Advice from the lawyerish-bros.
08-11-2011, 10:50 PM
#1
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Advice from the lawyerish-bros.
The advice here isn't for me, but my friend. So, said friend has an MR2, 86. It had a 20v swap. He takes it to a performance shop, I am unsure of the name, but it was put there on march 4. The guy quotes him a time of 4-6 weeks, and a price of 2000 dollars labor, as long as he buys the engine and transmission (3sgte) and assured him he knew how to do it.
Said car douche was called on week 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 18, so on.... And kept saying next week. He comes up with an excuse each time or just doesn't answer his phone at all. I need a jig to line the drivetrain and axles up, which sounds odd and will only take another week.
3 weeks later, he checks up, then he needs time to route the factory mr2 intercooler. 2 weeks later, he calls, then he decides that is not going to happen, so it is time to go w/a, and charges him 300 more dollars. Now he is on the wiring issue, which he has been for the past month. I am a half an engineer and a washed up 1.5 year in mazda tech which was not smart enough to steal any shop manuals, and I was able to have a 05 MS wiring harness in a 1990 within a week.
When he does answer nowadays, he claims he is losing money on this, and guilt trips my less than smart buddy (a hell of a guy that would have my back in a second against 3000 people) into thinking it is ok. He is allegedly a professional, and reassured him that he knew what he was doing. From what I hear he doesn't. He has made more than 5 trips up that way. Austin is quite a truck from Lackland (SWish San Antonio).
In the mechanics defense, he did give him a shitty mr2 with 230xxx miles that uses a quart of oil every 500 miles and he has had to change the oil on the loaner car twice. He is itching to get his car back, and I understand. Tomorrow, I am going to survey the situation, and we are more than likely going to pull the car if we can. The service at the agreed amount, and definitely has not been completed.
If we were to pull the car from the shop, and finish the wiring and W/A IC mounting (which I could handle with wiring diagrams and well, some pipe.) What are our rights. Services were not rendered on time, or completed at all with what I believe is plenty of time to retrofit any reasonable engine into a car.
Hell, I could have had any transverse engine in there with a megasquirt and some welding classes, all within the time allowed, learning curve included. How do you pull a car from a garage when labor is not paid for? What if they really did do 2000 hours of labor on it and sucked at life? Are we obligated to pay the professional asking price?
How do you calculate services rendered? I apparently have as much of if not more of a clue as these guys. I would just build him a megasquirt, and wire it up to that engine. These guys are too asstarded to know that putting a obd2 harness in a 86 car is a fail. Can we just report it stolen? What legal recourse do we have?
Edit: FTFY: Thanks Viper, I guess I managed everything but the enter key in this buzzed post. No F*^#@t or anything. We all do grow up at some point. I am legit, and really rolling to Austin tomorrow, instead of drinking yet more beer and eating brisket. (fail)
Said car douche was called on week 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 18, so on.... And kept saying next week. He comes up with an excuse each time or just doesn't answer his phone at all. I need a jig to line the drivetrain and axles up, which sounds odd and will only take another week.
3 weeks later, he checks up, then he needs time to route the factory mr2 intercooler. 2 weeks later, he calls, then he decides that is not going to happen, so it is time to go w/a, and charges him 300 more dollars. Now he is on the wiring issue, which he has been for the past month. I am a half an engineer and a washed up 1.5 year in mazda tech which was not smart enough to steal any shop manuals, and I was able to have a 05 MS wiring harness in a 1990 within a week.
When he does answer nowadays, he claims he is losing money on this, and guilt trips my less than smart buddy (a hell of a guy that would have my back in a second against 3000 people) into thinking it is ok. He is allegedly a professional, and reassured him that he knew what he was doing. From what I hear he doesn't. He has made more than 5 trips up that way. Austin is quite a truck from Lackland (SWish San Antonio).
In the mechanics defense, he did give him a shitty mr2 with 230xxx miles that uses a quart of oil every 500 miles and he has had to change the oil on the loaner car twice. He is itching to get his car back, and I understand. Tomorrow, I am going to survey the situation, and we are more than likely going to pull the car if we can. The service at the agreed amount, and definitely has not been completed.
If we were to pull the car from the shop, and finish the wiring and W/A IC mounting (which I could handle with wiring diagrams and well, some pipe.) What are our rights. Services were not rendered on time, or completed at all with what I believe is plenty of time to retrofit any reasonable engine into a car.
Hell, I could have had any transverse engine in there with a megasquirt and some welding classes, all within the time allowed, learning curve included. How do you pull a car from a garage when labor is not paid for? What if they really did do 2000 hours of labor on it and sucked at life? Are we obligated to pay the professional asking price?
How do you calculate services rendered? I apparently have as much of if not more of a clue as these guys. I would just build him a megasquirt, and wire it up to that engine. These guys are too asstarded to know that putting a obd2 harness in a 86 car is a fail. Can we just report it stolen? What legal recourse do we have?
Edit: FTFY: Thanks Viper, I guess I managed everything but the enter key in this buzzed post. No F*^#@t or anything. We all do grow up at some point. I am legit, and really rolling to Austin tomorrow, instead of drinking yet more beer and eating brisket. (fail)
Last edited by chicksdigmiatas; 08-11-2011 at 11:50 PM. Reason: F' me
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08-11-2011, 11:20 PM
#4
Easy to read version.
The advice here isn't for me, but my friend. So, said friend has an MR2, 86. It had a 20v swap. He takes it to a performance shop, I am unsure of the name, but it was put there on march 4. The guy quotes him a time of 4-6 weeks, and a price of 2000 dollars labor, as long as he buys the engine and transmission (3sgte) and assured him he knew how to do it.
Said car douche was called on week 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 18, so on.... And kept saying next week. He comes up with an excuse each time or just doesn't answer his phone at all. I need a jig to line the drivetrain and axles up, which sounds odd and will only take another week.
3 weeks later, he checks up, then he needs time to route the factory mr2 intercooler. 2 weeks later, he calls, then he decides that is not going to happen, so it is time to go w/a, and charges him 300 more dollars. Now he is on the wiring issue, which he has been for the past month. I am a half an engineer and a washed up 1.5 year in mazda tech which was not smart enough to steal any shop manuals, and I was able to have a 05 MS wiring harness in a 1990 within a week.
When he does answer nowadays, he claims he is losing money on this, and guilt trips my less than smart buddy (a hell of a guy that would have my back in a second against 3000 people) into thinking it is ok. He is allegedly a professional, and reassured him that he knew what he was doing. From what I hear he doesn't. He has made more than 5 trips up that way. Austin is quite a truck from Lackland (SWish San Antonio).
In the mechanics defense, he did give him a shitty mr2 with 230xxx miles that uses a quart of oil every 500 miles and he has had to change the oil on the loaner car twice. He is itching to get his car back, and I understand. Tomorrow, I am going to survey the situation, and we are more than likely going to pull the car if we can. The service at the agreed amount, and definitely has not been completed.
If we were to pull the car from the shop, and finish the wiring and W/A IC mounting (which I could handle with wiring diagrams and well, some pipe.) What are our rights. Services were not rendered on rime, or completed at all with what I believe is plenty of time to retrofit any reasonable engine into a car.
Hell, I could have had any transverse engine in there with a megasquirt and some welding classes, all within the time allowed, learning curve included. How do you pull a car from a garage when labor is not paid for? What if they really did do 2000 hours of labor on it and sucked at life? Are we obligated to pay the professional asking price?
How do you calculate services rendered? I apparently have as much of if not more of a clue as these guys. I would just build him a megasquirt, and wire it up to that engine. These guys are too asstarded to know that putting a obd2 harness in a 86 car is a fail. Can we just report it stolen? What legal recourse do we have?
Said car douche was called on week 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 18, so on.... And kept saying next week. He comes up with an excuse each time or just doesn't answer his phone at all. I need a jig to line the drivetrain and axles up, which sounds odd and will only take another week.
3 weeks later, he checks up, then he needs time to route the factory mr2 intercooler. 2 weeks later, he calls, then he decides that is not going to happen, so it is time to go w/a, and charges him 300 more dollars. Now he is on the wiring issue, which he has been for the past month. I am a half an engineer and a washed up 1.5 year in mazda tech which was not smart enough to steal any shop manuals, and I was able to have a 05 MS wiring harness in a 1990 within a week.
When he does answer nowadays, he claims he is losing money on this, and guilt trips my less than smart buddy (a hell of a guy that would have my back in a second against 3000 people) into thinking it is ok. He is allegedly a professional, and reassured him that he knew what he was doing. From what I hear he doesn't. He has made more than 5 trips up that way. Austin is quite a truck from Lackland (SWish San Antonio).
In the mechanics defense, he did give him a shitty mr2 with 230xxx miles that uses a quart of oil every 500 miles and he has had to change the oil on the loaner car twice. He is itching to get his car back, and I understand. Tomorrow, I am going to survey the situation, and we are more than likely going to pull the car if we can. The service at the agreed amount, and definitely has not been completed.
If we were to pull the car from the shop, and finish the wiring and W/A IC mounting (which I could handle with wiring diagrams and well, some pipe.) What are our rights. Services were not rendered on rime, or completed at all with what I believe is plenty of time to retrofit any reasonable engine into a car.
Hell, I could have had any transverse engine in there with a megasquirt and some welding classes, all within the time allowed, learning curve included. How do you pull a car from a garage when labor is not paid for? What if they really did do 2000 hours of labor on it and sucked at life? Are we obligated to pay the professional asking price?
How do you calculate services rendered? I apparently have as much of if not more of a clue as these guys. I would just build him a megasquirt, and wire it up to that engine. These guys are too asstarded to know that putting a obd2 harness in a 86 car is a fail. Can we just report it stolen? What legal recourse do we have?
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08-12-2011, 06:41 AM
#7
^Failure. "MK1.5" MR2 = god mode.
OP, can you verify that what you listed is REALLY all the car needs? The AW11 3sgte swap isn't exactly uncharted territory these days. It is NOT a hard swap. If this mechanic is having this much trouble with it, i'd be more likely to assume that NONE of it is done. Or if it IS done, it's done wrong.
OP, can you verify that what you listed is REALLY all the car needs? The AW11 3sgte swap isn't exactly uncharted territory these days. It is NOT a hard swap. If this mechanic is having this much trouble with it, i'd be more likely to assume that NONE of it is done. Or if it IS done, it's done wrong.
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08-12-2011, 09:23 AM
#10
It comes down to a few things.
How much money has your friend shelled out so far and how much over/under the original estimate is that amount?
If he's technically paid in full he can pull the car without a hitch. If he's not paid up then you might have an issue pulling the car out, even though the guy didnt keep his part of the agreement.
This is why I don't let other people touch my car. You never know what to expect in all aspects of expecting.
Whatever you decide on doing, stick to it. Don't go down there ready to pull the car out only to have the shop owner and his cronies try to talk you out of it or intimidate you out of it. Stand your ground, throw around some big words and leave the other guy very little room to speak. In, out and move on with the project.
Good luck to you and your friend.
How much money has your friend shelled out so far and how much over/under the original estimate is that amount?
If he's technically paid in full he can pull the car without a hitch. If he's not paid up then you might have an issue pulling the car out, even though the guy didnt keep his part of the agreement.
This is why I don't let other people touch my car. You never know what to expect in all aspects of expecting.
Whatever you decide on doing, stick to it. Don't go down there ready to pull the car out only to have the shop owner and his cronies try to talk you out of it or intimidate you out of it. Stand your ground, throw around some big words and leave the other guy very little room to speak. In, out and move on with the project.
Good luck to you and your friend.
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08-12-2011, 11:23 AM
#14
Have your friend go and take his car. They have no right to hold on to it. Because the delay is substantially longer than the agreed upon time, all the mechanic will be able to recover is a *reasonable* fee for his services. This will be somewhere between $0 - $2000 depending on what was actually done.
If the mechanic and your friend negotiated different prices/terms in subsequent conversations then this will all be considered. The maintenance on the loaner car (the two oil changes) will not likely set-off any of this amount because your friend would of had similar maintenance costs on his MR2.
Long story short: Take the car, work out a *reasonable* fee with the mechanic. If you can't work something out, have your friend bluff with the guy and tell him that "I have consulted my legal team, which is my Attorney Uncle who works at a large firm in Austin, who advised me that I can take my car to another shop to perform the job and anything over $2000.00 will be passed on to you buddy."
Good luck.
*Disclaimer - nothing in this post consists of legal advice, this is just my opinion.
If the mechanic and your friend negotiated different prices/terms in subsequent conversations then this will all be considered. The maintenance on the loaner car (the two oil changes) will not likely set-off any of this amount because your friend would of had similar maintenance costs on his MR2.
Long story short: Take the car, work out a *reasonable* fee with the mechanic. If you can't work something out, have your friend bluff with the guy and tell him that "I have consulted my legal team, which is my Attorney Uncle who works at a large firm in Austin, who advised me that I can take my car to another shop to perform the job and anything over $2000.00 will be passed on to you buddy."
Good luck.
*Disclaimer - nothing in this post consists of legal advice, this is just my opinion.
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