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fizzymercy posted:I work at an auto body and frame shop and I would just love to hear a single substantiated story about someone getting actually scammed at a legitimate auto shop. The thing is, everyone on earth thinks they're being suckered by their mechanic. Everyone isn't being scammed, that's stupid. Everyone thinks they're being scammed because cars are mysterious magic boxes that only break because all auto industry workers are dicks that want more money. We're not, we just took a lot of classes and also shoved our heads up the asses of so many cars we've earned your Ignorance Tax.
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Feb 7, 2018 02:06
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I keep seeing advertisements for diabetic dinners, hearing aids (usually "heavily discounted trials"), and stem cell treatments in the newspaper; they all look hella shady, what's the deal?
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Feb 7, 2018 02:29
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Only olds buy newspapers now.
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Feb 7, 2018 02:32
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BiggerBoat posted:Well, I posted one but I appreciate the post. I think he means starting *now*. Plus, everyone knows those hidden camera ones on news programs are totally staged for *reasons*.
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Feb 7, 2018 02:34
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Proteus Jones posted:I think he means starting *now*. Plus, everyone knows those hidden camera ones on news programs are totally staged for *reasons*. Nah I kinda skimmed the original post because it's just a loose story. Anecdotes are great and all (not being a dick, I mean that) but I'd like to see actual evidence. Or hear something other than "my aunt's best friend had a leaky steering doohickey and...". I never see that poo poo in person and there's not one single chance in hell that my methhead boss wouldn't scam people if he could. e: I do mean at a legitimate mechanic's shop. Not a dealership or a JiffyAutoQuakerlube. Those frequently scam people for everything they can, I'll admit to that. Harley-Davidson is the closest thing you can get to an MLM on two wheels too. fizzymercury fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Feb 7, 2018 |
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Feb 7, 2018 03:32
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How would you define a 'legitimate' shop?
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Feb 7, 2018 04:03
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The Lone Badger posted:How would you define a 'legitimate' shop? The ones that wouldn’t do that, obviously. Can you really, in TYOOL 2018, not spot an obvious no-true-Scotsman argument? Does someone really need to do a basic google to find a story of an independent mechanic ripping someone off? The local news having a slow day so they hidden camera bust a local mechanic is like border-lining on a trope.
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Feb 7, 2018 04:34
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Yeah, the first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club. Shady mechanics are around but it's generally not hard to spot them though 
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Feb 7, 2018 05:28
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Predatory towing is common, but it usually doesn’t get this illegal.
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Feb 7, 2018 09:32
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fizzymercy posted:I work at an auto body and frame shop and I would just love to hear a single substantiated story about someone getting actually scammed at a legitimate auto shop. The thing is, everyone on earth thinks they're being suckered by their mechanic. Everyone isn't being scammed, that's stupid. Everyone thinks they're being scammed because cars are mysterious magic boxes that only break because all auto industry workers are dicks that want more money. We're not, we just took a lot of classes and also shoved our heads up the asses of so many cars we've earned your Ignorance Tax. Since when does earning good money reduce the lust for a scammer to earn even more money? Assuming a mechanic is employed by a shop, he's not the one leading the potential scams; the owner of the shop is. I don't have first hand experience getting scammed, since I repair my cars myself, but the internet and the real world is filled to the brim with mechanic scam stories. They are in a position of power, since most people cannot argue with them whether or not their brakes need replacement or if something is broken, and need their car fixed quickly, either to drive or pass inspection.
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Feb 7, 2018 10:28
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Proteus Jones posted:Plus, everyone knows those hidden camera ones on news programs are totally staged for *reasons*.
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Feb 7, 2018 12:52
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Cat Army
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I'm in a city with a bike shop on every corner, and these car scams sound pretty familiar. Often it seems like mechanics choose the shady route out of convenience more so than actively trying to scam customers. One upscale store replaced my inner tube with one three sizes too large. That's so much larger than the correct size that it had to be folded to even fit inside the tire. Clearly they didn't have the right part and just winged it, leading to my tube puncturing yet again 2 days later. Replacing more expensive parts is a craphoot. Once when my chain broke, I shopped around only to discover that some mechanics would only offer to patch the chain (which is a temporary fix at best) while others would only replace the chain and the wheel drive entirely. Finally found a guy who was actually willing to explain the pros and cons of both and had him repair it. Gave me the impression that most mechanics prefer to do whatever they want, depending on the parts and time they have available. If you break down in a spot where you don't have access to bike tools, there isn't much choice unfortunately. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 14:19 on Feb 7, 2018 |
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Feb 7, 2018 14:15
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All this is just bog standard leveraging expert knowledge to bilk people who need your service but don't know the ins and outs themselves. I've personally seen it with gunsmiths and computer repair places and my landlord has some horror stories about contractors. gently caress, you don't even need to be a real expert. It's the same mechanic that gets people to believe all the bullshit alternative medicine woo. Someone sounds convincing enough to make them believe they're an expert and they defer to them because they want to do what's best to fix their situation.
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Feb 7, 2018 15:19
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Thanatosian posted:I keep seeing advertisements for diabetic dinners, hearing aids (usually "heavily discounted trials"), and stem cell treatments in the newspaper; they all look hella shady, what's the deal?
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Feb 7, 2018 20:20
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My ex is a short cute blonde who also knows her poo poo when it comes to cars. It was always both painful and hilarious how many mechanics would be relatively straight with me but would try to rip her off if she went into the shop alone. Extra hilarious because of the way she'd own them before leaving. She got car knowhow and zero tolerance for bullshit from her dad.
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Feb 7, 2018 21:47
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Platystemon posted:Predatory towing is common, but it usually doesn’t get this illegal. Jfc, reading that thread gave me the urge to commit some illegal acts against that dry cleaner and towing company.  I hope he rawdog barebacks those fuckers until they prolapse and bleed out, legally speaking.
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Feb 7, 2018 23:00
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Eric the Mauve posted:My ex is a short cute blonde who also knows her poo poo when it comes to cars. It was always both painful and hilarious how many mechanics would be relatively straight with me but would try to rip her off if she went into the shop alone. Extra hilarious because of the way she'd own them before leaving. She got car knowhow and zero tolerance for bullshit from her dad. https://youtu.be/zCQ-etiFyho
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Feb 8, 2018 00:12
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Les Schwab has got to be one of the worst since they'll even threaten to hold your car if you don't accept the recommended repairs, "for your own safety." They pulled this on me one time because I only wanted 2 tires instead of all 4. They also tried this on my wife one time when she went in to get her tires rotated (I think). They told her that she needed all new brakes and that they couldn't let her leave without performing the maintenance. She had just replaced the pads on all 4 corners the previous weekend and everything else was in good working order. Just asking for a manager seems to be enough to get them to pretend the tech is in deep poo poo for trying to scan you, I doubt they actually care though.
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Feb 8, 2018 01:40
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loving  I've got a throw-away facebook that I use to log in to random garbage that wants one. It's literally under "Bob Smith" and is attached to an equally disposable gmail account that I have forwarded to my main email. I got an email today addressed to Bob Smith at that throw away gmail that began with this hilarious line: quote:Dear Bob, An ABSOLUTELY LEGITIMATE opportunity.
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Feb 8, 2018 14:56
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Pharmaskittle posted:I would 100% buy van meat I know I've mentioned it before, but van meat is the best. I've never seen two shadier guys in my life when they came to my house. White shag carpet rape van, home freezer plugged into an inverter running up to the cigarette lighter. The driver kept the van running while he was trying to get me to buy 10 lbs of meat for $75, $55, $35 depending on his rap. I told him not interested, but he had a great rap so keep up the good work. I shook his hand, and he peeled out before his buddy even got the door shut all the way, made a U turn, and hauled rear end down the hill again. 5 stars, would not buy again but would like to say hi.
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Feb 8, 2018 15:27
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Van Meat is such a weird thing to me. I had literally never heard of it before this thread. All I've ever had offered to me were Van "Speakers*". * - aka box with bricks in it.
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Feb 8, 2018 15:33
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BiggerBoat posted:Have we discussed mechanics and repair men in this thread? I had a worn left rear brake pad that needed replacing. I went to Tires Plus because they were close and I'd been there before. The dude told me that I needed 4 pads, 4 rotors, and both rear calipers replaced. He "proved this to me" by showing me that the calipers were "frozen" by trying to press the piston in with his hands and it wouldn't move. He even had me try. He then explained that they are supposed to move freely. He quoted me ~$800 for the repair. It didn't pass the smell test to me, so I took a trip up north to my home town mechanic. He replaced the rear pads and turned one of the rotors. He explained how the calipers work and how to measure run-out. I think he charged me $80. It was definitely less than $100. I've never paid for brake repairs since. It's not hard, I can do it myself. When in doubt, you don't need new calipers. They'll just leave the old ones on and charge you the price for new.
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Feb 8, 2018 15:36
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Proteus Jones posted:Van Meat is such a weird thing to me. I had literally never heard of it before this thread. All I've ever had offered to me were Van "Speakers*".
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Feb 8, 2018 16:29
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BiggerBoat posted:My grandma had trouble with her AC once in her car and the dude said she needed a compressor and every other loving thing. I took it to a shop and turns out [...] So one mechanic had one opinion and the other mechanic had another opinion... Which one is the scammer? I mean you don't need to assume he was being intentionally dishonest when it's equally attributable to incompetence. About van meat, is it usually fake/mislabeled, or just stolen? I know shops here have a lot of meat shoplifted from them so I suppose it has to go somewhere. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 16:44
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:So one mechanic had one opinion and the other mechanic had another opinion... Which one is the scammer? I mean you don't need to assume he was being intentionally dishonest when it's equally attributable to incompetence. Going to someone that claims to be a professional who is actually incompetent is a scam in itself.
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Feb 8, 2018 16:58
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:About van meat, is it usually fake/mislabeled, or just stolen? I know shops here have a lot of meat shoplifted from them so I suppose it has to go somewhere. a lot of times it's meat that is just really low quality, or past the sell-by date
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Feb 8, 2018 17:38
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SEKCobra posted:Going to someone that claims to be a professional who is actually incompetent is a scam in itself. No, that's a free market.
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Feb 8, 2018 20:45
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My parents bought ground beef from a guy in a van once. It had shards of bone in it that I chipped my tooth on. Don't buy van meat.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:09
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On that Scott Tucker guy from last page, apparently the whole family was into it and threw shady debt collection in for their shady lending practices. One obsessed and vengeful non-customer spent months tracking them down. It just sucks that it takes so much effort to turf these assholes.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:49
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Class Warcraft posted:My parents bought ground beef from a guy in a van once. It had shards of bone in it that I chipped my tooth on. Don't buy van meat. Also it probably wasn't beef.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:51
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Not to mention that if you're going to get a food born illness from meat, ground meat is pretty much where it's at. I love a rare burger as much as the next guy, but there are good reasons why you only want to do that if the meat has been ground quite recently.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:54
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Class Warcraft posted:My parents bought ground beef from a guy in a van once. It had shards of bone in it that I chipped my tooth on. Don't buy van meat. Considering mince is $6 a kilo at the shops I can't imagine how loving cheap it must be to make the van version attractive to buy.
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Feb 8, 2018 22:47
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:So one mechanic had one opinion and the other mechanic had another opinion... Which one is the scammer? The one that can't tell the difference between a hose and a blast of freon from a brand new compressor? The one that saw a 72 year old lady drive in and lied to her loving face? That one. That one is the scammer. A shot compressor is pretty easy to diagnose. So is an empty freon tank and a loose hose. Lots of sensitive, defensive car repair men here lately. It's really the same thing as taking advantage of old people who don't understand computers and a simple matter of upselling to the naive which, yeah, I find rather lovely and scammy. Sorry my example was anecdotal. The shop in question was Goodyear to the guy that asked. BiggerBoat fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 23:25
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mostlygray posted:I had a worn left rear brake pad that needed replacing. I went to Tires Plus because they were close and I'd been there before. The dude told me that I needed 4 pads, 4 rotors, and both rear calipers replaced. He "proved this to me" by showing me that the calipers were "frozen" by trying to press the piston in with his hands and it wouldn't move. He even had me try. He then explained that they are supposed to move freely. He quoted me ~$800 for the repair. It is possible for calipers to be too worn, so the brakes "hang" (or are "frozen"), which wears brake pads and increases gasoline consumption, but this isn't somethign you can just demonstrate by trying to push them by hand.
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Feb 8, 2018 23:48
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iajanus posted:Considering mince is $6 a kilo at the shops I can't imagine how loving cheap it must be to make the van version attractive to buy. If there was a latin phrase for "cutting corners and then regretting it" it would be on my family's coat of arms.
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Feb 8, 2018 23:51
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Class Warcraft posted:If there was a latin phrase for "cutting corners and then regretting it" it would be on my family's coat of arms.
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Feb 8, 2018 23:58
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BiggerBoat posted:Lots of sensitive, defensive car repair men here lately. Why would you assume I'm a car repair man? Because I pointed out that, based on your statement of events, it would be prudent to apply Hanlon's razor? (That's "do not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence" so people don't have to google it.) With the detail you just added, I'm willing to concede he was indeed dishonest so let's just stop assuming people's motives and move on with the thread, shall we?
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Feb 9, 2018 00:09
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:Why would you assume I'm a car repair man? Because I pointed out that, based on your statement of events, it would be prudent to apply Hanlon's razor? (That's "do not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence" so people don't have to google it.) ok. I wasn't posting solely at you. Some guy last page got weird about the suggestion that car mechanics could ever be dishonest and another said the hidden video stuff was staged. So far in the thread I hadn't seen an Herbalife or Amway guy come in say "whoa, hold the gently caress on. I DO this for a living so back off" and it just struck me as odd.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:29
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BiggerBoat posted:
poo poo, dude. I was being sarcastic.
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Feb 9, 2018 02:05
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Class Warcraft posted:My parents bought ground beef from a guy in a van once. It had shards of bone in it that I chipped my tooth on. Don't buy van meat. Times like this make me wish I ate red meat, so I could appreciate how horrible this meat is. There's no tofu equivalent to the 'Van Meat Guy'.
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Feb 9, 2018 02:50
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