Ambivalence - Much like a dog eating a taffy

GregH · October 4, 2008

My former boss comes to me the other day, and asks if I can look at his buddy's truck. I tell him, "Sure, no problem. What's wrong with it?" He responds, "I think the head gaskets are blown. It tries to hydrolock sometimes, and overheats easily."

Since we practice the "good ol' boy" system here, I know that a quick lookover will reward me with a favor later.

A few days later, the truck arrives on a trailer. The batteries are dead, and the starter is cooked. Replace the starter, charge the batteries, and it still won't start. Find low fuel pressure, locate a lower fuel filter that is improperly installed, and fix that. Now it starts, and I can get to doing some testing.

The EGR cooler is seeping - the EGR valve is wet. The cooling system pressure spikes dramatically when the engine is run hard. And, the EOT climbs to 240 degrees when the ECT is in the 200-210 range. So it needs head gaskets (more than likely), an EGR cooler, and an oil cooler. The "Trifecta."

Truck's got 116K on the clock. But the truck is in warranty on time. My former boss asks me if I could ignore the odometer reading, and hook him up with a repair.

We're a level one dealer, but we are in warranty trouble. We've already had a phone call, and a visit, but our trend is still downward so Ford hasn't revoked our level one status. My former boss knows this.

No one from Ford would come and look at the truck... There would be no prior approval required... My hours for this week are low... I could really use the green - what with a house payment due next week, kid needing shoes, and the wife needing perfume...

But it would be blatent warranty fraud. If it were ever discovered, I would have a very hard time defending my position - be it citing hardship or claiming ignorance. I might even face the possibility of being blackballed.

Is it a test? Is my former boss just trying to find out if I would be willing to screw Ford? And if I were willing to screw Ford, would I be willing to screw someone else? But what good would the answer to that question be to my Former boss?

There was a British TV show that aired many years ago called Red Dwarf. It was done in the classic BBC style of horrid special effects, live audience reaction, and rapid fire dialogue. There were four main characters: Dave Lister, the last human alive; Arnold Rimmer, a hologramatic simulation of his bunkmate; a creature that evolved from the ship's cat; and Kryten, a service andriod created to clean lavatories. The show was brilliantly written - I highly recommend it to any of you. Kryten, at one point, is trying to understand human emotions ("Fear:'Oh my! it's going to kill us' Sadness: 'It's killed us' Happiness: 'No it hasn't!' Surprise: 'Oh, I've been turned into a frog!'") Anyway, he attempts to mimic ambivalence, and he describes his failure as looking "more like a dog eatting a taffy."

So, here I am with a taffy in my mouth, trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Defraud Ford? Take the hours and get to work? Refuse the work and blow the whistle?

In the end, I elected to take the high road quietly. I went back to my former boss and told him that I didn't feel comfortable being placed in this position. I recommended that he get the truck's owner to file for assistance through Ford, and see what they said. I also told him that if that failed, we would give him employee pricing on doing the repair CP.

He took it well, apologized for putting me into a compromising position, and relayed the info to the truck's owner. A few days later, he got back with me and told me Ford denied assistance, and the owner couldn't even afford employee pricing for the repair. The truck was towed away, and my former boss gave me $100 cash for my time investment. I gave him back $20 (telling him that $100 was too much), and took half the remainder and bought beer for everyone in the shop...

Washington Mutual won't care about my moral struggle, I know. But at least I feel a little better about myself....

Keith Browning · October 4, 2008

Aside from a well written post I am impressed, well, perhaps more like pleased to hear that you did the right thing which says a lot about your character. In a perfect World all technicians would exhibit such moral and professional qualities but we all know that we do not live in a perfect World. I am proud that you are a DTS member and that all of us here seem to live and work with high moral standards as evidenced by the posts and discussions here in the DTS Forums. Thank you for sharing your story... now I want some taffy! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif New Jersey Salt Water Taffy is considered the best in the World. I haven't been to the shore in while, perhaps next summer... after I get my fillings checked! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

ktmlew · October 4, 2008

That wouldn't have even been a consideration for me...no way I'm going to put my job/reputation on the line like that. Actually, I probably wouldn't have looked at the truck to start with...would have prefaced the conversation with "you know this is likely to be a 5-10K CP job?"..."does the customer have the ability to afford that?" If he couldn't answer that question, then no point in wasting my time...

But in my experience, "the buddy system", is shorthand for "I'm gonna work for free"...never, never, never, had ANYTHING come back my way...promises won't buy shit at the grocery store.

mchan68 · October 4, 2008

You can add me to list of those, impressed by the decision you made, based upon your current situation. The question one has to ask oneself is, "What is the risk-to-reward ratio?". And the next question would be, "Is it a GOOD ratio?".

Off topic, this reminds me of one very good piece of advice passed on to me by one whom I thought to be a very competent tech a long time ago, the very same advice I now pass on to those who care enough to seek my opinion. AFTER ANY REPAIR IS PERFORMED, IF YOU DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE RELEASING THE VEHICLE FOR ANY GIVEN REASON, DON'T.

This particular topic reminds me of one of the many stresses we face in this profession. I don't know about you folks south of us, but here in Canada whenever any vehicle changes hands, a certification is required before plates are issued, and the vehicle is legal to be operated on our streets. This means that a "licensed" tech has to sign a safety certificate for everything to be legal. Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves about being in this profession, "friends" with shitboxes coming to us, asking us to sign a safety for them. The next one being, relatives EXPECTING us to fix their rides FOR FREE. Thank God, all my relatives drive new BMWs, Volvos and other high priced vehicles, and do not require my "services", aside from the fact that I'm not on speaking terms with any of them, which is beside the point.

Anyhoo, back on topic, it's nice to know that there is still some out there who have intregity in their profession. At least your setting a good example to your daughter, that she will just have to be patient and wait a little longer 'till you have money for shoes for. This is far better than conveying the message that you STEAL for a living. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

SteveS · October 5, 2008

Congratulations! It looks to me that you have navigated some stormy waters and had the best possible results: You did a good favor for someone that you probably want to maintain communication. His friend got the straight truth about his situation (bitter though it may be). Ford got to make their rightful decision about participation. You aren't looking over your shoulder and your coworkers got beer.

Now let's hope that you are rewarded by karma and some good work rolls in to sort out your cash flow...

Jim Warman · October 5, 2008

Greg... I am truly honoured to be of your acquaintance... In a day and age where it would be so easy to grab the cash and run you have displayed true honour and integrity.

Lew... we work on a "loose" buddy system.... what goes around, comes around.... I do a favour for him #1.... him #1 did a favour for him #2.... him #2 did a favour for him#3... and him#7 did me a favour.... I got a favour in return for one.... it just didn't come from the guy I did a favour for....

Life is too fucking short to be keeping score like that.

Keith Browning · October 5, 2008

I like taffy, but I love beer! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

GregH · October 6, 2008

At least your setting a good example to your daughter
That's the most important thing.

Originally Posted By: Keith Browning

I am impressed, well, perhaps more like pleased to hear that you did the right thing which says a lot about your character

Originally Posted By: Jim Warman

Greg... I am truly honoured to be of your acquaintance... In a day and age where it would be so easy to grab the cash and run you have displayed true honour and integrity.

Thank you for the kinds words...

Originally Posted By: SteveS

Now let's hope that you are rewarded by karma and some good work rolls in to sort out your cash flow...

I'm confident that it will. These things have an uncanny abiilty to work themselves out.

Originally Posted By: Keith Browning

I love beer!
You said a mouthful there! Only 11.3 hours until Beer:30!

BrunoWilimek · October 7, 2008

We're a level one dealer, but we are in warranty trouble. We've already had a phone call, and a visit, but our trend is still downward so Ford hasn't revoked our level one status. My former boss knows this.

No one from Ford would come and look at the truck... There would be no prior approval required... My hours for this week are low... I could really use the green - what with a house payment due next week, kid needing shoes, and the wife needing perfume...

But it would be blatent warranty fraud. If it were ever discovered, I would have a very hard time defending my position - be it citing hardship or claiming ignorance. I might even face the possibility of being blackballed.

Good for you, Greg. I applaud your morals. It may very well have come back to bite you. I had an 05 Explorer in this summer for a service #1. I noted on the QC 500 sheet that the antifreeze was low and suspected the rad as we have had several others with leaking rads. The customer also mentioned that the left rear power window quit working. The truck had 65,000 km on it(3 year 60,000km is the warranty period here in Canada). The customer is a local dental surgeon and a bit of a whiner, so the service manager decided to do him a favour and back up the mileage on the r.o. When the customer came to pick up his truck, he was real /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif He yelled at the S.M., even though the S.M. was trying to do him a favour and it wasn't going to cost him anything. You couldn't reason with this jerk. The S.M. tried to calm him down and told him to call Ford's customer assistance number, but he swore it was our dealership that was "Ford" to him and he only wanted to deal with us. I was on vacation when he returned and another tech installed the rad and window motor, and using the same r.o., claimed it as a warranty claim, having crossed of the typed actual mileage and writing it in at 59,795km. When it was entered into the system by the warranty clerk, Ford asked for a photocopy of the front and back of the original hard copy of the r.o. Warranty WAS denied due to: no mention of any warranty concerns on the original r.o., the mileage being crossed out and written in, and our dealership ended up eating the whole repair and we may now be possibly getting audited, all for a jerk of a customer who didn't even appreciate our efforts. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif Moral of the story? Don't try to bite the hand that feeds you, as it may bite back. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hitthefan.gif