Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/01/2024

  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.

  My dad left my sister and I *************** great condition. We hired ***** to fix a power steering leak and perform a general tune up on the car. At drop off ***** told us that he could never get it to stop and blamed it on the new parts he purchased being faulty. For this he charged us $2428.50. A year later, we contact ***** to complete the tune up (free of cost) to which he agreed for the work he never completed the first time. ***** then took it upon himself to perform work on the carburetor, kitting it and then removing it from the car and taking it to another shop to look at, without giving us any notice or an estimate. At this point we told ***** we wanted the car returned and did not want him to perform any further work. ***** charged us $554.49 for him to perform unauthorized work and not the tune up he was supposed to do. In **************** there is a duty for repair shops to provide an estimate for repairs over $100 in cost. ***** did not provide an estimate on work performed either time. Nor did he obtain authorization for work done. Further, when ***** did inform us of the carburetor he quoted us at $500-$1500. When another mechanic sourced the part, from the same place ***** said he was familiar with, the quote was $220. Even more, he explained that the engine was flooded and there was 1.5 liters of gas in the carburetor as a result of ***** continually trying to run the car when the engine was flooded. He also informed us that the radiator neck was breaking away, which in the two times ***** had the car he never mentioned. When we expressed our extreme dissatisfaction with ****** business practices and asked him to right his wrong he agreed to refund the money we had spent on work that still to date is not completed. I drove out to ****** shop to get the check. At that time he stated he had changed his mind and began to scream at me about how I did not know the difference between a radiator and a carburetor, amongst other things.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/31/2024

  This is in response to the complain you received form ********************* regarding work I performed on the 1966 **** Mustang that ****** and her sister inherited from their father.
  

  The first time I talked to Dakota about the car it had been sitting in storage for 2+ years. ****** said the Mustang had a fluid leak that was all over the floor of the storage unit and asked if I could come look at it for repairs.  I met ****** at the storage unit to get some idea of what we were dealing with.  The fluid on the concrete was red in color so in that vintage of car it could be power steering fluid or automatic transmission fluid. The car battery was dead so had no way at that point to start the car and see where it was leaking from. We talked and made plans for me to come back up with my truck and trailer and bring it back to my shop for further diagnosis and repairs.
  

  May 3rd 2023 picked the Mustang and brought to my shop.
  

  After getting the car started with a good battery I had at the shop and getting it on a hoist I determined that leak was from the power steering ram, pump and lines. A verbal estimate was giving over the phone to ****** and in a text message on May 17th 2023 the okay to move forward was given after ****** talked to her sister.
  

  Parts were ordered. I had some shipping issues, parts were never delivered to my shop as shown in the tracking from the shipping company. Parts were reordered and those showed up on or around the 30th of May, 2023. 
  

  On June 6th 2023 I had the car together with the new parts and had it running to verify if the leaks were fixed. They were not. The new power steering pump I installed leaked. I ordered another pump from a local parts house at a higher cost as I didnt want to have more time delays as I was trying to get the car finished as ****** had said they wanted to get it listed for sale in June 2023. After more issues with parts, another pump and pressure line, I believed the leaks to be fixed. This took us to June 7th 2023.
  

  June 8th to June 14th, on the 8th I texted Dakota that the car needed a battery, the one in the car was bad from sitting for years. It was the 14th before I got their decision to go with the cheapest option, a blemished battery from Interstate battery. 
  

  I was out of town from June 16th to June 21st in ****** form my sons graduation from the University or ******. The 22nd of June was my next day back to work. 
  

  June 22nd at 10:47am I texted Dakota the car was done and ready to go. ****** had plans and other things going on like Hoopfest so the car wasnt delivered until June 29th at 7:30pm.
  

  When I was loading and securing the car on the trailer I noticed that the power steering ram, a new part that was installed, was starting to leak and drip. When I got to the storage to meet ******** told her about the leak and explained that I would repair/ replace the bad parts for the new owners. ****** said she was okay with that.
  

  I did not hear from ****** until almost a year later on June 20th 2024. Again, needing the car back in time to sell at action on July 17th 2024.  I said I would meet up at the storage unit with my employee and drive the car to the shop, ****** asked to have it trailer as they were selling and didnt want unnecessary miles on the car. On the 24th of July 2024 I drove my truck and trailer up to get the Mustang. 
  

  The Mustang had been sitting in the storage unit for another year, not sure how much it had been started if at all in that year. The battery was completely dead and tried to jump start it several times with my jumper box with no luck. It would crank over but not start. I had to winch the car onto my  trailer. Unloading the car and getting into the shop took a couple hours as I was by myself and the car wouldnt run. I tried to add fuel thinking maybe it was out of fuel, still no start. I pulled the top of the carburetor to see if there was fuel in the carburetor. They fuel bowl was full, but nothing coming out the jets. Luckily a person at a neighbor business stopped by the shop and I was able to get their help to get the car inside pushed into the shop. It is a convertible I didnt want to leave it outside.
  The next day I pulled the carburetor off to try and clean it out and get it too run, the fuel bowl had sediment in it that was more the likely plugging up the jets and not letting it get fuel into the engine to run. I got a carburetor kit (gaskets and small parts to rebuild a carburetor) and replaced the small parts (needle and seat, accelerator pump, power valve, etc..) 
  

  The main jets inside the carburetor were corroded and frozen and I couldnt get them loose. Hoping what I could clean did the job, I reassembled the carburetor and install back on the car. Now it would start, but it ran very poor and very rich. At this point I texted Dakota and let her now that the carburetor needed *** be rebuilt or replaced and I was trying to locate a replacement or cost to rebuild. 
  I texted her an estimate of $500 to rebuild the carburetor and also stated that there was a lot of rust/silt/ sediment in the carburetor that would have come from the fuel tank. A very common issue with car that sit for long period of time. The fuel tank, lines, filters will all need to be cleaned out or the carburetor will have this same issues happen again after being rebuilt.  For all of that I gave an estimate and stated this was going to be on the high side so she didnt have to run anything by her sister a second time. My estimate for carburetor rebuild and cleaning of tank, lines and filters was $1500. 
  At this point ****** said she had talked to *** at the auction, and they would run it as is. They asked I stop work on the car and asked for me to deliver the car back to the storage unit on Friday, June 28th 2024. 
  

  The bill for the car was $554.49.  Since ****** had asked to stop work on the car I did not do anything with the power steering leaks, the tune-up or fuel system.  That bill was for 5 hours I had in trying to get the car to run, the 5 gallons of 92 octane fuel and the carburetor kit.  I deducted 2 hours off for the time of the tune up (spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor) that wasnt done as they said to stop work on the car.
  

  It was the next day after dropping the car off that ****** and her sister want to have a group call.  They started demanding the refund of work done a year earlier and for what I had just done. At that point on the phone, with both of them. I did agree to refund, but after getting off the phone and rethinking all the events, the work I had performed a year prior, I came to the conclusion that was not right. It is my obligation to warranty parts and labor for 12 month/12,000 miles unless other wise stated by the manufacture of a part. I offered to do the warranty work and to correct the leaks multiple times on the phone, ****** and her sister said that they didnt want me to do the work. They said that I didnt install any parts on the car and I was trying to take advantage of them, that was absolutely not the case. I drove out to see the car before picking it up with my truck and trailer at no charge. I picked it up to bring to the shop at no charge. I delivered it back to their storage unit a year ago at no charge. Because of part issues I had the power steering pump, lines, and ram on and off the car multiple times, they were only charged for the job once. I try on every job that comes through my shop to above and beyond expectations, I had more time into the repairs of the Mustang then the hours I charged them.
  

   A full refund of parts and labor after 11 months after a job is performed, completed and paid for is unheard of and is not automotive industry standard practice, or any other industry.  They only wanted a full refund and refused me to do the warranty. 
  

  After I refused to refund them for work done a year ago they made threats of doing what they have done with ****** reviews, yelp review, BBB review and this to you. They said they would hang a banner at the car auction saying my shop name and to not use my shop. They said they would go through their dads contacts and tell them all not to use my shop. Dakotas sister said that I had no confidence in my shop or my ability because I would sacrifice my shop over just writing them a check for $3000. 
  

  My shop is my lively hood and I take great pride in my skill set, my financial investment into tools and equipment and my time investment into every job I or we do at my shop.  I do not take the statement made by ****** and her sister lightly. Their accusations, that I do poor work, or I didnt do the work at all, or didnt replace parts, or the personal attack on my ability or confidence are false, inaccurate and wrong.
  

  Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, concerns or wanting more detail on any part of this.
  
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