Return-Path: Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 09:22:23 EST From: Harry.Bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU To: Harry.Bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Auto repair warning (Message inbox:86) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 14:01:24 -0500 (EST) From: Tamminh Tran To: Harry.Bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: auto repair CC: Roman Kapuscinski In-Reply-To: References: I am sending you the final information on this case. To remind you, here is the original message: Excerpts from mail: 28-Jan-93 Avoid Lee Himmel Auto Servi.. Tamminh Tran@andrew.cmu. (841) > Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 16:46:01 -0500 > From: Tamminh Tran > Subject: Avoid Lee Himmel Auto Servicenter > If you are considering taking your car somewhere for repair, beware of > Lee Himmel Auto Servicenter, 5411 Penn Avenue. > > Recently we took a car there to have a diagnostic check on a problem. > We asked for an estimate of the service and were told by Lee Himmel that > he would call to let us know. The next day he called and said that he > could not find any problem and that we owed him $81 for the estimate. > He claimed that he was only obligated to inform us of an estimate of the > repair, if needed, but not of the estimate itself. He further stated > that if we would have the same problem with the car again, it would not > be his responsibity. > > We came to him in belief that he was honest according to his reputation, > thus we did not insist on a written estimate. He, in turn, took advantage of that and really ripped us off! Be warned! Here is the outcome: We took Lee Himmel to court and lost. We believe the reason the judge ruled in his favor is that Lee Himmel used the AAA Automotive Repair Counselor as the "expert witness". The judge believed in this "expert". However, we contested to the AAA President the fact that this "expert" was lying in an apparent attempt to collude with Lee Himmel against us. The West Penn AAA President first negated this fact---but after we presented an evidence (which we had not possessed at the time of the court), he sent us a check for the full amount we paid to Lee Himmel. So, we recovered our original loss even though the AAA President did not openly admit any wrongdoing.