Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/02/2023

  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.

   

  University foreign car has had our car for 9 months now. We brought it in and ***** the owner, replaced a couple coils. My wife picked it up and 20 minutes later it started having similar issues. We brought it back and another coil or two was replaced? I don’t remember it’s been so long. Then at that point **** thought it maybe a leak in the manifold. **** was going to try to seal the manifold so he sent it off to have it cleaned treated etc. then we get a call saying the manifold is warped and we need a new one. Apparently there is no manifold available until August 2023. We told **** we had a buyer for the car fixed or not **** said he’d try to seal the manifold again but regardless we’d have our car back Tuesday before thanksgiving to be able to sell. Several weeks went buy and still no car. My wife emailed several times no response. Needless to say we lost our buyer. Now we are stuck waiting for a manifold. Months went by I told **** that I thought the manifold was damaged during the “washing” process. And I asked if he had checked the injectors to see if that may have been an issue. A couple weeks later I get a voicemail saying he pulled the car in because I had insisted on checking the injectors and it must have magically fixed itself. His exact words. I can provide you with that voicemail. I told **** I don’t feel comfortable with that because leaky manifolds don’t magically fix themselves. **** says that we need to come pay our bill and he does not stand behind anything that has been done to the car. And if we don’t pick it up, and pay cash, that he’s going to start charging $35 a day in storage fees. We’ve been cussed at and treated very rudely. I can supply text messages as well of all of the above as proof. I believe it was a simple injector fix because it magically fixed itself a week after I mentioned it and now a warped manifold is good? I believe there was a miss diagnosis and the manifold was chemically warped in the process.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/08/2023

  car originally presented with a misfire in cylinder three, ok easy diagnoses swap out a new ignition coil and recheck for codes, ok easy peasy misfire goes away.  ******** leaves with car and calls back like twenty minutes later, says its doing it again, ok recheck codes now it has misfire on cylinder 7, odd for two coils to go bad that close to each other time wise but ok, repeat process. car runs fine no codes no misfires. return vehicle to customer again, sure enough car starts misfiring again, ok gonna have to drop it off its certainly something more than a simple coil failure.  At this point we start checking all the standard culprits for misfire i.e... vacuum leaks, cylinder compression, fuel pressure, and wiring.  During this process we discover that car will rum well when its cool but as engine temperatures start to rise to normal operating that it would start to develop vacuum leaks around area of intake manifold to cylinder head gaskets. At this point we can observe fuel trim numbers becoming very biased towards the lean side, but when we add a hydrocarbon source, in this case alcohol base brake cleaner that the trim number would start to correct and misfire rate would reduce.  Advise customer that we suspect that he the intake manifold is bad ( a known issue with Mercedes of this vintage) recommend removing manifold and checking gaskets and internal throttle body plate (before mentioned failure point, they corrode internally and develop holes that allow unmetered air to enter engine. this is such a common problem on this particular manifold that the parts to repair are available on Amazon), after removing manifold and visually inspecting we find no obvious source for leaks, but it is observed at this time that the glue that holds the different layers of the manifold together don't appear to be factory, consult with ***** who tells us that he thinks someone had re-glued it in the past. we recommend a replacement manifold at this time, customer begrudgingly says go ahead, call Mercedes and at this point find out that part is not currently available and are told by plaza motors parts department that all they can do is order it and wait and see what happens. ok some months go by and after repeated attempts to get an answer from Mercedes of Germany we offer to the customer the option of TRYING to reseal manifold as he stated had been done before, we made no guarantee as to the outcome of this attempted repair as it is not the recommended path that we were comfortable with but a used part was too big of a gamble, so ok lets try it. As we suspected this did not result in any improvement in the misfire condition. at this point recommended replacing manifold, again that were this was left with customer, finally got an answer from Germany, part would not be expected until at least August of 2023, pass info on to customer who states he cant wait that long and thinks he may have a buyer lined up, ***** stated at this time buyer was willing to buy car at a price of 20k running badly and 30k fixed, in an effort to try and help them get the better price and to hopefully recoup some sort of a profit out of this endeavor i suggest we try and glue the manifold again. by the time we were able to repeat the procedure again ***** states that he lost his buyer, i received no calls from him or emails during this holiday time he speaks of that caused him to lose his buyer.  After resealing again still have cylinder 7 misfire, completely repeat all diagnostic procedures again to double check our original diagnoses, everything leads too unmetered air be drawn it engine through gaps in manifold, whether the intake has warped components or cracks we are uncertain of but at that time it was easy to test for the leaks, spray around base of manifold with a source of fuel and watch trim number correct on scan tool. at this point we park car and let sit, ok some time goes by and i decide im gonna tackle this problem child again, start car and it runs perfectly, for no reason it can figure out it seems to have "magically fixed itself", yes that is what i told him, parked car and let it sit for a week or so and tested again, still runs perfectly, put it on scan tool and documented every possible thing i could think of considering i at this point really had no idea how vehicle could run so poorly one day and fix itself the next. advised ***** that he can come get car he basically refused unless i would guarantee him that if in the future it needed a manifold that i would pay for it. that's not going to happen.  after numerous text conversation as he will only communicate that way. i told him a was done working on car and would only charge 5 hours of labor and for a few of the parts i couldn't return, he then didn't respond for awhile and then started texting again i repeated all of the same info again and informed him that if he didn't come get car i would start to charge storage at this point considering the fact we have no more option for repair at his time since vehicle is no longer showing any signs of misfire.  Don't get me wrong his total bill is 826.60 a more that reasonable amount if you consider the amount of time i have invested in the job, i would much prefer to present him with a bill for 3000$ plus and be able to stand behind the repairs that we made but at this point we haven't, it has all been time diagnosing and chasing what is now a phantom issue.  As far as any cussiing i apologize for using the word "freaking" in a text response i wasn't aware that was a curse word.  as far as requesting cash, honestly i dont trust mr wolf to not do something like reverse the charges or stop payment on a check at this point so cash is going to required

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/17/2023

  I received a message that my complaint was closed? The response from the company was far from truthful. I did receive the response but it said that in the email that that email can’t be responded too so I thought someone would be calling me for further information. There is alot more information for me to share. No the business has not made any effort to complete the job. Or resolve the issue. Before I pick up my car that has been their for 9 months I want to know that the intake is not damaged. I was told it needs a new one and is warped. I believe it was warped by the co and was never the issue and as the car magically fixed itself after I suggested checking a cylinder I believe the proper repair was made and wasn’t disclosed to me and I was just told it magically fixed itself after being at the shop for 9 months. I feel if I pick it up I will have an intake problem now. A machine shop can tell us how or if the intake was damaged while the company sent it off to be treated. I also would like to be in contact with a bbb representative because there is far too much information to properly understand the situation. The response I received from foreign auto in email from the bbb I thought I read “this email cannot be replied to”

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/17/2023

  to whom it may concern/I am out of town and will not be back until March 30. I have the machine shop informing us in writing if the manifold could do as he states, I will also have the dealer inform us again about this being and on going problem with said vehicle and the parts are backordered til August, as we stated prior. and recommended thats what we recommended and at the customers insistance,we resealed it

  I will make sure this is in writing for you .  I feel Mr. ***** does not understand what we have been telling him, and as far as Magically fixing itself, that was said in jest as the vehicle was not running correctly after driving it numerous times and when we went to move it again, because he never picked it up it was running fine and has several times after.  We explained this several times, and still feel that it has a manifold problem and will not guarantee that it is repaired as we stated in our previous text. Since I am not able to speak to anyone about it until I get back this is all I can do for now.  Please keep this open until I get back. Also I have all texts from the beginning of this problem. Thank you for your time.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/28/2023

  As previously stated the vehicle presentenced with what appeared to be an intake leak, but does not currently exhibit any symptoms at this time so further repairs or diagnoses is futile until problem presents itself again. We still believe that the intake manifold is the culprit but with no parts available and no symptoms present can in good faith recommend that repair at this time. Our position is the same as stated before we want to be paid for time that has been invested and a few non returnable parts that were required to make our diagnosis up to this point. we will be requiring cash as it is very evident that Mr. **** is displeased and want this matter to be over.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/04/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I will attach my reasons by email along with other documents.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **********
  
  ***** ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/20/2023

  Pauls voicemail saying the car is magically fixed.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/02/2023

  Here is the voicemail and  the text messages of communication. You can see that the voicemail does not line up with what he said. Thanks!
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/12/2023

  not sure what to add here, just went and test drove car again after it sitting for months, current time and date is 6/12/23 @ 533pm.  Car started and ran as it should, don't know how i could recommend any further repairs at this time.  What ever problems it was presenting with last year and up until the time it started running properly, i cannot get it to reproduce at this time so i cannot recommend any further repairs, i believe all of this has been discussed at length at this point.  I am of still the same mind pay me for what im asking with is a fraction of the cost i have incurred and pay the storage and we will part ways. sorry for the short response but i don't see any thing else to discuss at this point

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/29/2023

  We would like to have the option to have a mechanic come out and look at it and see if the issues are fixed. We have been receiving conflicting messages from the business as to if it is fixed or not.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/30/2023

  if they would like to come out and verify car is running properly that's fine, but that is the end of this, once they verify car is running properly or not i expect payment of the open invoice and storage and removal of vehicle from my lot. due to the fact that vehicle started running properly without a particular fix I will not guarantee any repairs made up to this point. as previously stated car exhibited with what clearly seemed to be a manifold issue but currently is not exhibiting those symptoms.  the part manifold was unavailable at last inquiry, but even if it is now available we are not interested in performing any more work on this car

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/28/2023

   I found out from him yesterday because I went out there and he tried to charge us $5000 for storage. The part is supposed to be in and actually is and he told me yesterday and we look at the car and a front wheel well was hit by the car was over there.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/14/2023

  11/15/23 JA - Called consumer and left a voicemail letting him know the complaint has been assigned to mediation. Requested call back.

  11/20/23 JA - Emailed consumer letting them know the complaint had been assigned to mediation. Requested a response email.

  11/20/23 ** - ******** **** left a voicemail regarding her husband's complaint and requested a call back at ************. I returned her call, left a voicemail and requested for her to return my call.

  11/21/23 JA -Received email from ******** letting me know the issue isn't resolved. I responded by asking her to reply and confirm her husband's desired resolution, or indicate when she would like a follow up call. 

  11/27/23 JA - Spoke to ***** & ******** **** and they said there is damaged to the car from someone backing into it. Mr. **** said he would like for the company's insurance to fix the recent damage to the car as well as fix the bad intake, or to give them the car back without charging them because it was as bad intake.

  11/28/23 JA - Called ***** and ******** to let them both known **** ******** is not willing to make an offer. He stated that they needed to pay $1,000 to get the car back plus pay storage fees. ***** stated that storage feels that **** is trying to charge them for starts before the part came in. ***** also stated that the vehicle is not parked at the business establishment, but across the street in an abandoned lot.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/28/2023

  11/28/23 JA - Called business and spoke with **** ********. I shared what ***** **** has requested as a desired outcome. His response was that he can have the vehicle after paying $1,000 and also the storage fee. He is unwilling to work with make another offer.