+1

Fair enough. If I were you I'd also say something ~ "There are a lot of knowledgeable guys online following the story and willing to offer advice. So keep me posted and call me if you run into a problem. Status reports help build trust." In a friendly and helpful tone.

This is like a bad dream – only it never gets better, just worse.

The last time I saw my mechanic was Wednesday morning. I told him I hoped he could get me the car by Friday, but if not he could work on it over the weekend and get it to me on Monday. Here it is near close of business on Friday and no word from him. I told him if he did not get me the car by noon Monday that I would have to put it in the hands of my attorney.

I called a recommended attorney today, explained the situation, and asked how he could handle it if needed on Monday. He said there was not much he could do to force the mechanic to complete work on my car. He recommended I leave the car there as long as it takes for the job to get done and then take the mechanic to court for any excess charges. I forget the legal term he used, but the idea is to file a complaint with the court and then pay the bill under protest. Then the court would decide how to proceed.

Another option, which I think is better, is to hire a truck to take the car to another shop where the work can be completed. This would mean finding another shop, have them inspect the car and do an inventory of parts, manage the transportation of the car to their facility and then complete the job. I would have to pay my mechanic for his work so far, and then dispute the bill if I pay with Visa, or take him to small claims court.

There is always the possibility that my mechanic will work over the weekend and get me the car by Monday. However, I am not very hopeful that will be the case. Right now I would feel grateful if someone would come by and just shoot me and put me out of my misery.

Tuesday we said, go get it.
Wednesday we said, go get it.
Thursday we said, go get it.

Friday...you haven't gotten it yet?


Monday, go get it.

I suggest being firm to keep him moving along but do not badger them with lawsuit threats. Just stay persistant and maybe offer up some advice to them to look here for tech tips. Also supply them with phone #s to a few of the trusted vendors here to make sure they are putting on the best availble parts. In the end a lawsuit will be much more trouble than waiting a few more weeks if that's what it takes.

" I told him if he did not get me the car by noon Monday that I would have to put it in the hands of my attorney."
---

IMHO, you just escalated this into stupid.


He'll do nothing, and end up with your car on his lot under a mechanics lien..because he can.

You said "Im not interested in working with you anymore, but I'll let you keep my car".


We'll know where to find a cheap 928 at auction now...if you dont -get- the car, now, or 9a Monday.


"What do I owe you right now"

Pay it

Tow it.

i just don't like towing a car somewhere else that is already apart. It would be really tough to find someone to work on it at this point. I know I hate touching something that someone else tore apart. I really believe the OP needs to keep communication and civility with the current mechanic untill it is done. As I said, provide him with information to make his job easier. Does he know about Dwayne's Garage tech writeups?

My original advice was to let him finish. Your lawyer said the same. Listen to someone with legal training. Or not!

Good Lord.

I sure hope my spidey senses are in tune enough to avoid a situation like this.

Ive carried two race cars home as shells on that advice.

If someone cant, they -wont-.


This guy, cant.


Legal advice isnt always practical advice..no matter how true, accurate, and well meaning it is. I dont think this guy is capable..

I think this is a cut your losses kind of moment. For some reason or another the mechanic has not completed the work. This could be due to lack of expertise, experience, motivation, operating capital, or all of the above. Either way it seems that the car will not be completed in any sort of timely fashion.

If I were in your shoes, I would be going to retrieve the car. Pay the mechanic whatever is due in parts and APPROVED work and be done with that relationship. If you want to continue to pursue afterward, you can. I know that in situations like this (for me), pursuing action is usually not worth the time and emotional investment.

As stated before I live close by if you need an hand for any reason.

Nothing he is doing is THAT HARD.

You advocate that he pays this mechanic 2x what it should cost, to follow someone else's writeup, on a job and car he's not familiar with?

Hello??

A good mechanic has resources. A good mechanic wont take a job he knows he's not familiar with.

He could follow Dwayne's writeups just as well, for free.

If u take the car out of there and u have someone else finish it, and it does have few bend valves, who is responsible?.

The first mechanic will blame the second guy and the second guy is going to blame the first guy.

Leave car there let him finish the job.

Pay by credit card only no cash.

At least thats what i think anyway.

I dont think he'll finish it, ever, and it'll be a basket case.

If valves are bent..tow it, find out now, sue.

Then there is no 2nd mechanic i the mix.



This isnt a new song being played here...just some of us here haven't heard it before.

First of all I would like to thank everyone for your very helpful ideas. It's obvious you have given my situation great consideration and that you feel my pain. What is so unbelievable is that I have been going to this repair facility for several years with this and my previous 928’s as well as my other cars. Eric has always treated me fairly, done excellent work and I even recommended him to my friends.

Let's hope all of this is behind us come Monday morning. However, since this has been going on for so many weeks now, at best I'd give myself a 50-50 chance of coming home with my car on Monday. After considering the many ideas you all have presented here, as well as a talk with my attorney, and conferring with my neighbor who is a retired insurance executive, I have decided on the following course of action if needed.

I will tell Eric he has put me in the position of taking whatever legal steps are necessary to get my car repaired and back into my possession. These steps include the following:

1.File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
2.File a complaint with the Consumer Protection Agency.
3.File a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
4.Call both the local Channel 7 news and Channel 8 news consumer help lines to see what pressure they can bring to bear on Eric from a media point of view.
5.While at the repair facility I intend to dial 911 and ask the dispatcher to send a patrol car to have Eric arrested for the theft of my car, fraud and conversion. Conversion is a new one on me, but is defined as the following:

A conversion is a voluntary act by one person inconsistent with the ownership rights of another. Its criminal counterpart is not typically theft but rather criminal conversion, which differs from theft in the lack of intent to deprive the owner of possession of the property.

I will tell the patrol officer that I want Eric arrested for these charges so he can be placed in jail and post bond to be released. This will show Eric the seriousness of my position and get him into the legal system.

Should placing him under arrest not work, I will then proceed to the Sarasota courthouse and start proceedings to bring him to small claims court.

I also intend to leave on Tuesday to visit my son and his family in San Francisco for the following 10 days. This will put me home in the latter part of next week. This should give Eric more than sufficient time to complete work on my car, and will also provide the time needed for my first four steps to take effect. Should the car again not be ready on my return I will take whatever steps are necessary to have the work completed at a different repair facility.

I hope you all agree with the above course of action, but if you feel I am making a mistake or should take some other course of action, I certainly would appreciate hearing from you. I don't know that I have ever heard of such a situation before, and I certainly hope you never have to go through what I had been going through for the last several weeks.