Catalytic converter stolen... new repair, bad?

Hey folks,

My 2012 Prius v got its catalytic converter stolen last Wednesday.. I went to the shop and they installed a walker (I think) converter, not Toyota. That was on Thursday.

However, it wasn't until today (Monday) that I was able to go to my parents and try and install the Millercat shield. In the process of doing that, I noticed that the mechanic use putty??? I paid $1970 to get the car fixed. Did they do a really, really bad job?

I talked to my cousin who works on cars as a hobby and who has taken a few mechanic courses in college. He thinks they may have done a bad welding job in the back and used putty to fill in the holes otherwise, he can't figure out why there's putty. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Thanks everyone. I went to a muffler shop today. "Yeah, it's horrendous" - that's what the women who worked there said. She also called it "concrete putty" and her shop would never put anything like that on. Good news is that her shop can fix it for $85. Not too bad. She also said that to replace a stolen cat usually cost $200-300 labor, you supply the cat that way you know the cat you gave them is good and they don't want any liability if the cats go wrong. Cats go for $300-$700... So basically, $1,000 or less total to replace. Most people get taken for $2,000 like I did, but on the 2nd or 4th go around, they know the drill so they get it fixed for closer to $800-$1000. She told me one prius owner had his cat stolen 4 times. First time, he also foolishly spent $2000. The next few times only $800.

I'm going to talk to the person who replaced my cat tomorrow. Dude, he should fix it -- basically weld it correctly. I don't understand how they thought I wouldn't notice. I told them that I was going to put on the millercat shield. I'm going to see what they did. It's one of those shops that you give them your car, and you come back later. They don't really show you what's fixed, etc.. They don't put it up on the jacks and physically point out the issues. Perhaps I should insist on this next time I go to the mechanic???

When I agreed for the mechanic to do the work for $2,000. I thought it was kinda high, but I assume they would take their time and do it right. In a way, I was hoping that I was paying a little extra because I would have less headaches (besides I needed the car to be fixed fast). Seems like, there always needs to be some due diligence :-( Oh the shop has good yelp/google ratings. It's mostly a tire shop though, but many people use them to fix other issues since I see other cars being worked on (not just tire repair). There moto is something like "Tire and auto repair".

Also, since the tire shop is located in the city of chicago, I guess most people just don't inspect the work. Once it's working, its good enough for them. It's only until later when the "putty" falls off and issues start to appear, that's when people go to the mechanic not aware that the reason they are spending even more $$$$ is because of the initial bad repair.

Oh well... fun times. Still love my prius. I want to keep it for at least another 2-3 years. By then, new car prices should be lower