Workshop Owners Dummy-spit

Hey Willem,maybe his missus is pouring oil on troubled water here, and making up for his poor customer relations......You can only pay what they ask for mate, and you've done that. Ledger is square, you're receipt says so. Give his business the flick.

Sounds as he was really stressed. Poor bugger probably feels like a real ar$%^ole after the rev he gave you. At least. I would hope he does. As for the $200, well that's for you to decide. How well do you know him?

Gday Willem,
Ya inconsiderate ol prick!
It sounds to me that your one of those winging bast#$ds who what what they paid for!!! LOL
Should have told him you werent going to finalise the account untill he fixes the problem.

HaHaHa

Me? well I'd send him the $200 with a note;
"Here's the $200 I owe if you recheck your figures. I'm not a miserable prick like you".

1. you do have a debt
2. get some satisfaction out of it.

cheers
T.R.

LOL welcome to the IP club, very exclusive :)))

G'day Willem
Is that the only workshop you have access to? Must be otherwise you would've changed by now given the bad trot you've had from them.
Get yourself a manual and get ya hands dirty! Much cheaper and then you definitely know who to blame when it doesn't work.
Incidentally I doubt that you could caused that level of stress - he must have had other serious problems and you were the proverbial straw!
Cheers from the Moose

.

Hey Willem,

Maybe he cooled down and realised you had a fair gripe. The $200 may have been a deliberate act of compensation.

Cheers Frank.

I reckon you should take him a nice bottle of scotch for causing
him to have a bad day...........gawd you can be mean........ROFLMAO


Cheers
Michael

Willem, sounds to me he had a lot of problems before you accidently started on him.

I once had the same kind of problem with a tyre guy. I never went back, because no matter what his problem was, I didn't cause it.

I took all the crap I needed to in my job before I retired. Now I don't have to take it and refuse to do so.

There is no excuse for treating a good customer poorly. None, full stop, zilch, nada. If someone is unwell in any way and tetering on the edge, they should ask the customer if he can come back later.

We're all only human. We all have bad days...even you LOL

Nevertheless, it sounds like you had a good relationship before this. The question might be, was it good enough to try patching it up? Or is he the only mech in town ?

Willem,
Maybe you should get a Toyota and not have the need to go back at all!
M.

Does your local paper have a write in section?

" these penii have stuffed up many jobs for me over the years. X many times the gearbox came out? X many wheel bearings have we replaced? and then the bloke talks to me like this.


word of mouth would go down well in that area :)

Give him the 200 bucks back???

lay a cable in a shoe box with a note "eat this and die" and gift wrap it and drop it in his mailbox.

Seriously though, why should you after the way he has treated you. I reckon its just Karma, plain n simple. It could have caused you a great deal of stress.

G'day Willem,
Slightly Off Topic-
I was looking through your web site, & read the story of your Army days. I note you were using .765mm weapon?? In the Aussie army- we used a weapon of that calibre for shooting cockroaches !!
Our standard weapon (in the 60s) was a 7.62mm calibre rimless NATO round in both the SLR & AR.
BTW- I live about 8km from Cordeaux Dam...
Cheers

Willem.
Dummy spits aside, I do wonder just how valid is the possibility of the pads dragging and overheating the wheel bearings.
I have on occassion, run out of brakes due to overheating, but never seen evidence of this causing a bearing problem.
I recall you saying the cups/cones had blued. Now this is HOT, and if it came from the brake discs, you would have surely noticed it (no brakes).
Is it occurring on both fronts/left or right?
Have you had the wheel camber/alignment checked, I would be suspicious you could have a bent stub axle.
If for instance the stub was bent straight back slightly, a wheel alignment would correct this, clouding the effect of a bent stub. It only takes a few thou. and the rollers are bearing on one end only which spells disaster.
The country you travel, something like that is definately a possibility.
If your mechanic did not check the stub/s for straightness I reckon those 200 bills are yours!
furph

Willem,

With all due respect, theres 2 sides to every story, and I reckon this poor guy is at the end of his tether.

We've heard every chapter of your bearing saga on this forum.
It appears that you've taken the forum's advice ahead of his advice, and you've replaced perfectly good seals and bearings on the forum's advice rather than use his professional opinion. According to the forum he's been using the wrong grease, overtightening the bearings etc etc etc

Now you have a go at him telling him that the forum says the brakes are melting the grease.

Pay what you owe him, apologise, and ask him his professional opinion. Keep him and his wife as friends.

Sincerely,
Phil

You being a cantankerous old bugger? Surely not Willem. lol

Willem - read many articles you have posted here and on your web site - appear to be a great bloke.

If it was me I would go to the workshop early one morning with accounts, receipts and the $200 and ask him to go through them with you. When he finds his mistake give him the $200 and tell him to forget about Friday. He will accept the money and respect your honesty.

But only you can decide what is the correct approach - you have to live in that small community.

Is your reputation worth $200 ????


A J

Willem!!, Business is business, Why where you so anxious to pay any money at all?? There is a big problem there with the works carried out!, or a big problem with the front end of your vehicle, Its up to him to make a decission on wether he can sort it or not! Other wise its money paid for jack chit! "Your money"

If he is at fault , You pay the account then he wins," STUFF THAT"

Cheers Axle

Willem,
One thing that puzzles me is you mentioned (SOME MONEY),is you so called mechanic financing your repairs, Sounds as if you you don't pay up front??? & then there his statement about all you can do is criticize, complain & are never happy with the job??

I would like to hear your mechanic's side of the story??
Just may be true???

Geeez, I dunno.....some people.......

Good for a stir

Fazz

g'day Will, Pay the money,move on and sleep at night in saying that, let me quote rule 26 of my 100 rules I live by-

Try to determine the long-term consequences of any action before taking it.

Los

Take the money, root the chick and speed out of town.

I think I saw that in a movie LOL

Willem,

I've followed this thread as best I could and started to loose track with all the contradictory advice/suggestions, together with the fact that I'm sinking my eleventeenth red.

Now in all seriousness it appears to me that your service provider has suffered a temporary brain snap due to - well we won't go there as iI believe you guys live in a small town and there's no need to embarrass the fellah.

Now the guy has let off steam. He's released his tensions, he's had a dummy spit and feel s a lot better. You and the rest off us should be compassionate - understanding, exhibit a little empathy. After all it's obvious that there are deep, underlying problems here.

As a compassionate, caring, understanding and humane person, (yes I'm referring to you), the last thing you should do is to upset this guys equilibrium, (waited a long time to use that word).

Just imagine the trauma returning the two hundred bucks would do.

The guy can't do his sums. He then goes ape bleep cause he's not sure if you know that and are taking the piss or if your just testing him. Think about that, he might be going crazy, does he acknowledge that your right and put out his hand for the money and admit that he can't manage his accounts or does he say nothing, avoid the issue and then spend the rest of his life knowing that you topped him for two hundred bucks.

You offer him the money you believe is his despite the bleep ty service history and place him in a quandary. Does he take the money and again acknowledge his bookkeeping shortfalls and that you are a top guy, or does he tell you to stick your two hundred where the sun don't shine and again look like a complete bleep .

Willem! It's time to do the right thing! I would be extremely disappointed should you not show compassion and understanding.

Keep the two hundred in your kick and not complicate this pricks life any more than it is.



Ian

G'day Williem,

bloody hell, it's not even football season yet!

oh well, remember Monty Python "always look on the bright side of life"

how's Judith enjoying the cricket?


kind regards,

Jeremy.

btw Jeddah, I buried Natasha's four legged one today....nasty business.

Willem,
It is all up to you and your conscience bloke. Whatever you feel comfortable with is the answer to handing back the moola.
Cheers
Bros.

Thanks.
Where are the birthdays listed.
Bros

Yeah, got em. Double thanks.
Cheers,
Bros.

Hey Willem

I would walk back in the door with the $200.

You will either get an apology or told to F off.

One response will make you $200 the other sort the problem out.

Cheers Steve.

Willem, Does he have a cat?

Willem
The chap was most likely sick and tired of taking the crap for his mechanics failings and when you said "It's a pity your mechanic didn't think of looking at the brakes..." of course he took it personally, couldn't take anymore and finally snapped. Maybe if you had worded it differently - "I think we need to look at the brakes..." but by the sounds of it you are also very sick and tired of the mechanics long term failings too so bugger 'em why should you have to put up with this crap you just want the bloody truck fixed, someone's got to jolt this guy into lifting his game. Especially since he feels he's already bent over backwards for you (explains the "inconsiderate prick" comment) and still he thinks he can't satisfy you.

As for the money I don't think it's the issue - forget it. The issue is he has offended you and whether he will apologise, otherwise in the small town he'll tell everyone who'll listen what a winging ungrateful mongrel you are. You'll have to make the 1st move, he certainly won't and is too angry to do the right thing. You'll feel better and it will put the matter to rest... oh and you're $200 in front :-) it's a win, win.
John

Pretty frustrating stuff, Willem.

Personally, if the money is owed, I would pay it, because that is the right thing to do. But in doing so I would be so syrupy pleasant that even *my* skin would crawl ... that way you win both ways ... you haven't ripped him off, and he will be totally confused and probably feel like an absolute fool.

Then . .. don't deal with him again.

Good luck with it though. I know my immediate reaction would have been to sit him on his backside, but have found out that nobody wins that stuff in the end.

Have fun.

Jack

triple check your accounts... wouldn't want to give him $200 for nothing! (if you decide to go that way)