Repair expectations - help ?

[Steve Jensen]

Fay:

Umm, I'm sorry it turned out that way for you, but here's my two cents.

Number one, the shop is in business to make a profit.  They get paid to
diagnose problems, and in the grand scheme of things a $200 repair bill to
fix something that you earlier said "we have spent about a month on this"
seems cheap.

On the other hand, $86 for what I am assuming is a Michelin Man hose seems
quite expensive.

But again you said on 8/6 that "we won't talk about how I asked him numerous
times to check all of
the hoses before I took it to a mechanic."  The turbo engines are very
sensitive to air leaks, and if your husband/SO had pulled the MM hose he
would have found the tear - probably.

And it is common knowledge that some shops will take advantage of a woman
needing a repair job - not being sexist here, but it _does_ happen: I never
let my wife take the car in for repairs as I am too proud as a shade tree
mechanic, plus the one time I did let her take it, they tried to apply the
shop vac to our bank account.

I read your original post, but I guess I didn't understand what your car was
doing to warrant a reply at that point - the uphill/downhill thing threw me.
If you had said "won't hold an idle worth beans, and the boost gauge tops
out at 1.0 bar", you probably would have gotten a bunch o' replies.

All in all, my feeling is that going to the BBB is not warranted, but next
time go to a different shop (where are you located? maybe a great shop is
nearby and can be recommended by a lister).  This list is invaluable, but
sometimes the early education is costly - just ask the newbies who ruin the
rack and pump by using regular power steering fluid instead of Pentosin.

Again, my two cents, and I'm sorry you had a bad experience with that
shop...

-Steve Jensen
(whose education came early when a shop who said 'yeah we do Audi timing
belts' couldn't get the front oil seal out and tried to cover up the trashed
seal with _silicone_! Sheesh.)
87 5kcstq