Afternoon everyone,

I recently had some work done on my 380SL to fix a subframe issue among other suspension problems. I found a mechanic via recommendations from this forum and BW. Back in May, I visited his shop in Altadena CA to get some advice. He told me he was in the middle of a move and wouldn't be able to work on the car at least until July. This was perfect because I had to do some traveling when he would be ready which worked out as I didn't need the car.

Meeting the guy, he seemed trustworthy, honest, and was well versed in the various tricks of our Mercs. Honestly, he seemed legit.

"OK, I'll touch base with you a week before my trip in July so you can work on the car."

My trip rolls around, and I drop the car off at his new garage in San Juan Capistrano. I gave him a call on the 4th of July and explained to him the order I want things done in and that I have a budget of $2000 to get the repairs finished and if we get close to or exceed that to immediately call me to because we'll need to prioritize the repairs. The order of importance was the following:

1. Reinforce front subframe and weld the gussets into place
2. Replace all rubbery bits on the front subframe
3. Replace steering components
4. Check rear suspension rubber bits
5. Replace flex discs, drive shaft, diff. mount, rebalance driveshaft
6. Check emergency brake cable and adjust.

My trip in early July goes great. Before I fly back to Los Angeles, I gave him a call to inquire about getting the car. This is where everything starts going down hill.

He told me he partially finished the work. Albeit, the easy, lower priority stuff (driveshaft, flex discs, u-joint, etc). The gusset repair and other major suspension work that I wanted done wasn't even started yet. I have a tab of $800.

"Ok, how much longer will it take?" I ask.

"It will be ready on July 15" says Mr. Mechanic

"Also, we're still below our $2000 max right now correct?" I asked.

"Yes, we're good right now" he says.

Wait around till Saturday the 15th, and this time get a text saying it won't be ready and that it probably won't be ready until the 19th. Ok I say, I wait around some more. The 19th hits and still nothing. At this point, I'm starting to get annoyed. He promises it will be ready that weekend.

It's not ready. I send him angry texts asking what's up. He says, he has done everything on the rear, the drive shaft was done, and so was the front, but he was waiting on the gussets which were coming from Germany.

"Dude, why didn't you tell me you needed those? I could have sourced it locally. Also, with all of this spare time you have have you checked the parking brake?"

Crickets

"I totally forget! I promise, i'll have it ready and aligned by Wednesday and check the parking brake."

Wednesday rolls around, "Sorry," he says, "it will be ready this Thursday. I'm having trouble with the alignment, but good news I was able to get the parking brake working with the adjustment!"


Thursday hits, and same excuse again. This time, I told him I wanted him to stop all of the work and i'm taking the car and having it towed to another mechanic. He went radio silent at this point.

Panicking thinking he sold the car for scrap and was taking me on a ride, I sent more angry messages demanding he stop work on the car and let me tow it home. Eventually I hear from him.

"Hey i'm so sorry for all of these delays, I got the alignment done and once I finish up the work on this other customer's car, i'll drive it up to you late Friday night at 11pm."

11pm hits and I get a text from him saying, "Hey man, i'm sorry I'm not coming out."

I'm incensed at this point. First for staying up late for no reason and for not warning me way ahead of time. I sent him messages saying you are to stop working on the car entirely and that i'm coming down on Saturday to take the car. The next day he sent me various pictures of the work he had done with the front subframe, control arms all out, etc. I noticed that the EXIF data on the images showed they were taken the night prior at 9pm.

I ignored his texts and got a rental car to drive down and see WTF was going on. Eventually, I got a text from him saying he was en route so I turned around.

He calls me back and says, "I'm in el monte i'll be there soon".

Finally, I get to see the car. Looks good, he drove it from San Juan Capistrano to me. I get the bill and my jaw drops, "$3300". which is WAY above my original budget. We subtract off the first $800 and a couple hundred for my rental car for a new total of $2300.

I take control of the car and he promised to send me a paypal invoice later that night.
Fast forward today, i’m pretty sure there’s an alignment problem from him taking it to a clueless shop and i’m incensed the problem isn’t fixed yet. I will most likely take it to another alignment shop nearby and not the chain he took it to.

TL;DR: Took car to mechanic for suspension repairs. Said $2k was my budget and gave him priorities to work on for other suspension stuff. Repairs took over 3 weeks and now the bill is $3300. Had him lie to me a few times about the issues and ignored me when I told him to stop working on the car.

The wife is angry because it took him for f*cking ever to get the work done and that he was way out of our established estimate for which no warning was given. Now I have to take it to another alignment shop to make sure it’s ok.

I’m at a loss right now as to what I should do. Is the amount charged above an appropriate number for a complete front end rebuild for an indy mechanic located in Socal? In case anyone asks, no written estimate was given before the work began. All work agreed on were oral agreements. I am located in Southern California. Mechanic gave me the car, but I have yet to pay the other half of the bill. It also appears that he isn't licensed with the Bureau of Automotive Repair which is a small fact I discovered today.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Don't give him any more money and get the car fixed elsewhere. Document everything as you have here and give him the document. I have no idea of the value of the work done by him. Are you sure he even did any of it?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

He did, I crawled under the car today and took a look. There was definite work done and I can see new parts, bushing, and the r107 gussets welded into place.

I'm still planning on going to a reputable shop for a health and sanity check.

My fear is a lien for unpaid work and I want to make sure I have a leg to stand on when I tell him i'm only paying for the $2k we agreed upon. It seems that working unlicensed as an auto mechanic in CA is a misdemeanor and a report to the appropriate registration office would be very bad.

For what it's worth, I met him via this site and I know he's a member.

__________________
-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

It sounds to me like he probably had some parts in it already before you went to crazy town or else he would have told you to take you car and hit the road

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With best regards

Al

Work this out privately. You have control of the car and he even delivered it. He cant put a mechanics lein on it.

Call him and discuss why he went over and why he did not inform you. Sounds like plenty of miscommunication here and assumptions made that may or may not be accurate.

Washing this laundry in public does not seem at all a productive way to resolve your beef with the mechanic.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

His Kneecaps + Ball Peen Hammer = $2300 bill