FabSwingers.com forum: Ripped Off

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Mechanics in general often get slated by the general public.

Do you yourself or have you ever felt ripped off by the bill you received for repairs to your vehicle and why ?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I go to a mechanic because I don't have the expertise to do it myself. Without going to several and asking them to quote, I have no idea if it is expensive. I just go to someone I trust to do the job well in a timely manner

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Not so much mechanics but I’m an electricians mate, everyone feels ripped off when he quotes for work. They nearly always accept the work though when they get other quotes.

People don’t realise the costs of somethings and feel ripped off. A simple car charger isn’t just a wire to the point there’s loads of extras regarding earthing etc, and they just think you are ripping them off

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"I go to a mechanic because I don't have the expertise to do it myself. Without going to several and asking them to quote, I have no idea if it is expensive. I just go to someone I trust to do the job well in a timely manner "

There's probably nothing worse in this trade than someone that's never encountered a seized bolt in there lives telling you how long Google said something should take you

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"Not so much mechanics but I’m an electricians mate, everyone feels ripped off when he quotes for work. They nearly always accept the work though when they get other quotes.

Iv made a few jaws drop over quotes

Both expensive and surprised that it's not i guess

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By *ad NannaWoman
over a year ago

East London

We had someone who became a good friend to the family, so knew not to rip us off.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"We had someone who became a good friend to the family, so knew not to rip us off.

'respect the family or you'll wake up with a head gasket in your bed'

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By *ersey GirlCouple
over a year ago

Glasgow

My car went in to get work done years ago. They charged an hours labour for each thing fixed. I questioned why I was charged 7 hours labour when my car was in for an hour and a half. I got a reduced bill

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By *elpful and caringMan
over a year ago

Scarborough

I thought this thread might be a lustful and hasty removal of tights and panties.

Surely a fine rip off.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

For every over charging cowboy who messes with your car to make more faults, there’s a 100 genuine garages.

One cowboy close to me had their business destroyed on Facebook when on a local someone asked if the garage was any good. All of a sudden over 200 people posted about the bad work and over charging they had received

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

no.

as a former mechanic, i just do it myself

if it's something im not familiar with, i'll ask a friend to help me out.

not all mechanics are unscrupulous

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By *ittle_brat_evie!!Woman
over a year ago

evesham

ATS tried to get me to have a lot of unecessary work done on my car but I took it to another garage for a second opinion luckily. They also let my battery go flat which then broke the electric window on the car but tried to tell me it came in with that fault (as in I was driving around and leaving my window open all the time).

I'm lucky in that I know a good garage who have never steered me wrong..... I can't even remember why I went to ATS, I knew they were shit!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

No im fortunate to beable to do it myself, i have a two post ramp, tyre machine, lazer alignment set up ect so look after my own although when i had my i3 electric car the service was incredibly expensive and did feel anally reamed.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

No, but that's because I do all my own repairs and maintenace.

Never trusted garages.

I bought my current daily driver with a full service history.

One year later, the lower timimg belt failed - because whichever garage had been tasked with the job of replacing the belts had only replaced the upper one - probably assuming the lower one was a chain.

I had to strip down and rebuild the engine.

Meanwhile, I'm doing a light restoration on my Toy. Currently got the Engine and auto transmission out for rebuild.

Trans is stripped down, just about to start putting it back together

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By *immyinreadingMan
over a year ago

henley on thames

"No, but that's because I do all my own repairs and maintenace.

Never trusted garages.

I bought my current daily driver with a full service history.

I had to strip down and rebuild the engine.

Meanwhile, I'm doing a light restoration on my Toy. Currently got the Engine and auto transmission out for rebuild.

Trans is stripped down, just about to start putting it back together"

“Trans is stripped down “ ... hang on, are you still on about the car here?

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By *immyinreadingMan
over a year ago

henley on thames

I have never felt ripped off by a garage or mechanics. I have always found them great at managing expectations on costs from the outset, and one garage recently refused to charge me for time when they were unable to fix a problem.

Some people are just born suspicious and go through their lives believing they are being shafted their whole time. Must be exhausting

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By *partharmonyCouple
over a year ago

Ruislip

I needed my brake pads changed so I went to Kwik Fit. They told me the disks needed changing to, which upped the costs. I asked for the old disks and I showed them to a guy I know who knows a lot about cars and he said there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. He said they just wanted to push the price up.

There was another time they did work on my brakes and then while driving to the station they completely seized up and I lost control of the car. Fortunately I managed to get the car somewhere safe and they came out and took it away to fix. It turned out they royally ballsed up. I got an apology but I still paid full price.

I'm never going to Kwik Fit again.

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By *heNYCSausageMan
over a year ago

Everton

"Mechanics in general often get slated by the general public.

Do you yourself or have you ever felt ripped off by the bill you received for repairs to your vehicle and why ?

Yes! Paid my local garage £60 to fix my passenger side window. It would open, but when closing, it would pop out of the rubber seam along the door. Then the sensor would suspect there are fingers in the way and open again

I had to slowly raise the window inch by inch whilst pushing it in to keep it inside the rubber seal.

When I went to collect it, he said he couldn’t get the part so had welded an iron bar into the mechanism to fix it until he could get the part.

I tested it and was working great.

It lasted two days and then the same thing happened. Called him up and he said it would now cost £80 for him to do it!

said the £60 last time was just for the labour and hadn’t charged me for the parts

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By *isAdventure69Woman
over a year ago

Hampshire

"Mechanics in general often get slated by the general public.

Do you yourself or have you ever felt ripped off by the bill you received for repairs to your vehicle and why ?

Yes I got charge £400 for a new fuel pump by a friend of a friend …

When it leaked all over the drive a week later , the firemen who had to come and clean up before the AA would even attend showed me that the said fuel pump was rusty / dirty: corroded and was original to the car …

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"Mechanics in general often get slated by the general public.

Do you yourself or have you ever felt ripped off by the bill you received for repairs to your vehicle and why ?

Yes I got charge £400 for a new fuel pump by a friend of a friend …

I recently replaced a seal on a diesel pump which meant replacing the cam belt and water pump as they'd been removed and had also been on for some time, leak sorted and a very happy customer seeing as id saved him time and money

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"I have never felt ripped off by a garage or mechanics. I have always found them great at managing expectations on costs from the outset, and one garage recently refused to charge me for time when they were unable to fix a problem.

Some people are just born suspicious and go through their lives believing they are being shafted their whole time. Must be exhausting "

I don't charge if it's not fixable, recently stripped an old xtrail to find the end float bearings had fallen out and spent how ever long being beaten against the very bottoms of the cylinder walls from being bounced off the crank webs, car got scrapped and I lost some time, it's no biggy to me really though, I do feel for customers when it's very expensive work parts and Labour though

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Do my own but on odd occasion I can't get it done my local garage are very good just had ecr cooler on car charged me 160 rest quoted over 400 labour only.

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By *ubmissiveman2uMan
over a year ago

Cheshire

If you google ICME times for vehicles it will pretty much tell you for every vehicle on the road every job and hours to do it, ask the mechanics hourly rate, times it by ICME times, should never get ripped off again. A little knowledge is sometimes useful

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I play with my mechanic....

He still charges me for work though.

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By *uckslut and MCouple
over a year ago

Poole

My son is a mechanic, they have to have a good few years training on a very low wage. They have to have the muscle to shift and lift stuff. They have to buy all their own tools - not cheap, as they don't have the garage supply them for them. So the price asked is very worth the time and skills.

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By *r TriomanMan
over a year ago

Chippenham Malmesbury area

The motorcycle mechanic I use is extremely talented, experienced and qualified, because of this he charges £75.00 and hour for his labour; great when he's doing a really complexed job, not so great when he's changing your tyre. I do most jobs myself but I'm more than happy to pay his rates when it's something very difficult that I can't do as I know he'll do a good job.

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"If you google ICME times for vehicles it will pretty much tell you for every vehicle on the road every job and hours to do it, ask the mechanics hourly rate, times it by ICME times, should never get ripped off again. A little knowledge is sometimes useful

That's a useful thing, mechanics use it all the time, but unfortunately it can't break a scale on fault finding and seized or snapped, and stripped bolts, it's part and parcel of the trade

Some jobs like snapped bolts can end up quite time consuming

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I work at a prestige dealer and I'm constantly told the prices are too expensive by customers.. its very frustrating... shouldn't buy a £70k car if you can't afford to run it.

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By *icolerobbieCouple
over a year ago

walsall

"I work at a prestige dealer and I'm constantly told the prices are too expensive by customers.. its very frustrating... shouldn't buy a £70k car if you can't afford to run it. "

At least they keep you in a job, even if they do complain.

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