REPAIRMEN MAY GYP YOU-1951
"For six months," says The Neiv York Herald Tribune, "the two authors of this perturbing little volume made a nationwide investigation of the higher nature, if any, of the American repairman. Buying a used car of distinguished make, they engaged the assistance of a lady who looked more helpless than she was, and traveled 19,000 miles, with 1,700 calls on repair shops." "And no one," adds the Boston Post, "could ever pass this book with indifference Whatever your experience with repairmen may have been, you'll find its counterpart here. You will point it out with great satisfaction, and you'll say: 'There! That's exactly what happened to me once.' And you're lucky if it has happened only once. The Post can't think of any subject for research that touches more people. Buy this book, and you will get your money back, over and over, in amounts saved through your wisdom." "There are some amusing stories in it," says the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post thinks that the funniest were "the authors' experiences with the Rube Goldberg testing machines used by some shops to impress customers." "The articles in The Reader's Digest were interesting," remarks the Springfield Republican, "but they left room for doubt. The book, however, with details of the almost laboratory caution used by the authors in making their tests, is alarmingly convincing."
"For six months," says The Neiv York Herald Tribune,
"the two authors of this perturbing little volume made a
nationwide investigation of the higher nature, if any, of the
American repairman. Buying a used car of distinguished
make, they engaged the assistance of a lady who looked
more helpless than she was, and traveled 19,000 miles, with
1,700 calls on repair shops."
"And no one," adds the Boston Post, "could ever pass
this book with indifference Whatever your experience with
repairmen may have been, you'll find its counterpart here.
You will point it out with great satisfaction, and you'll say:
'There! That's exactly what happened to me once.' And
you're lucky if it has happened only once. The Post can't
think of any subject for research that touches more people.
Buy this book, and you will get your money back, over and
over, in amounts saved through your wisdom."
"There are some amusing stories in it," says the Baltimore
Sun, and the Washington Post thinks that the funniest were
"the authors' experiences with the Rube Goldberg testing
machines used by some shops to impress customers."
"The articles in The Reader's Digest were interesting,"
remarks the Springfield Republican, "but they left room
for doubt. The book, however, with details of the almost
laboratory caution used by the authors in making their tests,
is alarmingly convincing."
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INTRODUCTION 3<br />
turned his car over to the hotel porter for delivery<br />
to the hotel garage for storage. In the morning he<br />
went himself to get it.<br />
On the bill was an item of $2.50.<br />
"What's that for?" the driver asked.<br />
The attendant consulted some records.<br />
u You had a flat tire. We fixed it," he replied.<br />
"I didn't have any flat tire when I drove in here."<br />
"No," replied the attendant. "It went flat during<br />
the night sometime."<br />
So the motorist paid and started homeward.<br />
On the way, the incident of the high-priced nocturnal<br />
flat tire and the deceptive gas pump came together<br />
in his mind, and a more or less idle thought<br />
was born :<br />
"I wonder whether both those cases were on the<br />
level, or whether both were deliberate gyps?"<br />
Perhaps the gas man was honest; perhaps the<br />
Atlantic City garage was not. That was the way it<br />
had seemed. How would it run throughout a motorist's<br />
experience? Some service men were O.K. Some<br />
were not.<br />
"What would the actual percentage be ? Wouldn't<br />
it be interesting to take a car and visit ten or twenty<br />
stations for some identical service, and see how they<br />
performed?"<br />
With these thoughts, there was born an idea that<br />
grew into a nationwide survey of repairmen here<br />
recorded. The motorist was Roger William Riis, coauthor<br />
of this book. He had previously made investigations<br />
for The Reader's Digest, and the following
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