JSA Story on Autographalert.com

[steve B]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHarmonica

Steve, isn't his job to look at the auto and not the cert ? Isn't that why people get multiple opinions from different Doctors, Lawyers, Car repairmen, builders, plumbers, ect ect ect.

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

A waste of time? THEY WERE PAID FOR THAT TIME!

Not actually examining the autograph is not only "bad business practice," it is theft.

Some good points there to consider.

With doctors, lawyers, car repairmen etc I generally try to find someone I believe is excellent in their field so that I can trust their opinion. Fortunately I've never had a major medical or legal problem. If it was bad enough I'd get a second opinion. Crummy pop culture reference now, but the difference here strikes me as a House/Dr Nick comparison.
I do most of my own contractor type work, and very nearly all my own plumbing. I've found a couple people that are excellent, and trust their work if it's something I can't handle. The guys that seem clueless never get to the quoting part

I do think David has an excellent point, and in my first post I did say that I thought it was probably bad practice to make up reasons that something was bad to justify charging the fee.I've been convinced that it's definetly poor practice, and not something a reputable company should do. Since it was in person I'd have probably just refused it with no charge. Through the mail would be a bit harder, I can't quite figure out how that sort of rejection would need to be worded legally.
I've been offered a few autographed items in the last couple years that would have been pretty nice, but 5 minutes of research about the quality of the certificates included led me to pass on all of them.

Back to the first point, true story. We get in a bike for a tuneup. With a hole in one tire big enough for me to put 3 fingers through. So we call and tell them they need a new tire, $20 for the tire no extra charge to put it on.
An hour later the wife comes in and says the husband works on cars and says the tire is fine and does not need to be changed! I show her the giant hole by holding up the tire with my fingers through the hole. She sticks with saying it doesn't need changing. And since we won't continue without changing it she'll take it somewhere else. (Which at that point was what I wanted as well) 2 weeks later the husband comes in. With the bike and reciept from another shop. Tuneup $100 instead of our $60. Tire $50 instead of our $20. Labor to put the tire on, another $20. And it still won't shift right and the brakes are dragging. The other shop just put the new tire on and charged them. Wonders if there's anything we can do for him.
We did get him going for a minimal charge, and he's become a regular customer- And doesn't question if we say a part needs replacing


Steve Birmingham