Almost every driver has had a bad car repair experience. Whether that’s dealing with an unscrupulous mechanic making bad recommendations, or charging too much, it’s very frustrating.
Celebs Have Car Trouble Too!
Mike Tolbert, fullback for the Carolina Panthers, recently had his own frustrating experience, according to The Charlotte Observer. He had taken his 1975 Chevy Caprice Convertible in to have an engine swap performed, and he’d provided the new engine to be installed. The shop had estimated the swap would take ten days, and cost him $2,700. In the end, the job has taken ten weeks and he still doesn’t have the car. To add insult to injury, the shop has noted that the work will cost him 30% more, with a final invoice of $3,943.93.
Revenge
In response, Tolbert took to his Instagram account to complain about his auto repair facility, calling on Charlotte-area residents to avoid the shop. He believes the shop’s owner took advantage of him because he’s a millionaire. Ouch.
When he went to settle the bill, apparently the owner refused Tolbert’s check. He said he’d only accept a cashier’s check, or cash. In response, Tolbert went to the bank and (no doubt laughing) withdrew $3,943.93 in coins to cover the cost of the repairs.
Even if Tolbert were feeling nice enough to have put the change in all quarters, that would weigh nearly 200-pounds! As you can imagine, the shop owner apparently tried to refuse the coins. So Tolbert called a police officer to make the shop accept the money. The Observer indicates that the shop had had a different version of events, which it has posted on its Facebook page, and which USA Today has outlined here.
Could it Have Been Avoided?
We aren’t taking sides, given we have no insight into the detailed exchange. But we couldn’t resist noting this: In the end, all this drama could have been avoided if — you know where we’re heading here! — Tolbert had booked his engine swap using Openbay.
Openbay has a peace-of-mind guarantee for all transactions completed on the platform. We provide conflict resolution, based on text, photo and video messages exchanged between the consumer and the service provider. So, *just in case* Mike Tolbert happens to be reading this, Mike, check us out! We’d love to connect you with the right auto-repair shop next time. But a word to the wise for next time: shops hate it when you bring your own parts.
Image credit: Greg Gjerdingen, flickr
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