LeBuick
Guest
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 Posted:
Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:51 am Post subject:
Re: Re: Two different garages...one fixed it the other didn' |
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"Refinish King3" wrote:
| Quote: | They can sue him first!
Refinish King
"Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> wrote in message
news:newscache$2eks7i$yo42$1@news.ipinc.net...
"Refinish King" <noneofyourbusiness@nevermind.net> wrote in message
news:KSxpd.7277$hJ6.4437@trndny01...
> > If you were a lawyer:
> > You'd be disbarred!
> > You have to pursue this legally. Use the remedies
the state gives you,
i.e.:
> > The Attorney General's Office, Department Of
Consumer Affairs.
> > If you don't pay, the shop has the right to sue you
for non payment, and
a
> > good chance to win.
Not if it can be established that there was fraud involved.
In this case
if
it were
me I wouldn't pay or I would pay only a token payment, and I
would
immediately
file a small claims lawsuit.
If you don't pay they can't do anything other than turn you
over to
collections, and
by the time that they do that, and by the time that the
collections agency
gets around
to threatening you with being sued, a small claims process
is going to be
over with.
Keep in mind the process of paying and the process of
establishing whether
you
own them anything are two separate issues. Legally you owe
them the
money,
until a court (or negotiation) establishes otherwise. But
if there is
litigation pending
(ie: your small claims) then a collection agency isn't going
to touch it.
I would also not bother trying to call the owner and work it
out. They
already
had their chance to do this and blew you off. Once you get
your claim
filed
they
will have plenty of chance to work things out within the
guidelines of the
court.
That also prevents delaying and stalling actions on their
part. And it
also
documents
any attempts that they make to work it out.
The simple fact is that they represented to you that they
were going to
perform a
service (fix your car) they had a fair chance to do it, and
instead
deliberately
did a repair procedure that a second garage verified wasn't
even part of
the
broken system.
That looks pretty much like deliberate fraud, and
misrepresentation of
what
business they are in.
I know that most repair places do not want to be out money,
and so they
try
to
play this game that your paying them to "work on the car"
rather than your
paying them
to "fix the car" In short the implication is that somehow
they have no
responsibility
to actually do the repair correctly, and that you should
have to pay for
their training
and eduction as they experiment with different repair
procedures. But a
shop is not
legally obligated to work on your broken vehicle when you
bring it in to
them. When
they accept your vehicle to work on it, they accept
responsibility for
fixing it correctly
in a reasonable time/cost (ie: book time) that is why they
all use
computer
programs
to determine how much to charge you, rather than measuring
how long it
actually took
(unless of course it takes longer than book time)
Ted
|
You have to make a good and fair effort to work with the garage before
taking them to small claims court. If you go to court without trying
to work it out with the garage first, the judge will side with them.
The garage will go into court and say that the part they replaced was
bad and that they would have worked with you but you did not give them
a chance. Some garages will even bring a bad part into court claiming
it was yours and demonstrate why they say it is bad.
Remember, they are considered, "experts" and no other mechanic
looked at your car prior to them replacing the part so that is pretty
cut and dry. In the future, ask for your old parts to be returned. If
you had the old part, you could pay a dealership to install and test
it. If it is bad, pay the garage. If it is good, make a half hearted
attempt to get your money back then take them to court with a avidavit
from the delearship certifying the part is good and did not need to be
replaced.
That being said, I would explain to the owner that their efforts still
left a problem in your car and according to the delearship where you
took it, they will certify that there is no way the part they replaced
could cause your symptoms. Also explain that you are willing to
contact several other delearships and GM if you need to. You must show
him that you are prepared to go the distance if this thing goes to
court.
I would then ask to pay for the parts only and he eats the labor. You
might even try to pay for parts and 50% labor. This will show the
small claims judge that you were willing to accept some responsibility
but that you didn’t feel obligated for the entire bill since it did
not fix the problem. If the garage refuses your offer, take a friend
and try to get them to sign that they refused your offer. Take your
friend to court as your witness that you attempted to resolve this
disagreement with other than legal means. Chances are this won’t go to
court.
--
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