I did ,and it makes me very grateful that I can fix my own cars.
I know being an auto mechanic isn't an easy job and it's back breaking and very tough and thankless.
The new electronics on newer cars baffle even the most resourceful and smart professionals. And if you are a true craftsman, people will still treat you badly. I've seen my friend, who is a MB indy, get treated ontemptuously and rudely by customers who dont know how hard his job is. I've seen some customers bear down on him and ask him lengthy rude and nasty questions about their bill.
Anyway the guilty party in this story wasnt the mechanic; it was the shop manager.
Once on a Saturday afternoon I went to get some machine shop work done. I wandered into the attached next door repair shop and sat there dumbfounded as I witnessed a Sting operation where gullible people brought their car in for simple work and ended up with huge estimates and bills.
Worse ,they agreed to have the work done.
The Sting was simple enough, someone with something small like worn brake pads came in, had their car put up on the hoist and a fifteen minutes later every slight defect that you could find on the car was written up as a safety threatening issue on the service ticket. Five of the six victims were women. It all happened in the 45 minutes i was there.
I know it was a sting for a good reason. I recognized the shop manager instantly from ten years ago, where he had stung me as a teenager for front end work. One lady got written up for worn steering boots and new tie rods for $380 bucks. The manager told her that if she didn't do it immediately her car would be a disaster. She was pretty and she whistled a sigh of relief and gratitude that the manager had saved her from disaster.
Another lady needed all new belts for $230 despite coming in for something much simpler. Apparently they would fail that day if she didnt get them fixed. Others had similar high ticket items. I don't doubt that some of the cars did have those problems, but I know what the manager was doing. On every car that came in, he was looking for extra easy work with high profit that he could move quickly. None of the customers seemed very knowledgable about cars.
I didnt say anything to anyone. I made eye contact with some of them hoping they could read my mind, but in the end I left quietly. To this day,I hate to have someone work on my car. I know many pros out there are great and much better than me and I have often called them for advice and paid them back with favors. But that sting makes an impression on my Mind.

An outfit opened here a few years ago named "The Brake Shop". Needless to say, they were to be the Jiffy Lube of brake service. They advertise a complete brake job on one axle for $39.95. Of course, this is only pads or shoes. It is designed to draw customers in droves. It is explained that any additional parts will be at added cost.

So, I go there for oil changes (years before I owned a M/B). Figured that they could change the oil on a Ford fairly easily. The cost was very reasonable ($16.95 IIRC). I would call them and make sure that they could take the vehicle immediately because I had no way to drop it off.

So, I go down and while waiting for them to take it in, I overhear the manager talking to a woman on the phone regarding the brake job. It seems that the $39.95 special has now morphed into a $430.00 job becasue the rotors are NG and the hoses need to be replaced, and the hardware holding the pads needs to be replaced. She absolutely has to do these parts because the safety of the vehicle is at stake and he knows that she does not want to be driving around with unsafe brakes, that is for sure.

After 10 minutes of kind explanation and cajoling, she agrees to have the work done and he assures her that it is the right thing to do and that the vehicle will be ready that afternoon.

They began to jerk me around on the oil changes eventually. Seems like they did not want to provide the oil changes to me at that price anymore because I never did any brake work. So, they would tell me to come in right away and then make me wait for an hour.

They are out of business now.

Most times I know the procedure they are performing and what it is all about. Then when they make a recommendation, I make them justify what they are doing first. Also, I usually bring in my own parts. When they work on it, I am about 10 feet away from them or I take it elsewhere.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Who among us us has not been screwed by one or more of the above?

There isn't enough space to tell of all the fraud and ineptitude I've seen over the years from franchise shops, dealerships, and independants. I would take a guess and say that 50% of service shops are involved to some degree in some form of deception. Probably higher. Pretty sad.

Sure gives the honest ones a tough time. Same is true for cops and lawyers. Good ones, bad ones. All get stuck with the stigma.

I have to disagree that being a mechanic is hard, back breaking, or thankless work. Most of us are well paid, we have learned to work "smart" and safe, and we use the proper equipment for the job. Those of us that certify and keep up to date through continuing education can work anywhere we want.

Show me the mechanic that uses the scanner and DSO. He probably makes more money, with less actual work, than any normal cop or lawyer.

I don't think there is an easy answer but I notice that mechanics have been getting jail time and huge fines for smog related fraud. I think that should extend to all deceptive tactics that lead to consumer fraud.

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You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

I have been stung before at the local MB dealership - never again. I have also witnessed this. Just this weekend I put a block heater in my car (NEVER AGAIN, thank you!) and the motor mounts that supposedly were replaced two years ago were never replaced - I suspected as much after they "replaced" the plugs and wires when I bought the car. They got me because I just purchased the car there and 2 weeks after it was missing horribly. I took it in for them to work on, thinking it was something horrible like a blown engine, and was relieved to find out it was just the previous items which were not covered by warranty. They agreed to do this 50/50 because they had just "serviced" the vehicle. Keep in mind this was when I was "mechanically illiterate". They cleaned the spark plugs, did not replace the wires, and, evidently, did not change the motor mounts.
I also have seen them "take" a well known dr.'s wife who owns a '97 s600. She came in for a routine service. I was there for warranty work or would not have been - you can be sure of that. She drops the car off, leaves for lunch, and comes back two hours later. Her car was never moved but she was charged big $$$ for the work. I actually stopped her and told her to examine the way her car was parked and the seat position. She realized that it had not been moved and went to the service mgr. He gave her the lame excuse that it was an oversite and that he would do it immediately. I told her she should insist on watching at least part of the work being done on the car.

Once my wife (then fiance) was stung by a Midas shop. I returned the next morning first thing armed with a vernier, the used parts and knowledge. I stung them right back.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.