Thread: Accuracy when reporting faults.

I dont know how many times I get inaccurate descriptions of faults, symptoms and problems when someone wants me to find something on their vehicles. As a "yeah mate, thats a carton" type mechanic almost nothing peeves me more than to turn up having been given a description online or over the phone that pretty much lets me nail the problem straight off the description and turn up with a specific set of tools and spare parts only to find that what Im prepared for and what Im looking at are in fact 2 entirely different beasts.

At best I get lucky and I have the gear on board to fix the actual problem so we loose nothing but a little time at worst Im totally unprepared for the actual problem so I've wasted time and fuel getting out there just to turn around and go home to sort out another time to sort the real problem.

heres an example of the most recent one I've gotten. I dont even need to go and look at the vehicle to diagnose it to know that the problem isn't being reported accurately at all. Yes, its from one of our members.

Originally Posted by Tank

Had a driver come into the workshop and say (Kenworth prime mover), "Somethings wrong with the brakes, I think they've got air in them" well what a revelation.
I developed a method of not asking for a drivers diagnosis, I would drive the truck myself and diagnose what was wrong.
On another occasion a driver rang in and said his truck would not go, ten minutes later I could still not get this driver to describe the problem, after driving for over an hour in peak hour traffic I found the rear of the driveshaft sitting on the ground, if I had've known this I could have bought the correct bolts with me, very frustrating, Regards Frank.

I still can't fathom how you can get behind the wheel of these without having a working knowledge of how things work!! My callout mechanic gets at least one of these a week in the middle of the night! They soon start to learn at $150 an hour!!

Cheers

Andrew