Sender: ref@euclid.mt.cs.cmu.edu
Message-ID: <32B04A61.794BDF32@cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 13:09:37 -0500
From: Robert Frederking <ref+@cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Fay Chang <fwc+@cracker.soda.cs.cmu.edu>
CC: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: Women & Car Repair
References: <58abut$pc5@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu>
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Fay Chang wrote:
> 
> I have no idea whether or not this has to do with my being female, but
> another place to avoid if you don't like being condescended and lied to
> is Doug's Exxon on Forbes.  Yes, its conveniently located (esp. if your
> car breaks down right near campus), but you'll pay for it.  I needed to
> replace my alternator and they wanted to charge me $220 ($110 for service
> despite the fact that it could be replaced in less than 30 minutes, $110
> for a rebuilt alternator) and tried to convince me that a 1 year warrantee
> was normal for these things (not -- I called around and this was the shortest
> warrantee I was offered).  They claimed that I was getting a great deal and
> were definitely trying to rush me into a decision.
> 
> For the record, alternators are fairly easy to change.  You can go (walk)
> to Baum & Morewood and buy one (with a 7 year warrantee) at Auto & Trek
> for a good price ($80 in my case) and do it yourself.  The guys at Auto &
> Trek are friendly and give excellent advice.  You'll need a few tools,
> but nothing expensive ($10-$15, all available at Auto & Trek).  The only
> hard thing is that there is one part which requires some brute force
> (taking off and replacing the belt), but what are friends for?  :)
> 
> Fay

I've forwarded your post to Bovik, since it seems like something he
should know about.

	Bob