Honest mechanic returns $1,000 cash to Surrey senior
 

METRO VANCOUVER – When an auto mechanic tells you he has a surprise for you, it’s usually bad news.

But not this time.

Newton senior Doris Seelig, 70, found out recently that some businesses still live up to their name, and that the folks at Newton Auto-Care really do care.

She’d called the garage last week after her Chrsyler Concorde went on the blink, and they came to pick it up at her house. Sometime later, she got a call from the shop, telling her what had to be done and when she could pick the car up.

When she got to the garage, manager Ken Payne presented her with a $600 bill for parts and labour.

“He said, ‘Well, I’ve got another surprise for you, and I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to cost even more now,’” she recalled.

That’s when he put a white letter envelope in her hand, containing $1,000 in cash. Mechanic Kelly Hunt had found it while he was working on Seelig’s Chrysler, and told his boss.

“I had to get at the fuel pump,” Hunt explained.

“In order to drop the fuel tank down, you gotta remove the back seat. Once I removed the back seat, that’s when I found the envelope.”

Seelig had been missing that cash since July. It was one month’s pension that she’d saved to go on a trip to Oregon with her Clover Loafers seniors group.

She thought somebody had stolen it out of her camper.

“It was terrible. I never thought that it would come back, never,” she recalled.

So how did it get inside her car seat?

Seelig figures she’d likely put the envelope on the seat during a shopping trip, threw a blanket over it, and it slipped down.

She was so grateful, she called the Now.

“He didn’t have to tell his boss,” she said of Hunt. “He could’ve just kept working on the motor. He didn’t have to tell anyone.”

For Hunt, her expression was reward enough.

“She was just in shock,” he said. “She couldn’t believe it – she couldn’t believe she found the money after all this time.”

Seelig says she’s saving the $1,000 for her next vacation. “The Washington coast is very nice,” she giggled.

Indeed, lesser men might have been tempted to pocket the cash.

But not Hunt.

“Y’know, it’s Karma, man,” he offered.

“It’s just one of those things, that if you screw around like that it’s going to come back and haunt you at the end of the day.”

He ended up being right about that Karma thing. Seelig bought him a case of beer, for his honesty.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Honest+m...#ixzz1C44Tbqzl

KARMA :fuckyea:

"Seelig bought him a case of beer, for his honesty."

very nice!

Nice to see some positive news for once!

Wow you don't hear about honest mechanics very often, good for him.
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I would go to that mechanic to get my car done. Listening to this story

good for him for being honest
He couldve EASILY pocketed the cash, but he decided not to, nice to see there r still people like him arnd.
Did the article mention how old he is and race, just curious.
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Recommended mechanic shop: Newton Auto Care

dont think the average person could sleep at night knowing you stole $1000 from a senior citizen.

so... im wondering who called to let the newspaper know? :P
seems like they would have just kept it to themselves.

either way, good deed on the mechanic.

"She was so grateful, she called the Now."

There's still a big difference from retuning money which was found in the customers car compaired to not ripping the customer off when doing work. I still won't trust a mechanic from some random shop I have been screwed over to many times in the past.
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yet many actively try to scam them directly :( 10k vaccums :(

heard this on kid carson show today. some good news for a change!

great story :)

+1 positive karma for this guy :thumbsup:

Stilll don't trust mechanics but good karma points for that guy
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Great story. But remember, it was the specific mechanic.
The mechanic working beside him could have had a totally different mindset, and pocket the cash instead.

But I guess props to the "boss" too, for not trying to keep the money either.

This isn't exactly an isolated incident. I've found numerous things in customer cars that you just let them know about when they come to pick up the car. Never in the amount of $1k, but often $300-400 in envelopes in cars or vans where they slipped between seats or behind glove boxes, etc.

Sure, it's a great story, but it all depends on the mechanic. Myself, I don't care if it's $2 or $2000. It's not my money, and I would trust someone else to do the right thing.

If everyone all of a sudden feels that they should go to this shop based on one news story, good for the shop, it got them the publicity they probably needed. ;) I know from talking with friends in the trade, work's been slow everywhere, including where I am.

And yeah... I do have shops I would say to never go to, based on poor service advisors, etc.

can you say free publicity?

Someone should let Espinosa read this. And then let me know.

The most valuable thing I ever found in a customers car was a HUGE pearl necklace like Marge Simpson huge it was ugly. It was under his back seat and I thought how cheeky he's testing me. When he came in to pick up his car I handed him the necklace with a smirk on my face and asked if he had been missing it for a while. It was his mothers and she had been missing it for a few months and it cost nearly 10G's, no test, and he didn't really seem to care too much.
Some people have too much money.

wow kudos!

Imagine if the old lady took the $1000 dollars envelope and said she couldn't afford to pay $600.

U sure its actually a peral necklace? I mean it COULD be some othher "personal" item lol.

Oh a side note, I remember working on a old beat up jetta, and when I opened the glove box there's a wad of 20s atleast 3inches thick. I thought hmmm wtf and proceed to lock up the glove box.
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