Houston Transmission Shops

Posts Tagged ‘amp’

My 1987 GMC van’s battery died 3 wks ago – due to the extreme heat here in Houston. AAA jump-started it, but said I needed to take it to a shop to have it recharged. The shop owner/mechanic, who I have gone to for several years now (thinking that he was being fair & honest with me), installed the existing battery in Dec 2010. So I took it there, expecting that he would either recharge or replace it for little or no charge. I have a vague memory of asking about the warranty terms in Dec, and being told he would provide a yr warranty, but he gave me no papers.
After he kept my van for over 2 weeks, and charged me almost 0 for additional repairs, he assured me that my van should be drivable for at least several more months. (It is old, & I’ve asked him just to do what is necessary to keep it running.)
As I started to drive away, he warned me that the gas was very low. I only got a couple blocks away before the gas ran out, with just enough to let me get into the driveway of the closest station. I had a gas can with me, so put that in to get me to the pump, and bought another worth – but the battery was dead again. He came and jump-started me, I ran errands & got more gas, but it was completely dead again the next day.
I live nearby, so he said he would come and take the van back and recharge or replace the battery. He was unable to jump it again, so took the battery out and back to his shop.
Three days later he finally informed me that it had to be replaced, and I would have to give him another because it was more than a year old, and out of the full replacement period (huh?). I had told him when I paid him before that I would not be able to squeeze any more out of my budget this month, and am now upset that he is still wanting more to fix the original problem (the dead battery) – after we had already agreed to a payment plan for the previous repairs. I told him I couldn’t understand why replacement of the battery wouldn’t have already been covered.
This is the last of several incidents (deceptions?) that I have become aware of recently – the most disturbing being the alarming condition of the interior of my van when I picked it up (things tossed around and turned over, including a very heavy port-a-potty; all behind the front seats and not positioned close enough to have needed to be moved or touched at all). His vague explanations just don’t add up.
I reminded him that I had paid him all I could this month, and that I had also already paid my other bills after paying him according to our agreement. We argued, and I finally said I would need to look into some things before I could commit to anything else.
After thinking it all over and doing further research, I decided to get my own battery, & told him he would need to return the old one to my van, along with the connectors that I discovered he had also taken. He got mad & refused to do this & hung up on me; then later said he would bring them when he could, after he closed his shop. He didn’t show or call Mon, promised again to come Tues evening, but again no show or call.
I found a battery I can have brought to me and installed through my AAA membership – but not without the old battery, and especially the connectors.
What can I do about this? This man is holding me hostage, knowing he has the things I need to get my own battery (with better warranty) elsewhere.
I am a 62yo woman on disability (fixed income), dependent on this van for shopping & Dr appts, with no one else here to ask for help – all of which he is well aware of. Any advice how I can get him to do the right thing?

DD
For the existing battery, that he installed this past Dec., he charged me .50 + labor – same as a new one would cost me now. Before then I had usually gotten my batteries on my own from Sears or Walmart, which were replaced free of charge if there was a problem within 2-3 yrs, and a small prorated amount after that, usually with no extra charge to install. This last one was the most I’ve ever paid for a battery, but it would have been hard to get back to Walmart then, and I thought it would be easier to do it all directly with the mechanic.
I am not making an issue of this just because of the . It will cost me more to get the battery elsewhere. But what is to prevent him from doing the same thing again a few months from now? And how can I be sure he actually did what I already paid for, or that it will even run with a good battery?
I wanted to get the AAA deal before, but it was usually too far into the month for me to be able to adjust to the extra expense. He is
He is only offering me a yr warranty with 3 mos full replacement. For the same price I paid him in Dec, AAA will bring me a new and better battery, with a 7 yr warranty, 3 yr full replacement; that they will come to me to replace or recharge, at no extra charge. The only thing preventing me from doing it right now, is that they can’t install it without the connectors. And it will cost me another or so if I can’t give them the old battery – to cover the "core charge" in Texas.
I think he is mad at me because he did a little fudging with the battery he sold me in Dec. And that is why it isn’t covered under the 2-3 yr full warranty, that all the auto supply shops around here offer, including the one he says mine came from – contrary to what he told me.
I do have a small hand-written receipt for the battery from Dec, along with listing of charges for other things done then. I reminded him of this when I first called him back about the battery going dead again after I drove it home the night before. I have a similar itemized receipts for each of the times he has done work on the van, including this last 0 job.
I just don’t have a written warranty for the battery that I asked him for in Dec. I asked him again to provide it to me before I told him to bring the old battery back. He said he couldn’t give me one, that it was just what his shop offers.
I always ask for estimates, paperwork, written warranties, etc., but he has become increasingly less responsive to such requests since he remarried a few years ago – often ignoring things I have asked him to check out, and forcing me to play phone chase with him to get an update on what is happening – not returning my calls for hours or even days.
And now he has eliminated any me
And now he has eliminated any means of leaving him messages, and only answers his phone occassionally. When I ask him to call me when he is ready or knows something, he finds excuses not to, or agrees to do things without ever doing them.
It’s not like I am forcing my business on him. Things are very slow for him in this economy, and he has always seemed happy to have more business.
This is an older poorer neighborhood. I have let some of these things go in the past, since it has been so hard to find someone I could trust and get to, and who would let me work out a payment plan for large amounts. But I have also always been very open and honest and precise with him. And I have always kept my word and paid what I owed him. He knew my checks were good – something he can’t count on with a lot of his customers.

I hit the fron bumper of a 95 IZUZU SUV going about 15 miles/hour. Neither the owner nor do I know of a cheap auto body repair shop. The metal portion of the bumper is bent slightly & the plastic portion of the bumper is cracked 3 inches. We’ve gone to 3 shops in Southwest Houston and they all told us the ENTIRE bumper needs to be replaced and cant be repaired because the metal is bent. They gave us estimates around 0.00, which I can’t afford. And I had an altercation with my father and he took me off his insurance 5 days before the accident so I no longer have insurance to pay. So, can anyone tell me where to find a reliable, honest, but cheap auto body repair shop in Houston?

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