Just When I Thought I'd Heard it All...

[Betweenshades]

A woman just came in and wanted us to do a free estimate on her broken TV because ANOTHER shop already charged her a diag fee.

[chainedbarista]

yes, ma'm; we'll get right on that.

[Dips]

We get a variation of that one too.

"We blew our entire budget buying hardware from other people so you need to give us your software for free so we can run the hardware."

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Here's an estimate for her: "We estimate that if we start working with you, we're going to get royally boned."

Well, you know. Give or take a screwing here or there.

[underemployeed]

Well, I guess this situation would work, since they charged her a diag fee, they should have told her what needed to be replaced. Maybe she ment to ask you "They said I need X replaced at cost Y, can you do it cheaper?" To mean it sounds reasonable I have paid for a mechanic to tell me what was wrong and that it was $500 to fix it, And they would wave the $70 Diag fee. Turn around go to another shop and for same service they want $300. Go back to original shop, state another shop has offered the service for $300, I would settle for $370 (figuring I'm out that much either way and this way no need to move car). Got turned down, and had someone else do the work for much cheaper. Which is why I wonder if this was what she meant by an estimate.
Because really, if you don't need to trouble shoot it and are asked how much it is to replace a part it should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?

[Ironclad Alibi]

A woman just came in and wanted us to do a free estimate on her broken TV because ANOTHER shop already charged her a diag fee.

I'll give her a free estimate on her broken TV. <Unleashes pyshic interogation of broken TV set.> I estimate it will cost $10,000.00 to fix it. If she doesn't like that estimate, she can have twice her estimation fee back.

[mhkohne]

<snip>
Because really, if you don't need to trouble shoot it and are asked how much it is to replace a part it should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?

That would assume that one trusted the other shop to diagnose correctly (which is likely) and that one trusted the customer to accurately report the diagnosis (uh-oh). I wouldn't risk it.

[Dips]

That would assume that one trusted the other shop to diagnose correctly (which is likely) and that one trusted the customer to accurately report the diagnosis (uh-oh). I wouldn't risk it.

BINGO! There was a letter on one of those consumer sites where some guy went to a shop that does free diagnosis. Then went to another shop and had them do the work without without letting them check the car for themselves.

The first shop's suggested repair did not work. Any guesses who the SC blamed?

[Festival_Worker]

BINGO! There was a letter on one of those consumer sites where some guy went to a shop that does free diagnosis. Then went to another shop and had them do the work without without letting them check the car for themselves.

The first shop's suggested repair did not work. Any guesses who the SC blamed?

Whoever sold him his brain ?

[protege]

The first shop's suggested repair did not work. Any guesses who the SC blamed?

That's *exactly* what I was going to say. If the first shop didn't do the work...and the SC took it somewhere else, they'd flip out on the second (or third) shop. A shop, that did exactly what the SC wanted them to do--fix their car/computer/TV/etc and not test it out first.

[Betweenshades]

That's *exactly* what I was going to say. If the first shop didn't do the work...and the SC took it somewhere else, they'd flip out on the second (or third) shop. A shop, that did exactly what the SC wanted them to do--fix their car/computer/TV/etc and not test it out first.

Oh, no- she wanted us to test it. She just didn't want to pay for it :P

[Automan Empire]

Oh, no- she wanted us to test it. She just didn't want to pay for it :P

BINGO! We get this a lot in my business too, from CHEAP non-customers. "Ah ariddy had a dahg-nostic! How much you go'n chaaahge me fo' XXXXXX? "Nothing, cause we won't do it." The other diagnosis is often wrong, and they've been fielding quotes from shadetree mechanics without overhead. When the train inevitably runs off the rails, you are expected to deliver a perfectly working machine, for the price of the wrong repair recommended elsewhere. This is a lose-lose.

[Betweenshades]

The other diagnosis is often wrong

Exactly. In every repair environment I've been in, you NEVER want to be responsible for another shop's diag. It will never end well!