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Follow up on Jeff's and Lauren's advice-Protege
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autofool
New User
Mar 16, 2009, 12:07 PM
Post #1 of 4
(2474 views)
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Follow up on Jeff's and Lauren's advice-Protege
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I was given (great!) advice from Jeff Norforlk and LorenChamplain Sr. back in January and I thought I would give a follow-up to the advice on my 2000 Mazda Protege L4 1.6L with 162,516 miles. These two guys told me to "cut your losses and find a shop with some sort of diagnostic ability." I tried to follow their advice but was coerced into leaving the car. There is a long story but--I'll get straight to the point.
When I told the guy that it was taking too long to get the car fixed (after already paying $407.29 and about 13 days at that time) and that I thought I should take the car somewhere else, he instantly became irate and shouted, “You’re not going to take advantage of me—I’m going to take advantage of you before letting you do that! If you take your car now, I am going to charge you for every hour I spent on it!” He went into his office and came out with a bill totaling $491.00! When I questioned him, he said that it was all for labor--10 hours; no parts. When I told him that I thought it was unfair for him to bill me that amount, he said that he’s only doing it because I wanted to take my car from him. He said that if I let him fix the car, he would only charge me for whatever “fixed” the car. He said he would be fair. He tore the bill apart in my presence. I really wanted to take the car to another place, but I didn’t want to forfeit $491.00 and he led me to believe that he would keep his word on the matter.
Five days later--I went to check on the car and it wasn't fixed and he said he had given up on it. He handed me a bill for $300.03 (all for labor).
I know--I was stupid for not getting the car out the first time--but I will try to recoup my money (I paid him a total of $707.32 and he never fixed the car) A second shop fixed the car in two hours for $113.77 (They corrected the firing order, cleaned spark plugs and cleaned the vacuum port on the intake manifold for boost sensor)
My final question for you is--(assuming the first shop did this "work") what would you say should be the total labor time for the following:
Computer scan for engine trouble codes
Remove water from vacuum hose for map sensor (computer code p0106)
Test map wiring system (4.3 oms 2.7 oms)
Remove ecm from under dash—found water in ecm plug-in
Install new park plugs into engine
Remove catalytic converter assembly to inspect for defect (cat. Dirty but intact)
Car flooding out plugs—check fuel system and fuel regulator assembly
Check map sensor
Check engine ecm for burnt spot on motherboard.
Thanks for your help and for supporting such a forum as Car Junkies.
Autofool
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Loren Champlain Sr
Veteran
/ Moderator
Mar 16, 2009, 4:43 PM
Post #2 of 4
(2469 views)
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Re: Follow up on Jeff's and Lauren's advice-Protege
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autofool; First, I want to thankyou so much for the kind remarks...Most people don't take the time. That's all the pay we get, here. And, that makes it all worth while. Thanks.
I tell my customers that our shop isn't any better than anyone elses'. But, we are honest, give personal service, and if we're wrong, we'll be the first to admit it. And, we will take care of mistakes when we make them. And, we do make mistakes. We are human. And, we fix them. Whatever it takes. Once in a while, we'll get a rig that we just can't figure out the problem. If I can't tell the customer exactly what the problem is, I don't feel right charging him/her for any diagnostic time. I know I didn't answer your question, directly, but this is my feeling on that subject. I am proud to say that I've been in business 25 years now and it has worked for me.
Sorry that you had to go through such an ordeal to finally get the Protege fixed, though. From all of us, have a great week. And, thanks again.
Loren
SW Washington
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Mar 16, 2009, 7:27 PM
Post #3 of 4
(2463 views)
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Re: Follow up on Jeff's and Lauren's advice-Protege
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Many thanks Autofool for the kind words for Jeff and Loren.
Way to go guys!
Tom
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Guest
Anonymous Poster
Mar 16, 2009, 9:40 PM
Post #4 of 4
(2458 views)
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Re: Follow up on Jeff's and Lauren's advice-Protege
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Wow.... That is just nuts. Not all shops are like that. Those guys are definately the minority. I usually like to hear both sides... but going off your side, if you don't have a state agency to assist you I would try to recoup your $$$ by some other (legal) means...
I couldn't even put a price on that WO.. most of it is just plain bizzare.... pull a cat???? why???? why would you take a pcm apart????? most of that stuff should be part of the diag......
Looks like the 2nd place got it right with the right price...... Those are your (non online) guys now.....
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