• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

I burned another bridge.......

Share this page

G

Guest

Guest
Guest
Offline
In the past, I have used the local Chevrolet dealership's chief mechanic to help me through some trying times with various and sundry tasks that I was unsure of performing on my TR6. Like installing all new U-joints for me on my drive train, setting the engine up on their old Sun machine to watch the firing sequence to iron out some electrical issues. I am friends with the owner of the franchise and he would allow me to sneak the 6 into the shop during slow days to have his mechanic perform these tasks off clock. I would "tip" the mechanic handsomely and everybody was happy. They have done all my Chevy mechanical work for years and I have bought about a dozen new vehicles from them over the last 20. The mechanic had to install new brake calipers on my Tahoe tow vehicle (many miles, lotsa braking) recently for lotsa $$$$. I brought it back 2 or 3 times over the last 2 months since the install of the calipers for a strange noise in the right front. Mechanic says he can't hear the noise, it's my imagination. Finally, the noise was so aggravating, I drove it into the shop at lunch break and the shop foreman discovered the right front wheel had two of the lug nuts rolling around inside the hub cap and the other three almost finger tight! Mechanic was out to lunch. The whole shop was abuzz with embarrassment as I had taken several major trips with this situation and was lucky the wheel didn't fall off. I waited a few weeks before I brought the suv back in for another, unrelated problem, confronted the mechanic in a civil manner...and he came unglued at me!! Whoa, I was the one that should have been upset. What's with human nature, why did he come after me??? Guess I've lost another mechanic.

Maybe it's because I bought a Honda for the first time last month. Maybe it's because I told the shop foreman I always wanted to "own a Chevy dealership" after the lug nut incident.

Who knows, it seems I managed to burn another bridge through no fault of my own.




Bill /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Bill,

that is exactly why I do all the work on my 6 cars, when I find something done wrong or a stupid mistake I can only blame myself.

Sounds like he THOUGHT that he was doing you some kind of favior working on your cars.

The only thing I use a dealership for is to read the problem codes on my modern cars, then I thank them and fix it myself.

Glad you found the problem before the tire came off, that would not have been a pretty site.


Paul
 
[ QUOTE ]
...it seems I managed to burn another bridge through no fault of my own.


[/ QUOTE ]

I might not have been too eager to keep using that particular bridge, under the circumstances....

And no, it's not your fault and shouldn't be a worry, either.
 
Sounds like his job is at stake. Maybe that morning, he had an arguement with the dog and his wife bit him.
 
poor workmanship on the part of the dealership.
Seems to be alot of that in the mainstream of commercial mechanics. You were lucky! good thing you caught it in time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
I concluded the last 12 of my 25 years spent in the new car dealership business as a Service Director for Lexus and Cadillac. I was taught two very important lessons from the day I started washing & waxing new cars in 1967:

1. "The Customer May Not Always Be Right, But They Are NEVER Wrong".

2. "The Customer is why we are here, without them we cease to exist".

You were right in bringing the car back for an unusual noise. After all, it's your car, who knows better than you how it should sound after all of these miles?

Shame on the management for allowing the technicians error to become a source of "buzzing" or ridicule, which is exactly what happened and thus his sensitivity over his error.

And lastly, familiarity has a way of breading contempt. You said that you were there for special service and you paid the tech handsomely for his extra help. There may be jealousy of you, or he may feel betrayed because his error became public knowledge in the shop. In any event, shame on him for not pulling the wheel and double checking the bolts and anything remotely related to what he worked on.

His fault, not yours. And if that's the way that they react, you are probably better being on the other side of that bridge.
 
Some people seem to think that taking out their screw ups (and the fallout that goes with it) on someone else is the way to go.

It's a shame, too, as I think the world would be a better place if more people took responsiblity for their own actions.

Sorry that happened to you, Bill.. but don't blame yourself. In my eyes you didnt burn any bridges... the tech did!
 
More important lesson though is to always check your lugnuts are properly torqued before each out of town trip and before any performance event. Tire pressures too!
 
Glad you are o.k., and sorry the close relationship you had with that dealer is over.
One thing I noticed you said may have been misconstrued.
When you said you would like to own a Chevy dealership that could have been interpreted to mean you intended to sue and put them out of business. Perhaps the man felt you were threatening to take away his livelihood, and reacted with anger because of his embarrassment?
Anyway, at least you are safe, time to build a new relationship.
Simon.
 
Simon, at that point in time, after returning on several occassions for the same problem without it being resolved, it really doesn't matter what Bill said, unless he made a complete jerk out of himself, which I truly doubt happened. And even if he did, that's when a good manager should step in to diffuse any issues. Actually, good management would have been holding Bill's hand and kissing his butt all through this ordeal.

As I said earlier:

"The Customer is why we are here, without them we cease to exist".
 
[ QUOTE ]
I concluded the last 12 of my 25 year spent in the new car dealership business as a Service Director for Lexus and Cadillac. I was taught two very important lessons from the day I started washing & waxing new cars in 1967:

1. "The Customer May Not Always Be Right, But They Are NEVER Wrong".

2. "The Customer is why we are here, without them we cease to exist".

You were right in bringing the car back for an unusual noise. After all, it's your car, who knows better than you how it should sound after all of these miles?

Shame on the management for allowing the technicians error to become a source of "buzzing" or ridicule, which is exactly what happened and thus his sensitivity over his error.

And lastly, familiarity has a way of breading contempt. You said that you were there for special service and you paid the tech handsomely for his extra help. There may be jealousy of you, or he may feel betrayed because his error became public knowledge in the shop. In any event, shame on him for not pulling the wheel and double checking the bolts and anything remotely related to what he worked on.

His fault, not yours. And if that's the way that they react, you are probably better being on the other side of that bridge.

[/ QUOTE ]


Paul, did this come out of some customer service manual? All too true, especially the part about ,"familiarity breeds contempt."


Bill
 
No kidding,even if he is a great mechanic,he never checked his work. Lug nuts in the hubcap? Nothing less than lazy.Not even an honest mistake. Worry no more.
 
"Paul, did this come out of some customer service manual? "

Nope, just good old western Pennsylvania common sense, taught by hard working men and women who truly loved their business and their customers.

I enjoyed a very nice career in the business because of what I learned there and I won a lot of awards and bonuses along the way too.
 
The word confronted means confrontation. Many a customer has insisted they were calm and reasonable when "confronting" a mechanic when in fact they were screaming and physically violent. Not saying you were, but I did find the choice of words you used interesting.

Not all people react well to having their mistakes pointed out to them. Sounds like this person was one of them. I sure wouldn't bother with them again. The mistake was theirs, and they didn't own up to it apparently.
 
Back
Top