Vic
VCA Venom Member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2000
- Posts
- 6,764
- Reaction score
- 1
My experience with Clark\'s Suspension in Lake Forest, CA
Clark seemed like a nice enough guy. He listened to me vaguely try to tell him about rear wheel caster, as if I knew what I was talking about. I asked him if he could align a Viper, and he said he could. When he asked around, he found there was an electronic gizmo at Tuttle Click's Chrysler Neighborhood Care, where you can check rear wheel caster, but adds that Tuttle Click Dodge lost theirs to a former employee. Back on topic...
Anyway, while the work is being done, he won't let me look at the Hunter alignment machine, to see where the camber and toe is reading out. He doesn't want me in his shop, so I have to look at the work being done from way across the floor. No big deal, its his shop, I'll have to trust the young guy who is actually doing the work. I noticed they are adjusting the eccentric cams with weight on the suspension. I guess that's ok, but I didn't see them "jounce" it to see where it came out after a bump alternately loads and unloads the rubber bushings. But I figure maybe I'm too picky about details, so I didn't mention it.
I was a happy camper up to this next point-
Here is what pissed me off about "Clark", the owner of the shop. When he gets it off the alignment rack, I am standing near the door to the vehicle bay, and he backs the car out, makes a three-point turn in the parking lot right where I am standing, then he just cruises off, to go for a test drive in my Viper all by himself. Now I know a lot of shops do this when you are not looking, but since there have been many reports on this board about strangers totalling customer's Vipers, I figure he should have told me he was going for a test drive and invited me to come, at least. So I call out to him as he is taxiing away from me in the lot-
~"CLARK"~
He stops the car, looking in the rear view mirror at me.
I come and open the passenger door, get in and say to him, "I'd like to go with you".
He acts like I am distrustful of him, gets visibly perturbed, and puts it in nuetral, pulls the ebrake, and gets out briskly, saying he was just checking to see if the steering wheel was straight. I didn't need him to tell me why he was test driving it, in fact, I expect him to test it, to check his employees work. But he felt he needed to offer that explanation, though unasked. Its obvious I have annoyed him by wanting to go on the test drive with him. That struck me kinda odd, because I have a keen interest in going along, to see what he observes about the car's handling. Maybe I can learn from his years of doing suspension work? But he seems pissed that I wouldn't let him go alone, and tells me to drive it myself, and walks away.
I drive it a bit, feels great, then bring it back to pay the bill. He checks me out quickly, saying little, then hands me the paperwork hurriedly, and says "see ya", like "hit the road", sorta in that tone of voice. He acts like he doesn't want me to come back.
So I'm the bad guy for wanting to go along on the test drive in my own car. Sure, I'm a real bade man. I shoulda let him just drive it by himself, so he could jump on it to see what it feels like, then maybe wrap it around a pole. Doesn't matter if he was Mario Andretti, he should have offered to take me along, that would have been the right thing to do, and not just drive by me without even telling me he was going, what he was doing, no, he just drives my car right by me for his own personal little unattended test drive. That was rude, not to at least invite me along on the test drive, but he just leaves me standing there. Isn't this how a lot of customer's cars get totalled by unfamiliar maintenance mechanic's? Don't I have the right to come along, when someone drives my Viper? Of course I do! But Clark thinks differently, and gets pissed if you wanna go with. How dare I want to go along with him! I'm so unreasonable like that.
Word to the wise.
Clark seemed like a nice enough guy. He listened to me vaguely try to tell him about rear wheel caster, as if I knew what I was talking about. I asked him if he could align a Viper, and he said he could. When he asked around, he found there was an electronic gizmo at Tuttle Click's Chrysler Neighborhood Care, where you can check rear wheel caster, but adds that Tuttle Click Dodge lost theirs to a former employee. Back on topic...
Anyway, while the work is being done, he won't let me look at the Hunter alignment machine, to see where the camber and toe is reading out. He doesn't want me in his shop, so I have to look at the work being done from way across the floor. No big deal, its his shop, I'll have to trust the young guy who is actually doing the work. I noticed they are adjusting the eccentric cams with weight on the suspension. I guess that's ok, but I didn't see them "jounce" it to see where it came out after a bump alternately loads and unloads the rubber bushings. But I figure maybe I'm too picky about details, so I didn't mention it.
I was a happy camper up to this next point-
Here is what pissed me off about "Clark", the owner of the shop. When he gets it off the alignment rack, I am standing near the door to the vehicle bay, and he backs the car out, makes a three-point turn in the parking lot right where I am standing, then he just cruises off, to go for a test drive in my Viper all by himself. Now I know a lot of shops do this when you are not looking, but since there have been many reports on this board about strangers totalling customer's Vipers, I figure he should have told me he was going for a test drive and invited me to come, at least. So I call out to him as he is taxiing away from me in the lot-
~"CLARK"~
He stops the car, looking in the rear view mirror at me.
I come and open the passenger door, get in and say to him, "I'd like to go with you".
He acts like I am distrustful of him, gets visibly perturbed, and puts it in nuetral, pulls the ebrake, and gets out briskly, saying he was just checking to see if the steering wheel was straight. I didn't need him to tell me why he was test driving it, in fact, I expect him to test it, to check his employees work. But he felt he needed to offer that explanation, though unasked. Its obvious I have annoyed him by wanting to go on the test drive with him. That struck me kinda odd, because I have a keen interest in going along, to see what he observes about the car's handling. Maybe I can learn from his years of doing suspension work? But he seems pissed that I wouldn't let him go alone, and tells me to drive it myself, and walks away.
I drive it a bit, feels great, then bring it back to pay the bill. He checks me out quickly, saying little, then hands me the paperwork hurriedly, and says "see ya", like "hit the road", sorta in that tone of voice. He acts like he doesn't want me to come back.
So I'm the bad guy for wanting to go along on the test drive in my own car. Sure, I'm a real bade man. I shoulda let him just drive it by himself, so he could jump on it to see what it feels like, then maybe wrap it around a pole. Doesn't matter if he was Mario Andretti, he should have offered to take me along, that would have been the right thing to do, and not just drive by me without even telling me he was going, what he was doing, no, he just drives my car right by me for his own personal little unattended test drive. That was rude, not to at least invite me along on the test drive, but he just leaves me standing there. Isn't this how a lot of customer's cars get totalled by unfamiliar maintenance mechanic's? Don't I have the right to come along, when someone drives my Viper? Of course I do! But Clark thinks differently, and gets pissed if you wanna go with. How dare I want to go along with him! I'm so unreasonable like that.
Word to the wise.
