Manager Forum

Hi. I've recently had a customer come in for a tire repair on this truck. The wheel was taken off, the tire patched and placed back on vehicle. Two weeks later he came back and said that a tech turned the wheel with the engine off, causing the hydroboost unit to be severely damaged.

I've never heard of such before? Any one else hear of that?

Never seen anything like that before. I have had bunch of fords that when you turn the wheel with it not running it will make the steering jerky and hard for a few turns. But never in over 25 years have I seen it hurt a hydroboost.

I been in this business since the middle 60s and have not heard of that. Not saying it posalutely couldn't happen but it is strange. I would almost argue that it couldn't happen. But then again in this business we have come to expect the unexpected.

i had one come back and claim that when i added air to her tires i must have bumped into her exhaust causing it to fall off on the highway. can you see the absurdity in this statement? it's no more than your post. there are people out there that look for reasons to hold others accountable. point out that the pumps in these beauties self destruct or maybe you'll find that he had work done on the hydro system at another shop and they're using the turning the wheel with truck off to bounce any responsibility. what would i do? i really can't say. is this person a customer or just someone that came in for a flat repair. do you think he really believes that what you did caused the issue or wants something for nothing. the only thing that you could have caused is fluid pushing out of the vent hole in the cap. the other thing is that turning the wheel side to side on one of these is difficult and if only one wheel is jacked up king kong would pop a nut turning the wheel. i think that your being targeted. what did i do about the exhaust? i installed a new one and didn't charge labor. person was happy and i put a couple of hundred bucks in my pocket. if this person is looking for a break maybe it's prudent to give him one. but depending on my mood i could go either way and if i'm is a particularly bad mood he may get verbally escorted to the property line...........

i would have asked where were the cameras? this must be candid camera.

well, come on, don't leave us hanging here. i just love a good "it's your fault story". i wish i could point to it here in the forum but i believe i had the grand daddy of them all. a customer accused me of taking a V8 out of his mustang and installing a 6.

Oh yes. One a them intelligent ones. Ya gotta love those kind.

Hahaha thats the best ive heard. I read something like that back when the mustangs started coming out and were available for rent at hertz or some such. They say people used to rent the v8 models and swap the motors with the v outta theirs. was on tv once... maybe some one had idea...?
This guy who made above claim came in the other day acting like nothing happened.. and his buddys "shop" who said we damged the hydroboost cant be found in phonebook, online, anything... Im not worryed about it.

"they say".......mmmmmmm, let's just say that it was a shelby mustang and the engines were swapped for stock mustang engines. or so i've heard. i had a person come in a few years ago wanting a modified exhaust made for his shelby. there were a few minor differences between the shebly's. one of them was the wheel, especially the center cap. i asked him if it was the stock engine since it was a shelby built for hertz. he had no idea what i was talking about and asked me if i could tell. didn't want to pop his puffy so i said that i couldn't. my particular issue with the mustang was he had two, a his and hers. both blue, one had a v8 the other a straight 6. well the guy got along in years and his wife passed away. his car had a catastrophic failure and he started driving his wifes. he had been driving it for a few years and suddenly after i changed the oil he called and claimed i stole his 8 and installed a 6. i explained to him that his car had thrown a rod a few years ago and he junked it and started driving the other. he was real upset, angry and mean. started threatening me with lawyers and violence. i called his son and explained what was happening. he wanted nothing to do with his father. i spoke with the sons wife and she explained that the father pretty much felt the same way about him. it started getting pretty wild so i called the son again and explained that i would seek police intervention and press charges against the father. my legal advisor said that if it did go to court i would have to prove and it would coat a few bucks to hire a lawyer and i'd have no real way of recovering my losses. i called the sons wife and explained that i had decided to press charges and prove her father in law wasn't capable of making prudent decisions and was a danger. if the court agreed with me and had him put in a home that all his property would be seized and any thought of getting anything would be lost. mr whyte's family was among the first settlers in the town and he held title to a lot of land that was prime for development. a few weeks later i received a certified letter from a lawyer explaining that no further action would be taken by mr whyte. i sent a certified letter back stating i wanted a notarized letter for my aggravation and out of pocket losses. i got both. i got the letter and 200 bucks. back then 200 bucks was more than enough. just starting a family and this kept my daughter in diapers for a while. funny thing, we just had an enguagement party for her last night. i just love when things get put into this type of perspective.