Fighting fire with fire...

[ditchdj]

Wow! ONLY 4,000 dollars to have a new engine professionally installed??? And this tool's too stupid he got a hell of a deal, considering how shitty a lot of new cars are built today???? Hell I'd rather get financing for 4 grand on a car that has a chance of breaking down than 20-30 grand for a car that has almost the same chance of breaking down as well.

[Auto]

you installed a $4000 engine without the customer putting down a huge deposit/partial payment?

[Sliceanddice]

oh what you should do is take out the engine now then tow the engineless jeep to him and hand him a bill for the tow, the engine removal and the engine placement.. and a few charges for storage and hassle....

maybe something along the lines of $15,000......

[karma_gypsy]

The customer did give you the 'o.k.' to put a new engine in his jeep . . .? Did he even know you were doing $4000 worth of work to his vehicle? (like, you didn't just surprise him with the bill when he walked in). Or did he just bring it in and said, "fix it" . . .?

[Spiffy McMoron]

Wow! ONLY 4,000 dollars to have a new engine professionally installed?

Well, when you're the one paying it, it doesn't seem like "only" $4000...

Usually, when we replace a motor, we'll quote the price for a brand new engine straight from the factory--which can easily be over $10,000 for just the parts. (I'm in parts, so I don't know what the labour is-it varies from car to car. I'm guessing that it's a "shitload", to use a technical term.) To stop the customer fron dropping dead on the sopt, we'll usually quote out a price for a used motor from a junkyard. Since those prices are usually 1/4 of the price of a new motor, the customer generally goes for a used motor.

you installed a $4000 engine without the customer putting down a huge deposit/partial payment?

I don't know what (if any) payment plan had been worked out between the company and the customer.

The customer did give you the 'o.k.' to put a new engine in his jeep . . .? Did he even know you were doing $4000 worth of work to his vehicle?

Oh, crap yeah, he'd know. For one thing, replacing an engine is not something that's done in an afternoon--depending on the vehicle and what was wrong, we'd be keeping the vehicle for up to a couple of weeks. Plus, we don't just randomly order in big-dollar engines--anything over $200 in parts needs to approved by a manager before we order it, and I've seen mechanics get price quotes for $0.94 light bulbs. We're kind of anal about that, because if the customer isn't made aware of the charges, he can dispute the charges. If he disputes the charges, we eat the bill. We don't like that at all...

[ditchdj]

Usually, when we replace a motor, we'll quote the price for a brand new engine straight from the factory--which can easily be over $10,000 for just the parts.

Ahhhhh I get ya. So you're saying to get a new engine ordered from, say, Jasper Engines, and after figuring in the labor, it can easily be 10 grand? I was kinda curious about that. When I got the gear transfer case replaced on my '94 Astro they wanted to charge over $2,000 for a rebuilt one and $1,300 for a used one.

[Dips]

If this customer makes any noise or makes legal threats about what you did, I think it would be very funny to maintain the polite fiction that the car never left your lot in the first place.

"What?!...From the lot where you work, you say?...I don't understand how that could be, sir. You haven't even picked it up yet...It's right outside in our lot...Yeah. I'm looking at it right now...Tan Cherokee, right?...It's just sitting here waiting for you to pay the bill and pick it up...Since you mentioned theft, we'll make sure to lock it inside at night...We just want to be sure your property remains safe while in our care...Can't be too careful."

[SnapAddict218]

"What?!...From the lot where you work, you say?...I don't understand how that could be, sir. You haven't even picked it up yet...It's right outside in our lot...Yeah. I'm looking at it right now...Tan Cherokee, right?...It's just sitting here waiting for you to pay the bill and pick it up...Since you mentioned theft, we'll make sure to lock it inside at night...We just want to be sure your property remains safe while in our care...Can't be too careful."

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Thats Great!

[Spiffy McMoron]

Well, I found out today how the story ends.

After the customer found out what happened, he called the dealership cussing, threatening, and swearing up a storm. After he was met with a "You stole from us" line, he quieted down alot.

Eventually, he's worked out a payment plan with us. Every two weeks, he gives us $400 until the tab is settled. In exchange, he gets the Jeep back...sometime in December, as long as he keeps up with the payments. If he ever has the stones to come back to us for service, I imagine that he'll be forced to pre-pay everything.

Now all we have to do is figure out where the hell to store a Jeep for the next five months.

[BusBus]

he got off that easy? No storage fees? No idiot tax?

[Lyger]

he got off that easy? No storage fees? No idiot tax?

I believe the tax will be paid in the pain from his feet that he gets from having to walk everywhere now.

Totally awesome. Karma FTW.