Is it safe or an ambush
Don was very helpful informing me about the local businesses and shuttering my family to and from the shop. After two weeks of staying in a mediocre hotel I was ready to go and I didn't want to be late checking out and possibly give the hotel an excuse not to return my deposit. Don arrived well before checkout time and I greatly appreciated it.
I have a tendency of being overly friendly but able to switch into business mode as needed. The five thousand one hundred dollar estimate for undercarriage work caused things to be a little more serious for me even though our past transaction went well. Five thousand dollars is a lot of money for a vehicle that actually cost five thousand dollars🥴
It's a handsome sum of money for most people in general. I left $2,000 so they could start shopping for the needed parts. If having all the undercarriage work done will help keep my van road worthy for years to come I'm all in.
But I wanted to take advantage of the one option available to me and protect my family's financial interest as well so I asked for an itemized list of parts and expenses.
Trinity texted me a short list of parts with no price. It did not reflect $5,000.
I received an email I couldn't open.
It was Friday and the shop is closed Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to obtain the list before the following week so I drove to the shop. The friendly rapor was almost non-existent.
Everyone was so busy they could barely answer a few questions. I thought maybe I should ask for my $2,000 back if I've managed to upset everyone without trying. I dropped the van off Tuesday.
Don picked up me, my son, our dog and our luggage Friday morning. My remaining balance was $2,800.
When I went outside to my van I found it running with the windows down and the a/c on. This didn't set well with me and the excuse I received about cooling the cabin didn't justify my van idling in the heat, wasting fuel and air conditioning.
I'm very familiar with petty retaliation and the many variations of retaliation a mechanic has at his disposal which is largely the reason why I drive 236 miles from Presidio Texas in search of a fair dealing mechanic.