Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/30/2023

  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.

  Took our ****** Frontier to his house/ garage for him to replace an engine that I bought. He quoted $1600 for the job, then charged $2100. After I paid him the truck still was not running well he could not figure it out so I had to go over there and figure out that I had two bad cats also. I bought the cats he said it would install them for $200 then charged $380. When I told him that's not what we agreed on he threatened to punch me in my face when I come to get the truck. Then I sent one of my workers to get the truck and pay him his $380 and within 15 MI the truck started smoking and I had to replace the gasket for the engine heater core Outlet and a couple of hoses, add a quart of oil and tighten many of the other parts. I have an itemized bill that states he replaced all gaskets and seals and charged me $90 for oil. I tried to send him a video of the problems but he blocked me and my worker. I want others to know he is like this so I am giving a complaint here. If you can help us in any way, that would be appreciated also. Thank you

  Business Response

  Date: 01/30/2023

  The customer brought this truck in to do an engine swap. They purchased the engine themselves. Which means there is no warranty on the Engine or the labor to swap the engine. Since we cannot guarantee the engine the customer purchased was in running condition. We swapped the engine and it had a misfire still afterwards. At this point I asked the customer if he wanted to do a compression test and approved for me to do that testing. Everything came back fine with the engine doing the compression test. I diagnosed the catalytic converter issue. Customer came over because he wanted to see it for himself. I informed him that we were already at almost 25 hours into this truck already(24.6 to be exact). I removed the 02 sensors with the customer present. Customer agreed it was a catalytic converter issue. At this point I told the customer to take it to the muffler shop to do this job, but he was adamant that he wanted me to do the job. I showed him it was going to take 3.5 hours and he approved it. Customer wanted to order the parts instead of having me order them. So again, we cant and dont warranty the parts purchased by the customer. Due to the aftermarket catalytic converters, they did not align properly, so i had to do extra work to make it work. So i charged him an additional 1/2 hour. I drove it 5 miles down the road and there was no issues with the truck. It did not leak oil, coolant, or anything else. Oil level was perfect as well. We did not do anything with the heater core. It was not on the invoice, and it was not requested by the customer for us to do anything with it. I can also guarantee that there was no lose hoses or bolts. The type of hose clamps that goes on this truck are spring loaded, so they cannot be tightened. You use pliers and you move the clamp down, and then remove the hose. When you are putting it back on, you put the hose on, use pliers and move the clamp back up into the correct position. I also did a smoke test on the engine to make sure it wasnt leaking anywhere. I also pressure tested the cooling system and there was no leaks.  At this point, the job was completely finished and the truck was *************. When it came to quotes for the engine swap, the customer requested that we do more to the used engine than initial, so the job then called for more time. It was not on the initial quote to change all of the seals, gaskets, etc. And it was not quoted to do the clutch as well. So there was time added to do the clutch and pilot bearing bushing and all oil the other seals. Customer also ordered everything clutch related as well. So the initial quote for the engine went up, due to all of the extra work the customer wanted done. The customer and his front desk lady are not and have never been blocked. In fact I even reached out on ******** to the front desk lady to see what she needed assistance with, and she read it and never responded. I would gladly fix anything that was my fault, but at the moment, there is nothing that the customer is complaining about, that was done by myself. The heater core was not in the agreement, and is not on the estimate. I do have many more pictures and videos of the job to prove our side of this as well. We have compression test video, video of the truck running, proof of communication between the customer and I about the job as well. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/31/2023

   
  Complaint: 18944645
  
  I am rejecting this response because: We never agreed on an extra $500 on the engine swap, Two bracket bolts on the intake manifold were missing, other bolts were loose, it was a quart low on oil, he did not diagnose the catalytic convertors, the owner of AM Auto Sales did and Kucera said he could put them on for $200. If changing price, customer should be notified..... he bought cheaper parts than we agreed upon and then charged double for the part as if it were the higher ************, he charged for a compression test is normal to do after replacing any engine due to all the parts that need to be hooked ** in an engine swap, not an extra task, and the threatening of bodily harm are all bad business practices. 
  
  Sincerely,
  

  ****

  
  Am Auto **************