dilemma need advice

[DannyC]

I had a flat tire the other day so I decided to tow it via AAA on a flatbed to Olson tires Plus (600+ sores nationwide). I reached there at 5 P.M. as they were closing. I talked to the manager to see if I he could mount and balance my new tire. He said that they were closing but if one of his techs wanted to do it, no problem as i would just pay him since he just clocked out. I pull my car into the bay and the tech states that he will have to use the floor jack since the car is too low (H&R's) to drive onto the lift. Starts to go through the process of removing the wheel ect. All of a sudden the floor jack gives?? and my car drops on my wheel, cracking the passenger fender and paint. He immediately comes to tell me what happened and that he will pay for it. He stated that if the manager finds out, he will get fired. I tell this guy, I will get a quote and let him know. Quote was $350 through a good friend who owns a body shop and does all my body work. Tell the tech what the quote is and he agrees to the sum of $75 every Friday for 4 weeks, I also stated that I will cover the other $50 just cause I am a nice guy. The guy seemed genuine, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I went to collect on Friday and this clown was not there and one of his co-techs said he will be gone through July at best. I am pissed, but before I go see the manager, I thought I would run this situation by the NSX Prime community for input. My GF said I have a right to get my damage covered through the shop since the work was done in THEIR garage and THEIR tools were used. Also, I do not think Olson Tires Plus corporate would be too happy with the manager telling his employee to go ahead and take the money and put it in your pocket. If I go through insurance, I have to eat the whole amount because my deductible is $500. Thanks for listening.

Regards,
Danny

 

[Chris W]

Sounds like a "no win" situation to me. My guess is that unless you are patient enough to wait for him to come back to work in August (if he ever comes back) you will probably neve hear from the guy again. If you speak to his manager about the situation and he fires the guy then you won't ever get paid from him either.

I don't know of any legitamate business that would allow their employees to work off the clock using the shop and tools to perform customer repairs for liability reasons. Was the shop getting paid for the repair or was the guy going to keep the money for himself. The manager should have done the right thing and had the employee punch back in and allow him to fix it. You then could have had a legitimate repair completed along with a receipt for everything. Didn't the manager have to stay anyway in order to lock up the building after he was done?

Even if you do speak to the manager about the incident the manager isn't going to pay you anything. Everything has been hush hush about the damage until now so how are you going to prove anything?

I would just sit back and pray the guy comes back to work so you both can hopefully work it all out on your own.

Good luck.

 

[ChopsJazz]

Good for you. Give the guy a break, I just hope you don't get screwed.