Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/13/2023

  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.

  On 9/8/23 I was overcharged by ***** owner of European car service of Evergreen Park. I was told I could supply my own parts by ***** the shop owner. I dropped my parts off to ***** with no issues. The next day I received a call from ***** saying the parts I brought in were not the correct parts. After I explained to ***** that exchanging the parts was not a problem. ***** began screaming and yelling at me over the phone that he was going to use his own parts! I said ok. The next day I received a call from ***** stating that my car was ready to be picked up and then ******************* up in my face! When I came to pick up my car, conveniently ***** wasnt there. I encountered ***** who introduced himself as the shop manager and ****** son. ***** handed me an invoice that was barely legible. ***** told me the cost to pick up my car was $964.! I asked ***** what was his shop hourly rate? He said ***** doesnt have an hourly shop rate. ***** said that they charge whatever they think a repair job is worth. ***** then very rudely said. In the future if I wanted to supply my own parts, I should find another shop to take my car too! I calmly explained to ***** that ***** said I could supply my own parts. I also explained to ***** that when I delivered my parts to the Shop I gave them directly to ***** and he never said anything indicating there was a problem with me supplying my own parts. I also explained to ***** that ***** insisted that all 8 coils and spark plugs were bad. Although I had two diagnostic tests done on my car before I brought it to ***** for repair. Both diagnostic tests showed only 3 coils were bad. But ***** insisted that I change all 8. ***** insisted all 8 coils and spark plugs were bad! Even after I told him that I had diagnostics ran at ************** prior to bringing my car to *****. I then asked ***** what is the billing process when repairs have overlapping labor? ***** said well of course all 8 coils werent bad. But we replaced them as a safeguard.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/15/2023

  To whom it may concern.
  While we never want to see someone unhappy with our services we feel in this case we were not at fault. There is a lot to digest in this so the best I can offer is to break this down sentence by sentence.
  
  On 9/8/23 I was overcharged by ***** owner of European car service of Evergreen Park.
  ***************** was not overcharged and actually charged below the area average. I'll elaborate on this below.
  
  I was told I could supply my own parts by ***** the shop owner.
  We very rarely allow customer supplied parts for the exact reasons on what happened with this car. As memory recalls we didn't verbally agree to it but ****************** just dropped off the parts and we said ok.
  
  The next day I received a call from ***** saying the parts I brought in were not the correct parts.
  Again this is why we don't allow customer supplied parts, incorrect parts slow down the job and in the end cost us money.
  
  After I explained to ***** that exchanging the parts was not a problem.***** began screaming and yelling at me over the phone that he was going to use his own parts!
  While agitated I can believe I've not heard ***** scream at someone in decades. Possibly the German accent makes him sound more aggressive.An apology is warranted since obviously you are unhappy with the situation. Again the wrong parts stops a technician from working and slows the job down and in the end costs us money.
  
  The next day I received a call from ***** stating that my car was ready to be picked up and then ******************* up in my face!
  ***** doesn't recall doing this and it is not something we do here.Possibly a dropped call or phone issue.
  
  When I came to pick up my car, conveniently ***** wasnt there. I encountered ***** who introduced himself as the shop manager and ****** son.
  Yes,***** had taken time off but was not avoiding you. Yes ***** is ******* son.
  
  ***** handed me an invoice that was barely legible.
  I'll attach a scan of the invoice, looks legible to me.
  
  ***** told me the cost to pick up my car was $964.
  This is below the area average cost, I'll go over that later.
  
  I asked ***** what was his shop hourly rate? He said ***** doesnt have an hourly shop rate. ***** said that they charge whatever they think a repair job is worth.
  An hourly rate is a very old school way of running a shop. An hourly rate is only really for insurance companies so they can make exact calculations. When I last checked with State Farm about a month ago the area average labor rate was $150, in which this repair is well below.
  
  ***** then very rudely said. In the future if I wanted to supply my own parts, I should find another shop to take my car too!
  As stated before we very rarely allow customer supplied parts, and this case is a perfect example why we have this policy.
  
  I also explained to ***** that when I delivered my parts to the Shop I gave them directly to ***** and he never said anything indicating there was a problem with me supplying my own parts.
  There must have been a miscommunication here as we very rarely allow this.
  
  I also explained to ***** that ***** insisted that all 8 coils and spark plugs were bad. Although I had two diagnostic tests done on my car before I brought it to ***** for repair. Both diagnostic tests showed only 3 coils were bad. But ***** insisted that I change all 8.***** insisted all 8 coils and spark plugs were bad! Even after I told him that I had diagnostics ran at *** & autozone prior to bringing my car to *****. I then asked ***** what is the billing process when repairs have overlapping labor? ***** said well of course all 8 coils werent bad. But we replaced them as a safeguard.
  This is an industry standard with high failure rate parts. In the end the reason all shops do this is to save the customer money by not having to pay repeated labor every time an ignition coil fails. We had no overlapping labor, we only charged the labor to replace the ignition coils and the headlight bulb.
  
  
  Below I'll break down both repairs to further explain why we believe we did not overcharge ******************. I'll break it down to the ***** in the same manner as if it was a job paid by a major insurance company. We essentially charged $380 labor to replace the ignition coils which is $100 less than the area average and also installed his spark plugs for free. We also charged ****************** $45 per ignition coil which is very fair and competitive pricing.
  
  Replace left headlight bulb
  63217217509 - $258.50
  Tax @10% 25.85
  Labor to replace .6 hours @ $150 - $90
  Total - $374. 35
  We charged $188.90
  
  Replace ignition coils and spark plugs
  12135A06753 - $92.39 x8 - $739.12
  Tax @10% - $73.91
  Labor to replace 2.7 hours @$150 - $405
  Diag .5 @$150 - $75
  Total - $1293.03
  We charged - $776
  
  As stated before it is unfortunate that ****************** is not happy with the situation and the cost to repair his **** We do believe that even without calculating profit losses from customer supplied parts and time lost from incorrect parts we offered a below area average cost of repairs. We apologize for any miscommunications that also may have occurred.