Very disappointed…read more
We thought we had found an honest mechanic in Greg. I'm sorry to say we were sorely disappointed. We came to Greg with an old car with some significant issues that we weren't sure would be worth repairing. We paid for an inspection that Greg told me would be very thorough - I was under the impression that this meant the whole car would be inspected and thus any repair suggestions he made thereafter would result in the car being safe and roadworthy. After the inspection and quote for repairs, I convinced my girlfriend to go ahead with the $1800 service because I trusted Greg, he seemed very honest and upfront about the work he was about to do.
Less than a month later, coming back from Vancouver something strange happened to the steering. It felt a bit like we were 'floating' sometimes when we turned. We knew the tires were old, so we assumed that this was due to bald tires. We slowed down and drove very carefully. Back in Courtenay the next day, my partner's dad looked under the car and saw that an integral part of the rear axle had broken (see pictures). Thinking back to the night before, I was extremely upset that my girlfriend and I could have been in a serious accident, and assumed that this issue must have, or should have, been spotted when the car was at Greg's shop.
We went to see Greg that day. He looked underneath and then told us that he had informed us of this issue/concern. Both my girlfriend and I are certain we were never told about a condition of rust that could result in such a break in a few weeks time... I immediately started to get upset that he would lie directly to our faces to avoid any responsibility. As we pressed him further and denied that he ever told us about this, he became more vague, saying that 'we had talked about how old the car was and that it had rust on it'... Again, we have no memory of him even mentioning rust... I got very angry that he would keep denying responsibility when, in my mind, it was a question of our safety (perhaps lives even) versus $1800, an insignificant sum in the long run. I blew up at Greg and left, and my girlfriend and her dad left shortly after.
Later that day, we got a call from someone from his garage, I am assuming a mechanic. He told us that they had never had the car raised up and so had not seen the extent of the rust on the undercarriage...
So, either Greg had known that his team had seen the rust under the car and thought he had told us about it, (or, as I think more likely, lied about having told us about it) and then decided that the best way to avoid any responsibility would be to have his mechanic tell us they had never seen the rust at all..
Or, they had actually never seen the rust in the first place and Greg had decided to come out and immediately tell us that they HAD seen it and had informed us of the situation...
Either way, it suggests Greg and his team are/were lying.
For my part, I guess my ignorance when it comes to car repairs and how garages operate contributed to us never finding out about the rust before heading on our trip... I guess I will have to make sure to get a full safety inspection in the future. I just assumed that when Greg said his inspection would be very thorough and go over the entire car, he meant it...