I was on the way back to Singapore after a trip and it happens that my bike broke down. As I have sent my bike to this shop before, I thought they could assist me with the issue.
As I am riding an older bike, I would totally understand that they do not have the parts for it so I offered to purchase any parts that they require. The shop informed me that they are currently short staffed and it would take a while.
The mechanic then informed me of all the faulty parts that I needed to get. I had to get some of my parts overseas. They provided the link of the item description and I duly went on to purchase the item. I have provided them the items after the items have arrived for delivery. They then began to tell me that I have purchased the wrong part. This was after they were the one who said it was OK in the first place.
They took their time to do my bike and left me uninformed despite him having my number and knowing me personally. I would constantly have to chase and he would only tell me the issue when I went down to ask him on the status.
This went on for 2 months until I decided that enough is enough. I told him since he cannot do, I have decided to bring the bike back to Singapore via tow and I told him to fix everything back to how it was.. He agreed with me. I was on my way home from another place in JB when he told me that he will charge me for the workmanship via text. I was shocked when he told me the amount was 1K RM.
I told him this is not right as he did not even fix my bike. His rationale was that he opened my engine twice just to see if he could fix the issue and that he has done some custom parts. I told him that the custom parts are useless as it did not work but he said he has already sent for engineering. He stuck by his word and did not budge.
I was getting frustrated and I told him to let me tow my bike back to Singapore first and I will pay him the following week when I go JB again. He was skeptical and afraid that he would not see that money despite him knowing me for a few years as I have been a patron at his shop. I assured him but he still insisted that I send the money before the tow comes.
When the tow truck brought my bike back to Singapore, I was shocked. He did not fix my exhaust back in, he has left some parts in the open and just put everything in a plastic bag. I went to call him and gave him a earful. He started stuttering and initially said if I send it to another bike shop in Singapore, they would have to dismantle it anyway.
I told him that I gave him the instruction to fix it back to how it was but he kept saying he did not hear me say that.
The tow truck guy left me with some word of wisdom. Singapore mechanics, although from Malaysia, are taught from a school whereas JB mechanics often learn from experience.