Bullies, gaslighters and bamboozlers…read more..
I've been bringing my car for service to this location for close to a decade and I've been pretty happy. I needed a clutch replacement a few years ago and they were accommodating with me purchasing the clutch less expensively online, and they installed it with no problems. They're a bit on the expensive side but I don't mind paying a little extra for trustworthiness and not being talked down to, and ultimately the value of a long term, established service relationship.
I was about to take a six hour drive a couple of days ago so I brought the vehicle in to get squeaky brakes addressed, to be on the safe side. They identified (through the car computer) that I needed struts replaced, but there were no symptoms and because I have very limited financial resources I decided to defer that work.
As soon as I got on the highway there are started to be a new noise coming from the front, and because I was a little nervous about having not done the strut work, I assumed that was the cause. It worsened progressively and I called the garage. They said it was the struts (that they had heard noise during test drive) but that driving on the bad struts would be fine, just a noisy and rough ride. The noise was really bad and so by the time I brought it back to the garage to be addressed on my return, and after researching symptoms of bad struts, I doubted it was the struts.
When I arrived and started going through the symptoms the person at the desk immediately became defensive that the brake service was the cause, and wouldn't listen to me at all, interrupting constantly. He insisted that the noise I was hearing existed before servicing, but he refused to listen to any details about the pattern or intensity of the noise - he just dug in that it must be the struts and showed no attitude of "of course, we'll look into it and figure out what's going on".
The guy didn't like how I was disagreeing with his explanation and sarcastically asked "do you do this for a living"? Putting aside the fact that I've been an engineer for 40 years, that's a bullying way to approach a customer when they are asking very reasonable questions and expecting an open attitude of diagnosis the problem. Instead he decided what the problem is before even test driving it.
I'm sure a lot of people who aren't knowledgable about cars who how to step through diagnosing a problem would be completely shut down and accept the gaslighting.
I left the car there. He test drove it. He was wrong and I was right. I got a phone call saying that "all the lugs on the front right wheel were worn and needed to be replaced" - no apologies for how he treated me.
Just as with the struts, there were no symptoms of that type of wheel issue prior to service, and the likelihood of a single wheel somehow developing five badly worn lug nuts is remote on it's own, but for it to suddenly degrade into a major problem with no other obvious cause is more than a little bit remote. Rather, immediately after they took the wheels off and put them back on the problem emerged. It defies common sense to reject that as the cause, and that's the bamboozling aspect, especially combined with the attitude.
Nevertheless, when I picked up the vehicle the next day, interacting with a different desk guy:
1. He insisted it wasn't their fault using absurd logic like "it couldn't be a service issue because we're careful". People make mistakes - this is kind of a serious one but it happens - it's just the nature of mechanical work. The key is owning up and making it right.
2. He had no explanation for how five lug nuts would become worn and the others be fine - "I don't know".
3. He prevaricated when I asked if it was at all possible that the brake servicing precipitated the problem. Obviously it could, but he insisted no, I don't see how.
4. Believe it or not he tried to charge me for the lug nuts. When I challenged whether I should have to pay for those he grabbed the invoice and said angrily, we're not charging you. When the guy from the day prior came by and heard that I wasn't being charge he angrily insisted I should be charged the $35 for the lug nuts, I guess as punishment because he didn't like the way I was challenging the quality of the work.
5. I asked if the owner would want to discuss the situation and they said I would not be getting a call, like it was some kind of joke to even ask.
6. I told them I would be writing reviews and they couldn't care less, basically saying "this is just a difference of opinion", as if that made the situation right or that other prospective customers would see it that way.
The brake servicing cost $1000 with parts and labor.
They could have saved this customer relationship in spite of the error but their attitude destroyed it. The obvious duplicity, defensiveness and arrogance have made it impossible for me to go back.
And of course, a serious safety error like that certainly erodes trust in the care the
