Study finds false accusations against technicians rising

A new study has found that over three quarters of UK-based mechanics have been falsely accused of lying by customers in a bid to rip them off. What’s more, of these participants, one in twelve (8%) have had a customer become aggressive and threatening.

Mechanics are skilled workmen and yet they are not treated with respect, a new survey has found, with three quarters admitting they have been accused of lying. What’s more, 1 in 10 mechanics have had a customer withhold payment before.

The team at www.Fixter.co.uk carried out the study in a bid to find out more about Britons attitudes towards the automotive industry. For the purpose of the study, 701 UK-based adults aged 18 or over were quizzed, all of whom revealed that they currently work as a mechanic full-time.

Initially all respondents were asked “Do you feel like your clients respect you?” to which the majority (61%) answered ‘sometimes’, followed by ‘no’ (23%) and ‘yes’ (16%).

All respondents were then asked if a customer had ever wrongly accused them of lying about the work that was required or trying to rip them off, to which over three quarters of respondents (76%) stated that ‘yes’ this had happened to them at one point or another.

These respondents were asked what happened after they were accused and, when given a list of possible answers and asked to provide which applied to them, the following five accounts appeared as the most common:

1. They eventually paid after I explained in detail/showed them the work that needed to be done – 34%
2. They shouted at me – 27%
3. They asked to see my manager – 27%
4. They asked for a second opinion – 24%
5. They became aggressive and threatening – 8%

Next, all respondents were asked if a client had ever tried to withhold payment for work that needed to be carried out or had been carried out, with 1 in 10 (11%) stating that this had happened to them before.

Finally, all respondents (100%) stated they had never lied to a customer about work that needed to be carried out and did not understand why mechanics were painted in such a bad light.

James Murphy, spokesperson for www.Fixter.co.uk, commented: “The distrust consumers have in mechanics is absolutely awful. They are experts at what they do; if your car needs something to be replaced or mended, they aren’t going to ignore it as it could be a threat to your safety. They are just doing their job and it’s absolutely disgraceful that people would threaten someone for this reason. We have an in-house mechanic check over work done by our network of garages due to the scepticism of consumers but we know full well our mechanics will always do a great job. Use a qualified mechanic in an actual garage and you know you’re in good hands.”