ComplaintsforStar Auto Electric

• Initial Complaint

  11/14/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  August 2021 $723.27 This business committed to provide me a solution to my truck not starting.While they had my truck in their shop (over 3 weeks), they were unprofessional, rude, and argumentative. They ripped me off and in the process melted the wiring to my fog lights. The owner and customer service associate were very argumentative and rude. When I asked for a refund they scoffed and argued with me. Never once was there an apology for ripping me off or damaging my vehicle (melting the fog light wiring apparatus). My fog lights worked before I had Star Auto work on my truck, even their customer service associate admitted they melted my fog light wiring. INVOICE # **** ******************************** STARAUTOELECTRICSVC.COM ************************ ******************************************** ************

  Business response

  11/15/2021

  Contact Name and Title: *********************** / president
  Contact Phone: ************
  Contact Email: ***********************
  First we did not do anything with the fog lights.
  ************** brought his truck in because it was dead every morning. We tested and found a issue with the instrument cluster so we sent it our for repair after customer approved repair. We also found and noted to customer that the radio was causing a draw killing the battery every night. It can take hour to find a slow draw and trace it down. We have to wait for all systems to go to sleep before we can test each time and this just takes time.
  
  Each time he brought the truck back we informed him that the radio wiring was the issue. The last 2 times he returned he was not charged.
  
  Customer retuned to Best Buys with the service invoice that showed the problem was the radio they installed and they repaired it at no charge. Best Buys does not diagnosis vehicles, so after we diagnosed and he returned they took care of the issue.
  
  I am sorry if our people were rude to him. But we did do the work and we did provide a service on his instrument cluster as well as diagnosis his issue with the radio and he did approved the work.
  
  I have attached a copy of the communication log from his first service order, and a copy of each repair order.
  
  I do have to pay my tech and I also had to pay for his instrument cluster repair and we have source that out. We would not have preformed the work if he had not approved it, also in order for Best Buys to fix the problem with the radio they needed the diagnostic from us as they do not diagnosis vehicles.
  
  Again I'm sorry he is unhappy, but I do not feel he is due a refund.

  Customer response

  11/18/2021

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I feel that from the beginning there was not an adequate line of communication. My belief is that I paid for a service that was not provided. Instead of arguing from the beginning and making the issue only greater this business could have taken accountability and therefore worked towards a resolution. Instead, the business only confounded the problem alienating me as a customer for life. The rebuttal from Star Auto was not one of taking ownership, but one of passing the buck to Best Buy. While I approved of the work, my expectation as a paying customer was that the problem would have been resolved, which never was. When I pay hard-earned money I expect results as everyone should. We all clearly understand the verbiage time is money, and when a business keeps the vehicle one needs to make a living in excess of multiple weeks without remotely resolving the issue this, in and of itself is worth reimbursement.

  Business response

  11/29/2021

  In the first response, I attached a copy of text communication so in answer to us having a communication issue I'm not sure what more we can do. We talked with him via telephone and text. He was given a estimate before work was started which he approved. We did provide the service he was billed for
  1. Diagnose issue and noting it was a problem
  with the after market radio.
  2. Diagnose and repair instrument cluster.
  
  Note: When diagnosing a parasitic draw it can take time. First we have to get the battery to die so we can re-charge it complete. Then wait for the vehicle to go into sleep mode before testing. You must allow the vehicle to enter sleep mode each time you test it. Entering sleep mode takes a lease 1 hour.
  
  Second you have approximately 2 miles of wire in your vehicle, so it just takes a lot of time to locate the issue. We don't keep vehicles long than we need to as we do not get paid until it is picked up.
  
  The issue we found and noted to customer was with the aftermarket radio installed by another company. This company does not diagnose vehicles. We provided the diagnoses on the very first visit and service ticket. The customer returned 2 more times and we re-checked his vehicle to find the same problem, which we did not charge him for. After customer returned to the company that installed his radio they corrected the issue at no charge based off our diagnoses.
  
  As for the instrument cluster it was repaired and re-installed and re-tested.
  
  My answer is still he is not due a refund as we did everything he approved for us to complete.
  
  I'm sorry he feels we should work for free.
  
  

  Customer response

  12/08/2021

   
  Complaint: 16325641
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
   I believe compensation should be in order for keeping my vehicle the amount of time that your business did.  If I am reading correctly and it takes one hour to put into sleep mode and then why again was my vehicle kept for weeks at a time?  Having been in the workforce for a long time I understand the value of generating income for services rendered.  To that end I am surprised a proprietor would put such a snarky remark in public, that shows it is fairly evident your business lacks empathy for the consumer, and I would most assuredly not advocate anyone going to your establishment with commentary like this.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

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