Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ********* ******* took my Ford Epedition 2016 to get checked because the check engine light was on, I had smoke coming from my exhaust., and my A/C was pushing out luke warm air. This all started in the month of May 2023. I used a warranty company to pay for the parts that was covered. I had to pay out for labor and taxes, and any other parts that weren't covered. The amount that was paid out of my pocket was 2,455.00. So with that being said after that pay out I still had to go back to the shop at least 5 more times because the same issue arise. Wich took time and money,and no transportation I picked the vehicle up on August the 4th and did my daily routine of test driving. On August 5th I called and left a voice message stating that the same issues are still there check engine light, exhaust smoking,and luke warm air from the AC. Never received a call back so made another call on AUGUST 7TH playing phone tag spoke to the machine KC. After telling him that issue are still present going back and forth with him on that call. With no results and the parts are still under warranty he suggested that he will speak with the owner of the shop to be reimbursed. I had to end up calling back again to get the update on the reimbursement, i was then told by the receptionist that the owner will only allow ****** from what I paid. The job is still not completed and i feel as though that reimbursed amount not justified. So I now feel I wasted time,money and still have to find another machine to do the work. Am worried that I may be causing more isses to my vehicle because the issues are still there, and work may have not been done from the start. The reimbursement of what I paid is what is needed to complete this job provided by another mechanic. I am very unsatisfied with the work and customer service that has been provided. . Assistance is greatly needed in handling this matter.

  Business response

  08/15/2023

  It is true *** ******* did pass by our store the first time on May 25th, 2023 with his ford expedition, he did state that he has a check engine light on and has smoke coming out of the tail pipe especially in the morning time. we did put the vehicle on the scanner and found that it is throwing a code of P0299 which translates to turbocharger underboss condition , meaning the vehicle turbocharger is unable to build enough compressed air measured in psi to reach the throttle body demanded by the engine's PCM. first thing we do is we check for vacuum/boost leak in which we use a smoke tester that generates smoke inside the closed system tract of the turbo system and the smoke test passed , we had no problem in terms of broken pipe or air plumbing , we lifted the vehicle and we found out that the turbocharger assembly on the driver side is leaking oil in between the 2 housing where the turbine side and the compressor side meet in the middle we also found the that boost pressure relief valve that sides on the air pipe of that turbo is broken. in our diagnostics of which we strive to be as through as possible we found the the front engine timing cover is also leaking. The customer also complained of the vehicle only blowing Luke warm air and open visual inspection we found that the blend door actuators which sit behind the dashboard are stuck towards the hot side of the HVAC unit (tilted towards the heater core, not the evaporator core ). 
  We recommended everything that we saw and determined to the warranty company; they only approved the turbocharger and the relief valve .the warranty company only covered 1,235.45$.  We went back with all the information to the customer and informed him of what was approved, what wasn't and whether he'd like to approve fixing the oil leak and the blend door actuators. Between diagnostic , warranty company, going back to the customer , getting the parts and installation . the vehicle ended staying at the shop till June 7th, 2013.
  The vehicle left and a few days later mr Jackson called and said the check engine light had came back on , he did bring his vehicle in and we did check the vehicle and found no problem at that time and that the code was in pending/stored , not active and the vehicle was driving ok. we cleared the code , drove the vehicle , through live data on our scanner we could see that the turbos (the vehicle has two turbochargers and we only replaced the leaky one) are producing 28 PSI and the ECM/PCM was demanding 28PSI. The vehicle left and came back a few days later. same complaint and the check engine light is on, the frustration is understandable , pulled the vehicle back in and reran some tests, this time we found that the coupler that holds the air tubes to the throttle body had been disconnected (could be because of the boost or a losened clamp, not well seated or just worn) reinstalled it and repositioned properly , cleared the codes and test drove and all check ok. came back with the same coupler blown off the the same throttle body , so we ended up replacing it with a heavy duty (diesel style) turbo hose clamps
  The customer came back and stated that the ac is not working properly and it is not blowing cold as it its supposed to. we checked the work that we had previously done and the blend doors are working fine. so we put the vehicle on the ac machine . we read the pressures and found out that the low side is reading 65PSI, 65PSi is not working psi , a healthy AC compressor should always run between 28-32psi on the low side reading , in some instances if the the low side valve that is positioned far away from the compressor; it would be ok if the pressure was somewhat higher than the typical working condition . we evacuated the system to check how much refrigerant it had in it and found out that the vehicle had been holding full charge of 2.75 lbs of refrigerant. after that we had done a vacuum test to make sure that there was no leak and there was not . we recharged the vehicle and rechecked pressures and nothing had changed , in that case we recommended an ac compressor. we had to go through the warranty company of which they had approved the claim and agreed to replaced the ac compressor.
  We replaced the compressor and the o-rings of the compressor lines, vacuum tested and after a passed test charged the vehicle again, added oil and dye as a preventive measure and the vehicle was blowing cold and left with no problem. the ac compressor job was checked on June 21st and after warranty and parts ordering and completion with payment was invoiced on the 27th. the customer left with no problem.
  A few days later came back and said that the check engine light that when it was agreed that the customer is unsatisfied and that the shop truly understands the frustration and that at this point , there may be something else that is causing the check engine light to come on , it could be the other turbocharger on the right hand side of the vehicle that is underperforming every now and then and triggering the code , or it could be an internal PCM failure that thinks that the system is underperforming when in reality it is not . it could be a multitude of things and in the last 2 times the vehicle came to the shop , the coupler clamp that the shop replaced was still in place and intact. the customers never complained of smoke coming out of the tail pipe , it was not mentioned . the ac system was repaired . the receptionist did mention that the customer did say that the rear ac is not blowing cold and not the front and when the customer pulled up the receptionist did go inside the vehicle and it was blowing cold . we should state that the vehicle did not leak oil out of the new turbo or the front timing over components that we had replaced and everything is still intact . the ac is blowing cold and the front blend doors are working properly. we should also mention that this particular vehicle has two evaporators and multiple blend doors , there are 2 to handle temperature 1 for individual zones , 1 for recirculation and 2 for the mode of air . there is also 2 blend door actuators in the back 1 that controls the temperature , one that controls the mode of air. when again the frustration did arise it was agreed and the customer did agree before putting up this complain to be refunded ****. the **** were deemed to be acceptable because the work performed is not causing further malfunctions, it did resolve oil leak and oil smoke problems as well as AC problems from the shops viewpoint. From the customer's view point it should provide him with enough funds to get the vehicle checked and/ or repaired at another shop. according to the receptionist his significant other did call up to the shop and asked if the check was ready to be picked up and she responded with a yes . the check has been in the drawer since the 8th of this month and the neither the customers or any of his family pass by to pick up the check. 

  Customer response

  08/16/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: 20444038

  I am rejecting this response because: First and foremost this rebuttal has me baffled. Each and every time the vehicle has been returned it has been and was stated that the same issues were still showing present from the start. There were plenty of times that calls were made to verify what exactly was bing handled with each issue it was always playing phone tag. Time and money is  valuable . So the consistency with getting connections to the mechanic was a tremendous ordeal. On June 21st the vehicle was picked up after hours. So with the state sent of letting someone know of any known issues was impossible. Not sure where there was any indication of that happening.Messages that are left get unanswered.On the next days call was put forthright about the issues, and was told by the receptionist “to drop it off”. On that same call I was informed that the mechanic had a death in his family. So the vehicle will be worked on once he returns. Was also informed that the warranty company has a 30 day turnaround time when making claims. So that would give more time for the otherTurbo can be ordered. Upon speaking with the warranty company there is no such policy or turnaround time. Not sure why that information was given. Every single time I’ve arrived at the shop NOT ONCE has the receptionist come out to the vehicle check the A/C temperature. I was always greeted at the desk. I would like to also add that hoses were supposed to be ordered from the Ford dealership in the area. Called to check on the progress of that order and was told it was ordered but has not yet arrived. The most recent pick up which I had to call to verify the status of the turbo and hose, and was told by the receptionist that “Sorry , but she has been busy ,but the vehicle is ready to be picked up”. When ask what has been done; such as the should be the ordered parts. Was told none of that was needed. How. That is the reason for waiting for the 30 days turnaround time. Ask has the vehicle been driven to have theAC  checked. Answer was yes but checking the odometer 2miles is not enough for a test in my opinion. There was a clamp left on the floor board in the vehicle which I guessed that was an indicator that it was changed. As for the most recent conversation with the mechanic going back and forth with no solution with the further actions of my complaints of the worked on the vehicle due to the issues still presenting itself the mechanic made a suggestion to speak with the owner for further evaluation. Was told that I will get  a call on the next day of the outcome. Once again no call. Upon reaching out I was told that that the owner agreed for the allowable amount for the refund was of $******. I did not agree to that amount and still don’t. The response that I got for the calculations of the refund was “the work was done and the complaints that is all the owner allowed a payment of. That amount seems unjustifiable, and unacceptable. For the record I didn’t agree to a $****** check verbatim. This is not a reasonable amount for the issue to still be present.

  .

  Regards,

  ********* *******

  Business response

  08/26/2023

  please acknowledge the fact that first there was no playing phone tag.This establishment specifically has a receptionist for the sole peruse of assisting customer not dodging their phone calls, if a call was not picked up for a customer whether it is you or anywhere else , its not because the shop is attempting to dodge your phone call or anyone else's. there may be a time where the phone is ringing with many customers simultaneously and the shop phone can only pick up one line at a time. Second if you look closely at the invoices you would see that you were never charged for hoses , hoses were never declined or differed of the list of services recommended. third, yes a check engine light may come on in the vehicle and you would be able to see it on your dashboard; however, on the scanner the scanner would show whether the vehicle has the code in "active or current" mode or in "pending or stored/saved mode" in all the times the vehicle came to the shop the code was in "stored mode". fourth, the mileage of the test drive does not dictate the intensity of the testing , in most cases the shop leaves the vehicle to idle , get it up to operating temperature , leaves the scanner hooked up to the vehicle and records working parameters, and on that short test drive , the technicians monitor how the vehicle behaves under light load, under mid loads, up or down a hill, and under full wide open throttle. fifth, if the shop asks for a vehicle to be dropped off , its naturally because its in the best intention to test the vehicle on many occasions as mentioned above , including the three good trips or at least the three ignition cycle rule where you start the vehicle get it up to operating temp , cut it off and repeat to check for any abnormalities in operation. sixth if a person has a death in the family, its only customary to mourn those who we have lost and then go about business . it does not make our customers concern any less of importance. seventh, as stated previously a refund of **** was agreed on between both parties and was written on the 10th of this month (august) but nobody came to pick it up. for the time being our resolution of **** still stands if anyone likes to pick it up. That's all that could be offered, as stated previously all work done from parts to labor seems to be working in due order, the warranty company had paid for the leaky turbo and *** ******* had paid for the front timing cover reseal and blend doors, and the timing cover is not leaking and the blend doors are working properly as of last time vehicle entered the shop 

  best regards

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