When you are a victim of extortion....

What would you have done if he was unable to fix it or if he didnt come at all? Would you have froze to death? By your own reasoning he saved your bacon and you didnt care to pay him, you left him sitting for hours while you slept, you hesitated to come to the door when he knocked, and you left him a scathing review. All the while sleeping in a warm truck that would be cold and dark if he didnt come out and fix it.

I’m betting you told him youre going back to sleep and rolling at 04:00 wether he’s paid or not right before he decided to put the airline cuff on. A little common sense and common decency goes a long way.

 

Don't know of other states, but Texas has a law that you cannot stop payment on a check for mechanics charges. I don't know if this applies to credit card charges.
And i'd sure not pay for repairs to a company truck. If they can't afford repairs, time to go hunting for a company that can.

 

I find it hard to believe your company couldn't pay with a credit card.

 

I mean this is simple supply and demand. He has the shop and mobile maintenance, and he likely has limited competition. You needed help, he provided it, and then he didn't get paid while you went to sleep.

He used your truck as the collateral property to help your company find the right payment method.

This isn't his first rodeo. He knows sometimes companies need a little motivation. He motivated you guys.

I see it from your point of view, but I also see it from his. You think he's never been stiffed on a job before?

 

I was thinking that. You want authorization after a certain amount you better be ready to get a call at 2am about a $5k repair bill.

Sign they ain’t doing too well.


You were put in a tough spot OP. You must work for a very small company cause any medium or big ones have accounts where all they give is a PO or auth number.

 

Excellent job sticking up for your company. Let’s see how loyal they are to you for reimbursement. Hope they don’t tell you if you can take a payment plan. If so, don’t forget to add the fees. Also, I bet you wished you had the new replacement truck now…….

 

Sadly the mechanic had probably been burnt 1 too many times for non-payment. Know a few mechanics who've been burnt by companies not paying.

 

I won't take a side on if it's overpriced or not. Until May, I owned a very successful shop/roadside business.

We had a great reputation for a reason, and I had a no BS agreement with my techs.

I'd have just told my guys to take it off and leave. They'd be paid the same.

Your company had a way to handle it, they chose not too.

 

No, sorry, HE doesn't owe anyone anything. His company owes the money. It's not rocket science, company equipment, they chose the mechanic, they pay. If the mechanic is that worried about getting jipped, should've charged something upfront. If the company doesn't pay, he has legal recourse to get payment: claims, collections, law suit etc. Driver, not so much. This is one of the benefits of working for a mega/larger carrier, don't need to worry about this stuff.

 

There’s no shortage of decent small and midsize companies that wouldn’t have had any issues with getting the service truck paid.