Peed off

[Fantapantz]

This is a liitle story about todays episode on my car air-conditioner....I was majorly p'ed off and also jumping with joy.

My AC hadn't been working for 12 months cause I never got around to replacing the 'on' switch...After I replaced it I realised the gas was gone.
The cheapest person to take it to was $55 for a regas and another $44 for die that shows where leaks are/service. I took it in and 40 minutes latter was told that it was going to cost $740 to fix because the evaporator was leaking. Evidently they couldn't even pressurise the system cause it was leaking so badly. :mad: ..I rang Hyundai and asked how much for an evaporator cause I thought i could save a few dollars if I did it myself, $920 just for the part.. :eek: ..
At this stage I was thinking 'Holy Fk', I rang a second AC place to get a cost for the part and they said probably somewhere between $130 and $150.This second AC place also said 'Bring in the car and we'll check it for you.'
I took my car in an hour latter and was promptly told that if it was the evaporator it would be the first that they have ever had to replace on my model car. The guy took my car and came back 10 minutes later and said there's no problem with the AC, and he has just regassed it and put die in the system just incase it does leak so they can track the leak.

TOTAL CHARGE FROM THE SECOND AIR-CON PLACE....$0.00....NOTHING :)

AUTO AIR & RADIATORS at Acacia Ridge ...........well done.........

Is there any place where you make official complaints about an attempted buggering from the first place I took my car to?

[HappyHammer]

Nice ending to the story...you should drop a case of beer in to them.

HH.

[vsquizz]

Fpz, give it a week or two before you pull the trigger, just a tip.


Cheers

[LineLefty]

What a champ! If you ring the renamed equivalnet of "consumer affairs" "consumer protection", "Fair trading" or some such they'll want to hear about it. Make sure it's all written down before you call them though.

I had a similar experience when a house restumping specialist saved me from spending 205k on a house that was improperley restumped and sinking. THe carton of beer seemed a bit inadequate :)

[Fantapantz]

The thing that gets me is, why did he say the leak was so bad that he couldn't put any gas or die in at all?

I'm expecting there to be a leak or two over the next few weeks (cause it hasn't been going for over twelve months and seals could have dried out) and for that to cost me a few dollars. But the first guy couldn't even put die and gas in the system. Even if the gas is empty tomorrow the die that was put in will identify where the problem is.

I have made a complaint to VASA, the air-con organisation, and emailed the business involved with a 'Please explain'.

[vsquizz]

If its had air in it for an extended period it will need a new Filter/Drier as well.

Cheers

[Lucas]

i agree with vsquizz about the reciever/dryer
but the question i would be asking is why did he not charge for the regas of the A/C
here in melbourne my old boss would have charged 65 to 100 dollars for the regas
hmmm cant be real sure about the job if he didnt charge me thinking
sounds like a nice bloke tho

[gemi_babe]

I recently got my air con fixed too. It wasn't working at all... i thought the gas was gone, but the new stuff... took it down to the bloke, he had it running in no time. a wire hadn't been put back after I had the motor rebuilt... he fixed the pressure and it works great, only problem now is I swapped it for a ute and the air con on the ute isn't as cold as my laser was :( lol

Fantapantz, I would ring them back or go in and tell them what the exact problem was and let them know that you wont be sending business his way..

[Peter R]

i agree with vsquizz about the reciever/dryer
but the question i would be asking is why did he not charge for the regas of the A/C
here in melbourne my old boss would have charged 65 to 100 dollars for the regas
hmmm cant be real sure about the job if he didnt charge me thinking
sounds like a nice bloke tho
I wonder if you remember the time before the law changed on refrigerant for both air condioners and refrigerators?

The government of the day said that the new gas, Freon, would be much cheaper than the old regrigerant and less damaging to the ozone layer or something.

We all waited with keen anticipation to see the price of a re-gas to drop from $40.00 to , well, next to nothing because of the new and clean technology.

Alas, the re-gassing machine cost $6000 to buy, which the mechanic had to recover - over and over again till time indefinte and the collecting and disposal of the old gas, and subsequently the new gas got dearer and dearer, thus, today $70 -$100 per fill.

I don't think anyone should be told that they must run the air con both winter and summer to stop seals and hoses from becoming brittle.

Another trick I used was, because of the drying out, I put a Chinese takeaway food container in the car with a cheese type sponge in it and kept it topped up with water on long trips. It did make a big difference to me.

Peter R