Time will tell the tale, my friend.

 

So, I took the advice, and went directly to the mechanic. He said that he did replace the transmission speed sensor but there was another problem as well and it led him to have to replace the ECM. But that he could not program the ECM himself, that he had to take it to a dealer to have the dealer program it. I could come next week and get it.

I told him I did not authorize any of those parts and he should have called me before performing any work on the car. My concern was the transmission. I told him also I had a sneaking suspicion that he never did any work on the transmission at all.

So, I did as was suggested here. I asked him how much he charges to just diagnose a transmission problem, and not fix it. He said ordinarily $100. I said well bring me my vehicle and I will pay you the diagnostic fee and be done with this.

He said it was at the dealership and I would have to pay for the other two parts, and what ever the dealer was going to charge him. I said, please show me where I signed to authorize you to do any work to my vehicle, I asked you to find out what was wrong with it. Once you found out you should have called me, told me what the issue was, and let me decide if I want to spend that much time and money getting those things repaired or replaced.

From there is just escalated. He said my vehicle will stay there until I pay him and he will put a mechanics lean on it if he has to.

So, I left, went straight downtown, filed some papers at the small claims court, and they showed me how to file some more papers to get an injunction against him from doing anything else to my vehicle until this gets settled in court. I had to pay to have him and his other mechanic served, and now I wait for my court date. (July 26th)

I am asking for my vehicle back, not to pay for unauthorized repairs, only the diagnostic fee, and reimbursement of court fees and car rental.

So, we will see what happens. Now I have to go rent a car!!

 

I'm pretty sure you got him by the short curlies, twigz. I'm not sure where you live, but back when I was in Tennessee, the crap this dude pulled on you without your approval, would have gotten him fined, you reimbursed and him in jail for 30 days.

 

Wow, I never had to go to court when I had my shop. Of course I followed the rules and only made authorized repairs. Oregon auto repair laws require proper documentation when you need to adjust a repair estimate. Time of the phone call, and the amount of the new estimate and whether it was approved on not.

 

You should have a copy of the initial intake sheet when you dropped off the vehicle which had an approx estimate or a line like "Customer states (CS) vehicle does not shift properly at highway speeds. Perform diagnostics.

Then there would be a line item charge listed for the cost of inspection...

Now comes the critical portion:

A lot of these forms have TWO acknowledgment signature boxes with two very different statements.

Statement 1 will be "I hereby authorize xxxx to complete all necessary repairs blah blah blah -- which means you are giving them carte blanche as far as parts and labor go to repair the stated customer concern.

Statement 2 will be " I hereby authorize repairs up to a dollar amount of (fill in the blank). Any amount in excess requires my further approval.

Now any SMART mechanic who ever wants referrals or repeat customers will call you and appraise you of the situation BEFORE continuing with $800 of work. But depending on what you signed, he may legally not have had to because you may have waived that right based on exactly what you signed.

It all comes down to the wording that is by your signature.

Review it closely and see what you agreed to with your signature. It is legally binding unless poorly written and ambiguous.

Good business practice? Absolutely not.
Legal? Absolutely.

Please let us know what the wording next to your signature is on that first estimate sheet. The outcome of this entire process likely hinges on it.

This is why I almost never sign the carte blanche line unless I've worked w someone for several years. They'd call me anyway to tell me what the issue was and a timetable for completing the repairs.

If there is no $ limit statement in the form, I leave in their I agree to pay for repairs, then cross off the rest of the carte blanche crap and write in not to exceed [diagnoisis charge $]. No one on the east coast blinks an eye. Some folks out here seem insulted as though I don't trust them on a personal level.

Get over it.

So let us know the wording next to your signature.

You've stopped the bleeding which is excellent. Create a journal of day, time, subject of discussion (EXACT) and outcome of discussion (EXACT). Label the entries that occurred BEFORE you started the journal and state that the information is true to the best of your knowledge. Sign and date with the DATE OF ENTRY. DO NOT BACKDATE. Include time of injunction filing and time papers were served.

Once papers were served, he needed to tell the dealership to pull the plug.
If it is still at the dealership it is either still waiting to be programmed or sitting in the service waiting lot OR completed and racking up daily storage fees. If you go browse the lot you can find it. If it has a service ticket thingy hanging from the rear view, you need to figure out which color means done and which is are active tickets.

If you can't tell, simply ask a service dept person which color is which or watch them intake some cars. Don't ask about your specific car or identify yourself--it will be used against you as tampering evidence.

Come back to the dealership 3 business days later after that visit after the mechanics have been served. If the tag has changed to complete, note in your journal that you OBSERVED onTHAT DATE that the tag appeared to indicate work was performed and completed on your vehicle by the dealership. You dn't know what date they worked on it, so you can only state what you observed and when.

For the record, I am NOT trying to play both sides of this dispute at te same time. The "what did you approve by signing" part is going to be at the center of this case and I thought you should know that immediately b c if he had carte blanche per your signature, I don't think you have much chance to win, unfortunately. You would think he would have just explained that to you when discussing everything that he did not ned further authorization based on your sig if that was the case.

Please keep us informed. And DO the dealership check, because even if you lose on his additional charges, for repairs, you should most definitely NOT be liable for repairs to your vehicle ordered by the mechanic that wee performed after the injunction was put into place. And he should get fined for violation of the injunction.

Also, as the registered owner of the vehicle, I believe you have a legal right to a copy of the service record generated at the dealership AND the open service record at the mechanic's. Ask politely for it at the mechanic's. He's prob doctored it to indicate you approved the work but get it anyway or take a photo of each page with your cell to catch evidence of alteration.

Others have told me I should have been a lawyer. I just enjoy the minutia and the maze of possible outcomes based on the maze of variables, plus some human nature mixed in for good measure.

 

Well, after being served, he had a change of heart. He called me early this morning and said I could just come pick up my vehicle, he would not charge me for the parts, or the labor. He would only charge me the $100 for his usual fee that he would have charged as he told me before. He just wanted this over with and not to have any customers that were "unhappy".

So, he said he was sending his mechanic to come pick me up, and he did. Took me down there, I paid him the $100, and got my car back. It seems to be running okay for now. I will see how it goes. I am just happy to have it back.

Thank you guys so much for your support and all your solid advice!!!!

 

Great news, twigz! I love it when people talk **** to you and once they see that legal notice, they become humble. LMAO I hope it continues to run okay for you. If not, come back and derf or andy will figure it out.

 

Glad you got your car back, there really are good honest mechanics out there. Ask around town, one name will keep coming up and that is where you should go with car problems.

 

Sweet.
Like Rube said, anyone can posture up, but few want to meet you out on a legal playground where the stands are full, and the box score counts.

Having his mechanic pick you up was a kiss *** move in the hopes you won't bash his business all over town.

Wow, "right" does happen in this world from time to time.

Good job sticking to your guns.
Most people don't.