Basically Honest Technicians - but Incompetent
The average technicians will always strive to give their customers an honest deal but there are times they find themselves in a situation that forces a choice of telling a lie or losing lots of bonus money.
This is really caused by the technician making a wrong diagnosis or installing parts that cannot be returned, and taking an extended time period doing the job. Even worse is the fact that, after the work is finished, the initial problem is still not solved and the vehicle needs further work.
Now this is where things start to go a little haywire. Should they tell the customer the truth? Admitting that they misdiagnosed the problem, they are standing to lose not only the customer but much bonus money - Or should they tell a lie and say that the extra work they did was necessary, but after the job was started additional work was discovered?
This lie will guarantee they don't lose money on the time and (unnecessary) parts they invested in the job.
To illustrate how this scenario can easily be arrived at I can relate an experience that happened in a dealership at which I once worked .
A customer brought in his vehicle because the car 'wasn't pulling well' was his explanation. The technician in the next bay to mine had been in the profession many years but really didn't keep up with today's technology, and never went to any update classes at the dealership; he was going to retire in another year so he didn't feel he needed it.
He told his customer that a tune-up would probably fix it once he had returned from a road-test. He replaced everything one needs for a tune-up and parked the car ready for pick-up. The customer was back the next day complaining the car felt the 'same as before'.
My colleague was off this day so I had the job of checking out this car. I found the problem in 10 minutes of running checks ( something the other technician had failed to do ) The problem was a simple one. The vacuum hose going to the modulator valve on the auto transmission was deteriorating and had developed vacuum leakage - enough to cause erratic shifting.
This technician comes under the umbrella of being incompetent but was not out to be dishonest by selling a job that, in retrospect, wasn't needed.
Unnecessary repairs happen every day in garages all over North America, and the world for that matter. They are caused by technicians not taking the training to keep up with the ever changing auto technology of today. To compete in today's repair market you have to be properly educated and have the correct training which must be ongoing throughout your career.
That is why I refer to mechanics as technicians, there is no such thing as a car 'mechanic' nowadays and it isn't a trade any more either, it's a professio. Such is the know-how we need on today's automobiles.
Article by "Dr" John Booth, the CHML Radio Car Doctor www.womensgarage.com
