Ever been ripped off by a car place?

Not so much as "getting what you pay for". You know you ask for your gearbox linkages honing, shimming, adjusting, etc. and you are surprised when you only pay a fiver for this service (it was a long time ago) only to discover what they actually did was bung a couple of larger cotter pins to take up the worst of the slack. And that the linkage still balks on "power shifts"

Thats the biggest example I can think of but I have often found I'm prepared to pay for the right job doing and doing right but the car-place seems to know better, charges you a cheap price and does a cheap job.

Went to college with a guy who worked in a place that reconditioned engines, gearboxes, alternators and stuff.
One of his jobs was to 'recon' steering racks. This involved removing the steering rack gaitors and hammering the ball end of the tie rods to tighten up the play in them! Quick blast of black paint and Tadaa! reconditioned steering rack!

only recently i lifted the carpet in my saff to see what grot lied under there and get it seen to! So i booked it in at a garage, to have it cut away (4 bits) and new metal welded in. Didnt need to be neat, it was under the carpet! but DID need to be a good job. 3 day's worth of work became 2 weeks, they missed a bit (which they did a few days later) but over all i suspect the job is shonk and is bits of thin, poor quality metal welded over the grot

The worse one that angers me to this day was when i had the front of my fiesta re-built. To make it worse i'd saved for AGES (as a student) to get it done! Really looked fwd to getting it back, on collection day the work was seriously sub standard! Pannel gaps u can walk though, reacted paint when they'd tried to blend etc etc, I also asked for genuine ford pannels, i didnt get those. He then tells me on collection "I don't normally do fords, they weld together, i like vauxhalls, they bolt". If only he'd had said before he wasnt confident enough to do it, i'd have gone else where! I just paid, and left. Some months later he went out of business, no wonder there.

Another was the AA service center in cannock didnt seem able to set the ignition timing on a 1988 Fiesta, 5 times it went back, it kept slipping out, they wanted to fit a new dizzy unit. Local garage laughed at their work, said they needed to learn how to tighten bolts up with muscles and spanners and sometimes forget what the manual says about "recomdeded torque" never shifted again after that!

bought a "freshly restored" vw bug,my dad ran a car bodyshop but was away on holiday and couldnt see it with me
paid extra to have it lowered too
saw the lovely metallic paint and bought it,even though my dad said not to as it was freshly undersealed
picked it up,it drove like dog,been lowered but tracking was miles out,they also managed to split the ball joint rubbers
after 3 months bubbles started appearing,found a hole inside the headlight bowl the size of a apple,thought then..hmmm bolt on wing shouldnt that have been replaced
puncture on the M1 going to santa pod,found the jacking point moved away from the floor but the car didnt move,had to get 3 of us to lift the back end
yikes
spoke to the garage apparently they were selling on behalf of a customer and washed their hands of it
sold it pronto!

well I was only 18 so you live and learn

Saved for a pretty long time to get some bodywork done on my cortina. She came back with massive panel gaps, nothing aligned at all shonky quality welding including self tappers welded onto the wings where they hadn't been removed after the wings being lined up (if you could call it that) areas of work simply not done that I'd paid to be cut out and fresh metal welded in. Thats what I get for using a mates garage I suppose.

I haven't really been ripped off, but only because my family know about cars and refuse to get unnecessary items replaced when the workshop quotes for them. We have a 1990 Nissan Pintara TR.X which we've owned since new. When we moved to Adelaide, we took it to the same major dealer for about 10 years, who were always really good, but then the workshop changed ownership.

The work done from then on wasn't as good, and they started to make outrageous advisories, like quoting $1250 for a new power steering rack because the old one was "weeping" fluid. Must be a pretty slow leak, as we checked the fluid regularly for the next year with almost no change in fluid level, and no need to top it up. I think they might have mis-interpreted some road grime on the underside of a near 20-year-old car. Other items quoted which were fine include rear wheel bearings (sealed items at $400 a side) and various things. The workshop it goes to now does good enough work, but they're a bit slack at leaving things like old hose clamps and even sockets in the cowl panel under the wipers.

On my Beetle, I tried to get a wheel alignment done (no other purchase) from a major tyre shop. I told them what car it was when I booked it in, and they said they could handle it. When I got there, they tried their best, but clearly didn't know one end of the car from the other. Couldn't find the steering box to adjust it as I requested, and the only thing they fixed was toe in/out, all other settings were left as is. They tried really hard though, worked on it for 2 hours and only charged me $30, so I can't complain.

in 2004 the ignition light came on in the panda, so rather than drive home in 'limp' mode i stopped the car and called out the AA, they towed me to a local renowned garage, they said they would have a quick look at the wiring and call me later in the day, sadly all they did was check the connections and charge me £264 . The light on the panda came on again a couple of weeks later, and i found out it had been the lambda sensor, so £35 and a 2 minute job to fit.

I never entrust a Garage to do any of my work, I hate to say this as its kinda tar'ing people with the same brush, but just think about 90% of the people who did motor vehicle studies when you were at school... thats why!


*edit* i really do hate saying that, i'm aware there are a few gems out there

First time was a fiasco - bought a BGT, the garage that had sold it had left it standing too long so the rope seal disintegrated gradually as I drove. Eventually it was complete clutch slip as the oil got through. By then I was 270+miles away visiting parents. While arguing the point with the garage - I left it with a recommended place nearby. I came back to a large bill (original seller agreed to pay most of it) and drove off - back south. Engine detonated 2weeks later. On stripping I found the tensioner was mullered, the head hadn't been torqued down (why had he removed it?) and various leaks etc... the clutch had been doused in fuel and burned - to remove most of the oil, not new as paid for. On my return to Sunderland I found he was out of business, turns out I'd walked in just as he was facing he bailiffs - luckily got my car out before everything was impounded.

Second - 'rebuilt' Triumph - it had been done for some old guy a couple of years before I got it - you can see the fibreglass construction and 2inch thick filler doorstops in the build thread.

Lastly was the GF - Suzuki heap o cr*p needed TuV. She left it with them and was told they'd take a look. Family friends (yeah right) - car came back TuV'd - with a €1400 bill! Car was worth less than half that. I went mental - then both the Suzuki and her pops Vitara broke down (hers terminal) within a week/10 days - both due to their inept workmanship. I went in there that weekend and am now banned from the premises.......