Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:15/11/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Oct. 27, 2023. replace caliper front left. This problem started more than a week ago. Had to stop vehicle before arriving home due to over heating left front tire and metal wheel assembly. Called ********** service center, the service arrived an hour later. Arrived at Cdn Tire about half a hour later, and $150.00. This same situation happened about a week later. Another $150.00. Both times I pointed to the problem wheel to the mechanic. The wheel was cool, due to trip. I guess he thought I did not know what I was talking about. After the first trip, the mechanic found nothing, at the cost of $188.00. The second trip, the vehicle sat for a week outside the shop before it was repaired at the cost of $212.44. A total of about $700.00, for a replaced caliper plus tax, and my transportation tied up.

  Business Response

  Date: 21/04/2024

  Hello, I would first like to ensure everyone involved that it was never our intention to cause Mr. ****** any discontent. Our techs were in a difficult situation that led to a no win solution at the time and I am happy to work our way through it together. I apologize something like this had to be escalated to the BBB.
  

  After reviewing the file (having not been involved myself ) it was immediately obvious to me that my technicians were put in a difficult position. Not because anyone did anything wrong but because the Technician could not get issue the customer was having to replicate in the shop or on a test drive. I will explain it as I have been told by those involved

  Customer had the vehicle towed in due to an overheat / Brake issue

  Our technician tested the vehicle and did a test drive and could not at anytime get the Caliper or Brakes to fail, overheat or replicate the issue the customer was having

  In this situation the technician is in a difficult position and it has happened before where if the tech now says something is wrong with no proof then he or she may be accused of replacing something that wasn't broken or worse they replace the part and it turns out to be something else that fails when customer has the car back

  As a result the tech did exactly what they should have in this unfortunate situation and explained to the customer (via service advisor) that they could not find any problems with the car. it is important to note nobody wants this type of outcome the Tech would always prefer to find an issue. its never easy to give a towed in vehicle back. Thus the very difficult situation i mention earlier
  

  That is why it is incredibly difficult for the tech - they do not want to send the car away if there is a problem but they also can not put parts on a car that may not be needed .

  As a result the customer was given the car back with no repairs and charged an inspection fee. in my opinion no matter what comes after this point the technician has done everything correctly and honestly up to this point despite it being disappointing the issue may or may not have been solved.
  

  Later the customer has what they believe to be the same issue and has the vehicle towed in again. I believe the customer stated both times they believed it was a caliper issue.  This time 2 technicians tested the vehicle and again there was virtually no material change in the vehicle performance. However this time when they measured all the calipers with a heat gun - unlike the first time when there was zero difference there was in fact a 4 Degree difference on the caliper the customer was concerned about. Again this is non material amount and gave no indication there was actually a problem.

  however, since the customer clearly felt there was an issue ( and entirely justified in their belief ) and because that small 4 degree difference was in fact the caliper in question it was decided to have it changed under an abundance of caution.
  

  My team are steadfast that they followed the proper procedure and at all times where trying to solve and find the problem for the customer but you simply cannot diagnose a problem that doesn't exist when being checked, it was never our intention to not fix the vehicle during that first trip.  

  After all this took place and I evaluated the entire situation I am confident that had someone reached out to me first we could have found a solution. Here is what I would have and still propose:

  Customer should not have to pay for first inspection since we did eventually change the caliper

  From a good will perspective I can also see Mr. ****** not wanting to pay that second tow charge.

  I would be willing to refund the inspection charge and the cost of 1 tow ( i assume is around $100 but I have not seen an invoice)

  That way the customer is not paying for costs they would not have incurred had the issue been present and repaired the first trip

  The caliper itself and the first tow charge are legitimate costs to the customer and should be paid

  I can completely sympathize with the customer that in their mind "they always knew" the problem was the caliper but a licensed technician he or she must only do repairs on items that at the time require them or they get into a completely different type of accountability problems.

  My sympathy for the customers situation is the reason i would like to pay for those items that I believe will be around( will amend based on tow actual tow invoice)
  

  $118 for the first inspections

  approx $100 for the second tow truck

  if I round up totaling $225

   

  Customer would pay only for what they would have been charged had a problem been found

  original tow truck approx $100
  

  Caliper itself $99.99

  Labor to install $79.20

  Thank you for your time and to Mr. ****** I apologize for your situation it is never our intent to send a customer away with a car that has not been repaired. Sometime these issues are difficult when the diagnosis is not possible and my Technicians were in a difficult spot. I hope my offer is reasonable and we can continue to help you in the future as I would hate to see this prevent you from returning.

  Ryan