Ripped of again VR

[theburna]

Called a local air guy out for a service on my VR Statesman. Quoted $145 for gas and $70 for the drier.
I leave him for 1 hour and he calls me to show me he has twisted the line from the firewall to the drier.
I told him to just tighten the farking thing back up and regass the unit.
30 minutes later he calls me to say the nut from the condenser to the drier is cracked and tell me that it is the high pressure side so it will damage it more to try and drive it like that.
He then tells me it will now cost $280 for the condenser, 70 for the drier, $80 for the line from the firewall and 3 hours labour.
His quote is $640 but he says he will do it for $620, how farking nice of him.
My question is that now he has evacuated the line, can I now replace the parts that I have been quoted will cost me $185 plus the "o" rings??
I could then someone who won't break my car to regass it.

 

[VT-565]

if you use common sense, i dont think there would be any problem in doing the work yourself and them having it checked over by a refrig mechanic. on a similar note, a mate of mine rewired half his own house and had it checked by a domestic electrician. saved him a packet!

 

[HDT_aero]

thats an extreamly dodgey mechanic if you have a pic of the parts or engine bay before it went there take it to consumer affiars!

 

[ORIGINL]

Refuse to pay for the damages he caused.

But be willing to fight it, you will need to proove that the sections now damaged were not on delivery to this mechanic.

If he has any pride in his work... he would have atleast given you free labour

i wouldn't stand down.. this should not cost you 1 cent more then quoted (hope you have a written quote)

good luck with it

 

[Rhino Racing]

I am not saying that you should bend over and take it up the arse and pay for this at all...... but what you probably don't realise is that the aluminium fitting the (manufacturers) use in these aircon systems are quite easily damaged due to the softness of the material ....( they can twist, kink remarkably easily).
The fitting that you talk about is more than likely an alloy threaded union that is over an alloy tube either 90degree or straight fitting with a double flare on the end that stops the threaded union from coming off. The problem that you get is that the 2 alloy components end up seized together due to age.(Normal process that happens to alloy that is not anodised eg. when polished bullbars, sidesteps, rims etc become dull after a period of time in the weather.)
I have only worked on approx 250 aircon units in my trade and was unfortunate to have this happen only once..... :cry: .. but some of the other guys i have worked with have had a couple in one week..... :unsure: ... some of this might be put down to the persons skill level, but i really believe it is more than likely luck that has given me a good success rate over my workmates. You can take all the due care and attention possible and still end up with one that will be seized and will twist. :bop:

Yes , it would be easy to suggest that they should factor this into a quote when you ask them for it..... but the reality is, that you might have used this guy cos he was cheaper than a guy who was allowing for a mistake like this therefore making their quote look ridiculously high$$$$$$. :w00t:

Unfortunately if your aircon system has been vacced out then it will have to be done again when you replace the condensor and regassed.
I am not suggesting that he is a world beater at his trade..... i am just suggesting that sometimes we do encounter the unexpected. :my:
Now i am sure i will cop a roasting from you guys for all of the dodgy mechanics etc, that you have encountered along the way.... but spare me your wrath......... Yes, i do have a lot of pride in my work...........take it seriously and genuinely enjoy what i do! :thumbsup:

 

[HDT_aero]

they put nuts on both side to make sure this doesnt happen..... unless they have changed the setup since the vn

 

[pat]

it is a very common problem on vr and vs's, i guess he should have told you before he quoted that the pipe would prolly break, i always spray those particular fittings with crc before attempting to crack them, but that doesn't always work either. in saying that sometimes they just come apart like brand new ones. not much you can do with the liquid line now but if the condenser side isn't twisted you can repair it, very easily, without taking it out of car. if your in brisbane i could do the condenser repair and liquid line and gas and dryer for $250 cash.

 

[theburna]

man its a shame, I am in sydney. He says the nut on the condensor cracked, can that be repaired??

 

[pat]

yes, you need #5 a/c fitting. get it from repco. chop of the pipe bit, you only want the nut. now hacksaw one of the sides off the nut so that it can slip over the condenser pipe. cheap, easy and it will last too.