Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 18:47:01 -0800
Reply-To: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: ruined my dash
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Sounds like you got Hans Hammerhands from Slobovia.
Tell them to make it right or fight. Stop payment .
Get your money back if they won't fix their mistakes.
I had a similar experience last year- I got all my money back.
The shop I dealt with had old-fogey don't give a dang loser mechanics who
just want the hourly wage and don't give a hoot what you get for your
money.I actually pity them -people who can't even take pride in their work
anre miserable people.
This shop screwed up the job and ruined my trailer hitch too. I had to give
them permission to cut a support bar or else I would have to live with a
catalytic converter 6 inches off the ground.
I waited six hours one day and six hours the next to end up with a bill for
$782.00, for a header pipe and muffler that that still leaks in 3 places and
did'nt have the rubber isolation dampers installed.
The original estimate was $300.00.
They refuused to correct the problems without charging me $68.00 an hour for
labor, so I contacted my bank and had all the money returned to my account.
I sell heaters, and install, and by golly if I don't do something right,
it's my fault and I don't make the customer pay.
So far because I'm willing to do what it takes to make it right when things
go wrong, no one has ever had to get their money back from me. .
It burns me up that so-called VW enthusiast shops bottom line is your money
without your satisfaction.
They act like "we are the Pro's" so don't question us because if you are a
pro whay are you bringing it to us?
We know , you don't ,so take it or leave it."
The shop owner had the nerve to tell me that "I changed the relationship"
For 782.00 and 2 days later I should not be driving home on a leaky,
rattling muffler system.
Like wise , big greasy thumbprints on you upholstery or
damaged dash clusters should never be passed back out the door. Slobs!
Get away from them!
I left them and now I feel good for every hour I save $68.00 working on my
Vanagon.
Robert
warmerwagen@hotmail.com
----Original Message Follows----
From: Jeff Oxroad <Oxroad@AOL.COM>
Reply-To: Oxroad@AOL.COM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Fast German ruined my dash, now what?
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 21:04:29 EST
I had Fast German Auto in Santa Ana, CA put a clutch and pressure plate in
my
83.5 Westy. The total was $325 with parts and labor which I paid in full via
American Express.
When I checked my bus the rear deck was greasy and the rear bed cushion was
not reinstalled over the engine door. When I went into the cockpit for a rag
to whipe down the back I found heavy grease smuges on the door. I considered
neither of these a big issue. Evidence of sloppyness certainly, but maybe an
oversight and forgivable at that. (I mention all this so you get an idea of
the whole situation.)
But now when I looked in the cockpit I saw the black face plate to the
instrument pod--the one that housing the headlight and hazard switches and
insturments-- was cracked in the area of the headlight switch. Also the
black
textured finish on the face plate of the instrument cluster had been eaten
away by some chemical or solvent where there was evidence of a spill and a
splash. In fact some of the solution was still wet where it had obviously
splashed on the instrument face plate.
I then noticed fluid on the rubber floor mat and on the steering column, and
theorized it was brake fluid. I immediatly got the sales rep. who I had just
paid and he got the mechanic to come out to my bus.
The sales rep. asked if the mechanic had cracked the dash or spilled
anything
in the bus, and the mechanic replied something like, "No. We'd have no
reason
to be in here."
I whiped up some of the fluid with my finger and noted it seemed to be brake
fluid. The mechanic then "remembered" and said he had filled the resevoir
but
had not spilled any fluid. The fluid I saw, according to the mechanic, was
Simple Green which they use for clean up. (Simple Green by the way is a mild
soapy solution)
The mechanic went on to say that brake fluid always spills when you fill up
the resevoir because of where the resevoir is placed. This is another
contradiction to earlier statements, first that he had not been in the
cockpit and second that wehn in fact he was nothing spilled.
Then,with the mechanic and sale rep present, I took of the cover from the
instrument pod exposing the brake fluid resevoir. The underside of the
instrument pod cover had spots of brake fluid where it had obviously spilled
when the cover was off and most likely upside down on the floor or dash. And
then I noticed fluid sitting inside the clear plastic over the
speedo--meaning there was a pooling in the bottom of the speedo behind the
glass where the fluid had obviously seeped. The small "shelf" under the
speedo also had the finish removed where some solvent or the brake fluid had
obviously spilled. And of course there was brake fluid around the resevoir
in
the recesses and the like.
The instument pod by the way was brand new from the Bus Depot a few years
ago--not a used unit, but brand new. At that time I had bought the new unit
after rejecting several instrument pods I pulled from junk yards because the
face plates and the clear plastic were scratched as a junk yard find is
likely to be.
I am meticulous about my bus and am 100% certain the instrument pod
faceplate
was not cracked and 100% certain the finish was not compromised and there
was
no fluid in the speedo or on the steering column or the floor mat. And as I
mentioned the mechanic at first denied he was near the instrument cluster
then denied a spill and then denied the crack--all in the presence of the
sales rep.
After the mechanic returned inside I spoke further with the sales rep who
said there was nothing he could really do as he was "in the middle." To the
best of my knowledge there was no one else from Fast German on the property.
I had thought the sales rep was a manager in my dealings with him until he
came up with the "in the middle" comment. The sales rep stated he would call
me when they got a wreck with an instrument pod face plate and would have
the
mechanic swap my instruments into it. (Having installed the later model pod
into my 83 I know it is not a simple swap depending on year. Also the old
speedo, my original speedo is quite brittle as are some other
components--but
not the brand new face plate.)
The shop is 50 miles from my home which makes the trip difficult and about 2
hours long each way in LA traffic. Today I parked my other car at the train
station in LA for $10, took the train to Santa Ana for $9.50, and walked 4
miles to the shop from the train to pick up the bus as bothering another
friend to put 100 miles on his car to drop me in Santa Ana seemed like a
little much.
Now I have to take out the instrument cluster and find exactly where the
brake fluid went down in the dash and clean it up as it is a corrosive
agent.
I called Am EX and they said I would have to wait till the charge appeared
on
my statement to contest the $325 charge with no adjustment for damage. The
Am
Ex rep. Then tried to sell me travel insurance at $19.95 per trip by plane.
I
declined.
I called a VW dealer and it seems a new face plate goes for $251. (I'd have
to double check.)
Needless to say I am not comfortable returning to Fast German Auto and
having
hammer hands reinstall my brittle speedo and components in a used, more
than
likely well-used, instrument pod face plate.
I turn to you all in you wisdom and understanding of Vanagons to help me
understand what would be a fair solution to my dilemma. And how I might
proceed.
I sure appreciate your time.
TIA
Jeff
83.5 Westy
LA,CA
Robert
1982 Westfalia 1987 Wolfsburg
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