(continued from below)
As for the testing fee, his facts are incorrect again. DEQ DOES NOT TEST TO FIND OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS THAT IS CAUSING A VEHICLE TO FAIL AN EXHAUST GAS TEST. They merely don’t charge if a vehicle fails. They stick a probe in the tail pipe of pre ’96 vehicles to test for excessive gasses. They have no idea why a particular vehicle does not pass an exhaust gas test. All they know is that it didn’t pass. That is where the repair shop comes into play by inspecting & testing all emission related systems to come up with a diagnoses of a needed repair/repairs. Time is money & all shops charge a fee for their time spent on diagnostics. It sounds by the amount indicated that probably a little over an hour was spent diagnosing the problem with the van, which again is not out of line. Maybe they spent more time than that, but only charged him for what they felt was fair. This happens all the time.
As for this Stan guy & any misunderstanding about the price, he is probably juggling 15-30 cars a day while trying to remember which car belongs to who & which one needs what & trying to please each customer along the way. Being a service manager is a very stressful & time consuming job to do. I know because I have been in those shoes. This customer should be thankful that the shop took the time to inspect his entire vehicle to find any potential issues & to make him aware of those issues to keep it safe & reliable for him, even if he doesn’t want to repair any of those issues. All good repair shops do these type of inspections at no charge to the customer.
And finally, to the folks over there at Art of Maintenance, my hat is off to you guys for putting up with a crybaby like that. Don’t let it get you down. ALL repair shops get customers with this mentality & it is just something that we all have to deal with. Some are keepers & many others are not. Sounds like that one isn’t. We all learn from experiences like that. This guy is most likely a failure in his life & tries to find imperfections in others to take the spotlight off of his own insecurities & failures. He is also most likely the type that thinks everyone in this world owes him something. I gave these guys a five star rating because I have been in this business for all of my adult life & from the sounds of things, they were right on track the whole time.
Keep up the good work guys & hold your heads high!
more