<MISC> A/C Woes: Should a repair shop stand behind its work?

[Rebel Cole <rcole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, my air conditioning woes continue. :-(  Yesterday, the A/C in my E28
stopped working.  I checked under the hood, only to find that the high
pressure hose from the compressor had popped off of its fitting connecting
it to the compressor.  I had this hose rebuilt by "The Radiator Shop"
on Lee Highway in Arlington, VA back in April.  My mechanic looked at the
hose and said it clearly wasn't rebuilt properly, and that the Radiator Shop
should make me whole by rebuilding the hose AND recharging the system
with R12, which, of course, all was released into the atmosphere when the
hose popped off (KA-CHINK $135.00 poof!)

I call The Radiator Shop and the office manager connects me with "Steve",
who I assume is the hose repair specialist.  I tell Steve what happened, and he
gives me a surly reply that Ihave to bring the car in for him to look to see why
(in his opinion of course) the hose failed.  I offer him my opinion that it wasn't
rebuilt properly, to which he replies "Yeah, sure, right.  Well, bring it in." CLICK!
The guy actually hung up on me.  So I called back and told the office manager
that this was not a very promising beginning, but that I would bring the car in at
lunch.  We'll see how this goes from here, but I'm not confident of a professional
resolution.

So, I ask the digest for its collective wisdom on how to proceed.  Has anyone
out there dealt with this repair shop?  If the shop refuses to stand by its work, 
what should I do next.  Duane, if you're out there, could you give me some advise
on how you took that tire shop to small claims court? I have a bad feeling that I'm
headin' down that litigious road.  Big sigh . . . .

Beyond all this, this will be the fourth time in a year that I've had to have the R12
recharged.  I'm leaning towards converting to R134 if I have to pay out of my own
pocket.  Any advice on this option?  My mechanic recommends against it, but
the R12 bills are adding up.

Rebel A. Cole
'86 535i (225,000 miles and, once again, no A/C)

 

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