, for the whole repair, and apologized profusely. I asked what he was talking about to the guys for so long...apparently, they were looking up the part cost and the other shop charged me $125 for the cable, they said their cost was $35 and that they would have charged me about $200 less for the repair under normal circumstances. Although in this case, I wouldn't have been charged since it was their fault (although I seriously wonder if that would have happened) In other words, without saying it directly, I was way over-charged.

In my prior job, I used to support our parts business and had to resolve customer complaints about our high parts prices (I was the one who set prices!). Our inside joke was "Parts is parts", you need to repair your product, so you pay to get it fixed no matter what the cost, to our benefit as our parts business is VERY profitable and for most parts, we are the only source for the part.

As the old saying goes, "Turnabout is fair play." This time I was on the other end of the deal, I paid the price to have my car fixed. It was also a lesson for me that it was probably good to give myself some time to calm down. I know when I was on the other end of it at work, I'd be less inclined to comp repairs for customers who were rude. I'm just glad my regular mechanic made me whole again! :-) And, I also know where I am NOT going to ever take my car again for repairs....

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