S500 Man

Well The body shop who is painting my car, after 3 LONG WEEKS to paint half of a car.....they called telling me they have bad news!!!!.....that after it was taking out of the booth it started spilling transmission fluid!!!they say a valve connector wore out and just came out(WEIRD)...they say it happened on its own.....and that its a common known issue...............i think they messed it up cause the transmission...was not leaking when i brought it in........now they want me to pay for it...........i think they should pay because i brought it to them perfectly fine............what do you guys think....and is this common issue?

ssonss1

damn that sucks to hear...I wouldn't think its a common problem from what I've read on the forum..I'd look into it further before they repair anything and see if it happened by normal wear or something the body shop might have done...good luck tho..

S500 Man

i refuse to pay anything....i told them they can try using my extended warranty but if they wont cover it,,,,...........im not paying!

Gondon

Why are you painting your car?

S500 Man

it got keyed in december....

Skylaw

The seal on the transmission electronics plug tends to leak - but it doesn't spill rapidly unless it has been pulled out. Leaking is a common problem. Rapid loss of large amounts of fluid is not. I'm suspicious.

Gondon

Right I remeber.

That plug costs like 30$ or some ****.

paulybagadonuts

Sounds like to me.

Why are they taking such a long time to paint your car??

3 weeks and they only painted half?? waz up wit dat

I don't want to put any crazy ideas in your head but is it possible they took it out for a short joy ride?

You always hear stories about these places. All you need is one Nuckelhead working there.

Did you record your milage when you bought it in?

Don't mean to start down a road that probably doesn't need to be traveled but just wondering.

naijaman

Yeah...I agree..check the mileage. One time I took my car to the stealer for some minor work and picked it up 2 days later, complete with a 120-mile deficit. Of course the stealer said no one drove the car...

S500 Man

guess i will have to see.

fusion2007

threaten to sue... use a very strong and threatening voice when u tell them to pay for it and that its there fault.. they will pay for it as long as u hold ur ground

srknutson

What does your aggreement say that you signed when you dropped your car off? I would do some serious butt kicking even if the language states you are responsible.

paulybagadonuts

Did you get your car back yet?

S500 Man

im picking it up on monday, they said it wasnt there fault, so i have to pay the $200 dollars that it cost for the repair.....i told them that they had the worst customer service ever, and that whenever somebody asked me about a good body shop, i would not refer them to ricks, like i have done many times in the past.....i also told them will never be there customer again....im just going to pay it because its not work the $200 dollars to be without my car or even bother taking it to court.

ssonss1

****ty deal but hey $200 not that bad from one side but on the other hand paying $200 of your earned money for something someone else did...just get the word out to a few people..never go back there...theyre easily out the 200$ they should have just put in to fix the prob...1 unhappy customer=lots of lost potential customer.....**** em

paulybagadonuts

I just can't beleive it took them a month to do the work in the first place. That alone would have driven me batty.

It never ceases to amaze me how lightly businesses treat customer service when it will always cost them 10x over in the long run between bad publicity and lost sales. They could have done the right thing for a lousy 2 bills and gotten a great reference and more business from others but these guys are penny wise and dollar foolish in my opinion.

Eventually people who don't "get it" go out of business anyway.

I guess that's what's called natural selection.

Anyhow, it could have cost you alot more, so $200 isn't too bad. At least you've learned where not to go for body work.

P.S. May you never have to use another body shop again.

Thanks for sharing and good luck.

AH1W-COBRA

just my 2 cents,dont ever threaten to sue unless you have allready researched what it will cost you to do it.The "sue" word in business pisses me off so bad that the minute someone try's to threaten it i simply say bring it on!i hand them my attorneys card and tell them i will never speak to them again. Negotiate, you will have a better outcome.

Skylaw

I agree with you that people are often way too quick to sue. The courts are better equipped to handle problems that need a sword rather than a scalpel. Negotiation is a very good first approach, and going up a company's tiers of management (getting to an actual decision maker) can be useful. It is nearly always the best initial course of action in a business transaction.

However, for matters such S500 Man described, if negotiation fails (apparently it did, here) small claims courts are well suited for the task, and an attorney is not required to bring (or defend) the case.

As to just handing the dissatisfied customer your attorney's card, an unrepresented private litigant is not required to speak only to your attorney. Only his own attorney would be bound so. And if you indeed hand him your attorney's card, you are likely to start incurring your own attorney fees right away, while he proceeds merrily in small claims court, for the low filing fee, and incurring no attorney fees. If you have an ongoing representational arrangement with your attorney, billing will start as soon as the irate customer makes contact with him. If you do not, your attorney will probably not undertake representation without a fairly significant retainer - which will not be refundable. Even if you win, you'll pay your own attorney fees.

That in itself can provide a matter of satisfaction to a dissatisfied customer. In a time of $5,000 retainers and $200 an hour billing being common (it was twice that where I practiced), it wouldn't take long to take more out of your pocket than if you had just paid for the repair. It's something the businessman should consider.

By they way, the connector S500 man discussed doesn't just "wear out" and become disconnected. Its seal deteriorates, and it leaks - but it doesn't "just fall out." It was pulled out. The shop has some potential liability there.

Much wiser to negotiate, for them too.

AH1W-COBRA

All correct,all im trying to get across is the fact that the "sue" word is like a weapon,dont pull it unless you are going to use it.all the costs you have listed are exactly what this guy was likely to be set up to pay in the event he dosent win.you have just given him the info he needed to find another path to winning his dispute.I just had that switch replaced with the packings and bushing,you will only lose mayby 1.5 qts of fluid when the switch is removed.it dosent just fall out ,hopefully no one at the shop thought it was the odometer pickup and that they could disable it and take this guys beauty out for a cruise. bones

Skylaw

Bones,

I just want to be sure other readers understand that in most cases in the U.S., win or lose, each side pays its own attorney fees. Only in specific classes of cases does the loser pay the winner's fees, and they are the exception.

So in S500 Man's case, if he took the case to small claims court and lost, he would not pay the business owner's attorney fees. At most he would be out his filing fee, which is typically small. If the businessman won, he would still pay his own fees. It is only by hiring his own attorney in a case like this that S500 Man would be out attorney fees. And in some jurisdictions, you cannot even be represented by an attorney in small claims court.

If the customer were to hire an attorney, he too would pay his own attorney fees, win or lose. So, pursuing a $200 claim when it will cost $5000 or better makes no sense, as S500 Man realized upfront. However, defending the claim could cost the businessman more than the claim is worth, and could make it worthwhile for the customer to pursue on his own, in small claims court. It would all depend on how the businessman handled it.

Handing the customer a card and saying "call my attorney" over a small dollar value dispute could be the wrong move for the businessman .

my06clk

I agree with both of you.. but here's an ugly fact...

Has anyone actually attempted a small claims court action or any action for that matter? After filing, and serving, and response, an discovery, and court date, and wait and wait and spend and wait.. By the time you even get to court, you;re broke and don;t know why you are there in the first place...

People scream I'll sue!! till they realize how much of a PIA it is.. so the moral to all this is..

tyr your best to avoid getting in weird situations.. if it quacks, and has web feet, it more than likely is a duck.

Also...

S500 should have not waisted good posting space with that gripe because all it did was inflame members who don't know A. the entire story, and B. the actual condition of that car in the first place, Nor the details of the work involving the shop..( can you say this should have been an insurance claim in the first place?? )

So this is the 23rd post to a 2 week old thread the was IMO nothing more than another attention seeker in the first place.

couldn't help myself.. sorry.

Skylaw

Good to talk to you again, my06clk.

It's not really all that bad - at least in Florida. The "discovery" process is very limited in small claims court in Florida. Only parties represented by attorneys are subject to it, so if the customer brings suit and does not hire counsel, he is not subject to that stressful procedure at all.

Service is simple, too - by registered mail if the party being served is a Florida resident.

The initial court date is mediation anyway - a controlled "negotiation" - which (I thoroughly agree) is what the parties should have done in the first place, but now it is required and supervised.

Only of mediation does not result in settlement is there a hearing date set - 60 days after the mediation date.

It's really not a bad process for a claim (in Florida) of under $5000.

I think the initial post highlighted some valid frustration. I would not have appreciated the shop's response. I would have tried to reach an accommodation - but if we couldn't, I'd have taken them to small claims court myself. But then, I'm a trial lawyer.

As for inflaming folks who don't know - I think you and others chimed in pretty well with "negotiate first" - but if it fails, especially if the shop just blows you off, small claims may provide a decent remedy - if you go about it right.

The contributions about not running off and hiring a lawyer to sue at the drop of a hat were good advice as well. It makes absolutely no sense to spend thousands to punish someone over a dispute of a few hundred dollars. Suing just for "principle" can put you in the poorhouse. So, readers may have gained a small something from it.

Of course, we don't know the conditional factors you pointed out - but those are the matters of proof, and their presentation will be determine credibility. The person who does not have them on his side will lose.