Needing to vent!!!

[Jessesbride]

My SOOOO not frugal weekend!

My car has been trying to overheat for awhile now, & the guys kept trying to buy parts for it & get it to work etc etc, so we finally got frustrated & took it to the shop to get whatever was wrong, fixed on Friday, friday night we were told we could come pick it up as it was now fixed (dh & his dad had flushed the system AND put in 3 new thermostats) well, the shop did the same thing & said it is fixed now (PAID $300 ) & by the time we got it home, it was very obvious that it WAS NOT FIXED!!! so today my dh followed me in his truck while I drove my car all the way back to moore & had heat going full blast, car windows down, driving w/hazards on, in D2, going only 40 miles/hour on the highway. It was NUTS!!!!

So my question is, since we are going back to the same place (& yes they guarantee their work, they are the only place we ever take our vehicles ~ 1st time it has not been fixed correctly) is there any way to recoup some of the cost? I understand that they put in the parts & have no problem paying for it, but it was not fixed & in fact way worse was the problem! I don't want to keep paying for it being "fixed" if it really isn't! kwim? HELP!!!




Thanks for any help!!!

Kim

[fixer]

If this is the first time you have had a problem, it must be a good shop. Find the owner/manager and explain what you want. Have an idea of what will make you happy beforehand. Most of the time, people will work with you if you are firm but polite. Since you have been there before and have a relationship with them, they probably will work with you to reconcile the problem.

[frugalnana]

If you have always gone to them, they will most likely fix the problem without recharging you. We had a crank shaft go out a few years ago, and it was replaced, while driving it home, it sounded like parts grinding and it started smoking, turned around and took it back, the brand new part was defaulted. They replaced it at no charge.
So you should probably ask. Good luck

[rudypoo98]

My Cougar started overheating and it was head gasket going out.

[hugxlaughxsmilexlove]

They should fix it until it's fixed. You might have a hard time getting any $$ back.. labor pay is hard to take away from employees.. now, if they replaced any parts that didn't need replacing/bad parts, etc, you might find some dough back into your pocket! I'd fight it. Not your fault, wasted time going back and forth.

[Jessesbride]

well it turns out it WAS a head gasket! & it's getting fixed to the tune of .... $750 however, they waived all the diagnostic fees & such b/c of what was paid on Friday! The owner (Donnie) took it out & drove it to see if he couldn't get it to react the way he needed it to to run the tests that he needed to find out if it was the headgasket. For awhile it had them stumped... but I pray that they have it fixed for sure this time! but apparently, the head gasket FAILED on all accounts! DH rented me a car for the next several days & hopefully I'll get my car back tomorrow! Well, there goes that nice eme fund I had built up so well! so back to the busting tail of getting that sucker back up... & here I thought we could blast the rest of that debt gone quick... yeah right! oh well, that's what it's there for right?!

Kim

[frugalnana]

I know its disappointing that you had to use what you saved, but just think of this, you didn't have to put it on a credit card, borrow it or take the car home not repaired. Your doing a great job and in no time you will have that fund built right back up.

[Jessesbride]

Well, actually, they found some other things wrong too while taking care of the head gasket... apparently, it's by the grace of God that my engine didn't blow up while I was driving it!!!! So I'm really really really glad that not only are we getting ready to go get it, but also will have enough to cover the additional stuff that got fixed!!!

Kim