One of the first things my old Toyota mechanic told me when I started using him was... "Things break, this car is ten years old and some or these bolts haven’t been turned since they were installed at the factory, I will be careful, but I'm not promising anything." He was a good guy. Honest and fair but he made mistakes.
We all make mistakes at our jobs no matter what we do. Sometimes our customers know about our mistakes and sometimes they don't. Sometimes they are reimbursed for our mistakes and sometimes they aren’t. There is a big difference between a crankcase filled with ATF and "they still can't figure out what’s wrong with my car".
A lot of people think they are paying to fix a stall in there car but that’s not what gets fixed. The "something" that needs fixed is the cause of the stall and unless that "something" is crystal clear (on fire...) the request is actually "please investigate, in the order you as a professional know to be the best, the possible causes of my symptom". A lot of service people know this and know that their clients do not the good ones take a minute to convey the nature of the service they are offering to the client in advance so there is no misunderstanding about the possible outcomes and costs. Lots of them don’t have direct access to the client or are too busy to take the time to communicate this clearly. In a way it is contrary to the making of the money. The best way to make a sale is not to say up front that this might cost $1,000.00+ and not fix anything. But it is essential to good customer service.
Ask me how I know. I have learned the hard way the past 15 years running a courier service in Pittsburgh. When I started out in this business I thought I knew my job better than my former bosses. I know now that I have more to learn than I ever thought possible back in those days, and I know a lot more now than I did then. Customers want to believe that you can do a job for a lower price and faster then their expectations. But if that’s not going to happen, or even if there is a possibility that’s not going to happen, they want to know it in advance of booking the job what the worst case scenario might be. Its not always easy to come right out and say just how badly something I do for a living might come out in the end. But it’s 10 times better than the alternative... Honesty and truth buy a thousand pardons in failure.
P.S If my car was butchered by the stereo guys like that I'd be pissed off to.

__________________
-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14