[hankcah]

Whenever I drop off my car at indy shops, I feel like I'm waiting for some girl to call me back - you know, the ones that don't like you...?

I dropped the car off 6am, Thursday morning. I assumed I would hear back from them before EOD. or at least they were pulling the car in. Nope. I waited until noon on Friday before calling them, and the shop said they are pulling it in now, and were friendly over the phone. Fine. Finally, making progress.

I feel like an annoying pest. Because here I am, around noon on Monday, and still no word. Does progress only happen when I call? It's like this at 3 different shops that I go to. Maybe it's my area, and they are busy.

This shop did ask if I had an appointment. No I did not. (Now I'm angry because my car didn't check with me first and ask me when I felt like dealing with it. wtf. oxymoron.) Not to mention, nobody told me the hourly quote.

I'm dreading an $1800 repair bill, and having to stand my ground that nobody called me for approval - but I digress. But at what point do you quit certain shops? Maybe I answered my own question.

How often do you call to check up on your car? Isn't there someone that makes all of the phone calls to communicate what they found that day, or how many hours they've been working on it?

[blingman]

Maybe drive to the shop if calling them don't work. Get all the questions answer and hopefully that makes you feel better or give you more insight whether you should take your car back if they haven't started.

[avocet]

Originally Posted by hankcah

This shop did ask if I had an appointment. No I did not. (Now I'm angry because my car didn't check with me first and ask me when I felt like dealing with it. wtf. oxymoron.) Not to mention, nobody told me the hourly quote.

I'm dreading an $1800 repair bill, and having to stand my ground that nobody called me for approval - but I digress. But at what point do you quit certain shops? Maybe I answered my own question.

Communication works both ways. You need to ask questions in order to get answers.
When you dropped off the car a few things should be defined. Things like work scope, time frame and rates.

You should have had a work order opened when you dropped the car off to define the work scope. What proof do you have that they even have the car? And I would ask for a copy so I have documented proof so you don't end up paying for a new trans when you just wanted some basic troubleshooting carried out. And I ALWAYS take note of the mileage by taking a short video of my dash then a quick walk around so if there is damage disputes I will be armed.

Am I paranoid? Sure. But I have dealt with way too many rip off auto shops to give the benefit of doubt to a shop I don't know.

Food for thought and good luck with repairs. I know not all shops are rip offs. I might even say most aren't.

But I don't trust 'em.

[SlimE92]

When things like this happen I usually just show up to check the progress in person. They can say whatever they want over the phone and if a quick job comes in they usually stop working on ur car to handle the quick fix first which just adds more time

[BruceJ]

Originally Posted by avocet

Communication works both ways. You need to ask questions in order to get answers.
When you dropped off the car a few things should be defined. Things like work scope, time frame and rates.

You should have had a work order opened when you dropped the car off to define the work scope. What proof do you have that they even have the car? And I would ask for a copy so I have documented proof so you don't end up paying for a new trans when you just wanted some basic troubleshooting carried out. And I ALWAYS take note of the mileage by taking a short video of my dash then a quick walk around so if there is damage disputes I will be armed.

Am I paranoid? Sure. But I have dealt with way too many rip off auto shops to give the benefit of doubt to a shop I don't know.

Food for thought and good luck with repairs. I know not all shops are rip offs. I might even say most aren't.

But I don't trust 'em.

+1
He really already said it above, but you cant say it enough. If we don't communicate why do we expect everything works as we intend?

Communication given and received - correlates your expectations with their ability to fulfill it. - IF you don't have it either go get your car or establish clearly what it to be done and by when.

PAPERWORK is what we rely on when everything goes south. - Don't leave without a workorder that states nothing more is to be done without your authorization.
and finally,

Trust, but verify,(it worked for a president) hopefully on the premise of being able to be impressed with their work, but mostly cause you paid for it. Would you pay for a 6-pack and accept only two beers?

Sorry for the lecture, good luck, hope you don't need it
Bruce

[ctuna]

You need to find one with a good reputation
Anybody can hang up a shingle that says they do BMW repair.

When you drive it in they should be able to give you and idea
of what going on an how long it will take.

I prefer shops where I can talk to the owner or mechanic that have
a known track record. Doesn't mean that things can't change and they
higher a dufus or something else goes wrong. So you always reevaluate
the shop if things start to look different.

[jt335i]

I have a trusted mechanic who owns his own shop and I tell time exactly what I need to have done. He does it within a reasonable time frame, and at reasonable costs, and calls me back as soon as the car is ready. His shop is very close to my home so I can drop my car there and he'll bring me back home. And when the car is ready, he'll come and pick me up.
I have had a good relationship with him for the past 5 years and he's the only person I bring all 4 of my cars to whenever they need service or repairs.

[motoguy128]

It depends if you service was scheduled, or a breakdown. Best to communicate, but even then, some shops are well organized, some are not.

I schedule my appointments 7-10 days out and they make appointments a priority but only allow maybe 2 a day then work on other cars.

[catcher22]

You should continue your search for a reputable shop. For them not to pull your car into the bay from Thursday 6AM to Friday Noon is just too long, unless they told you while dropping it off that they were busy and wouldn't get to it until the next day.

Shops should call their customers back almost on a daily basis to provide status updates, unless no progress or the same progress was made from the day before. I always explicitly ask shops to do this when I drop off the car. I also explicitly tell them not to begin work on anything until they call me and let me know the full estimated price for the repairs.

The only exception is when your car is in the shop for a long time - I had a bad accident a few years back and didn't hear back from the shop for a week because I knew they were in the middle of major repairs.

I would have told them not to touch the car that Friday, picked it up, told them why, posted a review online/Yelp, and found a reputable shop.

[hankcah]

Originally Posted by catcher22

You should continue your search for a reputable shop. For them not to pull your car into the bay from Thursday 6AM to Friday Noon is just too long, unless they told you while dropping it off that they were busy and wouldn't get to it until the next day.

Shops should call their customers back almost on a daily basis to provide status updates, unless no progress or the same progress was made from the day before. I always explicitly ask shops to do this when I drop off the car. I also explicitly tell them not to begin work on anything until they call me and let me know the full estimated price for the repairs.

The only exception is when your car is in the shop for a long time - I had a bad accident a few years back and didn't hear back from the shop for a week because I knew they were in the middle of major repairs.

I would have told them not to touch the car that Friday, picked it up, told them why, posted a review online/Yelp, and found a reputable shop.

I'm still on the search for the perfect shop. Distance, price, trust, quick turnaround. Seems like a tough filter. This current shop actually had parts in stock to test with it seems. I did choose them as they have 6 bays, instead of my old shop that only had2.5 (with the .5 being simpler repairs or oil changes. but it seems it took 1-2 days to diagnose, and then 2 days to get the part in.

Seems that when I do call the shop, they do have an update for me. It's currently done and I pick it up in the morning. But I'm busy for the night.

There are 3-4 close shops, and a few more further away, but beyond 30 miles, I may as well just wait it out. But I guess nobody cares about your car as much as you do, so yeah I should be calling once a day. But how hard would it be to type in the computer and shoot me a text? But in the perfect world.

[barefootin]

It seems around me, BMW Indies are either savants with absolutely NO interpersonal skills or they work on their own schedule and no regard to timing which is why they were most likely fired from the steelership... Luckily the Indie Saab shop I used on the rare occasions that I didn't want to do the work myself, has joined the BMW/Mini world within the last few years. Unfortunately, it is 40 miles further than two other Indie shops and a major dealer. None of which I have good things to say about based on simple inquiries, dealer equivalent quotes or warranty work returns...