[yustr]

Here's the situation:

My Check Engine Light comes on. I take my 2000 Mazda to my local mechanic who connects his computer to the under-dash computer in the car. It tells him there's a problem with the heater in an O2 sensor. So he order's the part from Mazda and replaces it. I pick up th ecar and drive it a mile or two and the light comes back on. So back to the garage where he goes through the same process yet again - saying that maybe its a faulty sensor. Nope. Light's still on.

He tells me then it must be something in the wiring or the computer and that I should take it to a dealer. It's there today - no word yet.

My mechanic wants to get paid for the work he did. My question is: do I pay him?

Normally I'd say - stick it - you didn't fix the problem. But I can't do that if I want to maintain a relationship there. Shouldn't he have checked voltages and grounds and such before installing the sensor and certainly before installing a second one?

Do I agree to pay for one sensor but no labor?

I don't really know if he installed a new one do I? It's not like I can see the shiny new part sitting there.

What would everyone do???

 

[Fr4665]

id let the dealership take it apart and see if he replaced it with a new part, if so pay him for the part if not dont pay him anything, its his own fault if he make a wrong diagnostic and doesnt fix it. its like saying ohh your processor is broken let me put in a new one buter later on it was the video card ...

u get what im saying ?

 

[yustr]

More Data Coming In

The dealer reports that the 3rd party sensor is bad. All the voltages to the sensor are as spec but its not sending anything out. Come Monday he'll replace it with a OEM part and give me the replaced - though brand new - sensor to return to my mechanic.

I thought I would offer to pay for the part if it turned out to be something else but now I don't want to pay for anything , especially his labor at all because I ended up paying the dealer the entire cost. My feeling is he should go to his supplier and demand payment for providing him a faulty part - twice...

Should this be my problem?

 

[devil lady]

I'd offer to pay for his labour but not the part as he will send it back any way. He obviously picked the problem, ok it was just bad luck to get a faulty replacement. We've had mechanical businesses for some years and these things do happen. At least offer to pay for part of the labour. JMHO

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

I think a fair solution would be to pay for part of the labor since he did do the work. It was not his fault that the part was bad, but he does have to accept some responsiblity for labor costs, since what he did certainly did not give you any assistance. I would not pay one dime for the faulty part and you might also ask that you be given parts that are taken out as faulty in future repairs of this nature.

I also do know a local mechanic that gets into something like that who will take it to the dealer themselves if they can not get the problem solved. Then, you are only dealing with one person and not be in the postion you are in. He is a great mechanic, but there are some tools that only dealers can afford for specific brand name automobiles, so he takes care of it and eveyone keeps their good will.

 

[yustr]

OK here's the bottom line from the dealer: it was the O2 sensor. He replaced the 3rd party one my mechanic used with an OEM part and it works fine. Price: $128 for the part and $200 for labor.

I have the replaced 3rd party sensor to return to my mechanic.

So I'm not willing to pay anything to my mechanic for parts - I think we can all agree on that.

That only leaves labor - and my question to him will be why should I pay you even 1/2 the labor (say $100) when that makes the repair cost 50% more than what it would have been if you had done it right in the first place. Sure he has some time invested but I did not authorize or suggest he use 3rd party parts. And, it was him who gave up on it and sent me to the dealer. I realize he thought it was something else but I had to pay the dealer to figure out that it wasn't.

Any other thoughts?

 

[warlocke]

i would pay him 25% of labor, but then again i do 99% work on my car my self lol, only things i dont do is new tires, alignments and stuff like that.

 

[yustr]

Warlocke, That's along the lines I'm thinking. I may agree to pay him the labor he spent to diagnosing the problem - he did determine correctly that it was a sensor.

But that shouldn't be much as all he did was hook up his portable computer to the jack in the car and thumb through the settings. So maybe 1/2 hour.

I'm going ot talk with him tomorrow - I'll report back on how it goes.

 

[yustr]

I took the part back to my mechanic yesterday and offered to pay him for his diagnostic time. He refused. So the issue is moot. He'll discuss it with his supplier but he said it was a Boshe part so (it wasn't some off brand) it's not like they can get their time paid for that way...

I did order a new set of tires from him so that might have cushioned the sting a little. :grin:

 

[mrbizness1]

The dealer reports that the 3rd party sensor is bad. All the voltages to the sensor are as spec but its not sending anything out. Come Monday he'll replace it with a OEM part and give me the replaced - though brand new - sensor to return to my mechanic.
Should this be my problem?

In your first post you say that the shop ordered the part from Mazda? But now the dealer says its a 3rd party sensor. While you did not authorize him to use third party parts, he used whats referred to in the auto industry as LKQ parts (Like Kind and Quality). Bosch is a major supplier of auto parts, they even make OEM parts for many auto companies. The part the dealer installed may even be a Bosch part in a Mazda package. You mechanic hooked up your car to his computer and it told him the part was bad. I think you owe him the labor especially if you have a good relationship with him.
If the dealer was the first shop visited, then you went to your mechanic and he fixed it the dealer wouldn't give you anything back.

I don't know what model you have but here is a link to some Mazda o2 sensors.

http://replacement.autopartswarehou...lication=000557021&part=Oxygen Sensor&dp=true

 

[yustr]

I was mistaken in my first post - it was 2 Bosch sensors that were bad. When my mechanic had installed the second and the problem persisted he directed me to the dealer. I'm sure he was thinking it was something else, in which case I was prepared to pay for the sensor (only one of them) but not his labor as I had a new part (even though I didn't need it) but he didn't fix my problem.

Then it turns out to be the sensor after all. So he got the diagnosis correct but his supplier screwed him. Why is that the customer's responsibility? I did not tell him where to buy the part. I did not tell him to use LKQ [sic] parts. If he had said "I can get a sensor for $60 that may work or one from Mazda for $120 but if the $60 sensor doesn't work you'll still have to pay for it and pay me to take the bad one out and to put a second one in." Then it becomes my decision. I was never given that choice.

I was ready to pay him for his time. But I'll be damed if I'll pay someone to NOT repair my car.

 

[bandit109]

No chance. You get paid when you complete the job. Like kind and quality assumes that a new part will work. Thats not the customers fault.

If he charged a fee to diagnose the problem.........assuming I was going to change the part out myself.......... I wouldn't feel obligated to pay any more. You offered....he declined. I would have lost alot of respect for him if he tried to charge me. Then, if I was him, I would have thoroughly discussed the issue with my supplier............thoroughly.

Good job buying the tires though, He'll get over the o2 sensor :grin: