Tired of the "run around" with repair shops

Man, it seems like alot of repair shops lately seem to do more guessing than true diagnosing. I went in to have a BAD oil leak fixed. I have an older Detroit Series 60, and it was gushing oil from the area where the camshaft goes into the front gear cover. It was coming from the back side, somewhere between the gear cover and the head.

The first shop I went to said it was definately the diamond seal that seals the camshaft to the gear cover. I watched this guy like a hawk from the observation windows in the driver's lounge. THis was not a flat-rate shop...they charged by the hour. I kept notes on when he worked, went to lunch and took breaks. He worked a total of 5.5 hours, took one 30 minute break, and took a 1.25 hour lunch. When it came time to pay the bill, they said it came to $949.00 which included 8 hours of labor @ $110/hr. After disputing the bill with the service writer, I finally went to the manager and told him what I observed, and said that there was no way that I was going to pay for this guy's break and lunch time at $110/hr. I ended up getting the bill reduced to $620.

But here's the kicker...after the repair, my truck was still gushing oil, and they said that the gear cover was cracked, and it would be about a $5000 job to fix it. They would need the truck for 3-4 days.

So I took it to another shop. After they tore it all apart, they said that the diamond seal that the other shop just put in was torn because it was installed improperly, and they were pretty sure that this was the source of my leak. So they did the job all over again, and discovered that although the diamond seal was torn, this was not the source of my leak after all. They REAL leak was coming from the front of my head at the head gasket. I told them that the other shop said it was the rear gear cover, and he said the guy was full of doo-doo. He said it was definately the head gasket.

While it was in the shop, I wanted them to fix a bit of play at the input shaft of my power divider...most likely a loose nut at the thrust bearing. Well, I wasn't so lucky. They had to tear the power divider apart and rebuild it completely.

So now I owe them $6800 for that repair, and I am waiting as we speak for it to get finished. Meanwhile, this fiasco has cost me 2 weeks down.

Fun stuff, huh?

Anyhow, I asked them to document the bad repair at the other shop so that I can try to get my $620 back...but we all know how that goes.

I guess my point, other then simply venting my frustration, lol, is that some of these shops hire people that simply don't know what they are doing, and use my equipment and time to learn on while I'm footing the bill for their ineptitude.

Arrrgh!

This is just one of MANY stories like this over the years that I've experienced. I think that it would be wise to find someone that you trust and try to use them exclusively whenever possible.

 

Good idea. I'm definately not letting this go. It's a certified Freightliner shop too, not just some podunk independent, so there are higher-ups that might like to hear about it. However, I've never had much luck with warranty work...they usually find a way to get out of backing up their work.

But I'll try. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

By the way, the shop my truck is in right now is also a Freightliner dealer, so if one Freightliner dealer documents that another Freightliner dealer made a mistake, it just might work.