In a message dated 3/27/01 10:25:26 PM, TSmola@TRIBUNE.COM writes:

<< the guy who

did the speed balance, lifted on the gas tank supports and crushed the gas

tank.  >>

Malibu,

Boy! Did you come out smelling like a rose on this one!  How did you find a
shop which was, in the end, so accommodating?  If it had been me, I would
have certainly spent a day in small claims court and the judge would have
been the mechanics brother-in-law.  I have learned that it is necessary to
watch the mechanics like a hawk even for the casual things like having tire
mounted.  They have to be told to use only the jacking points or a disaster
will surely follow.  A lot of these guys take it as an insult when you try to
tell them something they should know, but I have found a $10 bill in their
hand usually soothes their egos.

I once went to a junkyard and found a perfect, rust-free gas tank for $50.
This dream deal turned sour when the yardmen, thinking the tank was in the
rear, used a forklift to lift the van in the center and crushed that perfect
tank.  Like I said, you have to watch these guys.

Rich