So I had a co worker drop me off to pick up the blazer on his way home this afternoon and when I fired it up I immediately heard an exhaust tick that wasn't there before! So I checked the welds they did and sure enough it's got a big ole hole in it WTF!!!! My ride had already left and headed home so I was stuck driving the blazer away which was probably a good thing because it allowed me time to calm down before confronting them about the crap job they did for way too much money. I called them when I got back to work and explained that it was leaking and I will be bringing it back to them next week to fix while I supervise and they agreed so I have to take it back again next week but it shouldn't take long to do I hope!

On a brighter note I drove it for real for the first time today after swapping the 60 in and besides needing an alignment it drives pretty good! So next on the list is alignment and front shaft plus hydro assist and it will be ready to wheel finally! I'll take some measurements tomorrow and get my shaft done next week.

 

You are a better man than me. I would have turned right around and lost my **** at them idiots.

That is absolutely insane, for that price it should have been perfect.

 

Wow what a nightmare! Hope that gets straightened out.

 

I'm taking the experience as a reminder as to why I do everything myself rather than paying a"professional" to do it for me!

 

HEAR HEAR - these sorts of things happen every single time I let someone else work on my vehicle ... which is very rare. Usually just alignments ... but you'd be surprised how many times even that gets frigged up ...

 

My understanding of the auto repair industry is that these guys get paid according to how fast they fix the cars and there is a set time for each car. I've also read that the times have even been reduced in some places despite the increasing complexity of modern vehicles. So the incentive isn't per se there to do a great job.

 

That's exactly right. The incentive with a flat-rate system is to haul ***, and quality of your work takes a back seat. This is 99% of the reason I work for myself now.

 

Locally, there is a mechanic where I live who has been a real Diamond in the Rough, so-to-speak. They never rip you off and always do excellent work. They are the best mechanic shop we've (my family) have ever had experience with. We were one of their first customers. Their good quality has since garnered them a HUGE amount of business as word spread fast, so I really hope greed doesn't ever overtake their currently good work.


For example, with the 1998 GMC Jimmy I have, for a long while the steering wheel was positioned upside-down. So when we had the Jimmy in the shop (a different one) and undergoing certain repairs, one repair was to turn around the steering wheel. Well the first mechanic couldn't do it, neither could the second one, I forget if there was a third one, but we had given up.


Then later when we moved, we turned the Jimmy over to this shop, which had just opened at the time, to fix something else. So he fixes it, my dad goes to pick up the Jimmy, and the guy's like, "By the way, I turned that steering wheel around for you, no additional charge."


So he did for free what we were paying the others to do that they either couldn't or wouldn't do.

 

Yeah people appreciate when mechanics go the extra mile. Sounds like a great place there.

I get lots of business because of all the disgruntled customers out there. I hear all kinds of horror stories. I'm not fast, but I do it RIGHT, every time. I work on anything from weedwackers to pickups. I hear complaints from every line of business.

 

Today this happened!!!

I'm not at all happy with it or the service of the shop but that seems to be the theme recently. First to start I was told $50 and 24 hours so I was happy to try a new drive line shop. I dropped it off Wed and asked them to call me with a quote to replace the two additional u joints but not to do the work until I give them the go ahead. So I stopped by Thursday to pick my shaft up only to be told that it wasn't ready because they didn't have the bolts for the yoke to balance it. For the record I tried to leave them when I dropped it off but the dude insisted he wouldn't need them! I'm most annoyed that they didn't bother to call and say they needed them to complete the job. So I dropped them off this am and went to pick it up later only to be presented a bill for $166.98 wtf!!! Turns out they decided to just go ahead and swap the u joints without checking with me and then try and charge me $117 for it. I think not! I told them I'll give them $100 and not a penny more or they can remove their joints and give me my shaft back. I ended up paying the $100 the other issue is the weld looks like crap and I'll probably break it at the weld which is sad cause it was a big truck shop that does shafts all day long.

But at the end of the day it's in the blazer and I now have 4wd for the first time since the SFA happened!!