bearing disaster revisited!

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
some of you may remember the disasterous bearing remetalling job and poor engine rebuild that i posted about some months ago.
The engineer was completely not willing to negotiate,so i took him to court.
Here in australia,we have what is known as Small Claims tribunal,where you can bring a case before a magistrate for a very small fee.
The judge examined both an original bearing set,an excellent remetal job by Harkin Machine,and the extremely amatuerish job done by the local aussie bloke.
He then ordered the complete repayment of all the money i had paid the engineer,
to be paid within 28 days. The system worked!
I would advise anyone who has suffered at the hands of dodgy repairs/machining to look into legal proceedings.If more people took their complaints to court,then there would probably be less bad work done.
Plus,now i dont have to complain for the next 30 years about how i got ripped off and did nothing about it.Fight back folks!

Comments

  • hornet53
    hornet53 Senior Contributor
    Wow. There's something to be said about going to court prepared too. Good job.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    yep,i spent a fair bit of time preparing.What clinched it for me was having the bearing samples there as physical evidence. I argued they wouldnt work,the engineer argued they would,both of us had supporting letters,tons of tech info etc,but the judge cut right to the case by saying "you asked for machining to be done to original specs,these bearings are obviously not,so i find in your favour"
    My advice is -keep it simple,and have incontrevertible evidence.
    Now i can continue with the rebuild!
  • Huddy42
    Huddy42 Senior Contributor
    Congratulations Skip, well done, looks like it all paid off for you.
  • Kdancy
    Kdancy Senior Contributor
    I had to take a company to small claims court a couple of years ago. I live in Fla and he was in Washington state. I sent him a studebaker spindle to use to come up with a disc brake system for the car I was working on. He kept the spindle and money and didn't deliver any product. This case was done long distance over the phone. I had faxed all my documents and related e-mails to the court before hand.
    The judge ruled in my favor. The problem was, collecting the settlement. I finally had to use a collection agency specialized in this in order to collect. I wound up with 60% of the court ordered settlement. Even at that, I was glad I didn't let the guy "walk".
  • hoggyrubber
    hoggyrubber Expert Adviser
    yes, the problem i have always had is small claims court has no teeth. if you win it's like getting blood from a turnip.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited November 2011
    If they are tardy paying,you then apply to the magistrates court to enforce the order.the magistrates court will then impound property,dock wages etc AND charge them substantial court fees.The justice industry frowns upon people who ignore its rulings.
    For me,it was less about the money than letting a shoddy mechanic do me over and walk away laughing,I dont like losing fights!
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