I have absolutely no problem paying the guy $1665 for a completed job (even though he should have put the car on a trickle charger and not killed the battery).

However his demand for cash came right as I was struggling to go out of state to my step sisters funeral. I made one trip to the bank (there was a line so I just took $800 out of the ATM, plus the 400 I had). I offered him 1200 cash and asked to put the rest on my debit card. Mind you, I had just gotten off the plane from the funeral and had not even had time to pick my dogs up from the kennel. I also had several jobs on my other cars I was going to give him.

However him making me make one more trip to the bank when I was already dealing w/ a crisis ensures he will no longer get my bussiness.

 

i dont think your mechanic is responsible for setting you up for a battery tender while in the shop. no shops i know do this.

the payment terms is weird since your debit card is good as cash. not sure why he'd do that. once you pay with a debit card, it's no disputable unlike a credit card. either way, happy you made out ok and good luck w new mechanic.

 

Glad all worked out. Legal action would have been waste of time....

 

The issue is, that he was diagnosing the car back and forth with his Autologic. He should have had the proper automated charger on the car, to keep battery voltage up.

Otherwise you end up with a dead battery, and a grumpy customer (for good reason).

 

I hope you got the settled bill in writing.

 

That is beyond incorrect. You can easily dispute debit card charges.

 

don't pay until it is exactly what you want

 

You...didn't read the thread, did you?

 

hovy,

Your not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you? Look at the date of this thread.

I do have an update that I will post when I get the time.

 

Update 2 months later:

We finally agreed that I would pay $1665 and take the car. I came by the day I was flying out to CA for my step sisters funeral and he demanded cash so I could not pick up the car until I returned. I guess a history of always paying and a death in my family did not have any affect on his attitude.

When I picked up the car (and paid him cash) I was pleased: No codes. I babied the car for about 300 miles then drove her normally for 200 more. At around 500 I started to do some 80% 3rd/4rth gear pulls and noticed that the car was not making full power. I suspected a boost leak. Upon inspection I noticed that the bloww off valve was poking into the inatake. She also began throwing a service engine light.

I took her to Akram at Motorwerks and he discoverd that there were many mistakes made on the install and that the clamps were not tightened. He went back in and alligned everything properly and tightened all the clamps and then used his GT1 to reprogram her. Now the clutch has 1K on her and the car is running absolutely perfectly.

And Akram only charged me $650 to clean up the mess so he will be doing all my BMW work from now on.

Thanks Akram!

 

One thing I forgot to mention was that the original local mechanic talked me into letting him do the job in the first place. We discussed his ability to get it done for 2 days and he assured me that he was up to the job. In short he talked me into giving him my bussiness.

I should have gone w/ Akram from the begining.

 

Good to see things worked out and you got a new mechanic that know his chet...

 

Thanks...normally I am very selective about who works on my cars....I discussed the job w/ the original mech for several days "are you sure you can do it, the SMG is tricky, the reprogramming can be tricky...are you sure" I asked repeatedly.

My gut said no but stupid me I let him talk me into using him (I felt bad for him because the property taxes on his shop had just been raised). Well you live and you learn.