Reference no: EM132290428
Recently a student from DeAnza brought his car to a repair shop for a brake job. The service writer gave him a written quote of $300 for the repair. The student agreed and signed the quote.
As he was leaving, the student mentioned to one of the mechanics that he needed an oil change.
The next day when the student came to pick up the car the bill was for $330 - $300 for the brake job and $30 for the oil change. The student told the cashier he had not authorized the oil change.
How should this be handled by both parties? What are the risks for both? Make sure you examine both sides of the issue in discussing your answer. Don't worry about commenting on another student's post for this one - those won't be available for this exercise. Just answer as thoroughly as possible.
MY RESPONSE:
Based on the information given, I can see a few different ways to handle the situation. Let’s re-state that the student had only agreed and signed to have the brake repair job performed on his vehicle, and the fact that he expressed out loud to the mechanic that he also needs an oil change, is not approving for the job to be performed since no prices were discussed as well as no 'go ahead' was given. Here the establishment can either go ahead and waive the fee for the oil change since it was not approved by the client. in this scenario, the mechanic shop would lose $30 but would maintain its customer happy and would probably get the opportunity to make more money off the student in the future. A second scenario could be the mechanic shop offering the client a 50% off the oil change for the misunderstanding, but also taking in consideration that since the oil change was in fact needed, it is a great value to the student as well as to the shop. The student saves some money and has the change to walk away as a happy customer and the shop ends up just giving a discount, keeps a happy client and can take the necessary precautions to avoid the situation from developing again in the future. A third scenario could be that the customer agrees to pay the full amount since he did tell the mechanic that the oil change was needed, and even though he did not sign off on the service, he agrees that it was needed and he would of have to come back to service the car again. in this scenario the mechanic shop is satisfied, the customer probably walks away happy but also learning a lesson for future times.
NEW QUESTION THAT NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED.
The discussions from the first web discussion regarding the issue of the brake job and oil change in the first web discussion were interesting. Review the issue again, summarize what you said, and then discuss the issues of quasi-contract and promissory estoppel in this matter. Also, are there any issues of administrative agencies here? Would the Bureau of Automotive Repair have any say in this matter?