What would you have done?

[CrusherCurtis]

Bought my sister a car last December for when she leaves for school. Got her a B5 1.8t quattro. I bought it in December. It needed a wheel bearing and a thermostat (broken open). Anyway by it being December I just decided to take it to a mechanic I had known for a few years. He let the car sit for 9 MONTHS before touching it. I considered going to pick it up and just doing it myself over the summer when it was warmer, but I hate to just take it the job back from him although it would have been justified. Anyway when he finally starts on it. Of course now the battery is finished so I have to buy a new battery. He tells me the car needs a fuel pump, throttle body and a MAF sensor because its not idling or accelerating. This all sounds weird to me because the night I bought it I drove it 45 mins right to his shop, with no signs of these problems. I buy all the parts new and have them shipped to his shop. He then informs that it still giving him idle/acceleration problems and its going to need an ECU. Before I dump more money into an ecu I hop on Justanswer and talk to a Audi tech how tells me it needs to be reprogrammed. He says sitting nine months will do it. I hop on craigslist and find a guy who reprograms it for $80 and it runs fine again. My mechanic finally replaced the wheel bearing and thermostat. When it comes time to pay he quotes me $500 for everything. Including the throttle body and Fuel pump. Although there was nothing wrong with those parts. I told him I wanted to pay for just the Wheel bearing and thermostat. He got an attitude, walked out saying he didn't want to argue and that I should take the car and go. I feel bad not paying him something. He claims it needed the Fuel pump and throttle body. I know it didn't. The maf I ordered was the wrong one, so it never got put on and it ran fine once programmed. Not only was he obviously wrong about the ecu and maf, he was also wrong about the fuel pump and throttle body.

Its really my fault, because I tend to get lazy during the winter and not want to do work, but was I wrong for not wanting to pay his full amount?

[Ryann]

Of course you weren't wrong. Most pros would be embarrassed about having botched a diagnosis so badly let alone ask for compensation for it.

[ethirtydavid]

decemberdecemberdecemberokigetit

give him some money for the things he fixed

[Raxe]

There's a key part to any situation like this:

If you bring the car to a technician and tell them you have a problem and they try but can't fix it, you pay at least something because you asked for their time and time costs money.

If they come to you and say they found something additional AND tell you they'll fix it but can't, the technician shouldn't be charging for that. He told he would do something he couldn't, that's his mistake.

In your case you should be paying for the wheel bearing and thermostat job, not the rest.

[cale]

What kind of mechanics are you guys going to? For small jobs like that I schedule a day to drop it off AND to start getting worked on and call them early in the afternoon if I haven't heard from them. 9 months...for that? He's lucky you didn't come by in the middle of the night and scoop your car up. Any mechanic as flaky is that is a chump, and you shouldn't be wasting your time bringing your car their.

[blunttech]

compromise and put it behind you. You didnt need that stuff but you have it now and thats of some value. Unfortunate experience for all involved. Id probably not use him again. Hopefully he learns as much from this as you have

[CrusherCurtis]

Okay I had no problem with paying him for the wheel bearing and thermostat. When we walked off and told me to take the car car, I got upset, because I didn't complain about the time it took, I didn't complain about have to buy the extra parts, I didn't complain about him letting it sit so long that it had to be reprogrammed. So to avoid an argument I did just as he said, took the car and left. I really wish he would have just understood where I'm coming from and taken less instead of nothing.

[Raxe]

Truth is that's only like 5 hours of work, if you supplied all of the parts he isn't really walking away from that much. It's also completely unacceptable to put that off for 9 months.

[Holland]

Not to mention letting it sit for 9 months with supplied parts, not much reason for that.

[Jaxx_]

if it's done just forget it. getting pissed off doesn't help anything anyway.

[Restoman]

9 months!!?!?!? There is not one respectable shop that would have a car sitting for 9 months. Walk away and forget about it.

[Fusion]

On a similar note - what happens to bad bearings?
My DD rear just started whining like a milf, hard to hear the radio even, and now is not a good time to be looking for a mechanic.
Its FWD, has a drum brake rear, torsion bar with arms/shocks. Since nothing else is holding the wheel on, can the bearings seize and a wheel fly off?
How much whining miles can those things take?

OP: The dood sounds like a very vlad mechanic.

[urbancynic]

First, I wouldnt have let it sit a week, much less 9 months.

Second, I wouldn't have paid him for stuff that he botched.

I would have paid for the work you needed, but that's it. However you just went 9 months without a car that should have been done in a day. I say he's lucky you dont bad mouth him and his shop for that. Most people would.

Just leave it be and learn not to use him again.

[imsotyerred]

9 months!!?!?!? There is not one respectable shop that would have a car sitting for 9 months. Walk away and forget about it.

Not to mention letting it sit for 9 months with supplied parts, not much reason for that.

Truth is that's only like 5 hours of work, if you supplied all of the parts he isn't really walking away from that much. It's also completely unacceptable to put that off for 9 months.

First, I wouldnt have let it sit a week, much less 9 months.

Second, I wouldn't have paid him for stuff that he botched.

I would have paid for the work you needed, but that's it. However you just went 9 months without a car that should have been done in a day. I say he's lucky you dont bad mouth him and his shop for that. Most people would.

Just leave it be and learn not to use him again.

this all sums it up. No excuse for him leaving it there and then getting all pissy because he sucks at fixing audis

[Nick_S]

9 months!!?!?!? There is not one respectable shop that would have a car sitting for 9 months. Walk away and forget about it.

This. Longest my car was ever at a shop was 3 weeks cause I had to wait for VW as they were doing inventory and parts weren't available. The shop was extremely apologetic even though it was out of their hands. They gave me a slight discount on labor for the trouble. No decent shop would let a car sit for that amount of time. Don't let whatever guilt you have get to you, just move on.