Here is the short version of a very long and tiring day last week...
I was out of town locally and the alternator died in my Honda Accord. The closest place to take it to was a Sears auto dept. A job I was told would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours took over 3 hours, my car had grease and dirt hand prints on every door and on the entire front right quarter panel, and there was ink on my leather passenger seat. The manager was very apologetic and proceeded to get the mechanic to clean the outside of the car while he tried to clean the leather (after 2 others already tried while he was being looked for). I asked the manager if the product was leather safe and he said yes. After he scrubbed it for a bit, the ink started coming off but the product also started to damage my leather seat (color was coming off, texture is gone and was getting "eraser duds").
The manager promised they'd take care of the cost of the seat either repaired/cleaned or replaced. I wrote a dignified letter stating I would prefer a check for the estimate (700$ from my honda dealer) as well as the cost of the time I'd be losing at work for having to do it during business hours. The manager said all he could do is a direct charge from the dealer for the cost of the seat.
I'm a bit peeved at this b/c of the amount of screwup that occurred. Would you pursue it any further or leave it be? I don't want to actually have the seat cover replaced b/c then the rest of the seats in the car will look like crap (the car is 7 years old). If I were to do anything I was going to have the entire seat cover replaced along with the driver seat so at least they matched. I can do this at cost b/c my friend works at the dealer.
I have worked in a car dealership. And I would definetly persue it! They are ALWAYS looking for a cheap way out and take short cuts. Thaey carry insurance for these reasons. You may have to get an estimate from a 3rd party adjuster though. HTH
Lisa
I would look into pursuing it...but that's just me.
So many mechanics simply don't care...I've been behind those doors...my bil used to be a mechanic at several places.
A lot of what I saw really surprised me!
Just to clarify, not all places are bad, just the majority of the ones I've seen.
I would be really upset; and I would atleast look into pursuing it. I mean, he said it was leather safe and apparently it wasn't!!!
Good luck to you and let me know what you end up doing!
well, my thought on this, is that they did offer to replace the seat through the dealer. I know you are looking for $ for the seat. But they did offer it, and i assume it is you that brought up the honda dealer. Yes they damaged your seat (the product probably said it was safe for use on leather) and they offered to make it right. What more do you want??
Wow - that sucks!! You may have to go higher up to pursue this, but since he's offering you to fix it, you may have a hard time getting just the $ for it. I can understand why you wouldn't want to replace that one and have everything else still looking old. Hmmm - you might be stuck on this one. Good luck!!
I sorta think I'm stuck on this one too. I think even if I do take the care to get fixed at their direct expense, I'm still getting screwed b/c I have to take off work during the day and use my leave time to get it done! Time and money they are not compensating me for!!
They do have the right to simply pay the bill at whatever shop you choose instead of giving you a check so I'm pretty sure you won't get anything more than the one seat.
It sounds like a poorly run shop to have a vehicle come out full of prints but the extra time it took wasn't a sign of that. They have something called "book time" to figure how many hours to charge for a job. This time is figured by people who run through the same job on the same car numerous times, your car could be one they don't deal with often or they could have had trouble with it. Think about it like making roses, someone who makes them all the time can do them very quickly but if you don't do them often it's going to take you longer.
See if they'll pay to rent a car for you while yours is being fixed though so you can go to work. Some dealers lend cars to good customers too so if this is your regular mechanic you might be able to get a car from them.
I would get them to fix/replace the seat and ask for them to pay for a rental car for you for the time that it takes to replace the seat.
It's a shame they hired someone who is so irresponsible with a customer's car. My father-in-law has owned his auto repair shop for over 50 years and he has such strict rules about stuff like that. That's why you see mechanics lay a cloth over the fender when they are working under the hood .... so they don't scratch the paint or mar the finish. That's why they spend money for the cardboard seat covers for when they have to get in your car to start the engine while they are working on it, so they don't get the grease from their clothes on your seats. DH is always saying "some people will only take their car to (a specific type of shop or a national chain) but that place is only as good as the 20 year old kid working on your car."
Let us know how it turns out for you.
DH is always saying "some people will only take their car to (a specific type of shop or a national chain) but that place is only as good as the 20 year old kid working on your car."
I generally only let my husband and my friend who is a honda mechanic work on my car. I have gotten burned as well as watched my mom (who is always looking for that "cheap good deal") get burned by mechanics. I felt like I was gonna get screwed at this place but really had no other choice. I could not have made it 2 hours home while running the lights and wipers even if I would have just gotten the battery replaced.
I don't know what I'm going to do at this point. Getting a rental would add to the hassle. I know my friend could do it for me lickedy split but I would still have to take off work to do it. It is a 45 min drive each way to the dealer and probably another hour for it to be fixed. Right there is pretty much 3 hours of my work day.
I thought about sending the same letter to the regional manager of the shop but I don't know if i'm ready to get that deep. Just replacing that seat cushion is going to make the rest of the car look like utter crap and I have tried very hard to keep my leather clean. If it was dark, it wouldn't be so much of a problem probably. But my leather is a light tan.
man, he should have just used a magic eraser..........my mom has this big like coffee table foot stoll thing that she paid tons of money to have covered in leather and my son took a permanent black marker and wrote all over it one time, 3 min. after I got to her house..........I started freeaking out and tried everything I could think of to get it off.....when my mom got home I tried to keep her calm while explaining what happened as she came through the door and she said, oh don't worry about it I have a magic eraser.........and she went and got it and wet it and squeezed it out and started rubbing the marker marks and it came right off!!!! Ever since then I always keep at least 4 of them on hand in my house for EMERGENCIES LOL
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