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:03/08/2023

  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.

  I took the car there for some repairs on February 15, 2023. They kept it until February 17, 2023. They said I needed more work on it, they put it on the diagnostic machine twice. The car broke down at ****'s and had to have it towed home. They claimed that they only checked what I told them to check. They said they could not tell if it was the fuel pump. I told them now that the car no longer works, I will have to get rid of it. It went out a month later. It is totally broke down, I will have to junk it. It was a 2001 Taurus.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/16/2023

  Good day to you.  Following is my response to the complaint filed by ******** ******.  I never spoke with ********, only *** ******.  The following is my response to her 1 star ****** review which pretty much covers everything.  She removed her ****** review directly after I posted my response. 

  3-8-23   You are giving us a one star review because your 22 year old car with 253,000 miles broke down again?  You brought the car in because smoke was coming from underhood. The car was starting and running fine, but approaching possible catastrophic failure due to low antifreeze because of a major leak from behind the timing cover that had probably been festering for weeks or months.  We performed appropriate testing for the problem that you asked us to solve.  And like I promised you, we also, at no charge, performed a thorough visual evaluation so we could give you a picture of what else could be coming up, keeping in mind that you would be due for renewal this year and need inspections.  And we gave you a list of things that were going to be of concern.  I just listened to the recorded call where I gave you the diagnosis and the estimate in order to refresh my memory, and was able to confirm that I said to you “is there an option at this time to replace this car,” this is an expensive repair, it’s 22 years old, 253,000 miles your money might better be spent replacing the car.  I can send you the call recording, ***.  You said “no”, you were not in a position to replace the car.  Furthermore, I let you know that there were options to NOT replace a couple things during that repair and you were adamant that you wanted us to, and even after your insistence I told your technician to see if there was a chance that we could get by without replacing the water pump and chains, and to let me know, and if that was the case I would call you and give you the option one more time. I was advocating for you through the entire process!!  This is how Master Auto operates – ***** and I take great care and lots of time laying out appropriate courses of action based on your budget and your needs from your vehicle.  And your case was no different.  We felt your pain. 

  I also listened to your call from Monday with *****.  I know that you wanted to talk to me but I had laryngitis.  In that call you indicated that you’d been told that your fuel pump was probably “torn”.  You wondered if we checked that in our diagnosis.  First, no, we didn’t.  Your fuel pump is inside your gas tank.  Second, while your car was with us, and after the antifreeze leak was repaired, your car started and ran fine.  If someone told you that your fuel pump was torn, I’d get a second opinion as to whether or not the fuel pump is your problem.  Fuel pumps don’t “tear”. Defective fuel pumps generally just wear out over time and no longer create the circumstances needed to get fuel to where it needs to go in order to make the car start. At the end of your call with *****, you said “thank you, I understand”. And then you hung up and wrote this review. I am going to thank you for the review, and view it as a positive, as it gave me the opportunity to share the way Master Auto operates.   

  3/14/23 ***/******** refer to two other things that aren’t discussed above:  “They had my car two days.”  That happens and she was made aware of that.  It’s addressed in the recorded call.  **Our incoming calls are answered with a message stating that we record calls**  The other - “They did two diagnostics”. There’s a misconception that we plug something into the car and it tells us everything that is wrong with the car, and/or what’s going to go wrong next month. Sometimes we can - and I made suggestions to *** as noted above - but there are some things we cannot. Her car was starting and running when it got here and when it left. *** approved and paid a diagnostic fee for the testing that was performed to solve her symptom of smoke coming from under the hood.  She approved the repairs, we made the repairs and the invoice total did not exceed the estimated amount.

  I'd like to request that the complaint be withdrawn.

  Thank you, and best wishes,

  
  

  ****