Embarrassed by Being Conned

My friend finally got the tie rods Saturday. At the end of May, when I was sold new tires and told my bad alignment caused the wear on the old ones, and that I needed tie rod work to keep from ruining the new ones, he ordered and paid for them. He has a friend, a former Saturn mechanic, who agreed to install, no charge.

They came over around 5:45 pm and took the car over to a nearby parking lot. We are not allowed to do mechanical work on our driveways. They were back inside of 15 minutes. There is NOTHING wrong with my tie rods!

In what is probably the ”understatement of the year,” I believe I was “snookered” by both the guy at Discount Tires and the “buddy” at the repair shop he suggested.

My friend’s buddy, on Saturday, said something about bushings, rack and pinion looseness, engine looseness, and a ball joint, but said he would not be afraid to let his mother drive the car at present. Also, he said my tires show absolutely NO wear from the past 3 months.

They will return the tie rods and look for bushings but he said it appears safe to drive, barring anything he did not see because it was not up on a lift. They will be back one day.

Looking back at that morning at Discount Tires, I think I only saw the worn treads, showing the steel, on one tire. And now that I think really hard, I did go inside the store for about 3 or 4 minutes and had barely sat down when he came in to show me the tire. With those guys, that is long enough to get one tire off and plop a bad one on. Also, I am certain now that he showed me only one and said something like he didn’t want me to hurt myself getting down to see the others but that they were all like that. It was not on the lift.

After the tire replacement, he said it was because of a need for an alignment and gave me a nearby shop’s name and address. I opted to go there instead of to my own mechanic. I shouldn’t have.

I never did feel comfy with that shop, especially when they said I needed over $600 worth of tie rod work. I only paid for the alignment (about $70) and told him I’d have to come back for the tie rods when I had the money.

As for the money for the tires, which I haven’t yet been able to pay for, I have now put the Discount Tires bill way, way down on my list of things to worry about paying.

So, the good news is that I can drive across town, if need be. The bad news is that I feel stupid having been taken. One of these days, I do need to go to my own mechanic and check the brakes. It has been a while, 2 years, I think. But that’s down the line.

 
Father, thank you for one of my burdens of worry that you took away on Saturday. Bless the fellows who helped me with their own time and money. As for the fellows who took advantage of me, I wish them no harm. However, I do pray fervently that you keep them from doing likewise to anyone else. Once is enough.