Re: Burlington, VT Garage in the Dog House

[John Cunningham <johnc@together.net>]

Alex -  I know people who use 'em to buy and mount tires but no other
experience.  The 2 diagnoses are probably not that far apart - I bet
Spillane's was going to replace the whole control arm in order to put one in
with new bushings, whereas your mech. understands that there's nothing wrong
with the chunk of metal and that all it really needs are new bushings pressed
in.

JC

"Alexander L. van-Gerbig" wrote:

> The garage I used several times in Burlington, VT., Spillane's Service
> Center, tried to had me severely.  I had hit something in the road and
> asked for diagnosis.  They found nothing wrong, without asking me they
> decided to send the car to a tire center for an alignment, then after the
> alignment supposedly couldn't be done because the camber cannot be set on
> my car(a total lie) they sent it to the autobody shop for the frame jig.
> The autobody shop said the frame was bent in the rear and fixed it at the
> labor rate of the original garage, $100.  I liked that!  Then they
> original garage towed my car from the autobody shop back to the garage and
> charged me for it, $50 and it's a mile away!  Then they claimed that it
> was the control arm, not true, and ordered the parts directly from the
> dealership without asking me again.  I took the car paid the bill and told
> them I was coming back with the control arms from an independent parts
> dealer, I just went home.  I took the car in yesterday to my main mechanic
> and he did a full suspension checkover, camber is within tolerance, cv's
> are dying, rear shocks are soft, control arm bushings are bad.  Completely
> different diagnosis than before, I wonder who is right?  I told the
> mechanic about what happened in Vermont and he could honestly say they
> were either very confused or just ripping people off.  Anyone every used
> these guys?  I recommend no.  Nice guys though, they saved my ass with a
> new starter in less than a day for only $450 including labor and parts and
> new anti-freeze.  Oh well!
>
> Alexander van Gerbig '88 80
> The Audi 80 Pages
> http://surf.to/the80pages.com
>
> Family Audis
> -----------------------------
> '86 5000s
> '88 80
> '90 90q20v
> '91 200q20v Avant
> '92 100s
> '96 100csq
> '98 A4q1.8t

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__________________________________________________________________

John J Cunningham III           Project Leader / Technical Analyst
                                             Country Home Products
johnc@together.net                            (802) 877-1201 X1242
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