NickGleeson

Taffy,

Would you like me to look after your businesses finances?
Hehe,

steve

Unfortunately this sort of story is not uncommon. The one time I decided to take my car to Canberra for a major service to get a dealer stamp in the warranty book resulted in missing parts, parts not correctly replaced, overfilled sumps and wrong spec oils used. Cost $400, then I had to redo it all, and all I got was abused for spotting the problems and a tirade about the quality of apprentices these days. When it calmed down a bit, I got a commitment that they'd 'look after me next time'. Fat chance!

Servicing modern vehicles is straightforward and if you keep a log of all consumables, I keep box ends off filters etc, and a detailed log book, you would have a chance in court with a big blow up, but it'll be painful. I have a friend locally who stamps all my warranty log books for me, because he knows I do it right.

Think about when you were at school. Who ended up as a mechanic? Were they all at the top of the class?

I think the basic problem is that societaly we don’t value mechanics enough, they don’t get paid enough, and we get what we pay for.

Hope its OK Nick.

Steve

bushmechanic

most of em are earining $20/hr while the shop is charging them out at $77

we expect $77/hr work quality and we often get $20 ........ whose fault is that? shop management pockets the extra money, sue the buggers !

Bushie

jusso

oh steve, your entering into dangerous territory!! hahahaha what your sayin is mechanics arent the brightest sparks? you are right though! im a mechanic and by no means was i at the bottom far from it 3 unit maths and physics, but alot of the time "dads mate owns a mechanics/monkey chop shop" "he'll give me a start cause school sux" so you get guys that are there because it was an easy way out at the time and know nothing else, not that some of them know this either! i went to tafe with guys i wouldnt let work on my billy kart! you need to find the other type mechanics the ones who truely love the job and arent happy spinning filters on old mates bike or car but love to have the biggest head root of a problem they can find to try and work out! and to make things bigger and better! i'm not sayin im any better than joe blow down the street but yes thats why i do it! although bushmechanic has a point he is right if your the first type i speak of, if a mechanic is the second he can choose his price i know the guys i work with and yes myself included not to sound cocky but the jobs are there on offer all to often for the keen and willing, we dont leave the pillow for double the amount he speaks of, and its on offer we dont have to push for it
in short you have to find the guy who loves his job not the one who done it to leave school early and just remember one bad experience doesnt make us all dodgy!

NickGleeson

Jusso,

My best mates at school and still are mechs. They are bloody good at there jobs and run there own businesses or contract. One is a heavy diesel mechanic for CAT, and highly sort after. Like Steve said, these boys weren't the brightest sparks when it came to books and such, but give em a practical hands on task and you wouldn't care if the couldn't prove 1 existed or recite the periodic table.

Jusso is right on the money though, these guys love the challenge of the job and aren't in it soley for a pay cheque like I suspect some are. Unfortunatly it only takes a handful of crap mechanics to cause society to tar them all with the same brush.

bushmechanic

hey jusso sorry I'm a mechanic some of the time, diesels mostly but I'll work on bergs for free

I thought I was having a go at bike shop managers... ahm don't mean to point fingers at mechanics in general. one of my freinds is a $20/hr bike mechanic he does it because he loves it and spends a lot of time fixing up other mechanics cock ups.

I have done the finger pointing thing about a twice cocked up berg engine and the manager of that particular shop wants to rub me lil head in the dirt

he reckons the end float being 0.7mm out (- 0.1mm end float) was allright and im being too fussy 0.7 ? ffs he said thats not even a bees dick. and the cranks runout out by 0.2, 0.2 he prolly thinks thats 2 thou . wouldn't happen on a honda..thumping chest . well i dunno if dem hondas is dat good I reckon a shopping trolly wheel might have a meltdown if it was set up that badly

what can we do? viagra eye drops and a mirror in the post maybe ?

cheers
Bushie

jusso

hahaha na man im just pullin the piss hahahahaha im a diesel mechanic as well and those tolerances are bullshit!! especialy the run out!

bushmechanic

worst I have seen is 5mm no BS

it was my YZ80 crank big end replaced at local bike shop about 20 years ago

see where it all started

awilksch

Dead right Jusso ans Bushie, my old man has had a dude orking for him in the last few days, he worked at a crash repairer here before going back to the mainland to work (dunno why he is back here) but my old man was raving stoked about this guy, just initiative, thoroughness and an eye for diagnosis, he reckoned that if hed'd picked him up 10 yrs ago, he would ave given him the business by now - that's the sort of person that should be in a berg service agent!

withouth thouroughness and an eye for detail (pride in ones work) it doesent matter if you are working on a frigging winch or a DOHC engine, the work will be shyte.

and i know the story over the $$$ issue, i havent bothered to take over the old mans business, it could sell this coming week or so - and i hope it does, cos he's devoted two thirds of his life to 'doing it right', and should start to enjoy the fruits of his labour now before he doesent have the chance.

i can do all that the average guy can do - dont mistake my hesitation 'till i have the facts as lack of knowledge, but who wants to take on a business when all of your livelihood / stayin afloat is based on wether or not you get paid or if the debt collectors can recoup the money from a shonk! my 'desk job' keeps my family on a good wicket.

'spose in summary, you need to seek out the good ones, and support the hell out of them, because you can rely, they are honest, and they do it because they love bergs.

Azza.

steve

Yep, lots of good mechanics out there, you've just got to find them, and then look after them. I've got heps more war stories of dodgy ones too though, buyer beware. There are also heaps of other sad stories involving tradesmen and professionals. As it happens, I'm off to a funeral today that mighn't have been necessary yet if the system worked better.