so my car expired this month, the muffler was broke so I took it to a shop to get it repaired, I had to get a brand new muffler which was 200 according to them. So I bit the bullet and said go ahead, and I also asked them to inspect it for safety and emissions and all that, well the next day they call me and tell me the muffler is fixed, but it failed the inspection, they told me all this crap that's supposedly wrong with it, and said the final total to fix it all would be 800.
I of course said uh no, and went and paid for the muffler, which was 364 bucks... how it got that effing high is beyond me.
So they pretty much ripped me off and are trying to further with all that bull crap they tell me is wrong with it, my dad did a price check on all the things that are "wrong" with it and he said every part costs like 15-20 bucks each, which would be like 40-60 bucks. but 800 dollars?
fair warning guys, auto places scam you BAD.
so now I have to get all this crap fixed before they'll pass inspection, and according to my dad I can't take it to anyone else because they failed it and they have to pass it because they listed all the "problems" with it.
On a bit of a brighter note I FINALLY, FINALLY snagged me an audio file to transcribe, I got a call after I snagged it and they told me that the file has a lot of medical terms in it, and if i'm uncomfortable with doing it to let them know and they'll get a medical transcriptionist to do it. I said i'll give it a shot.
my gosh, the file was 1 hour and 48 minutes, it took me 15-20 hours to transcribe, that doesn't even sound possible but it seriously took that long.
I hope to crap I get quicker and more efficient with it. It got me a nice 98 dollars at least, hopefully i'll be able to catch more files.
so in the last few days I was down 500 bucks, because of my bills were due and the freakin car.
my gosh money is just like water, try holding it in your hand and see what happens, that's money.
Sorry to hear about all the fail on the part of the mechanics who took care of your car, first off. However, muffler repairs are somewhat pricey. My dad has been in the auto repair business for 25 years and I've seen the part costs and the amount of money that has to go into maintaining a repair shop and paying the employees. If you're getting a repair from a fully licensed mechanic, they can earn upwards of $25/hour in labor costs. The 80 dollars in parts would probably come above 120 to allow the shop to make some money, in addition to any set rates the shop would have for labor charges. 800 does seem really steep for only 80 dollars in parts, but I wouldn't be surprised if it hit 250-300 before any profit could be made. Here's hoping that you'll be able to find a good mechanic who offers good rates and accurate quotes.
ReplyDeleteChrist on a bike,
ReplyDeletedown 500$ in the last few days >n<
But HEY! you snagged a file & gained 100$ back!
:D XD
Although your workload ain't steady, I am envious about the pay rate O_O I get like, $10 per hour of transcribed audio. Granted they're not that technical, but still... :((
ReplyDeleteThe average rate for transcribing is like .90 cents per audio minute
ReplyDeletehaha not where I'm from -_- Foreign clients go, "Philippines? Hell yeah! The same amount of effort for a fraction of the cost. Woohoo!"
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel Austin, My auto shop tried to rip me off of $1000 by saying my engine was smoking and what not, so I took it to another shop (which you can do). And said it was perfectly fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's true Auto shops will screw you if they think they can. It's always better to just buy the parts and fix it yourself if you can.
ReplyDeleteSame for the UK, my friends tell me to do some background research on the problem with the car and talk back at the mechanics if they ever try to scam me.
ReplyDeleteAustin if you need some help with some medical terms, I might be able to help, I'm a medical student so some stuff should make sense to me.
Kilplix, get the mechanic to SHOW you the problems, if they cant do that then they are obviously ripping you off, they propably are doing that anyway,
ReplyDelete