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I once took my car to a reputable workshop with a typed out specific list of what I wanted done and how, I may as well have asked Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They just did what they wanted, ignored what I'd asked for and then demanded top $$$$ for their crappy work or I didn't get my car back. When I got it back I had to basically redo a lot of their work myself and then get it retuned [their tune form the workshop had knock levels of 120-150, my motor was being killed by those ba#st#rds].

I like it when you get a 'coach'. Last workshop I went to I took my overalls and helped out for the day, we did a few things, installed cams and a dyno tune and I was in on it. I really appreciated Ed letting me do that, plus it freed him up from all the mundane stuff like prepping, cleaning surfaces etc, I did that while he worked on other stuff and occasionally looked over my shoulder bump steering me. And when it was done, I re assembled the bits we'd taken off [which I'm used to anyway].

I hope it works out for you doutsis, a lot of workshops think you are a honeypot and want to milk you for everything while they do shoddy work.

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Good luck with your problem mate,

If they really are as good as they are supposed to be I would take it back and let them have a crack at rebuilding it for you but have a third party do a check of the motor before it goes back in the car...

Best type of mechanic is the sort who make you pour their scotch and run for sockets while they work on your car!

Cheers. In all honesty, it seems it was a simple mistake with major consequences.

And if it all goes smoothly I'll be taking a beer of three down to them when I pick up the car. I could have gone off the deep end, yelling and screaming and they could just as easily say it has nothing to do with them. No one has has claimed responsibility yet, but them having said it'll be fixed for free if they did it is +1 for them.

I never want them to touch the car again.... Reading over the small claims tribunal website I need to give them the chance to fix it, if they don't then I can then take "legal" action. Needless to say, I'm never going back there again. Getting the donk sent to Newcastle is a bit far, but if I were local!

4 out of 5 mechanics I have been to have screwed me over one way or another, and the one that didn't retired.

Do you, or anyone, know someone in Melbourne? If I remember the forum rules, I can't name the workshop... is that right?

Happy to have a look, where in melb are you?

Oh man sorry to hear about what happened..I've seen mechanics take out the good bits in cars and replace them with bad,worn,or broken parts.Which,like some of the other guys,I try to do my car myself unless its too much.

But thats nasty what that workshop did to you.Its good you are not displaying their name on here.(In NZ you'd be legally accountable for tarnishing any business names..duno about there lol)But would be nice to know the workshop so others can be know where to go you know.

But hope everything goes alright aye..that they rebuild your engine for free and everything is settled.I know the horror involved in having a dead rb26..its not good!

Good news

Just heard from them, they are fixing the car.

It seems they have a person on the inside as well! You know who you are! Message me mate, long time no speak.

Edited by doutsis

Very good. Thats how you know a good workshop from a bad one. Can you PM me who they are?

Good news

Just heard from them, they are fixing the car.

It seems they have a person on the inside as well! Jack, message me mate! Long time no speak.

In NZ you'd be legally accountable for tarnishing any business names..duno about there lol)

In Australia you could get sued for libel by the business that feels you've defamed them by writing on an Internet forum.

However, now that truth is apparently a complete defence in Australian law

www.mrlaw.com.au/Text/1146120260156-5840/pC/1146120180578-4157/uploadedFiles/1173935456815-9057.pdf

I'd like to see this forum change its rules and encourage members to publish truthful and accurate accounts of "what happened to me when I dealt with X".

Perhaps a special forum section designated (for example) "Workshop Experiences"

That'd be useful.

SW

+1 ^^^^ other forums I'm in allow it, no problem.

as long a the modified guidelines are followed i think this is a great idea. and in reality this is a good thing of the quality shops out there and they will get more bussiness.

also getting a spokes person from the major shops would allow for more in depth reedback and customer service as with every shop i have ever dealt with have no idea of either of these things.

To me a reputable mechanic or tuner is also the location and setup they use; I rocked up to CREATD ms and was blown away with a huge and clean factory with all modern equipment.

Another factory was in the middle of a shithole with some sulphur or fertilizer factories nearby; the factory was old and dirty. This was meant to be a 'reputable' tuner as well. Needless to say the work was soooooo 3rd world I sold the car shortly after.

+1 on creatd being an impressive setup.

they also went above and beyond with my car, even to the point of degreasing and cleaning the engine without being asked because i keep the rest of the car so damn clean :/

cant see my self taking my car anywhere else.

i also had a mechanic near destroy my engine... he cross threaded the tensioner pulley when changing the timing belt and instead of re-aligning the thing he decided to just keep forcing it all the way.

the bolt cracked @ 74000 redline and the belt started hitting the cover pretty hard... have NO idea how it didn't jump a tooth.

when we pulled it down the bolt snapped off in my mechanics hand (car must have been literally 1 crank short of a rebuild) and i had to get the thread doctor to remove the f**king thing! (we tried drilling into it and loctiting it but couldn't get it out)

same mechanic also detuned the SAFC and tightened all 20 wheel nuts so far that i needed a 6 ft breaker bar and my body weight (100kgs) to undo them.

the service was done before i took delivery of the car and apparently the mechanic was bitching and moaning on about "f**king japanese import crap" when the car was picked up

it was a major chain who aparenty "love cars" and they denied all responsiblity. i copped the bills for the repairs and just name and shame those f**kers every chance i get... if i needed a rebuild it would have gone further!

In Australia you could get sued for libel by the business that feels you've defamed them by writing on an Internet forum.

However, now that truth is apparently a complete defence in Australian law

www.mrlaw.com.au/Text/1146120260156-5840/pC/1146120180578-4157/uploadedFiles/1173935456815-9057.pdf

I'd like to see this forum change its rules and encourage members to publish truthful and accurate accounts of "what happened to me when I dealt with X".

Perhaps a special forum section designated (for example) "Workshop Experiences"

That'd be useful.

SW

i'm all for this idea. good workshops get a better wrap, and dodgy ones get avoided.

the only problem i see is when a customer, who may be clueless, or expects far and beyond what is reasonable, may slander a workshop without due cause. (eg, their mates car made blah blah power with simlar mods, on the battle star galactica dyno. what about me?). their stories are often glorified in the heat of anger, and its hard to monitor this type of thing.

I'd like to see this forum change its rules and encourage members to publish truthful and accurate accounts of "what happened to me when I dealt with X".

I think this is a little naive - "the truth" is only established to any reasonable extent in a court. People only have access to their own, highly subjective reality. Lets call that "opinion", and you can see where i'm heading with this. Though it would be great to be able to speak openly, it would take PranK to a new world of pain.

Perhaps posting of Fair Trading or other court rulings would be possible on a post vetted forum?

i'm all for this idea. good workshops get a better wrap, and dodgy ones get avoided.

the only problem i see is when a customer, who may be clueless, or expects far and beyond what is reasonable, may slander a workshop without due cause. (eg, their mates car made blah blah power with simlar mods, on the battle star galactica dyno. what about me?). their stories are often glorified in the heat of anger, and its hard to monitor this type of thing.

* There are ways that forums can and do protect themselves from spurious data in this regard -

e.g. allow posting only by those considered "trustworthy"; make attaining trustworthy status nontrivial, and police it.

I could name many members of this site whose views I don't always agree with but that I would consider 'trustworthy'.

I think this is a little naive - "the truth" is only established to any reasonable extent in a court. People only have access to their own, highly subjective reality. Lets call that "opinion", and you can see where i'm heading with this. Though it would be great to be able to speak openly, it would take PranK to a new world of pain.

It may be naive; but I don't think that "truth" is dependent on a court ruling. Truth is "what happened" - preferably, backed by "evidence"...

There's no reason that a forum can't hold its members to a similar burden of proof that a court would.

The site/owner/moderators can be an 'innocent disseminator' regardless of the 'truth' of the material...

Perhaps posting of Fair Trading or other court rulings would be possible on a post vetted forum?

... provided posts AREN'T vetted :P But there should be no need to republish court/Fair Trading rulings,

you should just be able to link to them.

What I'm talking about is something like "I went to workshop X, I asked for Y, I got Z".

I and X are both members that have agreed not to prosecute the site for content.

Only I and X can post in the thread.

X can be given a date-limited opportunity to respond to thread parts before permitting visibility to those parts.

If X does not want to participate in the site that's simply made public without the other information.

People will draw their own conclusions.

People are open to litigation no matter who says what. If someone with sufficient resources decided

to shut SAU down with litigation they would readily be able to do that, even based on currently-permitted post content.

Just thinking aloud about how to make this resource more useful.

Regards,

Saliya

It may be naive; but I don't think that "truth" is dependent on a court ruling. Truth is "what happened" - preferably, backed by "evidence"...

There's no reason that a forum can't hold its members to a similar burden of proof that a court would.

When you say "what happened" you're talking about objective reality. Due to that fact that we have imperfect senses and imperfect minds to interpret the material provided by those senses, as human's we CANT know that reality. The only reality we know is the observer's reality - ie subjective reality. IMO you have an overly optimistic confidence in the ability of the human mind. Have you not had someone remember a past event differently to you? Schopenhauer discusses this objective/subjective stuff in detail. For me gaining a better understanding the nature of reality has made it a lot easier to understand the world.

WRT holding a forum to similar standards to a court, i cant see that would be possible, as hundreds of years of process and precedent have refined court processes, and those who participate have spent many years full time learning those rules etc. You cant match that depth on a web forum.

When you say "what happened" you're talking about objective reality. Due to that fact that we have imperfect senses and imperfect minds to interpret the material provided by those senses, as human's we CANT know that reality. The only reality we know is the observer's reality - ie subjective reality. IMO you have an overly optimistic confidence in the ability of the human mind. Have you not had someone remember a past event differently to you? Schopenhauer discusses this objective/subjective stuff in detail. For me gaining a better understanding the nature of reality has made it a lot easier to understand the world.

WRT holding a forum to similar standards to a court, i cant see that would be possible, as hundreds of years of process and precedent have refined court processes, and those who participate have spent many years full time learning those rules etc. You cant match that depth on a web forum.

:(

mate, sorry to hear about what happened... thats horrible, i know the feeling.. especially when its not just a simple mistake... it sounds like you actually got ripped off.

as a mechanic... id like to let everyone know that we're not all like that.. i take pride in my work and my cleanliness and my tools.... i do what im asked, no more, except for a couple of polite freebies that i may notice... cables hanging down, earth cables, etc etc, but definatly no less.. the fact that they charged actually had the nerve to charge you for the so called "work" is ridiculous.

on the other hand, ive worked next to blokes that couldnt care less.. its disgusting the way they treat customers posessions, no floor mats, seat covers or guard covers, dont wash their hands, leave oil fingerprints everywhere... its just crap.

i dont mind if people watch me, i have nothing to hide.. i dont like people standing next to me though.. i like my space.

if your an absolute dick about it though, well... i have a few oil filters at home that were meant to be changed.

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