DENNIS O’SULLIVAN
Sonny’s response to his mom’s repair bill on a vintage Honda was to tear a strip off the garage responsible for the repairs. “Hold on there, sonny-boy,” reports Dennis after examining the situation.
You appear to be the cavalry, judge and jury when it comes to helping people that have been ripped off by garages so I need your help in exposing a garage that did just that to my mother recently.
My mother, who owns a 2001 Honda, recently had problems with the car starting. She took the car to this garage and they told her that she needed a battery. Two days later, the car would not start again, this time they replaced the alternator. About three days later, she went back to that same garage to have the wiper blades replaced and while there, they sold her three new tires. This makes about twelve hundred dollars spent on a car that is worth less than one thousand dollars.
I approached the garage on this point and they ended up telling me to get off their lot.
Here we have an elderly mother of eighty-one being ripped off by a garage that in my opinion is nothing more than a shady grease pit of thieves. I hope that you will expose them for what they are. Ali from Brampton ANSWER
I think that you need to talk to your mother again and this time listen to what she is telling you. She and your late father have been using that garage for the past twenty years and after your father passed away, she continued to use that garage.
The garage has on many occasions recorded on her work orders when they did oil changes and added oil between oil changes, that the car was burning oil and that she ought to be looking for a new car. The garage even had to make the adjustments to the car when it needed to pass for the emissions test.
Your mother has told the garage that she only uses the car once or twice a week and that she was very confortable driving that car and did not want to change. When the car came in for not starting, the garage told her that the battery was nine years old and would need to be changed. At the same time, they told your mother that the alternator was not charging to its maximum but they would replace the battery for now and see if that would suffice. Again the garage wrote on her work order that the alternator was weak and suggested that she look at trading in the car. Again your mother said that she did not want to do that at that time.
When your mother went in for wiper blades, one of the technicians noticed that her left rear tire had a bulge in it and then noted to your mother that two of the other tires were cracked and weathered. The owner of the garage then told your mother that the car was not worth the price of new tires and that they would take the car off your mother’s hands and reimburse her for the cost of the battery, alternator and help her look for another car. Your mother then told the garage that she would speak to her son, which I believe or assume was you and get back to them.
Two days later, she told the garage to go ahead and replace the tires, which they did.
The garage then had a visit by you, which your mother did not attend and you, in front of customers, berated the employees and refused to look at the work orders that showed that the garage had told your mother and your late father multiple times over the years, that the car should be replaced because of the excessive oil burning. Your mother told the garage that she did not want to get rid of the car because your father had bought the car for her sixty-fifth birthday and I suppose that she did not want to let it go. Maybe when you get to your mother’s age you can understand why she wanted to keep the car.
I am told that you drove into the garage in a very expensive new car whereas you did not have to be concerned about the tires on your car but the garage was concerned about the tires on your mother’s car and they did not want your mother to be driving around in tires that were dangerous to her and others on the road.
In the meantime, be thankful for the fact that the garage was looking after your mother’s safety since that did not appear to be your main concern. QUESTION
I am asking you to please not print my name or the city because we might be in trouble for what my husband has done.
My husband has been trying to teach our son how to drive which was against my better judgment because he is not the best driver himself. While teaching my son, they were involved in an accident where they damaged a public building. The damage to the truck was far less than the damage to the building.
He is going to tell the insurance company that someone hit him and get the truck repaired under comprehensive, which has no deductible. I am telling him that he is teaching our son to lie and if they are caught, they both could have criminal records.
I am worried for our son. Can you suggest what I should do at this time? I also do not want my husband to be in trouble. What should I do? Worried mom ANSWER
You should first of all caution your husband about the fact that there might be a security camera recording of the accident where they hit a public building and that may come back to haunt them.
I cannot advise you on what to do in this case but I can advise you to immediately see a lawyer, if your husband has already reported a lie to the police and/or the insurance company just in case that there is a video recording of the accident.
Do not wait – criminal charges could already be in the works.
Dennis O’Sullivan can be reached by email at: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca or by regular mail at Box 10019 Winona, ON, L8E 5R1. Be sure to mention where you reside when writing to Dennis.