ComplaintsforExpress Oil Change & Tire Engineers

• Initial Complaint

  11/24/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I dropped my car at the Huffman location off for a small, recent, quarter sized oil leak repair over three weeks ago. My car did not have any issues running at the time. At the end of the first week, when the car was returned to me (after the mechanic admitted being confused several times along the way due to not being familiar with my engine and there being "surprises" he hadn't seen on the schematics), it began misfiring on my way home and I returned immediately. During the two weeks following, the mechanic said he took it apart and put it back together several times and even tried some parts (solenoid?, fuel pump?) but couldn't determine the issue. At that time, I was told it would be taken to another mechanic to review. My car was transferred to Centerpoint and back and I was told they hadn't been able to determine the issue (it turns out, I was later told, the Centerpoint mechanic was too busy to thoroughly inspect my car and sent it back to the unexperienced mechanic with tips to try). Then, they transferred my car to the Ford dealer and now I'm being told my engine appears to be failing (oil light now comes on, lots of noise, runs very poorly) and needs to be taken apart and likely will need further work, starting with $1500-2000 (I'm on disability and that equates to 2 months of my income) to take it apart and even determine the exact issue. Throughout this process, I have made an effort to stay in touch with management (although they have never reached out to me), and according to the last person I spoke to at Express, this is all just a "coincidence" and although my car had no mechanical/running issues prior to service at their facility, my engine has decide to roll over and die shortly after $600 work of work at Express. I dropped off a car that ran, and all I want back is a car that runs. Shoddy work, shirking responsibility, damaged product, poor/uncaring customer service.

  Business response

  12/21/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/11/30) */ Mrs. ***** came in for an oil change & not long after came in for a valve cover gasket replacement. The customer returned not long after the repair was done & stated the vehicle had now loss power in the gas pedal. ********* Mechanic from Huffman diagnosed everything that we could have done & had nothing to do with the valve cover gasket replacement. Iron City Fords mechanics determined there was an internal issue & had nothing to do with our valve cover gasket replacement. The vehicle has also been going 10,000 - 19,000 miles on each oil change which could absolutely have something to do with her internal oil pressure problem. EOC & TE has nothing to do with the internal issues that the vehicle has developed. The customers vehicle is ready for pickup or we can get her an estimate on her a new motor or will have to disassemble the engine & diagnose what could be going on with her oil pressure issue.

• Initial Complaint

  10/05/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I took my vehicle in for an oil change july 2021. As a result and due to the facility faulty repairs It resulted in many issues occurring to my vehicle such as my engine being blown. Express oil change even fraudulently signed my signature through carshield which stated that I was happy with repairs which is not true.. On the same day that I went to pick pup my vehicle it start smoking bad proving that my car still wasn't fixed. I had to have my vehicle towed to another car repair facility who verified for me that my engine was blown due to express oil tire

  Business response

  11/01/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/10/14) */ Her vehicle has documented oil consumption and leak issues. Her aftermarket warranty company paid for $800 of the $900 repair done that she authorized. (Valve cover gaskets and a belt.) She also needed a thermostat on an overheating issue. We offered to repair it at no charge if she bought the part to try and satisfy her. She declined. Legal Shield (her representative) informed *** we tried to resolve her issue to a satisfactory/reasonable level that she declined and they would not represent her in court on this issue. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/10/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This information is not true at call. Carshield informed me that they have a policy in place where before a business is to be compensated for work done that the buyer of the policy who would be me is suppose to sign agreeing that the repairs were satisfactory.. I not once signed anything agreeing that the repairs on my car were satisfactory....So they fraudulently forged my signature....when I went to pick up my vehicle I informed jim and dole that I first want to drive the vehicle to ensure that my car was fixed... they agreed. I drove my car not even a mile when my car started smoking very badly Therefore my car still wasnt in good working condition but they got paid by carshield..I had to have my vehicle towed to another car repair facility who checked out my vehicle and stated that my engine was in fact blown and was due to the faulty repairs from Express oil. I have that statement from the facility...Dole was extremely rude this day in which I actuallyfelt threatened by his loud tone and demeanor towards me...... there were witnesses in the lobby as well..I also reported the issue to carshield and they informed me that it was nothing they could do because express oil tire fraudulently signed my signature. Once again they are lying about legal shield.. legal shield informed me how rude the owner was....***... he basically told legal shield that he stand behind his workers and that they were not going to fix anything and for me to take them to court.. I can get this statement from the lawyer at legal shield...I will continue to fight until the issue with my car is resolved.... Express oil tire must pay for what they did to my vehicle:( Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2021/10/15) */ We have reached out to the customer again and resolved the issue. Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2021/10/16) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The business did reach out to me. I spoke with Darrin. However the issue is not resolved until I receive check in the mail of the correct amount and the check is successfully cleared through my bank.

• Initial Complaint

  09/08/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was having a used truck that I was considering buying checked at an Express oil change in Destin Florida the truck had a check engine light on. The service department was supposed to do a diagnostic test and a tune up on the truck for the previous owner. She contacted me and said the work was done. I asked if the engine light was still on. She said that it was off. I assumed that the problem was fixed. I bought the truck and within 24 hours the light came back on. I took it back to that shop and the same employees put a code reader on the truck. He said that it may be a bad spark plug from the tune up. I brought the truck in and left it for the day When I returned I was told that the engine needed some work. I wasn't happy because they did a diagnostic test before I spent $ 9,500 on the truck. The employee called me a derogatory name also. He may have charged the previous owner for the repair because she was selling the truck but didn't fix the problem just reset the light.

  Business response

  10/06/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2021/09/23) */ 7/7/2021 original owner came in for a check engine light diagnostics. The tech found the codes to be from a misfire on #7 and also 3 evaporator emissions leak codes. They recommended that a tune up be done to start the misfire concern as it has 118,510 miles on it and for the evaporator emissions code they would need to perform a smoke test to determine the cause to get an estimate written. Only the diagnostics fee was charged to the original owner at that time, no work was performed. 9/4/2021 original owner brought vehicle back in to have the tune up done because she wanted to sell the vehicle but did not want the check engine light to be on during sale. We performed the spark plug change using our lead tech, he agreed that the tune up was needed by the condition of the plugs so he continued installing the plugs. There was also an ignition coil on the original recommendation but the lead tech did not feel the need for that so what he did was swapped #7 ignition coil with #5 to see if the misfire would move to another cylinder while at the shop after replacing plugs or even later on after customer started putting miles on it. However the code did not come back immediate enough. The tech described the vehicle to have an intermittent misfire, this was not a "dead" misfire so he did not feel the need to replace an ignition coil. The vehicle did run much better but had no misfires counted in the scan tool. Now during a diagnostics test the ECM may be cleared to see misfires moving around so yes the light was off when it left. The tech had expressed to the service writer that he would like the customer to know that there was a minor feel of a misfire when driving but not at idle but would like to know if any codes return, however the customer sold the vehicle before that could happen. Now after speaking to the tech and the service writer the communication was mistaken and was not relayed to the customer that same way, instead the service writer let her know the evap codes may return as that was the only code remaining but the lead tech wanted to see if only evap returned or if it was a misfire as well. Now knowing what is going on currently we know that owner sold the truck to ******* ******. 9/6/2021 ******* ****** is now the new owner and comes into the facility upset that there is a check engine light on this truck he just purchased from the original owner and was told that we fixed the issues underlying in the check engine light. Nothing was performed on this day. 9/7/2021 ******* ****** dropped the truck off in the morning. When the vehicle was pulled into the shop the lead tech that did the plugs scanned the ECM to find evap codes again of course as they were never given attention and also the misfire code which was still on #7. Lead pulled the spark plugs on the entire bank but found no issues with plugs so performed a compression test. He then found 3 out of the 4 to have approximately 125PSI, however the last one, #7, had 90PSI. At that time we had let ******* ****** know there is more wrong causing the misfire and it is internal. To get a proper estimate we would need him to approve us to remove the cylinder head and have it inspected by us or a machine shop. ******* at that point was very upset that he purchased a truck and is now being told it needs some engine work. The service writer had let ******* know that if he had saw the condition of the plugs he would understand why the diag was done the way it was with starting with the plugs and going from there. Service writer also let him know that we would not normally jump straight to a compression test when dealing with a misfire code as there are a lot of simpler items to check first instead of assuming you would need to dive straight into the motor for major repairs. The customer was upset and during conversation the service writer had let the customer be upset and do what ever it was that he was doing but yes he did say he was starting to act like rudely about the situation because he started accusing us of being paid off by the original owner to shut off the engine light which was not the case what so ever. Now the terms used are not okay and **** be taken care of at the store level and document a write up to HR for the behavior. ******* ****** was not charged any fees for coming in, he did not get a price to fix because he would not approve the Cylinder head to come off so we could get a fair price, however he was told how much in depth with timing chains and machine shop charges and extensive labor would be involved to do such a job. 9/23/ 2021 This issue has not been resolved. Pepboys did verify the diagnoses we did was correct and was also told the motor has internal damage but he is upset that the check engine light was cleared. He is convinced that we shut the light off so the original owner could make a sale and does not want to believe that technicians need to reset computers which causes the check engine light to go out to diagnose vehicles or verify a repair made a difference in engine performance. He does not seem to understand our explanation of steps taken to fix a vehicle..

• Initial Complaint

  09/01/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This facility kept my vehicle from 6/25-8/21. They filed the paperwork incorrect to the warranty company which led us to pay over $7,000.00. We picked up up on 8/21 and had to bring it back on 8/24 because it was not fixed correctly. They said they put a faulty part and needed to redo the job again. They have failed to repair it on a timely manner and have taken our money. My daughter has missed work and had to drop college classes which we had already paid because she doesn't have transportation. Yet they cannot give us a straight answer when it will be done? They continue to give us the run around and keep giving us bogus dates without fulfilling their promise. The car is going on three months being in their shop.

  Business response

  09/24/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/09/03) */ The customer overheated the vehicle and kept driving it and caused severe damage to the vehicle. The customer did leave the vehicle with our store over a month ago. She left it with us for almost a month BEFORE she made a decision on repairs. We waived all storage fees during this entire time. We have many attempted contacts where we were not responded back with an update until a day or days later. We understand the customer frustration, but if this was truly a rush job, why were we left with no decision regarding repairs weeks after it was brought to us? It has been in harsh climates in the past and rust has set in on many parts, thus creating issues when taking items off to repair them. The damage to the vehicle was done due to ignoring the warnings and the corrosion made it more difficult to repair. We have had an extremely difficult time getting parts for this vehicle. One of the parts we did get failed. The customer kept driving it after the dash warnings came on, causing major damage again. Even though the part manufacturer will warranty the part, they do not warranty the additional damage caused by ignoring the warnings, or cover the labor costs. We are repairing it anyway to try and take care of the customer. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/09/03) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) It is inaccurate what they are saying. Here are the many times they called us: (total of 10 times) 6/29 7/2 7/6 7/9 7/15 8/11 8/12 8/18 8/25 9/2 Here are the dates we called them: (total of 18 times) 6/26 (x3 times) 6/29 (x2 times) 7/1 7/2 (x2 times) 7/8 7/10 7/15 7/24 7/30 8/10 8/6 8/24 8/25 8/30 For them to say the "damage was done due to ignoring the warnings of the corrosion"is inaccurate. Before taking it to them the vehicle was taken to BMW dealer for regular yearly inspection, Firestone auto shop and Pep Boys and neither of those shops indicated there was corrosion in the vehicle. We have all receipts of this dealers as proof. That is them making inaccurate assumptions to fit their story. There was a latency with us letting them know to move forward with repair because they took their time to contact the warranty. And then filed the paperwork incorrect which made the warranty denied coverage. We called the warranty and they let us know how the request was written made them denied coverage. The car has not been driven more than 16,000 in the two years we've had it and should have been covered. The warranty company said it would have been covered had it been file correctly. By this time they had already pulled the car apart and we couldn't move it to a different car repair because the engine was out of the car. They said they had to pull it apart to find out what was wrong with it because they couldn't figure it out with the regular tools they use. We picked up the car on 8/21, brought it home, and parked it for the next few days. When we picked up the vehicle, we asked what causes this, and they asked if the car was in place that snowed. We told them we bought it they transported it from N.J., to which they replied it was erosion due to the weather. Before we picked up the car on 8/21, we were told the total was $7340 and not the original quote of $6900. The next day 8/23, my daughter drove to school (UAB) and noticed it wouldn't turn on as easily as it used to. There was no light indicating anything was wrong with it. On 8/24, when she was driving to work, the car slowed down on the highway (putting her life and other drivers in danger), but there was still no light indicating anything wrong with the vehicle. She was able to exit and get to work late. During lunch, she turned it on, and the engine light came on.She called them, and they said to bring it back in. She did not take a lunch instead left work early to take the car back and lost 4 hours of pay to take it back in. They let her know they had to keep it and find out what was wrong with it. At no time did they say she had overheated the car? Then I had to take off work (2 hours) to go pick her up. They called her on 8/25 and left her a message to give her an update. She couldn't answer because she was at work but did call them back. They said they found that one of the main parts they put in was "faulty" and had to order it again. Donnie offered an apology for the inconvenience and told her he would talk to "Bartly" to see if they could approve a loaner for her due to all the challenges they've had in fixing it promptly. He said he would call her back the next day, which never happened. After not hearing back on 8/30, we called again to get a status. The gentlemen told her they had already ordered another head gasket since the first one was faulty. On 9/2, Donnie called to let us know he was out of town, and that's why he had not called. He said everything was put back in and waiting for one more part (which we didn't know multiple parts were being ordered). He let her know it would be ready by 9/4 but wanted to keep it through 9/7 to ensure it was working. This is the same thing they've been telling us all of August, saying it will be ready next week. Next week comes, and still not ready, and no call to let us know why it's not ready until we start calling them again. With us paying this much money, you would think they would go above and beyond to communicate proactively; instead, they respond with incorrect information to this claim. We have been more than patient with them, and at this point, it feels they are treating us the way they are because of our gender (mother-daughter females). Donnie went as far as insulting us by saying BMW makes the "mini cooper in case you don't know that." He was condescending and insulting with his remarks. I also filed a complaint directly with their corporation and asked that someone called me back and still no response. I sent a tweet asking for someone to call me back and I received a response someone would call me back and till the day no one has called me back. We've lost time, money and it is disheartening to see how a local business treats their customers and on top of it be dishonest about the entire situation. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2021/09/09) */ The vehicle was returned to the customer on 9/8/21 with all repairs in good working order. The corrosion issues due to the car having previously been driven NJ where salt is spread to help de-ice the roads was obvious when the vehicle first arrived at our shop. Our service manager escorted to customer into the work area and showed her the rust on the vehicle. Obviously, I cannot speak as to why other shops did not show the customer these issues. We repaired the vehicle as quickly as possible given the difficulty in finding some parts and the time to resurface the head. we attempted to communicate all of these issues with the customer in a timely and professional manner. After the second repair, which was necessary due to a faulty part and continued driving after the vehicle began to overheat, we thoroughly test drove the vehicle (over 100 miles). The vehicle performed to manufacturer specification on the test drives.

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