ComplaintsforGernentz Automotive, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  03/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 3/5/2024 my vechile was towed to Gernentz Automotive . On 3/6/2024 ***** Gernentz phoned me and told me my timing chain was no good. I asked him if I got the parts how much would he charge to put it on. He advised me $1400.00. I spent another $1000.00 in parts . He sent me a email with everything I needed. He told me that he would work on the vehicle on 3/20/2024 and have it back to me on 3/21/2024. I called the shop and talked to *** on 3/22/2024. I asked to speak to ***** as Inwas wanting to know about my vehicle . She advised me he was knee deep and could not come to the phone. I called back and talked to *** on updates and she said hold on and U can ask *****. She came back on the phone and told me that ***** had to take the timming chain back off that a part was not working, I asked her what part. She said she did not know at the time. On Saturday 3/23/2024, I went out to the business so I could find out what was going on, but they were closed. Called them Monday 3/25/2024 again spoke to ***. She told me that he was working on the car, I had advised her that I wanted an update, and if they had an increase I wanted to know 1st. On Tuesday 3/26/2024 *** called and left a message the the vehicle was done, that I could come pick it up. I called the morning of 3/27/2024 and ***** answered the phone finally. I asked him what the issue was and he told me a part. But he never gave me a broken part. I said I would bring the $1400 to him he advised me that he was charging me 1876.75. I at that point told him that I never authorized that. And that he was a week behind and I never recieved any kind of phone call. He then told me that he would go by the 1400$ but I could never bring my vehicle back. On 3/28/2024 I drove the vehicle 21 miles and my check engine light was back on. I called and asked *** to tell this to ***** whom is the owner. I’ve never heard back. He has done something to my vehicle, other then to fix it the right way. He was rude, and instead of him reaching out to me about any issues, that never happened.

  

  Business response

  03/29/2024

  Tell us why here...The vehicle in question was towed into our shop on 3/5/24, in no start condition.
  ***** began a diagnosis of the vehicle that day. The vehicle was setting code P0016, a crankshaft position-camshaft position correlation, Bank 1 sensor A code. This was determined to be a bad Timing Chain.
  ***** called the customer on 3/6/2024 to let her know the cause of the vehicle issue and give her a quote for repair, including parts, labor, and tax. This quote was $3,031.04. At that time the customer asked if she would be able to buy her own parts in an effort to save a little money and asked how long the repair would take to complete. ***** agreed to the customer purchasing the parts and sent a list via email of all parts that would be needed for the repair.
  He explained that we were currently booked out two weeks with previously scheduled appointments, and that work could not begin on her vehicle until 03/20/2024, and that the repair should be finished within a couple days of that date, and that we would call her as soon as it was complete. The customer agreed. 
  A few days prior to the beginning of the repair, the customer brought the parts she had purchased into the shop.
  ***** began repairs on the vehicle on 03/20/2024 and completed the work late in the day on 03/21/2024. He then test drove the vehicle to make sure everything was functioning properly, and realized that the engine had a rattle noise in the timing chain area. He did not want to return the vehicle to the customer with a notable noise in the engine. He began inspection of the vehicle to try to determine the cause of the noise, and realized that in order to properly find the issue the vehicle would have to be disassembled a second time. 
  ***** began this process on Friday, 03/22/2024. 
  While ***** was in the middle of the disassembly, the customer called the shop and asked for an update on her vehicle. *** ( the secretary ) told her that she would go check with ***** and would be right back with her. After speaking to ***** while he was working, *** got back on the phone and explained that ***** was elbow deep in her vehicle currently and could not come to the phone directly, but that it seems at least one of the parts she had provided had failed and ***** was trying to determine the issue which would require taking the vehicle apart again. The customer asked which part had failed, and *** told her that ***** was unsure at this time, and was trying to figure that out. The customer asked how it was possible that one of the new parts had failed and *** explained that occasionally, even they have dealt with receiving faulty parts from a manufacturer and that may be the case in this situation, but she could not be sure. The customer seemed frustrated that the vehicle was taking longer than expected, and *** assured her she would call her as soon as the repair was done, and that ***** had said it should be the beginning of the following week since it was already Friday afternoon. 
  As ***** continued to try to diagnose the problem with the vehicle, he was unable to see anything wrong and believed it was a failed timing chain tensioner causing the noise, as it’s not possible to see visually when these have failed. ***** received replacement parts, and began the repair on 03/25/2024.
  The customer called the afternoon of 03/25/2024 for another update. *** told her that she wasn’t sure on the progress and that she would check with ***** and be right back with her. ***** was in the middle of the repair and gave *** the update to relay to the customer, that he was doing his best to make sure the repair was done correctly and that he thinks he had found the culprit for the problem. The customer asked if there would be a price increase and *** explained that she was unsure. The customer stated that she would like to know any updates as soon as *** had them, and *** assured her she would call her as soon as she had any further news.
  ***** continued repairs, replacing all three tensioners, and also discovered that the Bank 2 intake cam phaser was the incorrect part that had been included in the kit the customer had provided. He replaced the cam phaser with the correct one that we purchased, then completed the repair and test drove the vehicle 5 miles, on the morning of 03/26/2024. The noise was no longer present and he was satisfied that he had addressed the issue. 
  ***** then wrote the invoice, he included a charge for the new parts used to replace the faulty ones from the kit the customer provided, but made the decision to not charge for any extra labor.
  *** called the customer as soon as she had the invoice and was forwarded to voicemail. She left a message stating that the vehicle was repaired and that if the customer had any questions she could call the business phone, otherwise they would see her later on for pick up. 
  The customer did not return the phone call until the morning of 03/27/2024. ***** answered the phone and he informed her which parts it was that had failed after the first repair with the kit she provided and told her the total for the repair would be a little higher since he had had to replace those parts. The new total was $1805.57. The customer then stated that she had not approved the increase ahead of the repair, and ***** conceded that he should have informed her ahead of time that there would be an extra cost and since he had not, he would bring the price of the bill back down to the originally agreed upon amount of $1,400.00, but he stated that she would “have to find someone else to work on her car in the future.” This request was made based on the customer’s temperament and rudeness with ***** at the time, and ***** felt this solution was in the best interest of all involved.
  The customer came and picked up her vehicle that afternoon late, and paid in cash. She then stated that she needed *** to write on her copy of the bill that it had been paid in full. *** stated that she always does this as policy and so she would be happy to do that for her. 
  The customer then grabbed keys from the counter and left the shop office. 
  In the afternoon of 03/28/2024 the customer called the shop, and asked if she was speaking to ***. *** replied that she was. The customer then asked if *** could give ***** a message, and *** replied that she would. The customer stated that she had driven 22 miles after leaving our shop and that her check engine light was back on and that she didn’t appreciate *****’s kind of work, and then disconnected the call without waiting for a response from ***. As this was the last engagement anyone at the business had with the customer, it did not seem like the customer was wanting to try to open a line of communication for further discussion.
  Upon arriving at work on 03/29/2024, *** discovered the email noting the complaint to the BBB against the business from this customer.
  At no point in time before hanging up on the secretary during the aforementioned phone call,  did the customer request a return phone call, or to speak to ***** about any issues. The customer also did not request that ***** recheck the vehicle or ask if there was anything that could have gone wrong with the repair. 
  If that had been the case we would have tried to determine the issue at no cost to the customer. Although we do not believe we were at any fault of ill repair, if it had been something that was an oversight on our part in any way we would have remedied the issue.
  However, at this point we have no way of knowing what is causing the issue, be it another faulty part from the repair we did or a different malfunction somewhere unrelated to any of the work done on the vehicle by us.
  Concessions were made for the customer from the beginning of this transaction, and while we agreed that we should have done a better job of informing her of the price increase before completion, we tried to make that right by bringing the cost back to the original agreed upon price, causing us to give up not only the extra time spent on the repair, but the cost of the parts we provided as well. 
  We tried to work with this customer and would never risk our business or our reputations in order to willfully break, misdiagnose, or incompletely repair any customer's vehicle.
  We feel we have done all we can to try to serve this customer well and will not degrade our work any further by agreeing to a refund for the services provided.
  
  

  Customer response

  04/13/2024

  To whom it may concern, 
  ***************
  The way that *** has wrote this letter, makes it seem as they did nothing.
  One, the vehicle was to take two days. They didn’t begin working on my vehicle until 3/21/24. That is the day that they told me it would be finished . I called on the 23rd Friday, because I was to receive it on Thursday. They had no communication with me at all. At no time did they call me with updates. 
  The part that they say was the wrong part, I told them I could come get it, so I could get a replacement. They never called me, they never asked me to come get it and get another. Matter of fact they never gave me the part back. So if it was a tension part you would think that , they would have done this. 
  It is true that the vehicle was towed. How do you drive something that doesn’t run? My son had used the machine to see what codes was coming up, I did talk to ***** about those codes and he advised me that he would do a scan again. When ***** called me on the 3/7/2024 he did tell me he got the vehicle running. I asked how, I was concerned starting it would cause more issues. But I in-trusted he knew what he was doing. Yes I knew that he would not start on the vehicle for a few weeks. Also I was fine with that, what I wasn’t fine with, was no phone calls no updates, and working on it after a few morning jobs . When I found out he was not a certified mechanic, I became very concerned. And that he works under his father’s license . But I never said anything. 
  When I did talk to ***** on 3/27/24, he said I was being rude in his response ,I believe it is the other way around. I asked him where the part was that did not work, he never answered that. And I did ask how he can charge more when he did not authorize that with me. That’s when he got angry and said (in quote)” I will go with the price I gave you, but don’t you ever bring your vehicles to me again. “One I never would, no one has ever worked on it that was not certified . Two I told him that was fine. Why would I call them the very next morning after the 22 miles, and the light comes back on,and ask them to fix it, after the conversation and the behavior of *****.  I did call *** and say that I would appreciate her telling ***** I did not appreciate how he did business. Because anytime I did ask to speak to him he could not come to the phone.  I did ask *** to write on the paper, cause she had it all pulled apart and I wanted it on my paper work, that I had paid for it. I did take my keys from the counter, she had put them there, I had someone out in the car that was watching the whole thing. I did not grab anything. That is untrue . It also is untrue that 1st quote he gave me. That is a 5 to 6 hour job for a certified mechanic. Not a 14 hour one. I did ask to bring my own parts as I knew I could get them cheaper, as my brother in law is a certified mechanic. ***** is the one who told me it would be done on the afternoon of 3/21/24. Why would I not call and ask on the afternoon of 3/22/24 what was going on? 
  The whole experience was upsetting and nothing was relayed to me, unless I made the calls. As *** being secretary you would think that they would be having her do updates to the customers to keep them in the loop of things. She did not. Yes ,I was concerned with price, as I’m a 63 year old disabled woman whom lives alone. 
  He charged me $100 dollars an hour, when a certified one doesn’t make that. The bottom line to this issue is the vehicle was not fixed right, and they are making excuse after excuse, and trying to say it’s my fault. What was my fault, I didn’t ask if the person was certified or not. And all the figures that they have wrote down are untrue. 
  I have not heard from this LLC, he explained on the phone he would not warranty his work. He even went so far as to tell me no warranty on parts, but I do have warranty on them. Like what who does this? Gernentz Automotive .

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩