Car Fixed; Life Broken

[lydamorehouse]

 
Image: the f*cking wheel bearing

The car story gets worse, but also better. 

The tl:dr is we took it to Troy's in Roseville got amazing service and a lot of sympathy. Tried to get Tim's to refund us was told they'd never replaced the FRONT wheel bearings only the rear, so "too bad, so sad."

The longer story. When I heard back from Troy's on Tuesday they said "Our mechanic took it for a drive and it is the worst sounding wheel bearing we have ever heard." I, of course, expressed astonishment that it could be a wheel bearing at all since Tim's bill clearly stated "replaced wheel bearings [both sides]." Troy had no idea what to say. But, the car was barely drivable, so I said, "Of course, do the work, but if you could please take a few pictures so that we could have some proof to show Tim's and maybe we could get our money back?" Troy is a mechanic not a computer whiz, but they promised to do their best and figure out how to email us the pictures. 

They did an amazing job, btw. When I walked in the door they had a mechanic come out from the back, go to my car with me, and let me try to produce the weird electrical problem. Of course, it fired up like a dream. We joked that it's like trying to reproduce a cough at the doctor's office. It just never happens. The mechanic said they'd take a look, anyway, and see what they could find. He asked me all the right questions, "Does it happen when this?" "Does it happen when that?" 

At the very, very least I felt listened to.

Troy called me with updates along the way and was very consciencous about getting things done for me by the time I needed the car back. They took pictures and expressed disappointment with Tim's. "I'd heard such good things about them," said Troy in a sad voice.

When the mechanic drove it, he noted that the other horrible rattling was probably a loose heat shield so they tightened that back down FOR FREE. They also recommended replacing some tires, which, of course, necessitates an alignment, and I had asked for an oil change since one was due.

So, the bill was hefty.

But they also tested the battery and it FAILED. So, they thought that a first step to solving the electrical problems might be to replace the battery, did I want to do that? I said, "Honestly, it can't hurt. Though that was the first thing I did when this problem started." (To be fair to me, that was right when we first got this car, which is several years ago now.)

When I picked it up? It ran like a dream. I couldn't believe it. And, so far? The weird electrical gremlin has either gone into hiding or, is, in fact, fixed. (I find the later to be unlikely, but at least when I return it to Troy, we will both know exactly when the battery was replaced, etc.)

I had to work Wednesday as it was the last official day of the snow emergency and I had signed up to do what they call "snowbirding" (which is tagging obviously abandoned cars that are completely covered in snow and clearly plowed around.) A WAY more fun job that tagging cars during a snow emergency. The owners of the cars are... not around? So, no one comes out to yell at you. Also, I got to drive alone. One thing to know about your girl Lyda: she is well suited for jobs where she works mainly independently. 

But, so anyway, this morning, bright early I showed up the moment Tim's opened. I brought their paperwork, Troy's paperwork, the actual front wheel bearing removed by Troy, and Troy's pictures of their work to the office. I was ready to fight for $600 back. (Also, Troy charged us $300 for a single wheel bearing; Tim's charged us $600.) Y'all I was calm. I did not ask to speak to the manager, but I did ask to speak with someone who could authorize a refund. Apparently, it was their front desk guy Sean who at first tried to tell me that they only replaced ONE of the wheel bearings, until I pointed to the part on their bill that clearly says both. Then, he told me he needed to "check their notes" and SPENT A LOT OF TIME TYPING and then showed me a print out of the behind the scenes notes where the mechanic said "rear" and that "a growling sound persisted."

Now, 1) you'd think you'd write "rear" wheel bearings on the bill, but it just says "replaced both wheel bearings," and 2) you'd think a good mechanic might feel, at this point, that maybe the job wasn't done and that the next step would be to recommend (or, hell, just CHECK) the front wheel bearings, but apparently not.

Apparently, if Sean didn't just add this note while I stood there waiting for him to respond to me, they are AT LEAST guilty of being really, really negligent mechanics. Because nothing came back to me that said, "growling persists." In fact, I was quite shocked to discover that growling persisted. 

Moreover, the car was dangerous to drive.

But, Tim's not only let me drive away in a dangerous car, let me pay them nearly $2,000 for a job NOT FINISHED. 

So... one of my jobs today is to figure out how to make a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, possibly the Attorney General, and f*ck up all their yahoo, Google, and Angie's lists reviews as much as physically possible. I guess that's my only recourse. All and all we are out $3,000--most of that is stuff that I guess needed doing? Do I trust any of Tim's recommendations at this point? No, for all I know they replaced things that didn't need replacing, like, did the rear wheel bearings need replacing? I don't know any more. Because Troy only replaced one of the wheel bearings in the front and now it works great!

When I told Troy that Tim's had also recommended a new tie rod, they came back to me and said 'No, we checked. Your tie rod is solid. The big problem was this front wheel bearing.' And, given HOW WELL the car drives right now, the people I believe are at Troy's!  And think of it. I would have, had I continued to think that Tim's was capable of doing "the basics" spent money on a tie rod that absolutely DOES NOT need replacing.

Did my belts need replacing? Now, I'm not sure!

This is so awful, y'all. 

Plus, I had to stand in line with people dropping off their cars off at Tim's. I listened to one woman who was desperately trying to save a few dollars asking if they could do a break line reroutering instead of full replace and they told her no, they don't do that, for this reason and that, but mostly YOUR SAFETY. And, I really, really had to old my tongue and say, "Try Troy's. If it can safely be done, they will do it AND they don't charge for an inspection."

I feel like this is so predatory. A lot of people who live in Midway are, like me, borderline... well, I can't say "poor" because I think that conjures up the wrong image... maybe very, very working class? Maybe "getting by, but certainly not flush."  That last description is probably the best. Lots of folks in Midway own their own homes, but we all bought into the kind of neighborhood where you see a lot of people replacing their own shingles, say, one at a time, rather than hiring the company that does it, you know? I did my own concrete repair on my stairs because the bids I got would have bankrupted us, (like, seriously, it was obvious that the company didn't want to do so small a job because they quoted us LITERALLY $30,000. I did the work myself for the cost of two bags of concrete and one specialized tool and the miniscule internet cost of three different YouTube tutorials.) And, Turbo Tim's is set up not only here, but in Northeast, which is another notoriously poor/working class/just getting by kind of neighborhood. 

What the hell. I am so disappointed.

But, the short of it? My car is repaired now. I am praying for another snowstorm so I can tag some more cars for money.... Goddamn it.

----
Complaint has been registered with the Better Business Bureau for all that's worth. Now on to the various review sites!

Comments

[sabotabby]

I'm glad your ordeal is at last at an end!

[lydamorehouse]

ME too.

And, Troy's regained a customer and Tim's lost one. I mean, the only thing that makes me sad about this is that I should have never have left Troy in the first place. But Tim was right there! So convenient! Seemingly more liberal, etc.! Shiny! New!

That'll teach me, I guess. I just wish the lesson hadn't been so damn expensive. :-(

[lcohen]

i wish you could have slipped a note to the woman in line at tim's--this all sounds so horrible, it makes my stomach hurt. i'm so glad your car is safe to drive now, though. i will hope for lots of snow for you, so you can tag cars, but no more snow for me--our huge winter storm seems like it wasn't too bad where i am--fingers crossed for when i go out later.

[lydamorehouse]

I really thought about pulling that woman aside, but I didn't want to do that where Sean could see me do it, you know?

Well, snow is coming? The question will be if St. Paul is willing to stack emergencies like this, given that we only just technically finished one yesterday. I mean, at least I like the work too? I mean, no one likes dinging someone with a ticketing fee, but being out in the car, etc., is quite enjoyable from my point of view.

[carbonel]

I'm glad you have a good working car at this point.

Have you considered going to small claims court against Tim's? If their work is predatory and you have the spoons to deal with the hassle, it might benefit the other people who can't manage it.

[lydamorehouse]

What's funny is that probably as you were typing this Pat W. suggested the same thing (we were on a writing Zoom together.) So, I am going to look into it! Thanks!

[carbonel]

Heh. I just spent the early morning with Pat -- we walk together three times a week -- and probably would have talked about this if I'd read it earlier. But instead we came to the same conclusion independently.

Good luck!

[profiterole_reads]

Wow! This is worse than I expected. Because I know some intermittent issues are hard to repair, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but now it looks like they're just incompetent and still taking your money for it.

If you have a ko-fi account (ko-fi in particular because they take my credit card and I don't have Paypal), I can help a little.

[lydamorehouse]

I do have a ko-fi : https://ko-fi.com/lydamorehouse

I set it up to connect to some of my fanwriting, but I have never recieved any tips--so I have no idea if it works. So, feel free to be my test case, I guess? Also THANK YOU.

[profiterole_reads]

Oops, that didn't work
Your selected payment method was declined. Please choose another way to pay.

I've had that with someone else before. I don't know what's the difference between the ones that work and the ones that don't work. Is everything on your end up-to-date? Or maybe it's just ko-fi's money system being down from time to time?

[lydamorehouse]

I'll see if I can fix anything on my end! (If not, I appreciate the attempt!)

[lydamorehouse]

It's possible because I changed my paypal password it bounced. Feel free to try again, but if it still doesn't work no harm, no foul. You tried and that is still deeply appreicated!!

I do wish I could find a way to test it from my end.

[profiterole_reads]

Still doesn't work. It's weird because it asks me for my full address. I feel like it only asked me for the name on my card last time. I even tried to change the amount in case security changed depending on the amount, but nope.

[lydamorehouse]

I am still puzzling it out. But, don't worry about it. YOU TRIED. More than once. I am tempted to just delete my account and start over. Will let you know if I do that.

[profiterole_reads]

Ah, maybe you need a money goal. Look: https://ko-fi.com/pridepagesbookclub

[lydamorehouse]

Well, I tried creating a new page. I actually wonder if the problem is that I have chosen PayPal and not Stripe as my prefered payment method. I know Paypal likes to add fees to any money sent and so maybe it just rejects ones that don't allow it to charge you. I am halfway through setting up Stripe, but I got stopped by the fact that I have to connect a bank account and... I need to be sure that I chose the right one and that requires input from my wife! :-) So, I mean, check back tomorrow? I picked the same url so hopefully that won't be the problem.

[profiterole_reads]

Tell me when I can try again.

[lydamorehouse]

Well, I'd love you to try again. I did create a new account, but I did not connect Stripe, in part because I'm kind of paranoid about how many apps have access to my bank account, you know? So, if it doesn't work today, it's probably not going to.

I will say that you win for dogged determination. If it doesn't go through, just know that I truly appreciate how HARD you tried!

[lydamorehouse]

It's still this: ko-fi.com/lydamorehouse

[profiterole_reads]

Nope, doesn't work.

This is nothing, I spent more than 2 hours getting an iQiyi account, because it only works from a phone (with Google Pay) and I never use my phone for that, so nothing was updated, then I had to empty caches and stuff like that to make it work.

[lydamorehouse]

Oh shoot!

Well, someone else was able to do it, so my suspicion that it's PayPal blocking anything they can't tack their fees onto seems to have borne out. I can try again with the Stripe app thingie (which is the other way they want you to connect on ko-fi,) but my family is so leery of having bank accounts attached to various apps that I don't know that I can convince Shawn this is a GOOD thing.

But, seriously, don't worry about it.

[profiterole_reads]

I'm glad it's partially working. Still weird that Paypal would refuse some money.

[minnehaha]

I support you 1000% in sharing your experience widely. Predatory or stupid: both are bad mechanics. Oh, and MULROY'S BODY SHOP on Nicollet and 39th in MPLS was once wonderful, was sold, and is now filled with predatory idiots. Spread the word.

K.

[lydamorehouse]

Yep. I do plan to! Thanks for the support.

[house_wren]

Maybe you can get some help at the Office of MN Attorney General? They handle consumer complaints.

https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/ContactUs.asp

[lydamorehouse]

That is the next step! But thank you for pulling the link for me!

[rachelmanija]

Oh FUCK THEM.

[lydamorehouse]

THANK YOU.