What's my next step (long BAD MECHANIC story)

From: MAGNUM S/T (khoegen@charter.net)
Date: Tue Jul 08 2003 - 20:47:22 EDT


Here's my story:

Went to get my Dak MA State inspection at a local garage. They failed it due
to bad inner tie rods. Within the next week, I brought the Dak to a
Firestone shop to get an all points vehicle inpsection to see if the Dak had
any OTHER problems...and to verify the state inspection findings. The result
is that Firestone said the same....bad inner tie rods, but everthing else
good.

I made an appointement to get the work done by the shop who failed the Dak
in the first place (about 2 weeks after the initial inspection). I dropped
it off at night so they could do the work the following day. They called me
the same day and said they found that I also needed upper and lower ball
joints on the right side! I explainined that this was not the intial
diagnosis and that Firestone didn't find the issue either. Needless to say,
I caved...thinking replacing the ball-joints isnt' such a bad idea
anyway...plus they refused to pass the Dak for inspection without doing them
also! Now for the extra....they can't fix it when the said they could
because it will be an all day job.....so I left the 'unsafe' Dak with them
for the following week (instead of driving it around).

Now it's the following week...I get a call to say that while the Dak was
being aligned, somehow the Rack-n-pinion boot got damaged resulteding in a
leak. Diagnosis.......they need to replace the entire rack. NOW, this is
assumed to be NOT MY COST, since it happened while they had my vehicle. Fact
remains, they have my dake for 1.5 weeks and it is still broken, and now
with something new. They got me by the balls since if I head down there and
take the Dak from them they can claim the damage was somehow done by
me...and the damn thing is still not inpected.

I need advice! I need my truck as of next monday or I'll need a rental to
get to and from work! This is in Massachusetts...I want to make sure I cover
my ass and not make a wrong move. I can take SH*t and say I'll take them to
court on this, but realistically...I still need a vehicle...and court aint
gonna solve anything SOON. Anyway I can put a fire under thier as%es to get
this moving. Can I get the state involved?

Any help is appreciated
TIA
-Kevin



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