Am i justified?

[mattman_13]

So if anyone seen my posts about the people who installed my body lift. Well it's finally came to an end. I got it in at a dodge place and they immediately knew what had happened to cause my ESC light to come on. 45 bucks later for them to scan they determined my clock spring was broke when they took my steering shaft loose and let the steering wheel free spin. They installed the shaft out of wack and then the clock spring was turned past its breaking point.

The ram guy at the dealership was super knowledgeable and said he had seen it many times and did it his first BL install. He mentioned that he would help me put on my 6" lift that I plan on buying soon.

BUT its gonna cost 532.00 to get it fixed. The shop that put the BL on only charged me 300.00 am I justified in calling and politely asking them to pay for it? I already called and they told me to bring it in? Why would I let them touch my truck again after them leaving ground straps off, drilling into my frame to ground with dinky little 18gauge wire, and putting my steering extension in the wrong place and let me drive around DANGEROUSLY for a week before I called them and mentioned it after the guy at pa helped me figure it out.

Input? Thanks all!

 

[audio1der]

Completely justified, due to the damger they placed you in as well as the second-rate work performed on top of the now broken parts.
Be prepared for a battle and stay polite but firm; you paid them to do a job.

 

[mattman_13]

So ask that they pay? Or should I give them another chance to fix it? I mean their lack in knowledge is scary.

Im still missing the blocks under my bed and the little "c" pieces of metal that lift up the little plastic snap in thing that holds the brake lines in place to the frame because the kit didn't come with it according to them. If anyone could find me the part number for that so I could order it that would be legit.

 

[WhiteExpress]

I would ask that they pay for it. If they can't install a BL correctly, I certainly wouldn't want them diggin around in the steering column.

 

[dsw1519]

Completely justified, due to the damger they placed you in as well as the second-rate work performed on top of the now broken parts.
Be prepared for a battle and stay polite but firm; you paid them to do a job.

I completely agree with Audio1. They caused damage by their work. Was the check or the payment you gave them damaged in any way (or less than they expected)? No! Clearly the service they provided was less than you expected, or less than any other reasonable person would expect.

If they say they won't pay, then ask them what would happen if they dented your hood or broke a window while working on it? Damage is damage. They may even have insurance for something like this (garage keepers or auto service liability insurance). If they resist writing a check, suggest that you would like to submit a claim to their liability insurance carrier and see where that gets you.

You can also indicate that you want the check made payable to the shop that will do the corrective repair so they don't think you are just trying to get money out of them.

Good luck.

 

[Burla]

Why should you pay for it? I hated it but I had to sue a tire shop because they installed a step on a 4x4 I had and drilled through the transfer case line which led to the t case shorting out. It cost 1800 dollars to fix, for something the shop only charged a small fee to do. I felt bad but they drilled the line causing the damage, that is the price sometimes to do business. i would bet good money that was the last time they drilled a T Case line.

 

[audio1der]

So ask that they pay? Or should I give them another chance to fix it? I mean their lack in knowledge is scary.

Im still missing the blocks under my bed and the little "c" pieces of metal that lift up the little plastic snap in thing that holds the brake lines in place to the frame because the kit didn't come with it according to them. If anyone could find me the part number for that so I could order it that would be legit.

Ask them to pay.
IMO their actions have given you more than adequate room to say "you're not touching my truck again". They won't like that as their labor would cost them less than having another shop properly do the job, but they've proven they can't be trusted. Trust is the core of the issue.

I know this is a tough thing to do when in the situation and its easy for us to say "go get'em' over a message board but its what I would do if they hurt my baby.

 

[cmiller0711]

I would hand them the bill and my lawyers business card.

 

[mattman_13]

Thanks everyone. Its hard to handle with me being about 6 hrs away from home. All he keeps saying is that to bring it in and let them look at it. Its hard to be nice when that's all I'm getting lol...tomorrow I'm gonna call back and tell him I don't want them to work on it and that if he doesn't want to pay for repairs I'll ask about a claim with their insurance and mention small claims court.
I refuse to take my truck to the dealership back home so things are gonna be complicated. Any more advice is appreciated.

 

[BAILEY1]

I would definitely ask them to pay. Be polite about everything and just explain to them, calmly, your decision and why.

 

[mattman_13]

I've tried the calmly stating what's up and I get a "well when you come in just bring it in" pretty much abandoning anything that costs them money. When I first brought up to them that my ESC light was on they kept pushing the tc button and saying see it still works? Then they tried to read it was a scan tool which won't pull codes of that nature and I tried to tell them. Ahhh I may sick my mom on them. Play some good cop bad cop lol

 

[Burla]

Just sue them, very few shops would except responsibility. My guy actually got mad at me for even suggesting he should pay for the damage he caused. I sent my mom in to get an oil change only, and pay with check. when they deposit the check you get their business account number. When I won my judgement, it was immediately taken out of their account because I had the number. Winning a judgement is one thing, getting paid is another. I hope you get both buddy, gl.

 

[Trupiano]

Completely justified.

 

[mattman_13]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna look into small claims court to get the issue settled. Any advice would be appreciated. I have emails from Ben at performance accessories who helped me figure out where the steering extension was in the wrong place. Gonna take pictures of all the stuff they cut and didn't paint which is rusted out now, and the receipt of dodge for my 47$ to get it figured out and the estimate for 532 to get it fixed. Anything else I should gather and the best way to go about it?

 

[ZakkBaker]

Wish you the best with the issue! Its sad that many businesses don't do quality work anymore. And then don't take responsibility, or try to help you, like stated above. Even bigger names like Pepboys, I had a heating core replaced with them. Took 3 days longer than it should've, overpriced me, lied to me telling me the tech was in (although he wasnt bc I caught them later in the lie), put an additional 6 cracks in my dashboard, put a huge crack in my upper dash panel, broke my right kick panel, broke my cubby hole above the cup holders, spilled dirt/rust on my seat and middle seat console, didn't connect my steering wheel panels together correctly, and put a dent in my leather on the seat console....A manager and employees told me it happens bc its an old truck. BS, they just wanted to do a ****** rushed job. Talked to the head manager, and still to this day am waiting for my replacement dash pieces they "order" for me. Although this happened back in November.... -_- "It was here, maybe the new manager sent it back." "It was here, I've been waiting for you to come in, and I called you" Even though I go in bout once a week... "Ill figure it out and call you."

You're totally justified, get 'em.

 

[smiley]

I wish you well all the places I have seen always like taking your money but when they mess up then it is all push back.


$miley

 

[mattman_13]

Just gonna update everyone on the good news.
I NEVER take a dealers word on anything and started researching the schematics of the clock spring in these trucks.
He said my code was reading something like steering wheel overturn/over perform. But the fact that I could reset my pcm and the ESC light wouldn't come on till the steering wheel was turned. I figured if something were broken the light would be on immediately. So I in did my steering shaft and would rotate my steering wheel and reset the pcm be cautious to not over turn it. Well 2 full rotations to the right and NO ESC light! All day cruise worked perfect and I'm a happy man. Wish I had did that before driving across country without cruise control! Glad that I'm persistent and decided to check for myself as well. Saved that ****** shop the money and me the headache of making them pay.
I think its a possibility that the clock spring can get broken if overturned but I never turned it to that point. Gyah I'm just smitten with myself.

 

[dsw1519]

That's awesome! Good for you. Sometimes taking the time to really think things through pays off. Congrats.

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