Who pays the tow?


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Old 04-21-08, 09:55 AM
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Who pays the tow?

I had a starter replaced in my Dodge Ram PU a couple of weeks ago. The work was done by a reputable (non dealer) shop that I have done business with before.

The replacement starter has failed. The shop guarantees their work and will replace the starter at no charge to me. The problem relates to the towing charges. It will cost nearly $100 to tow the vehicle to their shop. I feel they should pay, they say their not responsible to get the vehicle there.

If their position is normal practice I will pay, but I would like to know if most shops operate this way.
 
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Old 04-21-08, 10:30 AM
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"The shop guarantees their work and will replace the starter at no charge to me." There is no mention of towing. Thus, towing appears to be an exclusion of the warranty.
 
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Old 04-21-08, 11:08 AM
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i'd go there and talk to the manager or, even better, owner directly. be very polite, but persistant. mention, if everything else failes, writing a note to BBB. find out who shop is certified with/licensed with, mention complaining to them either.
it's worth trying. even 50% will count, right? what was that saying? our customer is our master? $100 is nothing for them.
 
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Old 04-21-08, 12:57 PM
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The BBB is toothless sorry, the shop is not responsible for getting the car in there, the starter could be defective and its not their responsability since they dont make or rebuild them, just install them, now of course they'll give you a warranty and send that bad one back to the manufacturer but as far as towing the car in nope not on their end...
 
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Old 04-21-08, 01:02 PM
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how far is the vehicle from the shop ?

starter is a usually a easy bolt on , I had a similar situation and the shop sent a guy out with his PU he crawled under the van where I was and swapped it out in less than 5 min .

no charge to me , no towing bill for anybody
 
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Old 04-21-08, 01:22 PM
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I guess all's well that ends well. The tow guy picked up my truck and dropped it off at the shop. He discounted the tow to $60 because he does a lot of work for them. The owner of the shop checked out the starter and called me. He is replacing the starter no charge and offered to split the tow with me. That made me happy so I offered to split the 1 hr
($60) labor with him. Now we are both happy.

Ain't it great doing business with honest businessmen. Guess where I take my truck the next time I need repairs.
 
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Old 04-21-08, 03:37 PM
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Originally Posted by LouBazooka
The BBB is toothless sorry, the shop is not responsible for getting the car in there, the starter could be defective and its not their responsability since they dont make or rebuild them, just install them, now of course they'll give you a warranty and send that bad one back to the manufacturer but as far as towing the car in nope not on their end...
it's not the BBB to be afraid of. it's "the action" from a customer, that n\may have many repercussions. usually, a hundred bucks is not worth the hassle.
every shop covers "parts and labor". every shop provides "their warrenty", whatever it is, and "honors manufacturer's warrenty", whatever it is. same goes for my business - my patients do not care who i use for say knee compnentry. they care about final result, and it is up to me to have proper componentry chosen and stand behind the final product.
but we can carry on like this forever, and there's no need to do so. point is - and the poster just had it proven - talking to people helps. talking to manager or owner helps more. even talking to tow truck guy helps. so, manager made a wise decision and bought himself a customer with relationship. customer was smart enough to buy himself greatful manager. everyone wins. sitting on ones buttocks with "it's all useless, no one will listen to me, i have no value in their eyes" attitude will do nothing to no one.
 
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Old 04-21-08, 03:48 PM
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Geez, you guys are NICE........The outfit I work for.......if the same scenario occured, we be paying the tow fixing the starter, supplying a RENTAL CAR.......and if the customer called corporate, all of the above plus a complete refund
 
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Old 04-21-08, 05:49 PM
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Originally Posted by ukrkoz
it's not the BBB to be afraid of. it's "the action" from a customer, that n\may have many repercussions. usually, a hundred bucks is not worth the hassle.
every shop covers "parts and labor". every shop provides "their warrenty", whatever it is, and "honors manufacturer's warrenty", whatever it is. same goes for my business - my patients do not care who i use for say knee compnentry. they care about final result, and it is up to me to have proper componentry chosen and stand behind the final product.
but we can carry on like this forever, and there's no need to do so. point is - and the poster just had it proven - talking to people helps. talking to manager or owner helps more. even talking to tow truck guy helps. so, manager made a wise decision and bought himself a customer with relationship. customer was smart enough to buy himself greatful manager. everyone wins. sitting on ones buttocks with "it's all useless, no one will listen to me, i have no value in their eyes" attitude will do nothing to no one.
You're rigth we could go on forever but I'll give you the last word.. after this of course
Look at your first post you sound very different to this one, almost like " go in there and calmly threat to file a complaint " well at least to me I'm sorry
Also , I was talking about the facts and the fact is the shop is not responsible of getting the vehicle in there, if it was there'd be no tow truck businesses or at least not as many..
Lets say you buy a tire and you get the road hazard warranty on it , a month later the tire blows out on the freeway , do you call the tire company and ask them to send a ( free ) tow truck or someone to change the tire ?
I think not...
Last note when you say that $ 100 is nothing for them ?
I'm sorry but a Benjamin is the same for you and me and whoever just because they're a company doesn't mean they can just burn money, they also have a lot of expenses ..
( you can tell I'm a biz onwer can't you ? ) ha ha
sorry for the long post....
 
 

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