Oh we have been down the route of LAYING service dept's That does NOT set well with me . First off at one time i held the papers and th all the neat patches on my shirt stating i was a master tech with Chrysler and FORD , also i was a parts manage for a large Chrysler Plymouth dealership. Tho i left the automotive world Many of the old guard knew me , That was before the days of the service writers and now those Wiesel make there pay checks by selling unneeded parts and repairs , My first round with them was on our 2003 Dodge Durango at a sorta new Dodge dealer . Back then i did NOT have a top of the line scan tool but i still had my ears and i could hear a miss fire and the battle was on , it was NEW under warranty and the clowns in the service dept could not even work on a Briggs and Stration Not one of them knew me and that was ok the issue stayed and we kept taking it back till the day the new Factory parts and service rep and i got into it a mid 20's girl who told me i did not know what i was talking about i put my hand up walked away from her and went to the phone dug in my little black book and called Detroit a number vary few held and talked to TOBY after a short chat with him i motioned for this CHICKY to come over and handed her the phone . The look on her face was a true KODAK moment then she handed the phone to the service manager and he went pale then he handed me the phone and Toby said i think this will change thing nice talking to you again . The miss on 2 and 7 went away and not long after the lights went out at that dealership , Next round of another dealership who's service manager and i go way back i call Bill and asked when i could get the Durango in for a ft. end alignment and he told me to have it over there on a Monday morning by 8 , ok fine that will work . Sunday i changed the oil and filter rotated tires , checked the brakes , ball joints with a DIAL indicator along with the tie rod ends and replaced all four shocks . Monday i am at the dealership and they take it in and i WATCH them drive it on the rack , the socalled tech gets out walks down in the pit grabs a trouble light shines it around then hangs it up under the Durango comes up out of the pit and walks off thru the shop while i watch thru the glass . He stays gone for a half hour then i see him strolling thru the shop with a monster sized coffee walks back down in the pit shine the litght around sopme more then back up out of the pit and come in and talks to the service writer , who then comes over to me and starts to tell me that i need alll new ball joints and tie rod ends and SHOCKS and i need a oil change with a brand new filter when there is a brand new MO PAR filter on it . and how lucky i was to bring it in NOW as the ft end was about to fall out of it . NO i am not kidding you one bit on this . And i was looking at a couple thousand dollar repair . I looked AT HIM AND SAID show me AND I GET OH we can't let you in the service dept due to insurance . This needs repaired right now , no see no repair . We can't let you go out there , ok back it out and i well take it home , oh we can't let you drive it that way it has to be repaired before it leaves . I looked at him this slimy little weasel and said you either show me or i WILL drive it out myself . He did not know that his BOSS and i were GOOD FRIENDS but Bill was in the usual Monday morning dept head meetings like in most dealership . So he said ok we will go look so we go out and we go down in the pit and this so called tech show me you can twist the tie rod and he tells me these are NOT suppose to twist like this they must be SOLID . I said REALLY and then said what you think i fell off the turnip truck just yesterday ?????? just who do you think your tryen to feed this line to SONNY i have all the neat papers that say i was a Chrysler master tech and YOU never once put any gauge to this ft end and that crusty oil filter you claimed was changed yesterday and those NEW shocks were installed yesterday and I DID put a dial indicator on the tie rods and ball joints and they were in spec's Now do the ft. end alignment and when you tighten the upper control arm bolt i don't want to see and impact used i want to see a TORQUE WRENCH used set to 165 Ft.LBS and i WILL CHECK them when i get home with my own torque wrench . They finished the job i paid the bill then WAITED till Bill got done with his meeting and he and i had a long chat in his Office about what was tried pulled on me then i left . Bill called that afternoon to inform me that he had two new opening in the service dept . The reason i left the being a parts manager was what started to happen in 1974 . The service manager left for a new job closer to his house , ok i can see want to live closer to your work . New guy comes in Buck , And alone with BUCK comes BERNIE and Chuck , we never before had two service writers before as the old service manager Pete came up thru the ranks of Mechanic First and Dealt with the customer one on one in person , no funny stuff . I ran the largest parts dept in our district to the point that sometimes the regional depot would call me when they ran out of a part to get it shipped to another dealer as i stocked parts for ten years back . and i also STOCKED parts for DODGE MOTOR HOME CHASSIS since we sat like four miles north of the Ohio turn Pike and two towing companys would drop off Dodge Campers on our door step . I had my own dept to see over and we were open from 7 Am till 1:30 Am six days a week . The new 74 model year had been out for like six weeks and i had all the new parts on stock for that year already . I did not spend my whole day at the counter as i had a BOAT LOAD of paper work and parts orders to do That is why i had four on the counter two parts runner on day shift and two on night shift and my assistant manage on afternoon shift with no parts runners . This one evening i was playen catch upon a large parts order and i told the afternoon crew if they want to go take a dinner break that i would cover for them so they ALL left . I was in my cage when Bernie came up to the counter and hollered so i went to see what he needed , he told me he needed a power steering pump repair pkg. . So i looked up the part number then checked stock , yep i had 6 so i went to the bin pulled the kit walked back to the counter wrote the part numbner down on the WRO and went back in my cage never gave it a second thought . was a couple weeks later and again i was there the crew went to supper and NOW BUCK comes up to the counter and wants the same thing , HUMMMMMM , but i did not need to look up the part number and just went and got the part and wrote it down on the W R O and moved on . As i went to set down in my chair it dawned on me that wait ah min. WHY was that big filled with those kits i go back and check stock and there is like 8 now in the bin so i go back into my office and pull the org new stock order and when that new part was added i had 4 and my first time i had 6 and now 8 why is the system ADDING , something is WRONG here New power steering pumps just don't start failing . parts only increase in number when they so a trend of need . Next morning my crew and i haave a chat as to anybody on day shift seen and increase of this part going out aned not one of them had so again HUMMMMM . Afternoon crew come in and day people go home and i have a chat with night turn and they tell me yea every week one of two go out . That is strange i am going to look deeper into this as this is not right and i started stayen late only took two night and i did the same thing let the group go to dinner together and BUCK comes in and want anothe kit , so i give him the kit and wqrite it down on the W RO and he walks out across the service bept places the WRO in the car's windshield a car that nobody was working on then walks to the back of the service bay and throws the kit in the trash can . He is billing Chrsler on a job not being done and dragging me into his web of being a thef . Next day i started a massive inventory to get my ducks in a row , called my parts and service rep to come down and he and i went to Dinner away from the dealer ship and i told him what i saw and was not sure how deep this fruad went but i knew my people had no idea what was going on i only knew what i saw and how my inventory on just that one part had doubled before i caught it and saw what i saw . I told Bob that night i was getting out of Dodge before i was dragged under the BUS . The next day at 7 Pm/ i walked into the service manager office i tossed my keys on his desk and said i ain't going down with you and walked . When i left SO did a LOT of others in the service part and body shop . Three months later the lights went out .
