I need opinions.

lockedup5

lockedup5

overcompensating underachiever
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Location
Burke County (Hildebran)
A guy dropped off his riding mower at my garage to get me to work on it and I wasn't home so I never met him. He found out through another customer of mine that I did stuff like that. Anyway I did a complete service(oil, filters, blades and all) plus I had to rebrad the throttle actuator on the carb cause it worked lose. Let me say this thing was a real piece:poop:. It had all kinda viberations and noises in it before I started on it. Well I got it all back together and was out mowing a little to see if I could figure out what was wrong with the deck and all of a sudden it started knocking and before I could get it cut off BOOM! :confused:the damn counter balance came flying out of the rear of the motor along w/ the oil and half the crank case housing. I know I did nothing wrong working on it. I even double checked the oil before I tested it out. The question is who is liable for the motor? Should I have to replace the motor or just tell him it would have lost the counter balance sooner or later? Just so happens it lost it w/ me driving it that is how I'm in this situation. The owner won't return my calls so I haven't got a chance to explain what happened So I wanted to ask you guys what your opinion was.

I'm going to be w/o a computer a couple of days so speak your mind and I'll have the comp back in a a few days. Thanks for the input.
 
The owner prob. knew someting was wrong with it like that before he dropped it off.

Years of abuse and poor maintenance, thats not your liability. Just because it happened at your place doesn't mean its your fault. Customer is still liable. However, I'm sure he'll be super upset at the situation. In things like this, unless the customer is really understanding, its a lose/lose sitation you are in.

Other who have their own shops may have more input on the issue
 
I would tell him honestly what happened. With the condition it was in you shouldn't be liable for the engine, and should have printed repair tickets stating so be signed before work is started. If he seems like someone that will be pushing a ragged mower in your door to have it fixed three times a season it may be a wise investment to help with the locating of a good deal, be it new or used on a motor. I've given at cost deals on things that turned up while road testing after a repair or mod that were totally unrelated and kept repeat customers coming back that way. Some will try to take advantage of you like this though, so it's a good idea to test as much as possible before doing any repair.
 
that kind of crap happens all the time in my line of work. There is one printer that is notorius for popping a power supply error every time a screw is turned.

Its nothing we did....but now the power supply is shot. of course it worked when the customer brought it in.

Like stated above, feel him out. hopefully he will be an understanding customer and you can work out something like paying cost and a discounted labor rate on the repair.

If he is an asshole about it......chances are you werent gonna please him anyway and is not a customer you can keep happy. We have had to tell that to customers before too. "i cant make you a happy customer, i think it's in both of our best intrest that we no longer do business together". sure...your gonna be bad mouthed but lets just hope you have a good enough reputation in the community that a few bad people dont put you under.
 
How did you know he wanted all the work done on it if you never met him? I'm confused..

This is gonna be a tricky one.. I think your best defense is that you were operating it within normal usage spec, BUT... if it wasn't rod knocking when you first did the servicing, he could have an arguement (valid or otherwise) that you ran it with a low oil level or something similar...

Gonna be a tough one if he turns into a dick.
 
The guy SHOULD be understanding, he knew what kind of condition the mower was in when he dropped it off. Stand your ground unless you have a "you cry we buy" policy. Mechanical things break, doesnt mean you caused it.
 
Rich said:
How did you know he wanted all the work done on it if you never met him? I'm confused..
This is gonna be a tricky one.. I think your best defense is that you were operating it within normal usage spec, BUT... if it wasn't rod knocking when you first did the servicing, he could have an arguement (valid or otherwise) that you ran it with a low oil level or something similar...
Gonna be a tough one if he turns into a dick.
Click to expand...
He found out I did this stuff on the side through another customer of mine. And we just talked on the phone after they dropped it off while I wasn't at home.

I talked to him on the phone today and was sorta understanding but we'll see when he comes to pick it up.
 
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