Help: Bike shop trying to screw me (I think)

No, that's not. An estmate is just that, it's an estimate, not a contracted
amount. Shops have various ways of dealing with overages, the most common
is they call and tell you it's going to go over and ask for approval for
exceeding the estimate. But, some don't. This is something that should
have been discussed before signing off on the estimate. As well as a
guarentee.

I don't subscribe to the idea that the world is full of repair shops just
waiting
to screw you. But, I do think that the vast majority of repair shops have
poor business sense. They do not understand the damage to their reputation
that one pissed off loudmouth can do. And they far too often will take on
jobs that they shouldn't be doing in the first place.

The fact of the matter is that a motorcycle that rolls into the shop with a
tank that is rusted to the point that you would even consider kreeming it,
has obviously sat far, far too long without being run and is going to have
a whole host of problems related to improper long term storage. If this is
a $5-6K bike then that might be one thing, but a motorcycle shop should not
be working on bikes like this that when in running order, are only worth
$3K.
It's just not cost effective for the owner. And if the owner begs them to
do the work, they should take pains to state that there's no guarentees
here.

Ted

 

Yeah, I hang out with motorcycle magazine writers and motorcycle
racers. Really strange, huh?

Why don't you take all of this crap that's is just spilling out of you
and go back to Reeky and argue with the Iron Boody bunch or the Dry
Stick Canadians?

The object of Reeky is to argue endlesly and have flame wars.

The object of rec.motorcycles.tech is to help less experienced riders
get their old machines running, even if they are tantrum-throwing
metrosexuals like "Slider".

 

Yeah, never saw of them with a writing style like yours.

Never been to "Reeky".

Have fun.

From reading your posts I was getting the impression the point here was to
insult people even if they never did you any harm.

 

Good advice, thanks. Just so you know, I am considering taking my bike
out of the shop this week and possibly pursuing legal action. I just
don't like the fact that I paid these guys over $600 in repairs and
received a bike back that isn't repaired. And, now, they say that I
need to buy a new gas tank and spend more money. But, why didn't they
say that in the first place and saved me a lot of time and money?

 

You haven't been paying close attention to what they are saying in
their articles and editorials then. They will shoot you right down if
you come at them with an idea they disagree with.

Of course they want to help Japan Inc and the Euro factories sell
product. They stroke the egos of wannabe's.

That's why we see so many brilliantly costumed poseurs strutting around
at the hangouts nowadays, and that's why we have to read so much crap
from people like you on Usenet.

Hey, I waste an hour of MY time on my day off trying to help some sissy
cubicle dweller who can't understand solid advice and he/she comes back
and says what I told him/her sounds like "gibberish" and even tries to
get people to referee e-mail exchanges, what am I supposed to do, tell
him, "Yes, I'll be right over and hold your hand for you?"

Motorcycle mechanics is a MALE THING, it's not for pussies and wussies
and yuppies with extended warranty cards in need of an lawyer, consumer
advocate or a priest.

They need to MAN up to it and learn to FIX THEIR OWN PROBLEMS or take
their sob stories to a yuppie support group and find a shoulder to cry
on.

This group is about experienced wrenches telling inexperienced owners
with problems how to solve some of the very common problems associated
with motorcycles.

I don't mind sharing my expertise with newbies, as long as they are
appropriately respectful of what I have to say. And, of course the
$tealer$hip mechanic$ are trying to "screw" Slider.

But maybe he likes that kind of action...

 

I agree for the most part, Ted. However, I was not contacted and did
not provide authorization to raise the price until I went to pick up my
bike. What they did was call my house and leave a message, but I'm not
living at home and do not check the messages. I told them this.
When I picked up the bike, it was then that I found out about the
increase and that more repairs would have to be done. At this point,
there was nothing I could do. I did not have my truck with me to
transport the bike, and they were telling me it wouldn't even run if
they didn't do these extra repairs. So, I gritted my teeth and said
fine, go ahead.
The next day when I went to pick it up I had to jump it, because the
battery was dead, I had to fill it up with gas, because they didn't
leave any gas in the tank, and it died three times on my way home and
wouldn't restart. This would make anyone upset and frustrated. Or do
you expect me to be happy about it?
Now, they're telling me I need a new gas tank, regardless of the
repairs they did and the $633 I gave them. Include a new gas tank and
the price could easily surpass $900. This is unacceptable.
These guys were not being fully honest with me about everything and, I
believe, they overcharged me for labor and work. These accusations
warrant a small claims suit. If they don't tell me what I want to hear
the next time I speak with them, I will inform them that I would
appreciate a refund of a few hundred dollars. If they disagree, I'll
then inform them of a suit I intend to file with the small claims court.

 

Dude, we told you how to FIX your problem. We told you at least three
or four times.

Rec.motorcycles.tech is about FIXING mechanical and electrical
problems, it isn't about consumer advocacy or about holding some
lamer's hand for him.

If you want to whine endlessly about being screwed, or about suing the
$tealer$hip that is screwing you, the people in rec.motorcycles or
alt.motorcycles will be happy to run this OFF TOPIC thread out to three
or four hundred posts.

Maybe you can even find a new friend over there...

 

Dude, we told you how to FIX your problem. We told you at least three
or four times.

Rec.motorcycles.tech is about FIXING mechanical and electrical
problems, it isn't about consumer advocacy or about holding some
lamer's hand for him.

If you want to whine endlessly about being screwed, or about suing the
$tealer$hip that is screwing you, the people in rec.motorcycles or
alt.motorcycles will be happy to run this OFF TOPIC thread out to three
or four hundred posts.

Maybe you can even find a new friend over there...

 

sounds like the crystal ball wasn't working 100% the day you brought it to
the dealership, not entirely their fault. Shame shame, they went over their
"estimate" by more than 15%. They shouldn't have agreed to touch a bike
with a lot of rust in the tank unless you agreed to replace the tank, period
, cleaning the carb was a waste of time(that part IS their fault). How the
heck did a six yr old bike get that much rust in the tank anyway?
(Underwater, maybe?) I'm sorry, but you got hosed, twice. Bargains like this
are NEVER bargains even if you can do the work yourself. And I have to agree
with the wacked out missile mechanic, if you can't change the oil and fuel
filter yourself, you shouldn't own a bike (doctors, lawyers, and harleys
excepted of course)

YMMV

Hank

 

This is a perfect simulation of the positives and negatives of life out
in the real world. Regretfully, my experience here was not a positive
one and I doubt I'll be back. Thanks to those who were helpful and
patient. And, to those who weren't, you'll get yours.

 

Funny you should say this, considering that you started a brand new
thread just to have a flame war, right here in rec.motorcycles.tech.

You skip your prescription refill to afford Chemtool B-12 this month or
something?

--
Later,
John



'indiana' is a 'nolnn' and 'hoosier' is a 'solkk'. Indiana doesn't solkk.

 

That's your mistake. If you had thrown a fit then you probably would have
got the bill reduced because not only did they did not have permission from
you
to exceed the estimate, but it appears they implied that they would have
fixed it for the estimated price, and they didn't. What a lot of people
would have done at that point is paid with a credit card, gone away and
come back with a truck, not authorized any additional work, then
disputed the charge with the card company through their satisfied consumer
guarentee program, or some such. Then when the card company processed
the dispute and the shop came at them for the money, they would have gone
to small claims.

You should also know AAA tows bikes, if you are a member you could have
got it towed from the shop.

Once you gave further authorization at that point, implied in that
authorization
is your acceptance of the work they already had done. Any claim you
make now is going to be very muddy and difficult to get anything for.

I suspect they will just dig in their heels and refuse to pay you anything.
And why not? If they give you money, you can still go to small claims to
get even more money, and if they give you money it is an acknowledgement
they were wrong, thus making a claim by you in a court a lot more difficult
to defend against.

What you need to do now to salvage the situation is step back, take a deep
breath, maybe give it a week to let the anger settle. Understand that they
have you by the shorthairs and there is only one real way out here.

What you need to do is go back to them, and get them to write out some
kind of WRITTEN ironclad guarentee that a replacement tank that is not
rusted will fix the problem. You can then go source a good tank from
somewhere,
yes it will probably cost you. Give them the tank and tell them you expect
them to adhere to the letter of the written guarentee.

Frankly, it's entirely possible that the problem ISN'T the tank. They are
claiming it is. Great. Get them to write out a guarentee that it is. Then
get the tank. If they then put the tank on and the problem doesen't go
away, well then your off the hook, you can keep taking the bike back there
and them working on it on their money, until it's fixed.

If they refuse to give you a written guarentee the tank won't fix it, well
then
your just as good, because now you can go into a small claims court and
show that you make an honest good faith effort to work with them, and
they won't work with you.

And by written I mean actual paper and pen, with a signature, not some
goddam e-mail.

And in the future you need to also understand one other thing. If you can't
do your own work on your bike, you shouldn't be buying used bikes
that "are cheap because they need a little work" You aren't qualified to
evaulate if a bike that some seller presents as "cheap since it needs a
little work " is in fact what the seller says it is. There's plenty of
motorcycle
shops out there that will sell you $3000 used bikes that come with a
guarentee. What I don't think you quite understand is the person who
screwed you over was the guy you bought the bike from, and you should
be pissed off at him, not at the bike shop.

I've a mind to ask you this: since the bike was presented to you as "needing
a little work" and it quite obviously needs a LOT of work, why don't you
go back to the seller and ask him WTF is going on?

Ted

 

First of all I really can't see a 6 year old fuel tank being that far
gone. I'm sure it had some rust in it, but nothing a good flushing and
sealing wouldent fix. Sounds to me like there is a carb problem,
weather it's rust or something else. I'd say you have clogged jets or
idle circuits or both

 

That guy doesn't want to know about how to fix his problems, he just
wants
sympathy from other riders.

And, it is possible for a gas tank to rust out in a few years. The
modern flush mounted
gas cap will allow water to seep past the rubber gasket and the tank
will rust out.

My GSXR tank rusted out in about 3 or 4 years when my garage roof
leaked and water got into the tank.