What would you do?

This is a tough one. Unfortunately, it is mechanics like this who give a bad reputation to a great car.
Stories like this make me want to hug my mechanic (Eugenio's Ferrari Service). I trust my mechanic more than I do my doctor

 

Unfortunately your story is all too common. My best customers come from places like you describe.

 

Your question is "what would I do". I would be screaming and kicking, cleaning my weapons, contacting the Better Business Bureau, local government officials, and my attorney, blabbing his name all over the internet, picketing his establishment, threatening his children, raping his wife and dog...but then, I tend to overreact. Perhaps I'd leave his dog out of it.

 

Sorry about your bad experience. I understand your anger, and I would be too. You don't mention whether you have spoken to the shop about this.
But the real question is, what to do?
The shop probably realizes they haven't done a perfect job the first time, particularly as it applies to cosmetics.
I think a good result here would be repair of the leaking valve cover, coolant leak, and triple seals. With a detail job thrown in for good measure. None of these are major undertakings. The valve cover is maximum a $60 gasket, and maybe just needs retightening. The water leak is probably a loose hoseclamp. Replacing the triple seals is a 50-50 proposition for most mechanics. It's not unusual to have to do them twice. A detailer probably has a chemical that can remove the water spots. Write off the mileage issue as a cheap lesson.
I'm guessing that if you stifle your anger, take it back for pick-up work and treat them like businessmen who want to solve the problem, you will achieve the best result. As for having to leave the car for a while longer, the alternative is to leave it like it is. Ya gotta cave on that one, but I'll bet your attitude when you go back to them determines how long it will take. Maybe just a day or two. Real bad luck. Complain to somebody who can do something about it first. That experience will tell you a lot about how to proceed, and often will solve everything satisfactorily for all. Threats and lawyers just end up pi$$ing everybody off and delaying results.

 

Bruce is right. Suck it up, point out the bad stuff, have them fix it, and never come back again.

Then, buy a chest full of wrenches, a car lift, and start learning. $6,000 will buy you all the tools you need for a 348.

 

Wow... Bruce the voice of reason... you should have become a mediator...

 

Sorry, respectfully, but I don't think that's going to cut it Bruce. IMHO.


I think : THE WHOLE THING NEEDS TO BE DONE COMPLETELY OVER AGAIN BY SOMEONE COMPETENT.


That's what I would do. I don't think you can trust ANYTHING they did.

 

+1

been there, done that: Suck it up and outlay again or you'll be revisiting this shop more times than Pap can post on FC.

 

Bruce, I view your opinions as pure gold but how do you put the op's mind to rest for the next 3 - 5 years every time he thinks about things like belt tension, valve lash and gasket sealer worms clogging oiler holes? This is where my mind would be if my car came back like this. Respectfully.

 

Buy a chestful of tools and start learning the ways of the stooges!

 

Good question. He may decide to invest another $5k to put his mind at rest. Here's why I would do what I said.
1. Mechanically all that's stated as wrong is a leaking valve cover, a water leak, and a leaking triple seal. None of these are serious, nor are they things that the top mechanic in the shop would be assigned to do. The triple seals should have been caught, but were not, and the most skilled of mechanics have a hard time with those. As far as gasket sealer worms, that's easy. Sealer comes out equally on both sides. How does it look on the outside? Apparently no complaint there. No court is going to make the shop do the entire job over, only correct the faults. The OP could go to the expense of an "expert" to find every fault in the job, but then he's assuming that every bolt and every hose clamp is loose, which I doubt. Timing cams requires torquing bolts and careful attention. I would not put a hose clamp or valve cover nut in the same category, nor would I give it the same attention. I think they call that stuff "pick-up" work. Just me.
2. Human error is possible in all jobs. A good businessman takes responsibility for his errors, which he is going to make in the course of business occasionally. As a human, I'm going to make errors, and I always appreciate an opportunity to correct my errors, especially before a complaint is lodged to third parties. The OP stated that the shop is one well-known to us, and I doubt if they became well-known by having motors blow up due to negligence. To assume that he did everything wrong because he did one thing wrong is gonna make life really hard.
3. There was no complaint about the performance of the car, no valve noise, no popping, no farting reported.
4. I would be angry about the cosmetic condition of the car as well, and might not go back to that shop for new work, but it would not keep me from asking the shop to make things right. Was the condition of the shop such that you would expect a clean car to come out of it? Greasy floors make greasy carpet. Clean floors keep carpet clean. Why did the OP accept the car in that cosmetic condition? Was the shop owner there when it was picked up? Was it returned to the OP by towtruck? There must be more to this story.
5. Decisions made in anger usually results in war. Neither side wins those wars, only attorneys.
6. If you took your car in for a leaky valve cover, a water leak, and triple seals, would you have the cam belt replaced?
7. If you were doing the work yourself and the result was those three items, would you tear it back down and do everything over?
8. I've gotten really angry before and was glad that a friend stopped me before I did something rash.

 

I wouldn't take my car back there, if they can't do it right the first time, they don't know how to make it right.
Have someone that knows what they are doing, do it over and do it right. Not knowing if you will make it back home after a drive has got to be a 5hitty feeling.
Regarding all the marks and scufs, unacceptable on so many levels, I wouldn't know what to do about that. But I guess that's why we have attorneys
So sad this happened, sorry you have to deal with it. I hate hearing things like this. And it's shops like this that give these cars a bad reputation.
I still have not seen a CEL light in over 6 years on my 348. This car is more reliable than my 2008 E class MB was, and my 08 525, and many other cars I have had.

 

One more thought...
The mechanical issues would all be covered under the shop warranty. Now's a good time to test it. There's no reason yet to believe it's not good as gold, as apparently none of these issues have been brought to the shop's attention. Any future failure due to workmanship should show up while under that warranty. Loss of confidence in a shop's skill is not an actionable legal issue. (I'm not a lawyer, but confident that's correct). Drive it like ya stole it.

 

It's shops like these that made me learn how to work on my own vehicles.

I'd be pissed about the excessive mileage put on the car because who knows what kind of miles those were. My friend got ripped off by his own brother when he took his truck to him for an engine rebuild. Got the truck back with a bunch of leaks and running like crap. A year later, the engine blew and the mechanic who looked at it said that those were all original engine parts in there. That engine was never rebuilt.

A former friend of mine used to run a very clean, honest shop. A few years later, he admitted to me that he started lying to people about repairs, telling people they had a bad head gasket, etc. Made me sick.

There's something about auto repair that makes mechanics turn bad. Do the work yourself. You'll know exactly what kind of work was done.

 

I would never take a car back to a shop that has joy ridden the car without your permission for 350 km's.

Road tests need to happen, but 350 km's is not a road test. Your car has been taken out of the shop likely for a weekend trip. Take it back and God only knows what is going to occur.
Pete

 

I too would never let these guys touch my car again. They obviously dont know what they are doing but on the other hand neither did the owner. Ive said it a thousand times. NEVER EVER take your F-car to someone that hasnt done each model at least 5 times in the last year. These cars are easy to work on but you must have experience on them and them alone. They are not like evey other car on the road. They have their little idiosyncrasies that only an experienced wrench knows. I was at my shop today and to watch a guy work on cars he not only knows well but worked on the design of the 430 from start to finish is just amazing to watch. It didnt take long for me to find this shop but before I did I fell for another idiot that used to work for Ferrari and is now being sued for his horrendus work by 4 different people. But guess what there are still people taking their cars there and every couple of months we hear horror stories coming out of that shop.
Back to the OP, Go back to this guy and tell him that he made a shambles of your car and threaten him with a law suit and you will only back off if he returns half of your money. If he falls for it then take the money and run to a reputable shop. If he dosnt, chalk it up to a life lesson and take it to a decent shop. Forget all about that shop and one day firebomb it.

 

I think you'll find this in many professions these days...

 

Shop warranty? Who the hell wants THEIR shop warranty?
Attorney or not, I would not take my car back there. I would need to figure something else out, but def one of my options wouldn't be going back

 

I would request that they repair the items that are faulty. There is little room for error when doing a cam belt change so it seems that there is no problem there so I would ask them to correct the mistakes. I have had my clutch seals replaced once in 355 and once in 348mon T both times they were weeping and were re done so it is an each way bet, these were done by ferrari dealer service dept so I would say that it is just unfortunate in this case. as to how the car looked.. very disappointing I would have the mechanical items repaired show the owner of the business the damage that was done for his benefit and once all mechanical was fixed never go there again unless there is a change of ownership.

 

That is terrible Marc, I hope you get it resolved.

 

Your story sounds too incredible for words.

I can't understand how a reputable firm would do the things you mentioned.

I have a few questions for you:

* Why did they have your car for four months
* Why was the car left out in the elements
* Surely you checked on the car on a weekly basis, so in 16 times, surely you would have 'smelt a rat'.

Just my opinion. I feel for you, but I dont believe I would ever have allowed the situation to progress to what you experienced.

 

I agree with Bruce here. Try approaching the shop professionally first and see how they react. I usually never have anything done on any of my vehicles, but on occasion I do. I had a bad experience on a 7 series transmission rebuild once where the shop owner had a guy hired to remove the transmissions - the guy cut the wiring harness to the o2 sensor and where he spliced it back together (instead of spending 2 more minutes and disconnecting it properly) it shorted and burned the car wiring harness a couple weeks after I got the car back. Talk about ticked off!! At any rate the owner fired the guy and paid to have the BMW dealer fix the car - so you never know.. If the guy is a real prick about fixing it, you might want to take the advice of others and move on to someone else and consider that guy a bad lesson learned.