Bought a house 4 years ago needed a new front entry. We had a nice fancy smanshy fully custom built (due to odd sized opening and transom arch)Sidelights, door, transom the whole fandango. I opted for fiberglass instead of wood for easier maintenance and cost due to it being fully custom.
Paint every two years and you will be golden they say!! The door RARELY gets used. So in early may when the weather broke I started to clean it up for it's 2nd painting.
Found the door and the side had light rotted yup I could pop a whole right through them with my fingers.
How does fiberglass even rot????? I have been battling them since MAY. Horrible communication from them and no answer as to why is it rotting. Finally they say it is due to bad sweeps they were using that allows water to pool.
So finally get them to replace the thing. Door man shows up last week and of course it was a freaking monsoon after not having rain for over 2 months.
So he shows back up today ready to roll.
He starts to unbox the door. Not even close to being the same design has the deadbolt and handle holes in the wrong place.
Might have a new one done a week from Wednesday!!!!!!!

I am beyond pissed.

Ohh well head down to the shop to start putting the new upper control arms on my Expedition.
Start to loosen the lug nuts and get to one that is completely buggered and stripped!
You have got to be kidding me. Had an oil change and tire rotated a week and a half ago.
So I take it back to the shop. No problem they'll take care of it. Sure it is going to suck for them to get it off (why I am not messing with it) but I'll wait. An hour passes and I have some place to be. Truck has not moved.
I ask ohh we did not have the lug nut needed to order it. Will be here in an hour maybe.

You think you could have freaking told me that.

So had to leave figured I would type my rant before heading off.

Freaking morons anymore.

So I will not be returning to this shop after they replace my lug nut.
When they changed the oil they acted as if they had never seen a skid plate before. Oil was pouring out from the skid plate.
I guess he did not bother removing the strategically placed access panels for the filter and plug and just reached over the side of the skid plates and removed the plug and filter letting the oil drain onto the top of the skid plate.

Clowns!!!! So frustrating!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
"Good help is hard to find...

Very very true.

Got a new one.
Expressed my frustration that they screwed my day thanks to their incompetence. His response was well that is just what happens when working with lug nuts.
NONSENSE, that is what happens to lug nuts when you have lazy techs armed with an impact gun hand they should be using a torque wrench.
I have been working on cars for 20 years now have had 14 of my own and worked on countless friends vehicles. Not once ever have I rounded a lug nut let alone a shiny 3 year old one. We are not talking rusty worn out fasteners here.
And yes I understand that things happen but it should have not left the shop that way. Surprisingly enough the stud was not cross threaded.
Thank goodness I did not have a flat on some dark portion of highway or back country road that I frequently drive.

I have tomorrow off but have a yard Aerator rental scheduled for tomorrow (yes about a month late I know thanks to the crazy heat we have had this fall so far) which means it will be Monday before I get them put on. I may be able to get an alignment before the boys early release from school Tuesday but I now have to find another shop since this place it where I get my alignment.
Mass Wednesday morning so won’t get to work on the Mustang Wednesday pushing me back a whole nother week getting that back together enough to roll on a tow truck and back here to my shop that finally has enough room for it and then the father in law will have the free space in his barn to finish out the boys a rec room.

Peoples screw ups have quite the impact sometimes.

Around here about the best an employer can count on is someone that will show up on time. They don’t need to know anything, or do anything. Just show up. This is the direct result of policy of the public “school” system here, which hands out a bicycle and/or a laptop computer to every kid with perfect attendance.

“The older I get the more I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology.” - H.L. Mencken

When I went back to changing my own oil on one of my cars the first thing I discovered was the splash guards had been half reattached at best and then when I took the drain plug out I saw that the crush washer, you know the 25 cent part, had been re used so many times it was attached to the drain plug and I had to cut it off.

Simply put, not very often.

You didn't see a flywheel dust cover laying around while you were there did you?

It has been two years and I still haven't found one.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
"Good help is hard to find...

In spades.
Get it done as quickly as possible, don't worry about how it turns out and go home smiling.
I see it every day.

I used to insist on doing a legal review of any large proposal before it was sent to the prospective customer. Although I was a lawyer, I picked up technical knowledge through osmosis and asking a lot of questions.

One day I caught a blatant mistake in the design of a quote that would have cost the company over a million dollars.

The proposal had gone through a couple of reviews and the mistake was due to our engineer’s laziness. So, I gave him an earful in the next project meeting.

Next thing I know, I’m being “written up” for hurting the engineer’s feelings, but the consequence for his incompetence? Nada.

In my field (Industrial/Commercial electrical/LV systems and HVAC controls) I see it almost every day. Sometimes it’s to cut corners and save money and sometimes it’s pure incompetence.

My son bought a house in Queens, NY a couple years ago and was having one problem after another with his furnace. Everyone who came out did something expensive but there was always something new.

While visiting him recently I called an old friend who’s an expert in the field to see if he’d mind taking a look. He’s retired as well and all I wanted was his opinion. In his opinion only he could sort out the mess everyone who’d touched it had made of things and he’d brought all kinds of diagnostic equipment and tools along “just in case”. A couple hours later we were having dinner in a great little Cuban restaurant and my son had a perfectly running furnace and a small pile of various parts which had been installed either to run up bills or due to gross ineptitude. Most likely both. He also got a pretty good education about how his furnace operates that will be very helpful down the line.

Oh, like my oil change a couple of days ago. Yellow oil cap under the hood says 5w-30.Invoice shows 5w20 installed. I ask the service advisor if the spec had changed, it does happen. For example GM went from a 5w20 to a 0w20 several years ago.

Service advisor goes to the screen, goes to the shop. He and the tech that did the oil change said that it would be a few minutes, they were going to change it again. The advisor is new here, actually he and I worked at a dealership (different brand) a few years back. He apologized, said that most of the cars from that manufacturer specify 5w20 (our Liberty does) and the tech assumed. The writer also stated that they usually refer to previous history for oil type but due to the dealership changing computer systems he was unable to check it. That is not a story, usually there is somewhere that this information can be accessed but usually only by management. Why would lowly employees ever need this?

I didn't say anything but the last time it was changed there they did the same thing.....but that time I got home and found that out. That writer who is no longer there tried to do the shuffle saying that it was fine. His fine and my fine differed, it was changed to the correct stuff.

I received a magazine in the mail that appeared all tore up. I asked the mailman about it and his response: "I didn't do it".

Ordered a Ham Radio meter last week from an outfit in California. Nothing charged on my CC and no meter received. Phoned the company today, and they said: "We forgot to process it".

And, the Snowbirds are in town...Aaaagh.

I've been trying to hire someone at $20 an hour, that's competent enough to simply rain-x windows, lightly polish stainless steel (by hand), and wash a boat and other easy mindless things. I've literally given up.

It's easy work with nobody watching over you or bothering you. All they need to do is show up, do a good job and be honest.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
I've been trying to hire someone at $20 an hour, that's competent enough to simply rain-x windows, lightly polish stainless steel (by hand), and wash a boat and other easy mindless things. I've literally given up.

It's easy work with nobody watching over you or bothering you. All they need to do is show up, do a good job and be honest.

I feel ya.
Been trying to find someone to clean my cooked beef pattie line for months now.
It's a broiler and freeze tunnel connected. Starting pay is $15 an hour.
I've had all kinds of people apply but no one has lasted.
One guy started taking shortcuts, another called off 3 days after he started, worked another 3 days and called off again.
There's quite a few steps involved but it's just cleaning.

This is the #1 reason why I started fixing my own cars and eventually things around my house. It's damn near impossible to find people to do any skilled labor, the right way, the first time.

Thank God for YouTube as well. I was able to change the timing belt on my wife's MDX because of the great quality instructional videos. It's not rocket science but I never would have attempted it due to not wanting to ruin the motor, but watching the videos made it easy peasy. Saved giving 800 bucks to some shitbag mechanic as well.

At 82, I finally realized that if it has to get done, I have to do it. Could not find a lawn service that, as Jimmy said above, "All they need to do is show up, do a good job and be honest." Mark123 is too far away, so I bought a lawn mower, weed eater, trimmer, and blower.

I'll probably have a heart attack doing this stuff.

I do pretty much all my own vehicle stuff. The Expedition came with a lifetime powertrain warranty from the dealer.
Only caveat is 5,000 mile oil changes and tire rotation along with scheduled maintenance must be done by an ASE certified shop. Or else I would be doing them.