Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/05/2022

  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.

  Problem: The repair shop, Precision Auto Service Center, admitted that the technician used a hand wrench to tighten my bolts. The proper way to repair it is to use a torque wrench. That is the entire industry practice, standard, and only correct way to do it.
  If you don't take off the wiper cowl then you can't get a torque wrench in there so you can't properly torque the bolts. The tech who worked on my car has no idea what my bolts are torqued to because he used a hand wrench. They are likely too tight or too loose which will cause failure.
  
  Evidence:
  1. Brenda's & my texts saying technician used a hand wrench
  2. Comment #6 where the dealer manual clearly shows the torque setting in BOLD font as it's that important: https://priuschat.com/threads/torque-setting-for-strut-bolt.163978/
  3. Dealer manual and 4. ****** manual stating and showing that in order to properly repair car a torque wrench must be used and the wiper cowl must be removed, hand wrenches are improper repairing.
  5. Second opinion (scan3940.png) that my car was not properly repaired.
  
  
  I did not authorize the improper repair of my car. And, per Ohio law, they are not allowed to keep the parts unless they're taking them back to the supplier or manufacture. That's in the Ohio Code Law which I am attaching.
  "Suppliers also must provide to customers...Replaced parts, unless the parts are rebuilt or returned to the manufacturer per warranty;"
  "Under the Repairs and Services Rule, suppliers may not: Represent that certain repairs or services are needed, if they are not; Misrepresent repairs or services performed"
  
  
  The mechanic misrepresented repairs and services performed by at first saying everything was repaired properly and then texting me that everything was done with hand wrenches when torque wrenches were needed.
  I DID NOT AUTHORIZE SHODDY REPAIRS FOR $2013.14.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/16/2022

  Case Id# ******** August 12, 2022 
  *** ****** disputed this bill with our credit card company on 4/2 2022, and it was ruled in our favor. She then disputed it a second time with her credit card company on 6/30/2022, it went to pre arbitration and was ruled in our favor on 7/11/2022. 
  On 6/14/2022, she went to a place called, **** ******* to have some nuts and bolts checked for tightness. If the **** *******, did in fact, check the torque settings on everything listed on their receipt, then they would have had to have loosened and tightened all nuts and bolts to properly re-torque to verify her concern. Since this appears to be her only concern at this time, I am willing to reimburse the $129.60 that she paid **** *******, and consider this issue to be completely closed. 
  The attached pages are the response documents from the (2) credit card disputes. 
  On 3/30/22 
  Customer called and asked about a loaner car- as we were talking she said she had to go-would call me back. 
  At around 4:30PM-Tow truck driver called, (Nick?) Said he would bring up the car if we could get it in tomorrow. He had called several other shops-downtown- and they couldn't get the car in for up to 2 weeks. He would have the customer with him. He said it needed a ball joint and cv axle. It was dropped off in the lot that evening. 
  3/31/2022 
  The tech looked at the vehicle. When I spoke with *****- went over what needed to be done and she only wanted to fix the left strut (which was bent like a banana). She said the struts had just been replaced 1 year ago. I went over the bent parts and said we couldn't align it without the recommended repairs. She approved the job with the promise that it be done by the end of that day-as she was renting a car and staying in a hotel. I explained it was a big job and wasn't going to promise it would be done but we would do our best to try and get it done. 
  She came in around lunch time and dropped off a driver's side door and front left quarter panel. Asked that we put it in her car when we were done with the repairs. 
  ***** called around 4:00 PM and asked if it would be done. I told her I would call her closer to 5:00 5:30. I called her to tell her we had done everything except the alignment. She said she was going to come over and wait for the car. When she got here, she asked if we could follow her to the car rental place to return her rental car. 
  I told her if we finished the alignment, we could do that for her. 
  Both techs worked on the vehicle together to get the car done and stayed overtime to do this. When I knew the car was going to be test driven, my husband had come to the shop so I asked him to follow ***** to the rental facility so she could return the rental car. 
  Following the test drive, the techs and I then put the door and quarter panel in the rear of her car. 
  zofb 
  When ***** and my husband returned, she then proceeded to put a ratchet strap over the top of the car to hold the door closed at the top as it was bent out away from the body. We left around 6:45PM. 
  ***** called a couple of days after repairs and asked if we had replaced the left front ball joint. I told her there was no reason to replace that one. She said she had looked at them and saw they didn't match with the right one. 
  4/12/2022 
  Customer sent text saying we had caused her wiper blade to scuff her windshield. 1 explained that we hadn't had to take off the cowling, so we hadn't moved her wiper blades. She then said according to the strut replacement instructions by ******, we should have. 
  Our technicians have tools to perform the job without having to do that. She then said we had over charged her if we did shortcuts to finish the job. 
  I did not respond back. She then said she would look into small claims court. 
  We performed the work that was needed and authorized by *****. We went above and beyond to get the job completed so she wouldn't have to stay over at a hotel and incur rental car expenses any longer, 
  We have been fair with her and feel fully justified in receiving complete payment for the work completed. 
  I have photos of the car when it came in, I still have the parts that were removed from her car and photos of the texts she sent to me. 
  ***** then disputed the bill to the credit card company. Following was our response to that dispute. 
  5/25/2022 
  The instructions ***** is referring to: (Cowl needs to be removed to replace struts) can be bypassed by using specialized flexible tools that can access the 3 nuts on top of the strut mounts without removing the cowl. 
  The technician that worked on her car has been doing this kind of work for over 40 years. He has a large selection of tools that allowed him to perform the job without removing the cowl. He could access the necessary nuts on the strut mount using those specialized tools. That is why technicians buy specialty tools. 
  ***** wanted the car back that same day to save herself from having to pay additional for a rental car and hotel. Our focus was to be able to achieve her request by the end of the day. 
  We were able to achieve that goal for her by using the tools needed to get the job done correctly (without removing the cowl) in the timeframe we had to meet her goal. 
  We worked 2 technicians on the vehicle for part of the day and stayed overtime to get the job done for 
  her. 
  30t6 
  6/30/2022 
  As described above, ***** then disputed the charges a 2nd time with her credit card company and it went into pre-arbitration. Within 3 days, it was again settled in our favor.. 
  Brenda B***** - Precision Auto Service Center 
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/16/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  
  

  **** ******* checked out the car and ended up redoing all the work on August 6, 2022. I had to have a family member loan me the money as I needed to be able to use my car for work. Attached is the invoice and I can attach the check and my bank statement, if needed.

  
  Improperly torqued bolts lead to premature part failure.
  Precision Auto knows improperly torqued bolts (using a hand wrench) are an example of shoddy car repair and can lead to premature parts failure but still wont refund me for it all. Well, it was all replaced. No, **** ******* was not going to torque and retorque the bolts, basically standing behind another mechanics work after I showed the main tech the texts from Precision Auto. The parts were checked. The car had a lot of noises when driving. They told me I should replace them all. The next step is going to small claims court and asking for refund plus court costs plus costs of getting the parts checked out by **** ******* and consulting an attorney, if possible. And, they'll be paying an attorney and/or for their workers to not be at work to testify. I consulted an attorney and he told me to be able to tell the judge that I exhausted all other means and tried to keep everyone's costs down and not bog up the court system, and that I have 2 years statute of limitations to do so. I was also told to hold off on my review until settling this dispute and have been doing so. But, this BBB case and Attorney General case are reviews which could reputationally damage the shop because the facts of the case are so one-sided in my favor. And, that is why I tried to do a private credit card dispute. Everyone makes mistakes.

  
  ********, my credit card company is known for a 100% recovery rate in the industry, meaning they only ASKED Precision Auto to refund the parts because they don't want to lose money on the sale and credit card fees. Citi ASKED twice for my refund then stepped aside after hearing "No" twice. Thus, they did not pursue arbitration and no one won because Precision Auto just said, "No, I won't refund." Citi and their merchant bank just tried to play mediator and Citi told me they're not going to pay the $150-400 arbitration fee to decide this case. No one won. ******** told me to go to court because the merchant said "No" and they don't want to spend the money on the next step. It has no bearing on the merits of the case at all.

  
  

  In reality, the case is simple. Based on the facts, I can bring any mechanic to blindly testify improper torque is an improper repair and that you can't know the torque with a hand wrench. That is the fact in an scenario so I could call some mechanic off the street without them knowing any other information. And, there is no one that Precision Auto can bring to testify that improperly torqueing is a proper repair especially given the dealer manual bolds the torque. Using a hand wrench means you're tightening but likely not enough or sometimes too much, and it all means a shoddy repair.
  I know the tech also started to take off my wipers because the bolts were switched with me as my witness. In the end, I think he put the wipers back on and improperly set them, and decided to just use a hand wrench.
  I was recommended to Precision Auto and they have great reviews but they dropped the ball on my car repair. Maybe they thought my car would be undrivable after its accident. Well, it looks and runs great now that **** ******* redid the work. I can send images of the body work done. They should make it right.

  It is not every day a mechanic admits to improper repairs but they did.

  I paid for this same work twice.

  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ***** ******
  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/06/2022

  September 5, 2022 

  Better Business Bureau 

  Subject: Complaint No. ******** 

  Dear Better Business Bureau, 

  Responding to your fax to us dated August 24, 2022, where you outlined the new details of the above complaint number, we continue to stand behind the work that was done on her car. 

  It should be noted that, *** ****** is mistaken in her latest submission to you. She has disputed this bill with our credit card company on 4/29/2022, and after they reviewed the circumstances, the case was ruled in our favor. She then disputed it a second time with her credit card company, ********, on 6/30/2022, where we then agreed to pre-arbitration decision with ********** CO and ******** reviewing the case., and it too was decided in our favor on 7/11/2022. This outcome was confirmed on 8/12/22 in a phone call to ******** ******* ********* * ********** ****. by Brenda B*****, owner of Precision Auto Service Center. 

  To double check this outcome, on August 29th Brenda spoke with ******* of the ******** ******* ********* * ********** ****., and ******* again confirmed that the decision regarding the pre-arbitration case was awarded to us. 

  Since the beginning, *** ****** stated that she is concerned with the tightness and torque values on the nuts and bolts we installed. On 6/14/2022. she went to a place called, "**** ********* in ****** **** to have the nuts and bolts checked for torque values. **** ******* claims to have checked the torque values of the identified bolts and nuts. If the **** *******, did in fact, check the torque settings on everything we installed, then they would have had to have loosened and/or tightened all nuts and bolts to properly re-torque to verify her concern. Since the tightness of these nuts and bolts is the issue in her complaint, we still maintain that the correct and appropriate resolution to this problem was to loosen and retorque the nuts and bolts to the specified values as was allegedly done by **** *******. We are willing to reimburse the $129.60 that she paid **** ******* for this service since the nuts and bolts will now be accurately torqued, and will consider this issue to be completely resolved, 

  Best Regards, 

  Michael and Brenda B*****, Owners of Precision Auto Service Center 

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/06/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.
  
  
  
  

  Precision Auto denied request from ********** and ******** for a refund and often with no evidence from them to justify the denial, just an outright denial. See attached written documentation from ******** which contracts with ********** to provide my credit card. So, they are telling the written objective facts from ********** and ******** which is that Precision Auto rejected a request for refund and now claims they "won." Brenda merely said "No." It would only be reviewed by **********/********* in arbitration. The evidence was simply SUBMITTED TO ********** in case it went to arbitration and it did not. Pre-arbitration is a no judgment form of dispute resolution. ********** made NO JUDGMENT because it was not arbitrated.

  Pre-arbitration is a credit card dispute process that is basically my merchant bank, ********, just asking the merchant bank of Precision Auto to refund me. Please see attached letter from ******** where they confirm Precision Auto declined a REQUEST for credit. A simple request. They only asked and it has no bearing on the merits of my issues or the case. And Precision Auto did not even provide any evidence to back up declining that request as is stated in the letter. They have nothing to say to defend the fact that not torqueing bolts is shoddy work. Those bolts have torque specifications for a reason!
  
  Precision Auto said they won't refund and my merchant bank, ********, did not want to go to arbitration where a neutral third party makes a decision on it because ******** did not want to pay the arbitration fees. There is no way to force a refund except arbitration so Precision Auto did not win. **** could only ask/request the refund.

   

  Also, **** ******* technician felt the parts and said I needed the work redone. Now, I have paid them to redo the work (see repairs-redone document.)
  
  Brenda is trying to take my money for shoddy work but has already admitted twice to the shoddy work. Once, in her texts. Twice, by saying **** ******* checked the torque and properly torqued it and she will refund for that assumption of hers. She knows she is in the wrong but refuses to give my money back to me.
  You can't just re-torque bolts that weren't properly torqued. The damage was already done by my assuming the work was done properly and driving my car. **** ******* needed to redo the work. You shouldn't drive on improperly torqued bolts. That is the reason there is a torque specification. Thus, another mechanic is always going to redo instead of standing behind shoddy work from another mechanic. If **** ******* just re-torques it and charges me then they're just as responsible for everything Precision Auto did before and they can't honestly do that and tell me I'm good to drive the car. **** ******* found the parts to be faulty - too much play or motion. They had to redo!
  
  
  So, I'm here to exhaust all means before I got to small claims court.

   

  Regards,
  
  ***** ******