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We had failure on a Cardone steering gear box this week and that part is only 14 months old. The vendor who sold us that part has told of a horror story their store manager has had on his wife vehicle. 4 bad Cardone parts. It looks like we will need to avoid Cardone and that use to be a name you could depend upon.

Jeff Gordon, a victim of political correctness. Associated Press Raleigh, NC July 29, 2013 As a result of the Trayvon Martin ruling and because there are no black drivers in NASCAR, in a bold move Jeff Gordon announced today that he was firing his entire pit crew. In addition this announcement followed Gordon's decision to take advantage of President Obama's plan to employ black youngsters. The decision to hire them was also brought about by a recent documentary on how unemployed youths from Harlem were able to remove a set of wheels in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment and barely any equipment at all, whereas Gordon's existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with thousands of dollars worth of high tech equipment. It was thought to be an excellent and innovative marketing move by Gordon's management team, as many races are won or lost in the pits. However, Gordon got more than he bargained for. At the crew's first practice session, not only was the inexperienced crew able to change all 4 wheels in under 6 seconds, but within 9 seconds they had changed the paint scheme, altered the VIN number, and sold the car to Dale Earnhardt Jr. for 10 cases of Bud, a bag of weed, and some photos of Jeff Gordon's wife in the shower. [/center]

AMEN!

That is dirty pool. I handle these call with a tendency to put them on hold and never pick back up. If they call and ask to speak to the owner I tell them we have an absentee owner. He makes those kind of decisions. If they asked for his number I tell them I am not allowed to give it out. That is not a lie since I do have a partner who lives in another city and is not involved in the business. Sometimes I tell them that we are a franchise and that stuff is handled by Chicago. I probably receive an average of 2-4 solicitation calls per day.

Me too and some of the biggest messes I have gotten into were when I tried to save someone money. It is the "No good deed goes unpunished syndrome."

Often saving the customer money creates an unhappy customer and costs us money.

Why do shops do that to other shops? If had been me I would have told her to take the battery to a place where it could be warrantied. No need or reason to make a capital case of it. Why do shops like to degrade each other so much. It doesn't get a shop ahead it pulls he whole industry down.

Last count the amount is now over $111k.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/19/fund-set-up-for-honest-homeless-man-raises-1g/

Because we started as an exhaust shop we have a MIG, pipe bender, torches, and parts like replacement O2 bungs. We cut and weld exhaust and sometimes fabricate if needed.

In that situation we might have welded in a new O2 bung.

No there are only two situations I can ever remember. One was a Corvette and the other was a Mercedes. If I need to road force balance I will just use Discount. It is cheaper than buying a machine.

They charge more for a road force balancer.

Discount Tire here opened two years ago and they have a road force balancer.

The reason I say that is if it takes fifteen minutes each way and there are two of you that has now cost you and hour and there is no one in the shop to answer the phone or talk to customers. We do not do drop offs and pick ups except in a few rare situations. However, we do a lot of shuttling. One thing I have done was drop offs and pickups at a large corporate office within 3 minutes of our shop. For quick jobs (oil changes, etc.) we simple drove our shop van. Parked it in their lot. Picked up the car and did the service. Brought it back, picked up payment, and dropped off the keys. We developed some good high end business by doing that.

I think Jeff has a good point. I don't break down the cost when I talk to the customer unless they ask. I tell them it is $XXX parts and labor plus tax. Then I give them the total with tax. It is not one in ten that asks for a breakdown. It is the total that concerns them most.

I hate companies that have contracts where you have to advise a certain period ahead that you are stopping service. The uniform companies are the worst.

I would not pick up and deliver cars with only two people working.

Been there done that but Gonzo I had almost forgotten. Thanks for reminding me.

Indians are the hardest to deal with and will always pull those type of tricks on you. I have learned with Indians I have to stand my ground and be almost rude.

Yep! I grew up on a party line with some of the very nosy people.

I tell people we will not always be the cheapest but very rarely are we the highest and we are almost always cheaper than the dealer. However, there is one thing I will pledge to them that is that we will always strive to do good work, take care of any warranty issues without an argument, and NEVER sell them something they do not need.

$65 is cheap.

Here is a new type of pricing:

I have used almost everyone at different times since we opened. We started with NAPA and have had filters from 4 other different vendors but we are now back with NAPA.