Exactly. Nearly everyone on this forum knows the consequences of a broken timing belt as we know about cars. But the majority of the public don't know what a timing belt is, not to mention the consequences of a broken belt. When you say 'timing belt' most think, of the fan belt as all that registers in their mind is 'belt'.

She probably thought to herself; "Boy they want a lot of money to replace a belt...I'll just wait till it breaks before replacing it, no big deal."

So when it broke, and cause all that damage, she was shocked and upset because those guys (shop. Professions) knew about this ticking time bomb (suggested it to be replaced 3 times!, so that proves they knew) but didn't let her know WHY it had to be replace and the CONSEQUENCES of the belt breaking.

If the service manager told her specifically the consequences (severe engine damage) and the likeliness of a timing belt breaking (need to replace at 50K miles, very important) and then she still refused to have it replaced, then it's her own fault. As a shop owner, you'll need to put on the records that the customer was fully informed of the probable consequences of refusing the recomended repair.

MarkC