Top Shelf Stories
In a world that often shuns the uncomfortable, we embrace it with open arms—and open laughs. Our candid narratives around our stories assure you that awkwardness is a shared human experience. Tune in, enjoy the ride, and maybe learn a thing or two.
Top Shelf Stories
When You Finally Find Someone Who Won't Rip You Off
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We celebrate our good fortune in finding honest mechanics who don't take advantage of us when we're vulnerable.
• Finding an auto mechanic who charges fair rates and doesn't mark up parts excessively
• The frustration of auto shops using "book prices" that overestimate repair times
• Why most shops won't let you bring your own parts
• Streamlining your life by paying others for services when your time is more valuable
• How veterinarians and boat mechanics are among the most feared service providers
• The nerve-wracking experience of a potential $6,000 boat repair
• Relief when a grumpy but honest boat mechanic fixed the problem for just $184
• The value of finding service providers who build their businesses on integrity rather than exploitation
Tell your friends about us. We really appreciate you listening to our podcast.
Introduction and Auto Repair Woes
Speaker 1Top Shelf Stories with J , chris and Tony . What's up everybody .
Speaker 2Yo how you doing .
Speaker 1I'm thinking what's up , everybody will be my tag for every show . So like you have like a line yeah , there's this one group . They do the same thing I listen to . That's a sports one . They do the same little skit every time . How you doing , buddy , you know everyone waits for that . Six feet above the ground is better than below , or something he says every fucking time you bet it is Chop , let's get into the stories or whatever it is Tony used to have such a what's up everybody what do you think ?
Speaker 3Yeah , mine's gonna be . Hey , this guy spends more time In the sand than David Hasselhoff .
Speaker 2No , tony's has always been nice , nice , but you don't say it as much as you should , no , just to enter the show , start saying shit that deserves it . We can just start the show like that Nice , nice .
Speaker 1Yeah , welcome to the show everybody . It's Top Shelf Stories . I want to tell everybody about how I am one of the luckiest human beings on the planet right now because your wife , I found an auto mechanic that I've actually had a solid transaction with . He didn't rape you , because you know how it is right . So my van I keep wanting to call it a truck because it's a truck now but my van needs some work . It needed shocks , struts . I just bought this camper . I need a bunch of things wired up , hooked up , lined up .
Speaker 2I don't want to do it . Did you find him on Farmers Only ?
Speaker 1No , I haven't been on Farmers Only since I found my one and only Tony over here , that's me .
Speaker 1That's me . So I need all this work done on the van because I got this camper and I need to haul shit and I could do like it all , but I don't want to . I want to do other stuff . I like doing other stuff now , like 10 years ago , 15 years ago , you'd catch me as soon as I get home from work , ditching the work clothes , throwing on the junk clothes , getting outside , setting up a light for later and working on my car to save money .
Speaker 2Well , as a contractor , tony and I we do our tile work that pays us great money . We're not going to paint our house when we can make more money at work , so what we do when we're at work is we hire a painter right to paint , because we're not saving any money with a painting ourselves if we're going to be working so yeah basically like that right , so I'm right .
Speaker 1I stopped doing shit on this , it's what's called streamlining your life .
Speaker 3Yeah , I would agree when , when you got nothing to do , going out and changing the brakes on your car is fine because you weren't doing shit anyway . But now we're all grown-ups , right , who have a stable income and like these , fucking huge time sucks in our life , like spouses and kids and the internet , like that the interweb .
Speaker 2Well , that you don't have to , that's , that's not a necessity . Once you get near 40s .
Speaker 3You , I find out you poop a lot more it's true . It's true , I can maybe it's because of the internet .
Speaker 1I don't know how many do you spend more time trying to prepare the food . That makes you poop too . You're like I'm gonna make this brisket . It's gonna of the internet , I don't know . Can you spend ?
Speaker 2more time trying to prepare the food that makes you poop too . You're like I'm going to make this brisket .
Speaker 3It's going to take me 14 hours . Shit's getting fancier man . No encore lasagnas in our house anymore .
Speaker 2How many times did you poop a day ?
Speaker 3Oh three .
Speaker 2Get out of here . You're lying .
Speaker 1Three , you're lying I'd , so I'm , I'm , I need this work done . I'm like so I went to this , so this is part of the pain in the ass of not doing it yourself . Is you still got to find like somewhere to do it ? Like I need trailer wiring in my van , like where do you go to get that ? So I'm fucking hannah rv or wherever , so I go down there .
Speaker 3You get all these quotes .
Speaker 1It's thousands of fucking dollars and I get it . It takes a lot of time . You don't know what you're going to run into right . But also I got to get this other work . More importantly , the van Got to get these new shocks and struts . In the shop wants like $1,900 for two strut towers , two shocks and a little control arm . That basically comes off with the .
Speaker 3Well you know the strut tower book .
Speaker 1Time is almost 28 hours on this book time was high , but it wasn't ridiculous . What got me the most was the part costs the strut the strut tower , the exact same one they were going to use . It's the oem one . It's like the only one you can get for the dodge caravan , which is like the most common car in the world . Is it the grand ?
Speaker 1caravan , the rt , it's an rt , it's an rt , rt , it's an rt . Oh shit , yeah , so like yeah , but you still . You just get the strut tower from monroe . I got one for 119 dollars . They were charging like 38385 for each one .
Speaker 2So you got to go through multiple amounts of hands . It's like you're going to pay for this guy . That guy pays that guy , that guy pays that guy .
Speaker 1No , I understand that they can order the part . They can have Napa deliver it for an extra $50 . They can charge me an extra $50 . You throw an extra $100 or maybe you double the price of the part that I can get . I fuck , I get that and you're probably getting a rebate , so you're even more than doubling it , but I think you're just doubling it , that's fine because you , that's the way , that's the best way to make money .
Speaker 1You don't even have to do anything , nothing and then they use these book prices at these car shops , the book prices . Guess who wrote the book mechanic ? Mechanic so he knows how long it takes for him to do that . To poop to eat a donut . Go out to the break room have a cup of coffee about the game he went to yesterday . We gotta write a book yeah , and how long it takes . So everyone's how long everything takes so everyone's even . Who's the guy who ?
Speaker 3makes the most money here . Let's have him write the book so that's what I I did .
Speaker 1So I'm like this is my shop , this is the place I go for all my stuff . They're going to do me right , but this feels wrong . This is too much . Let me go ask around . So I ask around on this . Nope , they're all within the same like 100 bucks the price Just over your quote over the phone even Same price . It's over the phone , even same price . So it's like it's like bringing your own drink into a bar . I'm like they're all there . So then I'm like I'm gonna find a place I can bring my own parts . You can't do that .
Speaker 2They don't let you do that because it's like bringing your own drink in the bar .
Speaker 3Yeah how can we warranty ?
Speaker 1a part that we didn't provide yeah , somebody said to me it's like going into the restaurant with the chicken and an egg under your arm and I'm going to the cook and just giving it to him and be like I'd like to have the cordon bleu , you know it's like bringing your own stripper to the strip club .
Speaker 1Well , that would actually work out pretty well for you if you did that . Like I've always found that if you find yourself with a stripper at a strip club , it goes way better than when it's just you and your friends .
Speaker 1It's true , I've been there , I haven't been there , I haven't been there , but so I'm looking for a freaking mechanic , right ? So then I call this guy . Well , I talked to my wife and she's got this friend . This friend works at an auto mechanic , she's a diesel mechanic , she's a school train diesel mechanic . She works as a diesel shop hooking up trailers . I'm like oh , this is perfect they let women be mechanics .
Speaker 3You bet , you bet since when ?
Speaker 1so she's like I'm like like this is perfect , right , let's have her come over and take a look . So she calls me and she's like this is kind of out of my scope , but I'll come with my guy .
Speaker 3He
Finding an Honest Mechanic
Speaker 3does this stuff all the time .
Speaker 1Whatever , tony , she does this stuff all the time he does all this stuff all the time he'll come by .
Speaker 3So this guy I'll let you go go . Now go ahead . So I'm lucky as hell because I found this mechanic now , so did you end up with the guy or the girl .
Speaker 1I ended up with the guy . Okay , how would you have felt it was . So he's like yeah , he comes over . I was like , here's all the stuff I want done . He was like all right , I can do all of those things , that's not a problem , I'll do them right here in your driveway , I'll come over and get it done . I'll charge you $75 an hour . I'm like that's a miracle , that is a miracle price Really . And he's like and he goes . I think everything you need to be done here I can do in seven hours . And I've been to the shops . Everything I need to be done is booked out at like 20 some hours , at 200 some hours an hour for these mechanics to do . And then I got to pay over price for all their parts . And this is not only just a van , but this is also other stuff that I need done .
Speaker 2Is this mechanic's name Tim no , schaefer no .
Speaker 3Does he let the girl help him ? So he .
Speaker 1No , I didn't even have to help him .
Speaker 3He came over .
Speaker 1I hooked him up with a fan because it was hot as shit . Where's my A1 wrench bitch ? You told him I'm charging you 12 an hour for this man I hooked him up with the fan , I hooked him up with the soda in the water . I said if you need anything , let me know . I'll help you , but I'll . I presume , if you're like me , you'd rather just me get the hell out of your way so if you need anything , holler , I'll be around .
Speaker 1He's like yeah , I'll find you if I need anything . And the man went to work , he brought all his tools , he did all his things and he replaced the strut towers , the shocks and the control arm thing that's connected to the strut towers , for in like an hour and a half , two hours , $75 an hour . Well , he booked me out for that part at a little bit more time than that . I'm perfectly fine with that .
Speaker 2I paid the man double I paid the man double , I paid the man double what he asked . He gave you an hour rate and then , whatever he finishes it in , he's still paying that hour rate .
Speaker 1Well it's kind of like your tile jobs . You probably just come up with a price . You don't really necessarily True .
Speaker 1So , he just said I'll do this , I'll charge you . I charge 75 an hour and for this I'm going to charge you seven some odd hours . So he might consider himself thinking I'm going to have to drive here , I'm going to have to load my tools up , I'm going to have to do the . You know , I'm going to have grease and this . On the other thing , gotcha , because you see on your shop receipt the fucking shop supply is like $17 because the guy got to blow his nose and wipe his hands between sandwich bites .
Speaker 2No , I agree , it's like going to the hospital and paying $200 for aspirin .
Speaker 1So this guy's coming over tomorrow to finish up the rest of the work . I'm going to give him the other half of the money and I'm going to pay him double what he fucking asked for it Again , because I think he's worth more . Yeah , you appreciate him , and this guy's dead . You should .
Speaker 2And he's getting some cash after work and that it's easy stuff he knows how to do right into my driveway , okay , so if something happens down the road two months from now and he didn't do something , right , sure , and you crash into a building , what are you gonna do then ?
Speaker 3well , probably the same thing I would do intensive care to the other side , probably won't even remember if you think , if you think for one second that you are going to be able to go after your mechanic shop because you crashed into a building .
Speaker 1You're crazy . So what's the reason you think they're warning ? The parts are warrantied .
Speaker 2Yeah , probably come replace it if it busted when you sign that receipt , you're signing a waiver saying after this is done , I know I might not . I might or may not die , but if I do , it won't be because of your , your repair .
Speaker 1I don't know about that , I don't know what you're trying to say you think you're going to go to CarX or Mufflers Plus or whatever , and they're going to ?
Speaker 2And if that muffler falls off and I die because of that , what do you think is going to happen ? My family's getting $10 million , ha .
Speaker 1You're insane . Who are you going to call A one-call-that's-all guy ?
Speaker 2Yeah , no no .
Speaker 1You're going to walk out with a t-shirt and a cup of coffee and they're going to settle . You're going to tell me that I way more trust the guy who spent the afternoon , his evening , in my driveway than I do some random guy who's just working for 17 bucks an hour .
Speaker 2Maybe that's why they charge you more at a shop , because they have insurance where , if something , does happen .
Speaker 1They have insurance , so if their guy busts a knuckle , he gets his knuckle fixed .
Speaker 2No , but it's more of the customer If something happens that he did not fix correctly .
Speaker 1No , they have insurance , so people like you try to sue them . They can defend themselves .
Speaker 2And then you get the money because they can't defend a retard .
Speaker 1I was once in an oil change place and saw a slip and fall fake accident and I had some insurance guy calling me Some insurance guy was calling me afterwards asking me if I would interview and all this other stuff . So they have insurance for that . They don't have insurance so that if you crash into a tree you can blame it on the strut tower they installed .
Speaker 2If my muffler falls off before I hit the tree , I can blame it on the strut tower they installed . If my muffler falls off before I hit the tree , I knew that the muffler was the problem .
Speaker 1How many times in your life have you gone back to a car shop and gotten anything out of them when something was wrecked ?
Speaker 1Never dude , Never I managed two commercial trucks and have to have them in for service . I'll tell you , they could have installed that windshield wiper operator knob three weeks ago and if you bring it in there , the reason it broke was not because of them , it was because of some other reason . But don't worry , we're not going to charge you parts . But here's your bill for $865 for labor Cause our rates are 370 a fucking hour .
Speaker 2So you're saying that a vehicle , a dangerous weapon , a murdering four-wheel , psychopath , killing machine can be altered by another human being and if it isn't fixed or altered the right way and it kills someone , they're not at fault ? How is it okay ?
Speaker 1I , I can , I will grant you . There may be certain circumstances where your auto mechanic that you took in for service is did something faulty that caused harm and you would be . They would be liable . I can agree to that . If that's the case , there's no reason I couldn't hold this individual liable as well .
Speaker 2I had something fixed , but that never happens . I had something fixed on my car many eons ago , okay , and they forgot to put some type of lube in the tires , and the only reason I knew that was because after I got that fixed Tony , why are you laughing already ?
Speaker 3Fuck lubes a tire . No , listen something , something I I am . How you automatically knew that you're like these motherfuckers , didn't even lube my tire .
Speaker 2Well , that's let me get through the story . You find out what I'm talking about . Okay , but honestly I have no idea .
Speaker 3I can't even change a car a car's , my car's oil .
Speaker 2I don't know anything about anything . I just know they had something wrong with something that attaches to my tire that wasn't working . I , after I got it fixed , I bring it to because my dad's like , hey , you need new tires , I can see the wires sticking out . So I went to the tire place , which is mr p's great place I don't anybody in milwaukee area and west allis area wouldn't know him but he went through , fixed my tires . He's like you know what ? Did you just get this thing or whatever this is fixed because they didn't put oil in the whatever it was needed to be done and I was driving to florida this time , so I had to drive .
Speaker 3With wires hanging out of your tires .
Speaker 1Well , my tires were so bald that the you know , you had probably a wheel bearing or a hub to replace .
Speaker 2Something needed to be done with whatever connected to my tires .
Speaker 1After that , I needed to grease it .
Speaker 2Not lube it , okay , grease it , fine , whatever .
Speaker 1Grease is a fucking thing , not even close . Try to bring some grease into the bedroom and tell me how this works out for you . Okay , but if I told , you Tell me , lube is the same thing as grease , but if I told you lubing something .
Speaker 2It's the same thing as like you feel like something should be in there . That's liquidy , that doesn't dry out .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2So yeah , grease lube same thing . The car , fucking words , that's the same thing .
Speaker 1But he's like if you wouldn't have done this your car would have broke down before you got to Chicago , so did you go back to them and get your money ?
Speaker 2back . No , I didn't do anything . Did you get ?
Speaker 1irreparable damages repaired by them .
Speaker 2No , because nothing happened . The guy from Mr P's helped me out and saved my life .
Speaker 1So this guy is what I think you missed in the beginning , when I said I have a good mechanic . Okay , because there are mechanics and I've had mechanics before the other part is . I could do this work . It would just have taken me probably 8 to 12 hours instead of an hour and a half to do .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , you're right .
Speaker 1Because I wouldn't know exactly . This guy does this 15, . He probably had done exactly this three times already that day while at work , so he just came to my house with his tools and did it .
Speaker 2So what ? Tony was talking about the word he said , and I don't remember because I'm bad with words . What was it ? Don't know Grease
Auto Shop Pricing and Practices
Speaker 2A bearing ? No , don't know grease a bearing . No , talking about making your time worth because you do what you do oh , you gotta streamline your streamline .
Speaker 3Streamline the word that way , that word . So so here's the thing . Uh , there , there are certain things in my life that , um , you streamline . Like , look , dude , I make a pretty good living , like I can't complain , given my education , my area I grew up with .
Speaker 1Socioeconomical background . Yeah , but you're a white male though so you didn't deserve any of it by the way .
Speaker 3No , no , no , no , no . I didn't . I actually write down that I'm Asian . Oh yeah , you're straight too Every time I got to fill anything out . I'm like , I'm Asian , I think they get good funding .
Speaker 2You know what it is . I think it's people that have been raised up with dads . They don't do as good , and you weren't , so you have .
Speaker 1That's why I don't think math would support that one , or like numbers . I numbers actually thinking about leaving my kid's life for that for that reason . Well , you got one that's a little older than the other .
Speaker 3You can stay in that life , but completely ignore the other time every time I leave because I don't know if I'm coming back , I look at my oldest and I go going for a pack of smokes now , oh , you better fucking understand how to make a peanut butter jelly sandwich with the right amount of jelly and peanut butter .
Speaker 2Oh , both my kids cook Really , yeah , even a seven-year-old , six-year-old yeah , what does he cook in the microwave ?
Speaker 3No macaroni and shit . Jesus Raising these kids right ? That kid chops shit . Wow , he fucking loves it . Just wait till he chops his finger off . Well , that's a bill worth paying , what ? So I get really weird about shit where I know there's a high probability of me being taken advantage of . Huh . So like mechanics are one .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Like I have a fear of mechanics because , like , usually when something's fucked up , I know there's something going on with it , right , and you know , like I have an idea Okay , my , my ball joints starting to be fucked up , you know . So you take it in , you tell them I need a new ball joint , and then they put it up on the rack and they're like , yeah , no problem , we'll change out that ball joint . And then they call you up an hour later , when they fucking got you , and they're like , oh , your tie rods are actually gone . You know , your fucking left shock is bad . And then they give you a list and that 300 ball joint , which was already grossly overpriced yep , now turns into like , well , we can get you back on the road safe for like 1790 yeah , this all started at the tire rotation about 18 months ago , where they're like , oh , you should probably replace the shocks , and but they don't do it until you say yes , they don't just do it and then give you the fucking they always like how you mean , they always they always got you by the balls because they're like we already got it in
Speaker 3the air we got it in the air . They're like your tie rod's so bad we can't even get the ball jointed my guy's not gonna put this back together like this .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's really hard for us to do that .
Speaker 3It's not safe they just they fucking get you , they , they like nickel and dime . Every fucking little bit they cannot , they make they bring in the right time to taking your car in for an oil change . Every fucking time they pull your air filter . Yeah , no , that's not true . No matter what . No because , well , maybe not on your little fucking clown car part of our 21 pointpoint inspection , sir . They probably figure your car is electric or something .
Speaker 2Well , the biggest thing , too , is the bullshit that they think you should get the best oil synthetic , whatever the fuck it is and I have had the same cheapest oil for probably like 15,000 miles . I know I need an oil change , but I haven't got one yet .
Speaker 3Right , but this is what I'm saying , like , I fucking hate this shit . Uh , I give somebody a quote , I do everything I can to stay inside of that . Everywhere else you go , you , you always feel like you're fucking . They're trying to add something on . They're fucking ripping you off to begin with . So there's one person I there's one , one industry that I fear more than automobile mechanics veterinarians , oh my god okay okay , that's inside joke , because no , it's , it's in the
Speaker 3podcast okay , two people , I fear . Okay what , what is it ? The other one is boat mechanics . Oh yeah , that's a made-up thing too . There's no license for that .
Speaker 1You just become one , because you're a swindler .
Speaker 3Fucking boat mechanics . Dude , they're the worst . Why can't ?
Speaker 2you do it yourself Anytime .
Speaker 3Well , because boat motors are something normal . People know nothing about that's pretty true . People know nothing about . It's pretty true . So every time you take it in there , they , they fucking rake you over the cult . You like there's nothing you can do , like they got your shit disassembled . They always tell you everything's bad .
Speaker 1Everything on a fucking boat is crazy
The Boat Mechanic Dilemma
Speaker 1expensive yeah , fine , if you want to drown or whatever and end up in the middle of the ocean , why don't you say this ?
Speaker 2Put this back together with this , and that's all I want . Put it back together and I'm done .
Speaker 3So I drop my boat in the water for the first time this year and I rent a spot on a lake .
Speaker 2You're pretty late man .
Speaker 3Well , this was a couple weeks ago . You're still pretty late . It's still pretty late . It's still pretty late . But I dropped my boat in . Uh , I'm taking it from one end of the lake to the other to get to my spot , that's when most boating acts are like , breakages happen actually and and it's uh , I got my buddy on the boat with me .
Speaker 3He's gonna . You know , it's like a big ordeal to get the fucking boat to where I need it to be for the season . And uh , we get on it and I start going and the thing's not fucking moving like it's just at a walking pace going across and and the engine's fucking revving up . I'm like fuck dude , this thing's broke . I don't have a boat mechanic anymore . I had a guy , and that guy is no longer in the boat game he's finally made it yeah , no , once there's enough zeros in the bank account .
Speaker 3So enough corona's in the fridge , you're done so I'm like fuck now , what am I gonna do ? So I start calling places and now I I want it fixed right away . Right , I start calling places . I'm like how far are you out on service right now ? And they're like 10 weeks out , six weeks out , because it's begins yeah you know every .
Speaker 3They're like oh yeah , we're fucking chocked full of boats and I'm like , fuck , I ain't gonna get this thing fixed . And I'm reading google reviews on them , you know , because people tend to go to the getting ripped off is real too .
Speaker 1You don't want to be like telling a story . I got this guy who takes care of my boat and they're like , oh , you go to that guy , dude , oh no , don't go to that guy .
Speaker 3So I'm reading google reviews , uh , on all these bulk places , and so I figure if , if anybody has more than a 50 good review , they're probably a great place to do business with . Better than 50 , yeah , because people go to the internet to write reviews when something's fucking horribly wrong . True that People don't go to the internet because they had good enough service .
Speaker 2And let's remind everybody in the audience to give us a bad review , because that's all the ones we care about .
Speaker 1We want a review , or any review .
Speaker 3But you know what I'm saying . Nobody runs out to the internet and said I had . I had a decent experience with this place . Yeah , no , I get it so I'm like if they have 10 reviews and five of them are this guy's a piece of shit and five of them are this is the best place I've ever went up , like well , they're probably pretty decent .
Speaker 2So you got . I would put it in this perspective that 100 people were satisfied and 15 were were pissed off , and those 15 are those 15 , 5 and it was 105 . So , yeah , that percentage makes sense and because you know , and no one's ever going to be like , take the time to help you out unless you tell them right , hey , give me a review , and most people aren't going to do that unless you're a podcast , so I find I find this place .
Speaker 3I've never heard of them . I read his reviews . He's got like 50 or 60 reviews . They're primarily good , but a lot of them are like this guy is just a fucking grumpy asshole .
Speaker 1Awesome . Those are the best guys If you get right through there .
Speaker 2If he fix my car being grumpy , do I give a shit ?
Speaker 3Nope , nope . So I call him up and he answers the phone and he goes , yeah , and I'm like , oh , maybe these reviews are fucking spot on , and I go , hey .
Speaker 2What the fuck do you want ?
Speaker 3I said , hey , I said I got this boat , I dropped it on the water for the first time . It's got a mercury 60 horse on it . Uh , I give it full throttle and the thing's hardly fucking moving and he goes . I go how far are out are you right now on service ? And he goes . I got 10 boats in my shop right now . We're all wait , we're waiting for parts on all 10 of them . He was like I got two mechanics sitting around with nothing to do . Bring it in today he's like .
Speaker 2My reviews on the interwebs have been pretty bad and I'm trying to be a better person , so I go drop it off to him the next day .
Speaker 3Meanwhile , I'm doing I'm doing the normal thing , like if you're not feeling good , or something like that . I'm doing internet research , right , and everything's pointing toward what's called the lower unit , which is basically your boat's transmission . Yeah , you have your motor on the top , that's the big round part , and then the long part that goes down to the bottom of your boat is the transmission .
Speaker 1It's called the lower unit , so the motor's running , but it's not catching any of the other .
Speaker 3Yeah , it's not spinning the propeller , but the motor's running fine and , uh , that repair is six thousand dollars , jesus christ that's how much is a new motor Like ? I mean Ten so wow , it's the most expensive thing to fix on a boat .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , I know that the most expensive thing on a boat is the motor .
Speaker 3No , no , no the lower unit is the most expensive part of the motor .
Speaker 1The most expensive thing on the boat is the woman sitting in it Captain's partner in the cockpit chair .
Speaker 2Next to you , yelling at you like where the fuck are you going ?
Speaker 3So I take it in , I re-explain everything to him and he looks at it and he's like it's going to be one of two things Fluid . He goes the lower unit shot . He goes that's really expensive . He goes , that's really expensive . He's like these motors also have this electronic fuel
Surprising Boat Repair Resolution
Speaker 3delivery . It's like a fuel pump . He goes but they fail all the time and it gives the symptoms of a burnt-out lower unit . How old is ?
Speaker 1your motor , Because your motor's running but there's no gas in it to make anything spin fast .
Speaker 2Yep .
Speaker 3How old is your motor ? 10 years , is that old for a motor ? Not at all , okay . Um , he goes . That piece is also pretty expensive , but nothing like lower unit . He's like you know that's like a 2500 repair . He goes , just he was just warning you . It's probably one of those two things six thousand or twenty five hundred ? Yeah , and I'm like fingers crossed , it's twenty five hundred dollars , right ? So this , this fucking guy calls me up the next day I'm assuming it's $6,000 , the way you said , and he's like hey , this is Gordy over at Summertime Marine .
Speaker 3Come get your boat . It's done . I'm like , okay , so I start calling this guy back , and now we're playing phone .
Speaker 2Take back and forth wait , you didn't approve anything and I'm like what the fuck do you mean ?
Speaker 3it's done like I didn't ask you or like I didn't approve a six thousand dollar repair . So I'm fucking furious lawyer , at the time I'm out of town . I went out of town for three days to uh , if you listen to our podcast , I was at a spa this .
Speaker 2This is the spa day . This is the spa day . He's spending at the spa . He's spending on his boat . What other money is he spending ?
Speaker 3in a weekend , Jesus . So I'm like this motherfucker . He wouldn't fucking change my lower unit out . He's going to hand me a $6,500 bill . He's going to change the lower unit and be like , well , that wasn't it . So then he's going to replace the fuel pump to fuel filter . Yeah , I'm like this motherfucker's bucks .
Speaker 1I'm like this motherfucker's gonna charge me eight thousand dollars and I'm gonna have no fucking choice like he's .
Speaker 3He's got me . There's nothing I can do now . It's fucking done . We go to court , court . He wins , you know . So I'm fucking furious and I can't get a hold of him the whole rest of the day . I'm like this is fucked .
Speaker 2Like now I'm getting real mad your facial .
Speaker 3So I'm like getting a massage from this fucking half-hearted white lady , and I'm not even enjoying it because I'm so worried about my phone . It's all mushy , not even a strong hand or grip , and the next morning he calls me back $25 a day .
Speaker 1if you keep leaving it here , it's gory .
Speaker 3He goes . You going to be in today to pick up this boat and I said , well , first let's talk about what actually was wrong with it . And he goes . Yeah , bad news , he goes . Your four spark plugs were all fucked up . He was like , so we pulled them and changed them . He goes . I actually dropped it in the lake and took it for a cruise around the lake . Thing runs , fucking mint .
Speaker 1So he's like so come pick it up 184 bucks 320 .
Speaker 2Oh my , my god , they want a grand for my van , so wait , now he has a mechanic for cars now you have a mechanic for your boat and uh sounds like a stand-up guy . I went and I went . Did you leave a review ?
Speaker 3and I went to go talk to him and I said I said you know , I said I really really appreciate you , you being honest with me . I said because at this point you could have changed my lower unit just to get the work and the money into the shop , cause you already warned me that this is what it probably is , I said , and you opted to only fix the problem . I'm like I really , really appreciate that he goes . I wouldn't be in business for the last 25 years if I was just out ripping people off did he ?
Speaker 2did he end that count that that sentence with dick he's like now get your fucking boat out of here .
Speaker 3And I'm like every review on the internet about you is dead on , yeah , but he's awesome , he's awesome and uh , uh , you know , even even like that , I'm talking to him and and my really good friend is having problems with his motor and he's got a little bit smaller motor than I do
Value of Honest Service Providers
Speaker 3and I I asked him , I said , hey , my buddy's looking for a place to bring his boat and can he bring it in here ? And he goes , what size is the motor ? And I'm like , oh , it's a 40 . And he goes , he goes , I don't fuck with the little shit , he goes , your motor's the littlest one . I'll even touch there , you go .
Speaker 3You know , I'm like he's just a grumpy old dude who doesn't fuck around , he doesn't waste your money , he doesn't waste your time , came through with exactly what he said he was gonna do and didn't take advantage of me when he had every fucking opportunity . Yeah , so yeah , it's . Uh , it really feels good when you find somebody that has a skill that you don't feel like is taking advantage you and he could just be setting me up next time he might completely fuck me over like I gained your trust .
Speaker 3This is like the first crack rocks free . All the rest you got to pay for . You know , I don't know . I'm assuming he's a great guy though . I'm glad you found a mechanic . I'm glad I found a boat mechanic . Uh , everything's good in the fucking luckiest guys in the world .
Speaker 1The top shelf stories podcast guys are the luckiest guys in the fucking world . And you're lucky too for in Tell your friends about us . We really appreciate you listening to our podcast . Continue doing so . Tune in again another Tuesday .
