• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Mechanic Overcharge & work not done.

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Jetglow

Junior Member
I live in Kentucky...

I'll try to make this short as possible... I purchased a Harley with 17,000 miles on it and needed the "10,000 mile service" done to it (3000 miles early). The bike ran fine and had no oil leaks when I purchased it...but I wanted to make sure that all maintenence was complete and up to date. I live 1/2 mile from the Harley dealer and could have ridden it over there easiy, but I decided to use a former Harley employee who had his own new shop. I chose this fellow because when I called him..he offered to do 2 things for me... (1) pick up the bike without charge and (2) run my wiring in my handlebars for free in order to give the bike a more custom look. He picked up the bike that night and I wrote him a check for $530.38 for some extra chrome dress up parts I wanted. He had me sign a blank work order for his services and took my check and my bike. This is where it gets bad because he had my bike for 2 months and 1 week before he even touched my bike...yet I was his only customer at the time. I finally started dropping in on him unexpectedly about 2 weeks ago to see the progess...if any...and each time I went there nothing was done. He kept telling me that he was waiting on parts but he would have it done by the end of the week. He said that every week for 2 months. He finally informs me that I had a head gasket leak and that need to be addressed and I said O.K. and then followed by asking him how much this would add to labor/parts cost. He said it would be minimal. Going back to my original phone conversation with him....the original costs of labor would have been appox $800.00 at most. During the last 2 weeks he kept telling me that it would be done by the next evening and I was still patient up to that point. I was finally informed it would be done on Friday...yet when I arrived...It still had not been touched and he said he had to leave and would not be able to finish it until Sunday evening. I went back on Monday morning and it was not done...he proceded to tell me it would be done on that evening late....so I went home. He calls at 10pm that night and tells me that he wont have it done because the shop next door had caught on fire (which was true) and that they had to cut the electricity off to the building. I went back on Tuesday morning and saw my bike sitting there with the wheels off and the new tires that I previously purchased mounted on them. He had also put the new forks on the front that I had chromed.....but that was all. Any further work needing to be done did not require electricity to complete the job and he had plenty of daytime sunshine lighting his small shop with his garage door open.....he told me that the head gaskets were already replaced and now all that needed to be done was to install the new cables I previously purchased and the chrome parts I purchased wit the previous $538.00 check. He followed by saying that he did not know when he would be able to get around to it but he found time to clean his shop and wash several motorcycles by that evening. I told him that if he can't finish the job by Friday...I would have the Harley Dealership pick it up and finish it. Finally...on Thursday..he calls and says my bike is done and that he thouroughly test drove it. He tells me the final bill of $2168.00 and that he only takes cash!!!!!. I protested and he tells me I also had a primary dirve leak that needed to be taken care of (yet he never called me about it). I told him that that is no where near what we talked about and he tells me..."well you signed the work order"....
I now realize that I am being taken..yet can do nothing about it and decide to chock it up as a very expensive lesson to me. I pick up the bike on Thursday evening with cash in my hand and I get a copy of the work order from him and I see that he aslo charged me $85.00 for picking up on my bike even though he had told me it woud be no charge. I get on the bike and drive it for about 6 miles before it completely shuts down and will not start again. I call him and tell him that the bike that he thoroughly test drove and worked on has quit and will not start and I am now stranded on the side of the road. He tells me he will pick up the bike in the morning and I tell him that I'll just call the Harley Dealership who promptly picked up the bike for no charge. I told the dealer about my experince with the other mechanic and they requested that I furnish the Repair work order from the other mechanic. The Dealership calls me the next day and points out that not only had he not done the head gasket repair (rust was on the gasket..therefore no new) and that he used silicone on the supposed primary leak but I had several saftey issues that resulted from the mechanics work because he either forget to put certain things together correctly or he had the wrong parts on the bike. I was told that it would be at least $1000.00 to get it road worthy again. The dealership felt sorry for me and even said that they have sent him some business on the past...but would never do it again because of what he has done to me and my bike.....but on the other hand...they did not want to be "in the middle" of a fight. They did say that they would document everything that was done incorrectly or not at all for me and I could take it from there. Meanwhile...I call the previous mechanic and tell him to call the dealership to find out what he had or hadn't done....he tells me that I should not have taken my bike back there and that he will fix anything that was his fault****************************and he tells me I should not have taken it to the dealership...I should have taken it back to him (he must think I'm really stupid). I also call the dealership and they tell me he called and said that he would fix anything that was his fault ( I think to save face and keep referrals coming from them). That was everything up to last Friday March 30th, 2007. The dealership seems to think that my gas tank had contaminated or bad gas and have drained the tank and ran it several miles with no problems so far....except for fixing the other things that he did wrong that affected safe operation. I am out of town until Friday before I can go back to the dealership and get a better assessment of the situation. The previous mechanic keeps calling and I am not answering his calls and I ned advise on what to do next before I get back home to deal with this properly. I feel that the previous mechanic over charged me because I signed a blank work order and even if everything was perfect when I originally picked the bike up....he still overcharged me about $800.00...now I have the Dealship working on my bike and that bill will be large as a result of the previous mechanics incompetence. I would like to get restitution from him and have him pay for the Dealerships bill to fix my bike properly. Should I call him and tell him what I want....or should I hire an ottorney or go to small claims court. What documentation should I pay special attention too and how can I make a case without the Harley Dealership mechanic and Service Advisor standing there with me? The dealership also told me that the mechanic over charged me because many of the things I had done overlap each other.
 
Last edited:


justalayman

Senior Member
you are going to have a hard time with the amount basically because you did not get a written work order, did not authorize specific amounts and pretty much let him take advantage of you.

what you can do is have the dealership do whatever repair is neccessary. Be sure to have them document their findings and why they believe prior work was not done. Keep all the old parts. Also have them note all work that had to be re-done and why.

You are going to have to sue the 1st guy to recover whatever you got screwed out of through the courts. If the rogue mechanic caused you to incur additional charges due to his work, you will need this documneted as best as possible.

In some small claims courts, you can subpeona witness so if you have to, you may be able to subpeona the dealership folks. If not, at least get a notorized statemnt from each of them and what they see.
 

Jetglow

Junior Member
Thanks for the reply.... I have the original work order the bad mechanic did and the charges for his services. The Harley dealership has made a list of what is wrong, wrongly done and not done as it pertains to the 1st mechanics work on my motorcycle.
 

corey240

Junior Member
see somthing like this ahppend to me also, i payed 600$ to a shop for a motor, and from last september until last december the guy told me the motor would be there the next fridy, then the next monday, so on and so forth for roughly 4 months. then i call and talk to a different guy and he says "im not gona bs with you man, the motor hasnt been orderd. we cant order it until the rest of the mo ney is in." i say what money? he says it will be 200 more to ship it. so i take the money infor that and still the same stuff for another month and i said screw it give me my money back.
 

BL

Senior Member
see somthing like this ahppend to me also, i payed 600$ to a shop for a motor, and from last september until last december the guy told me the motor would be there the next fridy, then the next monday, so on and so forth for roughly 4 months. then i call and talk to a different guy and he says "im not gona bs with you man, the motor hasnt been orderd. we cant order it until the rest of the mo ney is in." i say what money? he says it will be 200 more to ship it. so i take the money infor that and still the same stuff for another month and i said screw it give me my money back.
Nice story .....

For the OP , get yer ducks in a row , and see what ya can achieve .

My guess is the guy doesn't have a pot to tinkle in , and you'll be hard press to collect , even if you win your Judgment .

But , I'm guessing ..
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top