Trust me, I'm a professional . . ., How do we really know? Options

[anderssj]

Finally picked up the 914 yesterday after almost a month at a highly recommended local indie shop (the reason it took a month is another story). I made it about 10 miles towards home before the steering felt funny and there was a clunking from the left front . . . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Yeah, you guessed it:







(IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

LF lugs weren't tightened/torqued. I guess that I WAS lucky on one level . . . I hadn't decided to take the freeway home.

After jacking up the car and tightening the lug bolts (and checking the others), I drove back to the shop for a "safety briefing" with the owner. Not much said besides "sorry."

When I'm doing multi-step work on the car where I might forget something, I tend to leave sticky notes one the dash or steering wheel ("pump brakes," "torque lugs," etc.). But when a car is in the shop, how do we know they haven't forgotten something and everything is really OK . . . that the valves are properly adjusted, push rod tube keeper wires in place . . . or if a wheel is about to fall off?

And I know that sometimes people make mistakes, that $hit happens, that the exception doesn't prove the rule, etc., etc., but still . . . I guess it comes down to a matter of trust--kind of like buying/eating mushrooms (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

We try to exercise our judgment in picking the best mechanic, shop, doctor, contractor, product, etc., then we pay our $ and take our chances, right?

Sorry for the rant, but this experience has left me kind of pessimistic.