Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Mac
Jon you need to stop using the 3 LB hammer when your assembling the little parts.  |
Someone else told me that one other time......
I used to work with a guy who would say, "Don't force it Jon! Get a bigger hammer!!"
So.... I had a bad experience today. I have a very good friend (or so I thought) that owns a trans shop about 50 miles from me. He and I started doing business back and forth about 15 years ago at least. We both bought trans parts from the same supplier, WIT (Whatever It Takes) Transmission parts. I got a good deal, but he (Brian, my friend) was a transmission only shop, so he bought more parts and got a better deal. After I closed up my shop, I just bought all my parts from him when I did trans work. He cut me a deal, and it wasn't bad. So, when I bought all the part for this job, I got them from him. Well, I didn't think he gave me too good of a deal on the part for my trans, so when I went to do the t-case, I decided to call my old sales guy at WIT (different sales guy than he deals with) and see if they would set me back up and let me buy from them. He said, "No problem!", so I bought the t-case parts from them. Brian had already quoted me the price for the parts, but I got a much better deal buying direct from WIT. (Just so we are clear, Brian and I got our parts from different warehouses, so no way did he know I didn't buy from him.) So, I called Brain today to tell him what I needed to fix the trans again. I had called him yesterday and let him know what was up, and he said to let him know if he could help. So, today, I give him the list, and he calls me back to tell me he ordered all the stuff and proceeds to tell me the price of the parts. I said, "Oh..... I thought this would be a warranty deal?" He got audibly irritated and said, "Well, what do you mean?" "Well, I mean.... the pump was bad. It wasn't an installation error, I have the parts here and they show no signs of misalignment, or scoring on the stator shaft side of the pump. If it was an alignment issue, it would have galded the pump." That's when it got ugly..... He proceeded to tell me how I installed the T/C wrong and it was my fault and did I think he was needed to warranty the parts? Then he started yelling at me saying I was trying to get something for nothing and he didn't assemble it, so why should he have to eat the parts. Now, mind you he bought this pump and sold it to me... he didn't rebuild it. He just sold it to me. I never asked him to "eat" anything, I just asked why it wouldn't be under warranty. Then before I could say anymore he tells me he will eat the parts, but that he never wanted to do business with me again.
Soooo.... I call WIT, because that's where he bought the pump. I tell my sales guy what's up and ask if they would warranty it. Well.... that's the problem. I didn't buy it. They can't warranty something I didn't buy, plus something that didn't come from that distributor. He understood the issue, and we went over what a "crunched" pump would look like if I indeed hadn't aligned the T/C with the pump before bolting the trans to the motor. We agreed it was indeed a pump failure, but he just couldn't help me. So, I had him quote me the parts. I'll be GD if he didn't quote me nearly $100 less than Brian quoted me!!! So not only did my "friend" not want to help me get the parts warrantied, he marked up the parts he was going to sell me on the deal! I'm still pissed off..... I don't know what to do. Brian did say he ordered all the parts in and he would pay for them, but this was our last deal. So.... what now? Pay for something I shouldn't have to? Or piss off an old friend. I really would like to think he was just having a bad day, or has some other issue.... but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. Brain does have a temper, so I'm told by his employees and kids. (Yeah, I'm even friends with his kids!) I'd also like to get the parts warrantied, and I really, really think if he pushed WIT, they would be. Only real issue is that the parts are 120 days old, and WIT's warranty on parts is 90 days.... but lets get real. He probably buys in excess of $100K a year from them. I'm sure they aren't going to balk about $350 worth of parts. I just can't get over his reaction. It would be different if I called him screaming and blaming him. I even told WIT I would send them the pump and let them inspect it before they warrantied it. (Still doesn't matter, as they can't warranty something they didn't sell me..... my sales guy must have said that like 5 times.) Only would take a couple days for that to happen. I've been without a truck this long, what's a couple more days.
Well.... tomorrow is another day. We'll see how Brain is in tomorrow. Maybe he will be more reasonable.
