Never say Never

NEVER SAY NEVER, the one thing I've learned is that in automotive, nothing is ever absolute!

When you are inspecting something, you just can't jump to conclusions. Due diligence is very important as the client will cling on to every word you say.

Long time ago, a truck came in with an intermittent engine miss, I was young and starting in business.
After replacing the spark plug wires, the vehicle left and the miss was gone.
I remember well telling the client "it'll never miss again"
Sure enough, those words came back to haunt me three months later. The engine overheated in his truck, blew the head gasket between two cylinders and it caused the worst engine miss you can imagine.

The client came back and reminded me of the words I had said. I replied I was talking about the engine miss caused by the plug wires. 
He staked his position saying "you said it will never miss again and I trusted you"
I ate my words and proceeded to perform free repairs on the head gaskets (including machine shop work). I took it as a learning lesson and thus, I was not bitter by the exchange. I had considered it my fault for being dumb enough to have made such a generic promise.

Soon after that, a client comes in with a Toyota Tacoma truck and it had a horrible exhaust leak. Upon inspection, we found the catlytic converter was completly missing. They are very easy to remove on those vehicles and as such, they are often stolen for the core value of the converter. 
He asked if by installing the unit, it would take care of his exhaust leaks and the horrible noise. Remembering my previous lesson and having learned from before, I said no!
I said it would take care of that specific leak and source of great noise but, I could not be responsible for any other noises. I had to first install the catalytic converter and then go back and check and hear if other noises persisted.
We did the job and there were no other exhasut leaks found. 

Fast forward to a short while back. Two weeks after we did an oil change on a  10 year old Honda Civic, the car is going down the freeway and suddenly there is a loud hissing or growling noise. The owner, as she is about 60 miles away, decides to take it to the nearest repair shop.

The owner of the shop proceeds to tell her that "there is no doubt in my mind the repair shop who previosly worked on the vehicle is responsible for the failure. They should be made responsible to pay for all repairs". 
The under car splash shield had come loose and made contact with the road. One of the ears had broken and caused the unit to sag low enough to cause the noise. 

How many times have we fixed those things for free, I simply can't remember. But I can assure you I never blamed anybody for their breaking. 
It happens as the plastic ages, it becomes brittle. That's the logical conclussion. For anyone to say they left it loose is wrong!
It's just one big assumption for which there aren't sufficient facts to support it. 

The other shop kept the vehicle there two days as they oredered the part, one splash shield, six clips and $145 in labor to install, for a total of $279.00
They billed her one hour in labor to replace a shield that takes two minutes to remove when you replace the oil and or filter.

I resent the other shops attitude, not for the money they cost us (Yes, we reimbursed the client for all the expense) but for the loss and  trust from our client. They scared her so bad, she no longer brings her vehicle to us. And that's the big loss!