Funniest Repair Orders you've seen?

[Hopman]

Those guys at the counter are supposed to ask these questions.

Sadly, some of those "service advisors" don't know the difference between a spark plug and a spring shackle. The lights on the dash are dubbed "idiot lights" for reason.

Thankfully, the mechanic I go to (Weed Family Auto in Concord, NH) not only encourages his customers to talk right to the techs and describe the problem to the guy (or gal) who'll be working on their vehicle, but his service advisors are former mechanics as well. One of them is semi-retired after wrenching for 25+ years and the other owned his own resto shop for a while.

The good news is that I know enough about vehicles so that I can tell the mechanic EXACLY when the problem occurs, what the symptons are, and what the sounds are. This helps them immensly.

 

[adsm08]

I go talk to the customer on my own whenever I can. I've found that more often than not something gets lost in translation when the work order is being written and that if I can get it straight from the horse's mouth, or better yet, get them to take me on a drive and show me what it does it helps me figure it out so much faster.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I was training a new kid at work and we were out changing a gas hot water tank after about fifty questions and I was connecting the flex water pipes up he asked me do we need to put water in it. He didn`t last very long

 

[BlackBII]

I manage a technical support team...

Tech: Sir, I need you to click on the start menu and then...
Customer: What is the start menu and how do I "Click on it" ?

...........................Everyday. I hate my job.

 

[Hopman]

I go talk to the customer on my own whenever I can. I've found that more often than not something gets lost in translation when the work order is being written and that if I can get it straight from the horse's mouth, or better yet, get them to take me on a drive and show me what it does it helps me figure it out so much faster.

It's nice to see that there are still mechanics & shops out there that care more about making the customer happy than making making a buck. Those are the shops that stay in business for 10-15-20+ years.

Then again, there are probably some customers you'd never ride with again after seeing how they abuse their cars!

I manage a technical support team...

Tech: Sir, I need you to click on the start menu and then...
Customer: What is the start menu and how do I "Click on it" ?

...........................Everyday. I hate my job.

How many times has it been an I-D-10-T error or something wrong with the PEBKAC interface?

 

[adsm08]

There are certainly customers I wanted to punch for wasting my time after they duplicated a concern for me and I had to tell them than their "clunking noise going through turns at 35 MPH" was their unsecured 5-gallon jug of change in the back seat, and that and 04 explorer is not designed to go through 90* turns at 35 MPH.

That guy also needed the passenger seat cleaned after that ride-along.

 

[Hopman]

There are certainly customers I wanted to punch for wasting my time after they duplicated a concern for me and I had to tell them than their "clunking noise going through turns at 35 MPH" was their unsecured 5-gallon jug of change in the back seat, and that and 04 explorer is not designed to go through 90* turns at 35 MPH.

That guy also needed the passenger seat cleaned after that ride-along.

Because you puked or did the truck smell that bad?

I've hustled my Ranger through some sweeping 90*'s around corners at 30. Plus, I've done it so smoothy, my passenger didn't even notice we went around a corner. All this in my '94 Ranger!

 

[adsm08]

Because you puked or did the truck smell that bad?

I've hustled my Ranger through some sweeping 90*'s around corners at 30. Plus, I've done it so smoothy, my passenger didn't even notice we went around a corner. All this in my '94 Ranger!

No, I pissed myself.

I've run the ranger through some good ones pretty fast myself, but the Ranger doesn't roll as far as the IFS explorer, and this wasn't a sweeping 90, it was into a driveway.

 

[Hopman]

No, I pissed myself.

I've run the ranger through some good ones pretty fast myself, but the Ranger doesn't roll as far as the IFS explorer, and this wasn't a sweeping 90, it was into a driveway.

Okay. 35 into a driveway is WAAAAAAY to fast. I just hope you had a clean set of pants in your locker.

Say what you will about the old TTB setup, but it still works AND corners relativly flat.

Question: How can you tell when a customer is complaining about something?
Answer: Their lips are moving!

 

[86 slo-vo]

i hang out at a local shop alot...chick runs the counter...

guy comes in with a new to him 05 gt with a 5speed

ticket says "only starts when clutch pedal is pushed"

we had a good laugh

 

[kenvb]

Cant fix Stupid .

guy bought a new Ford Pickup in early 2000s he phoned dealer a nest morning,r and said to come get it with tow truck,he couldnt get it out of park. The Guys wife drove it home and left early for work.
Dealer said will be few days, OK< I will bring it myself.
Meanwhile he took a pipe wrench to the outter of ignition,tearing it out,then used a drill to drill out centre of the lock, then used a screwdriver to start it, still wouldnt get out of park. so he crawled under neath and removed linkage and put it in OD and drove it in to dealer,
Shop Foreman called me over, as a self employed mechanic for 30 yrs I never saw that before ,
I was there getting parts,he had to show off this mess to me. turns out he never put his foot on the brake to get it out of park?
cost him $2300 for a new steering column!

Cant Fox Stupid

 

[Ranger Kip]

"Windshield broke, could you repair it?"

I took it inside the barn and started to glue it back together, and charged the guy $50 in service, and told him that the glue was free.

My funniest was when I was asked to install suspension:

"Could you replace my stock supension with these?"
He handed me a magazine with an image of whats on the vehicle, but red, he followed with:
"They will give me better handling".

BTW, adsm08, we can do 35+ going ino our driveway, its pretty long though.

Remembered one from a long time ago, I wasn't working or anything, but I was at the shop with my buddy, and we were lookin at trucks, and a guy comes to counter and asks if his truck was fixed.
Clerk goes "Sorry, but the tranny is actin funny" the guy at the counter gives him a funny look "I paid you to install new rims and fix the motor mounts", the clerk looks at the two of us standing there watching, and tells my buddy to go around back and drive the truck up (now we do not work there, or know the owner, we were just watching them argue). My buddy runs out and starts the 1970's Chevy truck up, and drives it out front and parks it, now, the owner goes out and pulls it into the workshop. the owner comes out "I thought you said the tranny was actin funny", the clerk looked at him with a funny face "thats not your truck, thats mine, you 1995 GMC Pickup is in the back with a blown transmission, I wonder how you even got it here". At this point the two of us are laughing our asses off as the owner demands his truck brought to him, and a full refund. "Alright, come back in one hour, and she will be ready for your refund". We left, but I remember passing the guys house and it was sitting out front with a For Sale sign on it that said "No Transmission, Motor Blown, Needs New Wheels"!

 

[Ranger Kip]

guy bought a new Ford Pickup in early 2000s he phoned dealer a nest morning,r and said to come get it with tow truck,he couldnt get it out of park. The Guys wife drove it home and left early for work.
Dealer said will be few days, OK< I will bring it myself.
Meanwhile he took a pipe wrench to the outter of ignition,tearing it out,then used a drill to drill out centre of the lock, then used a screwdriver to start it, still wouldnt get out of park. so he crawled under neath and removed linkage and put it in OD and drove it in to dealer,
Shop Foreman called me over, as a self employed mechanic for 30 yrs I never saw that before ,
I was there getting parts,he had to show off this mess to me. turns out he never put his foot on the brake to get it out of park?
cost him $2300 for a new steering column!

Cant Fox Stupid

Hola Crap!
Who would do that sort of thing?!

 

[Hopman]

Hola Crap!
Who would do that sort of thing?!

Sounds like something a Toyota owner would do. Oh wait!

Toyota owners aren't that dumb. Must've been a former CHEVY owner.

 

[Ranger Kip]

Sounds like something a Toyota owner would do. Oh wait!

Toyota owners aren't that dumb. Must've been a former CHEVY owner.

I still like the K10 better than the F150 though, but thats because the K10 was beefy to begin with, haha.