Moral Dilemma

[Scott]

Perhaps they should shut the shop and open a car yard lol.

[thefargo]

if the 'shoe was on the other foot", what would you want them to do to/for you?

[Scott]

Tell me honestly what I will get for my money and then carry out the works that I am "insisting" upon. Charge me a fair price and I'm a happy man. This guy found an XF for $500, he can't not-know what else was in the paper that weekend.

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

If the customer still wants to have his XF fixed, that's his prerogative. Just make sure you're upfront and honest about all the costs involved, talk him through it, and if he still wants to go ahead with it all after everything's been spelt out to him, then who are you to say no? He's offering you good business, he'd be fully aware of what he's paying for after you've sat him down & gone through everthing...

I agree If you tell him everything he needs to know than repair the car correctly at a fair price if he still want too. Maybe try telling he could buy another XF in better condition, use that & use the other XF as spare & any bits he want of that XF could be transfer onto the better XF.

[AshMan]

I personally did everything I could to discourage the guy, but being a first year apprentice I don't exactly have much sway when it comes down to bottom lines and profit margins...

I am almost upset that the trady I work with is not doing enough to discourage the person from throwing money at it.

The mechanic even suggested for the fellow to save some money by doing some of the repairs himself, such as degrease the engine, but refuses to even get his hands dirty.


At the end of the day, I guess I just have to do what I'm told...

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by AshMan

I personally did everything I could to discourage the guy...

At the end of the day, I guess I just have to do what I'm told...

I suppose that's all you can do... Don't fret too much, you've done your bit to try & offer the XF owner honest advice.

[Josh_XC]

The fact is this, he wants it done, ur business can provide that service, so yeh it would be a good idea to advise him that it will just overprice the car and aint really worth it, but thats as far as i would go.

[fiery]

Ash to be honest, as long as your mechanical repair shop has been honest with the guy and told him what it will cost etc...
Then there is no issue..

To those of you that are saying that 'tell us who you are so we can avoid you'.. be real!!!!

The guy might seriously like the car and if he does not want to listen to reason and try to save money because this is the actual car he wants.. how on earth should this be Ashman - or the other mechanics problem...

I know of people that love their car and pay out whatever money necessary to fix it just because of what it is, not what its going to cost to fix...

Ashman, you have done what is required.. it is the car owners choice at the end of the day..

I know when I bought my car and had to spend so many thousands on it a week after owning it, there was no way anyone could talk me out of it.. It was the car I wanted and it was the car I was going to have...

I am so disappointed with so many in not realising that Ashman wasn't saying about ripping someone off purposely..
He was simply asking for a bit of advice.. those of you that think he (or the business he is working for) is ripping this guy off.. couldn't you have offered some solid ground advice instead of picking...

I don't know what there is anyone could say mind you, the car owner has final say...

[AshMan]

Originally Posted by fiery

Ash to be honest, as long as your mechanical repair shop has been honest with the guy and told him what it will cost etc...
Then there is no issue..

To those of you that are saying that 'tell us who you are so we can avoid you'.. be real!!!!

The guy might seriously like the car and if he does not want to listen to reason and try to save money because this is the actual car he wants.. how on earth should this be Ashman - or the other mechanics problem...

I know of people that love their car and pay out whatever money necessary to fix it just because of what it is, not what its going to cost to fix...

Ashman, you have done what is required.. it is the car owners choice at the end of the day..

I know when I bought my car and had to spend so many thousands on it a week after owning it, there was no way anyone could talk me out of it.. It was the car I wanted and it was the car I was going to have...

I am so disappointed with so many in not realising that Ashman wasn't saying about ripping someone off purposely..
He was simply asking for a bit of advice.. those of you that think he (or the business he is working for) is ripping this guy off.. couldn't you have offered some solid ground advice instead of picking...

I don't know what there is anyone could say mind you, the car owner has final say...

Thanks fiery, I'm glad someone can appreciate that I'm trying to do the right thing but its basically out of my hands.

As we quoted the fellow $2000, that was a VERY generous estimate, as we all know parts can be harder to find and repairs can take longer than originally thought, so I guess all I can do is do a good job, use decent parts and hopefully the fella will learn a lesson in the process when the next thing goes wrong.

Cheers

[AshMan]

Being employed by a group training organisation, I have the advantage of being able to move from employer to employer.

I am not happy with some of the things this company does, they have basically ****ed in my pockets from day one, treat customers like crap, being quite rude etc. don't have any diagnostic equipment and understaffed.

I think the best course of action at this point would be for me to request that I be transferred to another employer.

I admit that my first post and the thread title may not have been well thought out, but it's been a trying couple of weeks and I'm tired, and I am a fairly sensitive bloke and was affected deeply by the way customers are treated and customers orders followed blindly without being properly explained and having all the options laid out in front of them.

I hope one day to be a master mechanic and to own my own shop, where I can be friendly and open to customers, where they can trust me unconditionally and take my advice and act on it accordingly, however this company does not encourage this philosophy.

[jd dad]

By the sounds of it the only person ripping anyone off is the one who sold this poor sod a POS XF for $500 in the first place. Good on you Ashman for being honest about it all.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by jd dad

By the sounds of it the only person ripping anyone off is the one who sold this poor sod a POS XF for $500 in the first place.

That seems to sum it up nicely lol.

[GK]

Originally Posted by AshMan

Being employed by a group training organisation, I have the advantage of being able to move from employer to employer.

I am not happy with some of the things this company does, they have basically ****ed in my pockets from day one, treat customers like crap, being quite rude etc. don't have any diagnostic equipment and understaffed.

I think the best course of action at this point would be for me to request that I be transferred to another employer.

I admit that my first post and the thread title may not have been well thought out, but it's been a trying couple of weeks and I'm tired, and I am a fairly sensitive bloke and was affected deeply by the way customers are treated and customers orders followed blindly without being properly explained and having all the options laid out in front of them.

I appreciate your conscience at work here ashman. In the end mate, you have to be able to sleep well at night. I don't know how people who rip others off so readily get any sleep at all.

Good on you!

Hope you end up with your own business. An honest and open mechanic, we all need more of them!

GK

[Ringo]

I used to work at a prestige german car dealer and we had people bring back their 15 year old rusting stinking pieces of crap for service and repairs regularly. They were paying through the nose ($100+ per hour) to have the work done when the workshop around the corner would have charged half that and been a hell of a lot more honest about it all. Spending money on their car gave them a warm and fuzzy feeling I guess....

Some folks look at car completely different to how the rest of us FF people look at a car. They don't see odo's with too many klms, accident damage and tell tale signs of $$$ to be spent. This is why there are so many dodgy car yards around - they live off suckers who know nothing about cars.

You can lead em to water but you can't make em drink. Advise them of the options and the outcomes and let them decide...... and sleep well at night.

[uranium_death]

By the sounds of things, you didn't talk to him in any detail.

I say that a 10 minute explanation is all that is required. Give the alternative.

Because he knows nothing about cars, any alternative will be foreign to him by the sounds of it.

If he still insists, then take his money. But at least that way, you've performed both options and you know that you tried to do the best thing by him, even if he didn't think so. You can then wipe your hands, say "I tried" and move on.

[EA2BA]

Do not try talk him out of it, you can tell me if you bought any car for $500 the car you always wanted you would not spend just about anything to get it roadworthy.

2 choices, take the money do the repair and hope he is happy and doesnt keep coming back for stupid problems that you never caused, OR tell him sorry but we wont do the work as we dont want to take your money as it is not worth repairing.

[naroomablue]

I got a mate thats selling an ED for $1500, in fairly good nick and we only replaced the head 6 months ago....The only guy doing the "ripping" here is the one that sold it to your client. If you've explained everything and he still wants to go ahead than do it, to me its a no brainer, your conscious should be clear Ashman.

[AshMan]

thank god the fella changed his mind...

finally managed to convince him the money was better spent, however unfortunatly he's bought an equally crap magna...

I give up.

[red_hotxr6]

Not enough options up there to vote on.If you have pointed out to the guy that he would be better off spending his $2000.oo on another car and he still wants to go ahead and have the work done to the xf, well by all means, it,s what the customer wants.

[ebxr8240]

My son bought a top condition E.D Fairmont for $3250.00 with body kit exhaust and suspension mods....

[AshMan]

Not being racist, but the fellow didn't speak english very well, I could of talked to him till I was blue in the face and it wouldn't of made a scrap of difference...

[Scott]

Originally Posted by AshMan

thank god the fella changed his mind...

finally managed to convince him the money was better spent, however unfortunatly he's bought an equally crap magna...

I give up.

The poor bastard. What's his number? I've got an EA here he can have.

[AshMan]

Ha I'll even throw in a MPFI to CPI conversion kit... yeah thats not a typo :P

[fiery]

Originally Posted by AshMan

thank god the fella changed his mind...

finally managed to convince him the money was better spent, however unfortunatly he's bought an equally crap magna...

I give up.

He should have stuck with the XF :
:

[Belle_Hemmi]

Put yourself in the poor guys shoes who got ripped off to start with by paying $500.00 for it. What if it was you trying to buy a house / jet ski what ever and didn't know exactly what to do or look for, Someone would proberly rip you off. We all make mistakes. I beleieve WHAT DOES AROUND COMES AROUND. it will come back and bit you if your not honest. TRUST ME

[uranium_death]

I believe this thread is over.

He advised the dude to drop his XF and get something better, so he got a beat up Magna. "I give up" was among the final statements.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by AshMan

Okay,

Bloke gets his *new* XF towed into work the other day for a roadworthy.

Has like 350,000km + on the clock.

The car failed miserably, with items like rust on the firewall, oil leaks, coolant leaks, possible blown headgasket, 3 bald tyres, unsecured drivers seat... the list just keeps going.

Firstly, the fella said he paid $500 for the car, and that he knows nothing about cars. (to prepare for the roadworthy all he did was drown the interior in deodrant...) He is very insistant on having the repairs done so we quote him an abitrary figure of $2000 to try to discourage him from bothering...

He still wants the repairs done!

Now, my opinion is that he bought the car because it had brandnew looking chrome 12 slotters and had a nice exhaust note.

The mechanic wants to take his money, yet I would prefer to convince the fellow not to bother and to spend his money on an ED/EF...

Do I just shutup and take the money or talk him out of it???

Take the money if he is understanding of the options , he says yes ?
do it , 2k into an xf will build a great car ... but then it may not take that much to sort it ?
and of course you will charge honestly /