Just a rant about Service

Who is the dealer?

 

Make sure you let the service manager know. He can track down who serviced it and hopefully talk to the employee.

 

A lot of people cut corners in life, mechanics are no exception. Sadly good workmanship and work ethic are becoming increasingly harder to come by, especially with this next generation. What ever happened to taking pride in your work?

 

Welcome to Earth. Your experiences aren't unusual.

 

Yep he even got the awesome opportunity to pay for that **** service.

 

That's one reason I got INTO the industry. I started my own shop so I could KNOW my cars are serviced/repaired/maintained correctly. Tired of getting screwed by everyone else!

First it was me doing my own work. Spent several years doing that for my own race bikes. Then when I bought a Porsche, started fixing the repairs where the dealership failed. Over the years, I befriended several mechanics who would guide me and offer advice in my efforts, not to mention the occasional 'emergency' call.

Finally I had a bunch of cars and missed an entire season of driving doing nothing but service and repairs - on my own cars. That's when one of my most trusted references stopped by to help after work. He was unhappy with his employer and I had missed an entire season of driving while owning several amazing cars.

The rest is history. We are completing the move to our new facility, next week. Specializing in European performance, race, and exotic cars, here in Houston.

Turns out doing HONEST business sets us apart in this industry. Go figure!

 

Here is the dilemma.

if the mechanic has spent 30 minutes looking for couple of speed nuts, and the M6 x 1 bolts whose heads were ground off by you, he would have to charge you $75 for them. And then the other rant we will hear about is ... how can I be charged $75 for M6 bolts?

Of if he happens to have them, and swaps them in, and rolls the whole thing under a category called shop supplies, at $50. Then we will be hearing about "gee, what is this shop supply stuff for $50?"

You have to pick your poison, sometimes.

 

Just don't let anyone know you worked on the car yourself, cause it will "diminish" it's "value" by not being serviced by a Ferrari tech, because as you can see Ferrari Techs are perfect at what they do.

 

Lmao! That was my same opinion, many threads ago regarding a cars value, especially not being serviced at the dealer. Seems you can't win for losing as far as maintenance. You save $$ and do the job right yourself (if competent), but take the loss when selling maybe. Or, pay big dollars for crappy service, and recoup from a buyer that looks for service receipts.
I prefer doing it myself, right the first time and know my car is safe on the road.
Tough choices we make!

 

Not surprised in the least. The guys are largely careless jackasses who must be monitored. Like children. I saw one completely ignore the service instructions on our office CC Maserati oil change. Over fill it. While I watched. When it was lowered off the rack, it was over filled. As I told him it would be. So I had the pleasure of watching him jack it up again and drain it. What a jackass. I guess the fact that we discussed the procedure before hand with specifity just wasn't enough.

 

Maybe... but it's definitely a good start!

 

Ten years ago I went to an official Ferrari dealer to look at an F-car. When we started the pre-purchase inspection, I watched the "technician" prepare to lift the vehicle; and as the lifting arms went up, I watched him crack a rocker panel right in front of me. (I did not purchase the car.)

This was before I knew what the heck I was doing - or I would have intervened and placed the lifting arms myself, armed with my junior league hockey pucks.

Since that incident nothing surprises me. The "old school" guys are disappearing and the work ethic and personal sense of pride in this artistic form of work are disappearing along with them.

I fear for our F-car service lives ten, twenty years down the road.

Hello Clyde!

 

SStb that's horrifying!

txitalia, I am slowly considering following my dad (Happy Father's Day) and a brother back into the world of engineering and maintenance. I am currently in the world of education and public libraries. Maybe my sense of "pride of workmanship" is warped by too much cable tv and infotainment shows? Velocity channel is my favorite of course. Are all the good mechanics now on tv and otherwise occupied? Some of them aren't so good and make good reality tv and comic relief but many give me the impression that passion and commitment still exist. Maybe I have it and could apply it with the right people around me? I recently talked to a tech I know at the local dealer and said how much I love this stuff. He replied he did too and that's why he worked there. One of the porters is retired and grew up in the neighborhood where I live. He drives a Maserati QP all day around the region and sometimes drives the customer's cars more than they do! Ah well, I still have to pay for all of this and my two masters degrees are not in engineering or maintenance I still wonder about IT and network management. That's a little closer. I just checked my rear brakes and added crc quiet and lube to the pads. Going to test them tonight. Poisquiet low dust ceramics on order but might not make it by the Consorso in CT next weekend. An alternate set of yellow calipers and cross drilled rotors maybe next year

 

If you can do it yourself that is the better option . The way the techs at dealers are paid is what , many times leads to what the op described. They bid a job , lets say it is 5 hours of book time , the tech can bid the job at 4 , and if he gets it done in one hour , he will get paid for the four hours , and be able to move on to the next job . If you cant do it yourself find a trustful independant , and i would not consider the car with dealer service records to be worth more , in my book itvwould becworth less


1994 ferrari 348 spider , third owner purchased may 2013 w/ 27804 miles