[Sonic dB]

This is somewhat of a long story.....but Im in CA and wondering what my options are to resolve a situation and get my money back. I may need to go to court on this one.

The story goes about 6 weeks ago, I was up in Lancaster when the alternator bearing on my 993 went bad and it caused one of the inside pulley halves to crack and the fan belt to go. The alt light came on and I pulled over... and my options were to a) tow the car 100 miles to my normal Porsche mechanic to do the repair or b) find someone locally in town that could do the work within a day or so.

I didnt have the tools or the parts or the garage space to do the work up there....100 miles from home....so...

I chose option B, and after calling around I found a mechanic in Lancaster who supposedly knew how to do the work. I had the work done there and paid $380 for 2 new belts, new bearing which the mechanic sourced and 2 new pulley halves which I supplied because the mechanic couldnt get them.

To make a long story short, this guy did the "repair" but within 2 weeks the entire system failed again and the new bearing went out. I was close to home and took it to my normal mechanic who is very good and he did the work of replacing the bearing again, with 2 new Porsche belts and also I had to put a brand new fan on since the failed bearing caused my fan to grind in to the housing. That bill was $447.

My mechanic said that the other mechanic used the wrong belts (non OEM) during his repair which were slightly off in size, and they were wayyy too tight as well...this, could have placed too much pressure on the bearing causing it to go out as well.

I didnt want to be confrontational as its just not worth it to get upset over anything these days... so I called the guy in Lancaster and offered him a 'settlement" where I would send back the bearing that blew and the 2 belts and he would warranty those and send me the total which is about $200.

I figured that I was being fair because I was a) letting him keep his $ from his labor and b) not charging him for the new fan that I had to have put on as a result of his poor work.

The mechanic agreed to this, and I sent back the parts for the refund and waited....now its been over 2 weeks since he received the parts and I have spoken to him on the phone several times and he claims that he mailed me the check (which is BS because I would have received by now for sure if he did). Now he says he will be in my area tomorrow and will meet me to give me the money.

You know when someone is lying to you? Well this guy obviously is. I dont deal with conflict these days, when people BS me or are toxic people...I just get the hell away from them...however I do know it is fair that I should get at least my money back on those parts....

I have a feeling he is going to weasel out of paying me tomorrow....so what are my options here in CA...does such a thing as small claims court exist for such matters?