<MISC> Good service at A&E in Campbell, CA (was "Buying throttle body")

[Larry Schwarcz <lrs@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Just thought I'd give an update on my throttle body issue.

The short version is that the shop that broke it will fix (repair or replace)
it next Thurs at their expense.  I'm now a happy customer and can recommend
A&E Performance in Campbell, CA.

The sequence of events are:

 - Take car ('90 E-30 325iC) in for coolant flush & fill and to replace
   all coolant hoses.  The connections for the throttle body pre-heater
   are leaking a bit.  A different shop (The Driving Machine in Cupertino,
   CA) earlier had told me that the small screws holding the pre-heater 
   in are usually corroded and frequently will break off.  I should be 
   very carefull if I try to fix it myself.

 - I pick up the car and they tell me that the screws that hold the small
   plate for the pre-heater broke off in the throttle body and instead of
   taking them out (they did make a few attempts), they by-passed it
   completely.  They tell me that I'd probably never notice it and that the
   car should drive fine as it is.  The expense of the repair (remove 
   throttle body and machine out broken screws) could be more that the 
   cost of a new part ($365 at The BMW Store).

 - I'm not too comfortable with the "patch" to the car.  I usually like 
   to keep everything factory (with a few exceptions, like a JC chip!).

 - After some e-mail from this list, I decide to ask A&E to take care of
   it.  I drove down today and spoke with Al Megenity (the "A" of "A&E").
   At first he said that they could fix it, but, they'd just bill me for
   the time for the repair.  I explained that since they're the professionals,
   they should have known about this risk.  Especially a risk with such
   expensive consequences.  One side is that if they had to explain every
   risk to every customer they'd be there all day just talking and not fixing
   anything!  But, the other side is that not all risks can cost so much
   when the odds go against you.

 - After Al explained his side, he then offered to fix it for free.  He
   was very polite and nice through out the whole conversation.  He still
   feels that this was not their responsibility to fix, but, since I 
   felt differently, he's eating the cost to make the customer happy. 

I still feel that I'm in the right, but, I do recognize that there are 
two sides to every issue and I appreciate Al offering to fix it.

So, I'm still a happy customer and can recommend A&E Performance in 
Campbell, CA.

Of course, YMMV, and all that sort of stuff :-).

       Later,
          Larry Schwarcz
          lrs@domain.elided

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