sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't waste your time with small claims court. If you paid by credit card, dispute the amount. You can also file a complaint with the BBB and post bad reviews on local review sites such as Yahoo, Yelp, Yellow pages.

reisjdmd

assuming that the small claims court in your jurisiction is similar to mine, consider the following:
there are 2 components to small claims court: the magistrate, and, if people do not agree with the the magistrate, the judge ie a full blown courtroom trial.
the magistrate is more of a mediator and can make recommendations, but cannot issue binding orders.
everone has an automatic riight of appeal from the "judgement" of a magistrate.
only the judge can issue a legally binding order.
however, an affadavit cannot be used in a court of law. only sworn testimony by way of deposition or given at trial is admissable.
a judge cannot issue an "order to pay" based on an affadavit [because there was no opportunity for the other side to crosss examine the affiant. when you think about it, basing a judgement on an affadavit sounds kind of one sided].
therefore, in my opinion, small claims court is worth it [it's cheap to go through], but will probably not bring the result you want. if you go all the way to trial, you will need the sworn testimony, in some form, of your good mechanic.
i assume he would like to be paid for his time.
in addition, if a deposition, you have to pay the court reporter.
still, it is possible.
all things considered, do you have an uncle 'gino' who has big, mean friends that can go have a talk with the bad shop and reason with them??

salimshah

There is good learning from all the posts here.

BUT ...

A shop fails to make proper repair, and the norm is that the customer brings back the vehicle and gives a chance to the fix it again (warranty-repair).. This may be norm or even stated in the contract. Without giving the shop a chance to rectify, if the customer walks then (s)he can only make claim for 'fraud' or negligence. Subsequent damage due to negligence would be included. But one should give the shop a chance to rectify the situation. If not then the new shop repair would be from the owner's pocket.

* The above is based on good faith attempt to make repairs. As DIY, I have made mistakes (as professional mechanics one is not expected to make mistakes), but things happen. The shops who would promptly attend to rectify a repair generally have a higher markup (reserves for jobs going bad) and to protect their reputation they will dig deeper into their profits.


Salim

Australian

I would think you do not have a case as never offered the mechanic to fix the problems. You decided to go elsewhere. You can prove the timing is out but at what point do you take some responsibility when you saw the leak and still drove the car? I do blame first mechanic but blame yourself for taking it elsewhere instead of straight back when looking at a leak.

AlexusAnja

Not directed to the OP, but "the amount is too small" "it's not worth the hassle" "why waste your time" are all the reasons we give ourselves to not take a mechanic that has done wrong to us, to court. Then what happens? The next person gets shafted, all the while the mechanic stays in business and continues to screw other customers. Unless you stand up and take action, then don't come on the forums and complain about bad mechanics and what has gone wrong. Again, not directing to OP, but making a general statement.

I think you should bring the shop to court if the process is not that hard, irrespective of what the amount is. Sue and add in time and effort wasted when the car was not in your possession.

tllee

1. The owner did bring it back to the shop and have cam seal replaced but he has no way to know
that timing belt is 3 teeth off mark and water pump is leaking.The shop definetely won't tell him
the truth.
2, The car owner stuck in the middle of trip because of somebody else's fault and he manage to
drive the car back w/o any major damage. I think that he did the right thing. That's reason why
he can have another local mechanic willing to prove it for him and have a chance to fight. Or he
have to go back to where the car went wrong(400 miles away maybe?) in order to have that out-
of -town mechanic prove it for him.
3. If he choose to fix car at middle of trip.(you suggest that he shouldn't drive the car). Also you
think he should offer the mechanic a chance to fix the problem(he have to drive all the way back
to do that).Isn't it a big conflict of your points?
4. Sound like you're biased to defend the arrogant and incompetent mechanic. Why?