What to do when a member wont come and pick up his car after its been worked on?

Wow. Hey guys, turns out this is my car being talked about.

I probably shouldn't be doing this since I wasn't named, but I know who everyone is talking about and the picture being painted by everyone's comments isn't a nice one, so I feel I should defend myself.

I'll start off by saying I have been slack to a certain degree, but as always, there are two sides to the story.

When the repairs were finished in January the cost ended up being several times the original quote, and it took me two months to actually get that money together.

The car was then paid for, but because of our schedules (Graham was unavailable mid week, I work all weekend) it made it hard for collection to be made.

Hopefully the matter is now resolved.

 

Car was finished at the end of December. Also as far as I recall there was never a quote due to the fact I was delivered a car with a box of parts which turned out to be incomplete with many many busted parts which had to be replaced. All up 35 hours of labour. You should have just brought it here in the first place for 6 hours labour in a heater core change, instead of DIY yourself. In fact it still needs more money spent on it as all the control pods mount plastics are busted and couldnt be repaired.


In any case, it will be gone this week according to Terry.

What I object to is being used as a convenient car park for 3 months. I dont have a factory. ITS IN THE FRONT YARD OF MY HOUSE. This will be the last time I accept a job that requires a car to be left here for work........... If it cant be done in a day dont bring it here.

My wife has been belting me around the head about getting rid of the "POS" for the last 3 months. No amount of cash is worth that....

 

Just so you have a record of what was done.

Car delivered with entire dash/heater disasembled. Parts in boxes

Dash pad destroyed all back plastics broken.
ECU tray removed and ECU floating around on floor.
All heater box actuators broken, plastic cases had been cracked/removed. Climate ECU floating around on floor.
Battery dead and unable to be charged. You take 3 weeks to send money for battery. Go get one from Kmart and fit.
Source new heater box assembly drive to South Melbourne to pick it up
Supply new dash pad. Use the one from the race car.
Reassemble entire dash assembly.
Approx half of the screws/bolts missing
Climate ECU faulty destroys all the new actuators.
Source new ECU and replace, source/replace a full set of actuators.
Remove dash assembly and heater box, replace parts
Replace dash assembly again
Heater tap leaking
Remove dash assembly and heater box again
Source and Replace heater tap
Reassemble dash AGAIN
Climate pod broken, Ask for a new one. You take 5 weeks to supply.
Replacement pod is a POS so fix the old one with a 1/2 kilo of Knead it.
Pod backing screw points all busted. So leave the pods hanging out
Some dash parts not supplied so cant assemble glove box or console.

You paid for the dash pad, battery and supplied a replacement pod that couldnt be used.

ARRIVED END SEPTEMBER, FINALLY FINISHED 28TH DECEMBER.

I gave you a bill for $1200 for parts and 35 hours labour........

 

You gave me a quote after I explained the situation to you. It's still in my inbox.

I was never using your driveway as storage.

It took me 2 months to get the money together, which I think is a fair amount of time considering how much it ended up costing.

Then I was told you were unavailable during the day mid week, and also wouldn't let the car be picked up with out you present. What was I supposed to do?

 

I don't know where you're getting September from, or that I took 5 weeks to source a part

I have a message from you dated 14th of October saying you had begun work on my car that day. You didn't ask me to find a new climate pod until later on.

On 15th of November you messaged me to say the climate pod was broken.

 

35 hours labour and what you did. damn come to brisbane

 

I went to great lengths to not say who's car it is Ben. So I was surprised you posted. When we first spoke, the job was refit the dash. That wasn't quite right was it? Seeing I hadn't seen what was to be done. Don't think you can pin a quote on me. You paid into my account 2.5 weeks ago. There was no way the car was being taken before it was paid for. Some of us do work so picking it up during the day was possible after you paid. But you never asked. On fact after the money appeared I never heard from despite me messaging you to tell you the cash arrived.

Lets just get this done.

Mods lock the thread please

 

This re minds me of this job:

 

LOL at least the dash was still in that one. But apart from that they could be twins.

 

Tektrader I really feel your pain. I used to work as an Outboard Motor Mechanic many many years ago. Nothing would piss me off more than some bright spark that was smart enough to pull a motor down but to dumb to put it back together. They would then decide to bring it in in a box and of course missing a heap of parts. And yep then complain what it cost to solve their puzzle. devils-muse you got out of it dam cheap. Try working out 35 hours labour at the true going rate. Not to mention all the running around he has done for you. You should be a bit more grateful.

 

When we first spoke I explained the state of the car, that the heater box motors needed replacing and the dash needed to be refitted, and then you quoted me a price. When you received the car you said I undid some things I didn't need to, but you never gave any indication that the 5 hour job was looking more like 35 hours.

Please let me be clear that I'm not complaining about how much it's costing, my problem is that I was told just after Christmas that it was almost 4 times what I had budgeted for.

I also never attempted to pick up the car with out paying. I called you when I had the money and tried to arrange pick up, but there was some other reason you wanted to be present, that you never actually explained.

I wasn't going to say anything, but the way you told the story made you out to be a victim and made me look like an asshole, when we both know that isn't the case.

 

Now that you've been in contact, probably best if you keep the discussions through pm (as much as we want to continue patronizing the story whilst munching away on our popcorns!) to avoid aggravating the situation. Hope you'd come up with an amicable settlement sooner rather than later.

Good luck to you both...


AAA :zlove:

 

This thread should have been closed by now. How did $1200 become 4 times a $500 quote? Take out the additional $250 in parts I had to supply. Its looking pretty close.

Lastly, No one knew who owned the car in this thread. I was intent NOT to tell anyone. Why did you even post Ben? You opened the door NOT ME.

All I wanted was for the car to be gone in a reasonable time. Its been 3 months since it was finished. I expected 4 weeks from the 28th of December when you said you needed to save some cash. 12 weeks is ridiculous.

You know, if you have brought the cash in your hand that day 3 weeks ago when you where coming to pick it up. We wouldnt be here now. Why did you use a bank transfer that took 4 days to clear? Then I didnt hear from you for 2 1/2 weeks after that despite an SMS telling you the cash had arrived and then I had to send a further threatening SMS yesterday.

BTW once you had paid you could have come and got it when ever you wanted. I just wouldnt let you take it till you paid.

I dont think you are an arsehole Ben, Just a bit naieve. The car wasnt in your face everyday (like it was in mine) so you just forgot about it.