The blame goes to the mechanic. Wrong parts are sent out all the time. Why would anybody in their right mind take a thermostat apart?

 

Actually, I read every post in this thread before I commented.

The blame still lies mostly with the Mechanic. Not to be rude.......but any mechanic that tries to take apart a thermostat to get it to fit where it's obviously not supposed to go, will never touch my car!

Purely out of curiosity.......have you confronted the mechanic about this?

 

I know there are some unfamiliar people about the shape of these thermostats and insist they are two completely different parts. I've attached pictures of the two thermostats.

One is the Straight design, one has a slight angle.

Also attached is what was returned to us.

If you can give me a good reason why this piece was removed I would be very appreciative.

Thank you,
Anthony

 

Reason? To try to make it fit like you said it would.

 

Mechanics' rule #1:

If it don't fit, it don't fit. Beating on it and taking it apart won't make it fit!

 

It fits, that's the point of the pics. Can you tell which is the 112 and which is the 113? No cause they are the same thing. Difference is in the angle of the filler neck. Which is not even part of what was removed.

 

The pros and cons given on here don't really matter much. Bottom line is you are getting bad press. I think you should refund the guy all his costs, and give him a new correct part at a big discount, if he actually wants one anymore (free would be better). Also, let him know that you are sorry for all of the inconvenience the mistake you made created. It's call customer service with a smile!

 

TVT's mistake- they sent out the wrong part and they will fix that issue.
Mechanic's mistake- he took apart the part. did he fix that issue?
TVT can not be to blame for everything your mechanic did.
I don't believe TVT is responsible for your mechanic's actions. if so, that just sucks.

 

This is a lot of bad publicity over one stupid $70 thermostat.

Even if there wasn't a thread going, it's a bad move. Losing a customer over one part isn't worth whatever cost was on that thermostat. What is TVT trying to save? $40? $60? Is that really worth pissing off a customer?

 

This is proof positive that if a customer is happy, you're lucky if they tell one or two people. But if they are pissed, they tell at least seven. I'm not counting...but....

 

Bad move TVT - you've lost a lot more than $70 on this deal by turning into a pissing contest.

The mechanic most likely took it apart with a "it's gotta fit somehow" effort that's human nature. He was actually giving your company credit believing it MUST be the correct part or you wouldn't have shipped it out !!

Count me as one of the members that won't be buying anything from you. To make someone "fix" a part with a special tool only you have is very arrogant. This never would have happen if you sent the right part to begin with.

Do the right thing and ship him the correct part, accept the incorrect one in its present condition, and refund his shipping costs. If you do that, there's no need to refund his entire purchase.

 

i'll bet more than 7 peeps know about this now...

ahhh... the joys and pitfalls of the internet

 

why are there 2 different parts?.. 112, 113?... which one is better? which one is newer?...
As for all this mess about customer service... both parties are to be blamed for this outcome, just as much...
1. Wrong part( was there anyway Mr. TVT could've known it's 112 or 113? )
2. That mechanic is great... like it wasn't bad enough the client recieved the wrong part, now he broke it...

 

Hold on, dont spend money on thermostats, I have upgraded the thermostat in my srt 6 to use a standard stat. LOW COST and standard temps 160 180 in F not that C stuff, ha ha.

Reassembly of the stat in the housing is effort but can be done with a standard bench vise and a little thought as I bought a Mercades stat on EBAY for 17$ and have been playing with it, taking it apart several times etc.

I have to do a tiny bit of work MORE to be sure the fix I have designed will meet the standards of the forum before I release it. It is good now but I wanna make it bullet proof so some snob wont be overly offended by doing some home style hot rodding.

Woody

 

Apparently, the old saying "you break it, you buy it" no longer carries weight in this country.

I can see why someone who knows little to nothing about cars would try to take apart a thermostat in that case. The mechanic was probably trying to replace the inner workings of the old thermostat with the inner parts of the new thermostat. In their mind that would give them a part that would still fit, and have the properties of the new thermostat.

I'd love to hear what some of our lawyer members thought about this topic.

 

I've read all of the posts and I may be dense cause there is something I don't understand. It is said that the wrong part was sent, however, TVT says it will fit and there are slight differences, but it will fit. Now, was the correct part sent and the mechanic unable to install it or did he/she just look at it and say hummm.... it doesn't look right so I had better take apart the new replacement part to make it look the same before I attempt to physically place it on the car? If it was the correct shipment, why didn't the mechanic just put the part in place and then they would have seen it did indeed work?

I'm not going to get into the right/wrong issue but it seems to me the mechanic plays a role in the disassembly of this new thermostate.

 

Well put, Scott.
Does everyone still think the mechanic is crazy? Perhaps he is more knowledgable than TVT, and doing what waldig has described.

 

When I sent back the thermostat I put a note with it saying if its "broke" I'll pay for a new one. When TVT called me he said you sent it to me in two pieces, and I said is it broke and he said no you need a special tool to get it back together. My problem with him didn't come until he said get it put back together or pay for a new one. Good customer service would have thought about that and said I was the originater in this problem so let me fix it, not throw more inconvenience on an already inconvenienced customer. Thats when I got mad, not that it was the wrong part, not that i just paid for an install, not that I just paid to send it back. I am a reasonable person and had he said it was "broken" I would have paid for a new one (makes sense to me). He didn't want to be inconvenienced putting it back together and didn't care about the inconvenience it cost me. THAT IS MY PROBLEM.

I don't know about different thermostats but let me just say that the one on my car now has a slight angle maybe 12 degrees or so and the one he sent me has like a 45 degree angle. The mechanic said it didn't fit, I looked myself I can see his point that it didn't fit. He showed me both side by side and they are really different. So in my ignorant mind it doesn't fit. Can someone who knows what they are looking at tell me if that thermostat he sent me will fit?

 

I have read all posts on this thread.

As a former automobile repair shop owner, if I had a so-called mechanic on my staff that was given a thermostat (or any other part for that matter) to install on a car and the part did not fit, he had better inform me of this pronto, I would call the customer, inform him of the problem, ask him what he would like to do (get another part, etc.) and proceed from there.

If my mechanic proceeded to take apart a new part to try to make it fit (was his name Rube Goldberg???) I would fire his @ss and let him go back to being a shade tree mechnaic where he really belongs.

1. TVT apparently shipped the wrong part (this can happen to any business)
2. Repair station should have never taken the part apart.
3. TVT should have paid for shipping wrong (intact, not disassembled) part back to TVT.
4. TVT should have sent new (correct) part to customer ASAP.
5 Repair shop shoud either reimburse the customer for the part they broke, or fix the part they never should have disassembled in the first place.
6. Repair shop should install correct part without further expense to customer.
7. Customer AND TVT should never deal with each other or TVT with SRT6nTulsa (and vice versa)ever again as there is bad blood between them (rightly or wrongly).
8 We should all move on to a new thread and have a nice weekend driving our XFires

 

I'm just studying this kind of stuff in school right now. I hate to hear of any business mistreating a customer. From a business trategy/customer service standpoint, TVT has signed their own death warrant. I understand why some people point their finger at the mechanic, but in court, TVT would be ultimately responsible for:
1. Replacing the part
2. Accepting the damaged part (Mechanic acted in good faith.)
3. Paying the mechanic the labor to try again.
4. All shipping.