[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Incompetent, crooked, or some mix of both? Opportunists? Hate to say it, but maybe because she is a woman?

I've done a bunch of work on cars, and understand how the mechanical systems work (much like many/most of the folks on the board). I'm "mechanically inclined."

When I was younger, I spent ~3 years working at a retail parts place in FL. I've seen and heard some crazy stories about folks getting screwed. I'm not actually sure if "they" differentiate between men and women these days when they try this stuff.

I honestly don't know if it's incompetence or malfeasance. My guess is that it's a combination of both. Sometimes, it's one, sometimes it's the other and sometimes it's both at the same time.

I've heard and seen several stories where folks needed to have their auto transmissions rebuilt, but then they changed the fluid and filter and were fine.

I had a lady come in one morning with 3 little girls in tow. She bought 8 quarts of oil. I don't remember how it came up, but I ended up hearing that she had an appt ot go to Firestone on the weekend to have her oil pan gasket replaced because it was leaking and the 8 quarts of oil were what she'd need to get to work which was <5 miles away. Looking at her and the girls you could tell that they were at best, living paycheck to paycheck. I went out and looked at her car which was something like a Ford Escort or Mercury Topaz or something.

The oil filter in the car was front and center of the motor and easily seen and reached with the hood popped. The filter was unscrewed so far that I could fit my fingers between the filter gasket and the block. I screwed the filter back in and helped her fill the car with oil. I told her that her car was fixed and to never go back there again.

She told me the reason that she went there was because she had a Firestone credit card so it was the only place that she could go.