does a diesel repair shop have to give me a written estimate before they can do any repairs?
does a diesel repair shop have to give me a written estimate before they can do any repairs?
the caterpillar dealer never gave me an estimate and most of the repair was covered by the warranty! it took them about a month to rebuild my engine when they said it was a 40 hr. job. i kept asking the service manager throughout the whole repair how much i was going to have to pay & he finally told me about a week before it was done that i would have to pay $800.00. i also lost out on a couple more days of work at $1000.00 a day because they dropped my hood & had to repaint it! when i went to pick up my truck & pay the $800.00 the service manager didn't have all the paperwork etc... ready so he told me to take the truck & he would call me later! this was in november of 2006 & i never heard back from him so i thought the warranty must have covered everything. then in may of 2007 i get a call from his boss saying i owe $12000.00 & i told him that the service manager told me $800.00 then he got it down to $8000.00 & finally to $3333.30 & now they are taking me to small claims!
Answers:
Diane W: First you need to find out what was done on the truck and what the warranty covered. You should have gotten a written estimate.
2007-10-01 21:53:10
carmelo_sabato: yes they do but $40 an hour is cheap to work on your diesel are you sure it was a reputable diesel mechanic cause they charge about$70 an hour and in California $80 so check it out !!
2007-10-01 21:54:27
Brian B: did you sign anything saying they could do the repairs. or get an estimate? did you get anything in writing stating it would be 800? if you owed 12000 why would they release the truck? that was their collateral. if you don't pay they lean your truck. you may have a chance
2007-10-01 21:56:50
awesomefb: No a repair shop does not have to provide a written or oral estimate.
But by law no repairs can be done, until a customer signs a work order, giving the repair shop authorization to do repairs (binding contract),.
A repair shop is only liable to repair warranty work that is covered by the warranty, any other repairs has to be authorized by the customer, before repairs can proceed, if the customer refuses repairs beyond warranty, then such as your case, you pick your truck up, or they can charge you for storage fees.
You have rights as a customer, do not let a repair shop scare money out of your wallet. If you did not sign a workorder or contract, they have no case in small claims court, if you picked up your truck, you have nothing to worry about.
If you did not sign any work order or paperwork, prior to repairs, you are not liable to pay the repair cost.
2007-10-01 22:13:47
wrichard1: Hello, apparently the warrant y didn't cover your rig and it took those people 6 months to figure out they lost that amount of money. Some thing is not right.
Now if I'm understanding this correctly...it was brought down to three thousand by the Manager. So what is happening here I think they will absorb some of the loss which is labor and you will just be paying for the parts. Labor at a Cat dealer is roughly eighty dollars per hour . Multiply that and see what you get.
Some thing else...they were just going to charge you $800.00 for certain things are not covered.
Check your warranty either way you didn't loose
2007-10-01 22:48:46