ComplaintsforMike Anderson Chevrolet of Ossian

• Initial Complaint

  06/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  1.31.22 - Leaking from front passenger side, Replaced Valve Cover (2 days) $769.02 3.7.22 - Still Leaking from front passenger side, ************************* Pan (5 days) $1,947.44 3.21.22 - Still Leaking from front passenger side, Replaced Turbo, Mass Air Flow Sensor (7 days) $642.00 4.4.22 - Still Leaking from front passenger side, Replaced Timing Cover Gasket, Valve Cover Gasket (4 Days)4.20.22 - Still Leaking from front passenger side, the Transmission Cooler Line Leaking and Turbo Outlet pipe leaking. (3 days) ***so I took to another mechanic and had the Transmission Cooler Lines repaired and was advised the Turbo Outlet leak should be warranted due to recent work on Turbo at their shop.6.15.22. Still Leaking front passenger side,3days NOW OFFERED a ********************** Leakage Test. (After I repeatedly asked for one). Was told there wasn't anything they could do. Flushed Cooler (PREVIOUSLY REPLACED as seen above) Replaced CAC tubes from Turbo to Cooler throttle body (3days) $1,098.86 I told shop upon completion of last repairs that we wanted to test drive the car over the weekend to ensure that it was no longer leaking and I was threatened that if I didn't pay; the shop was holding my car ****** for payment. Legally, they cannot hold my car for ******. They would have to take me to court for the money owed. AND, I never said I would NOT pay for these repairs!!!; just simply making sure our car was actually repaired this 6th time and wouldn't have to turn around and bring it back in on Monday for an 7th time! I have NEVER not paid their shop! I have paid their shop over $4,457.32 in repairs of which $3,305.53 was in labor all for them to tell me not to come back for future repairs!! Sent an email to ***** the owner on 6.27.22 and no response. I also had a damaged key fob the day I picked up the car. In prior conversation with repair shop, they told me they have had bad mechanics in the past.I would like refunded my labor fees. $3305.53

  Business response

  07/13/2022

  Every repair that was made on this vehicle was a legitimate issue and a separate repair. As you follow along with the dates you can see that there were no repeat repairs. When you have a 10 year old car with over ******* miles, it is very common to have multiple leaks. We did not sell this car and it had never been to our shop prior to these instances. We have no idea how well it was maintained or what had previously been done to it. The standard procedure to follow to track down leaks is If the fluids have leaked all over, making it impossible to tell where it is leaking, you have to clean off the fluids and start with the worst leaks first. This is what we did. It is very common for more leaks to continue to appear as you repair old leaks. New parts seal better and put more stress on the older parts and can magnify an already compromised hose/seal leak. We competently did what any shop would have done and fixed the leaks as they appeared. We did understand the customers frustration on multiple visits though, so we did offer help in good faith. She had bought vehicles from us before and had service done here before. We are really appreciative of that. Because of that reason alone, even though we did not fix anything that did not need fixed, we did help cover some of the repairs. We wanted to maintain a good relationship with a local customer because our reputation is everything in a small town. On 3/21/22 the customer mentioned that she paid $642. This is accurate, but she left out that we paid $677.14 of that repair to help her out. On 4/4/2022 she listed another repair that we did. We paid for the entire repair that cost $880.84. On 4/20/22 We inspected her car again per her request. We have a $109.95 charge for diagnostics. We did not make her pay this. She declined to have us repair the Transmission cooler lines and turbo outlet pipe that we found leaking at that time. She then proceeded to take it to other shops. The entire time we have agreed to stand behind any repairs that we have done. So on 6/15/22 we found that there was nothing wrong with the turbo that we replaced. We did find CAC hoses leaking and we gave her a quote for the repair. When she approved the repair, she never said anything about not paying when she picked it up. So yes we did refuse to let the car leave before it was paid for as that has always been our policy. That was the understanding upfront. You do not go to Wal-Mart and get groceries, take them home for the weekend, and then decide if they are worth paying for or not. It is the same with our services. We never received a request to do a compression test, and the compression test came back within specifications anyway. The compression test that we did on 6/15/22 showed that the compression was within factory specifications. The entire time we have been working on her vehicle we have had competent technicians work on it. We have no desire but to take care of our customers. It is imperative to a small store to do as much. We did decide to part ways and not work on her vehicle for any new repairs. If any claims were made that a repair that we did was done wrong or needed to be warranted, we agreed to inspect those. After being threatened to be sued multiple times, and fighting with us about paying several times, we decided it was best for everyone if we did not look at the vehicle beyond what we have already done. She mentioned the amount of days she was without her car. We did give her a loaner vehicle on several of those occasions to offset the inconvenience. The key fob was damaged when it got here, but we still asked her to send us the information we needed to get her a new one, and she never got it to us. We have done everything we can do as a business to be professional and to take care of any legitimate grievances. We will not be refunding any money. We have already paid for more than we needed to out of good faith.

  Customer response

  07/18/2022

  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  1. I was NEVER given a loaner vehicle.
  2. They didn't charge me labor to remove the Turbo the second time because they had to take the Turbo off AGAIN after they replaced it. 
  3. The vehicle NEVER stopped leaking and every time I was told, no leaks, you are good to go and it never stopped leaking. I emailed and called on this and was told it was "residual oil".
  4. I DID ask for a test to be ran to see what else could be leaking and was told their shop didn't offer that. I don't understand how 5-6 visits doesn't warrant concern of a mechanic overview of a vehicle.
  5. I have never NOT paid their shop. All services were paid upon completion.
  6. I have not sent the information for the Key Fob because I was told NOT to come back to their shop and filed complaint with the BBB. 
  7. You don't give a car back to someone (5-6 times) telling them it doesn't leak and it leaks on the way home and tell them it's residual oil.  (Take to another mechanic and they tell oil is splashing under the underneath of the car)
  8. I had asked for their insurance carrier to see about filing a claim and was never provided that information.
  9. AND....The car still leaked when I picked up from their shop the 6th time when they told me they wouldn't allow me to test drive it th
  10.I ask you to look at the dates of service, if a car is not holding oil, and brought to your shop 6-7 times and left in your care that close in dates; for days....HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW IT'S LEAKING!! When we can lift the hood and see oil puddled on the engine.
  .....Their service was a waste of my time, my money and frankly my mental health, in dealing with them.
  

  Business response

  07/25/2022

  1)We offered her a loaner vehicle. The car is her sons, so we told her that because of our insurance she would have to drive our loaner (not her son) because we cannot loan out vehicles to people under 21. Her son is under 21. Due to this reason she rejected the loaner vehicle.

  2)We had the turbo off to replace the oil cooler, but did not see any issues with the turbo at that time. We reduced parts prices and did not charge labor on the next visit to help with the customers frustration. We did however do nothing wrong. It was purely for customer satisfaction. We could have and should have charged labor.

  3)There was residual oil in the inner cooler for the turbo. 

  4)We did an overview every time it was in here. New issues on older high mileage cars can develop frequently. She never asked for a test until the last time it was here. The compression test and cylinder leakage test came back within specifications anyhow. 

  5)That is not the point. Again, you do not go to an insurance company and "test out" their insurance and decide whether or not to pay it later. We called and she approved the repair. She never said anything about not paying upfront. She waited until time to pick it up to say she wanted to take it and decide whether or not to pay later. 

  6)We asked her for the key fob information after we asked her not to come back for new repairs. We said we would take care of it. She opted not to proceed. As I have already stated, we said we would warrant any previous repairs and stand behind the repairs we have already done. We kindly asked that she not come back for any new issues after frequent tantrums and threats. The relationship was not working for either of us. 

  7)I have answered this issue multiple times already. See above and previous response.

  8)We do not give out our shop insurance to anybody. 

  9)We told her to bring it back and if it was something we had previously repaired we would take care of it. If it was something new, she needed to take it elsewhere.

  10)Again, the vehicle was not bought here. With high mileage older cars, new issues can develop frequently. We inspected it and fixed the issues we found each time it was in. We fixed a different issue every time it was here. We never double charged her. In fact we reduced prices and ate labor costs that were not our fault just to try and keep her happy. There were no repeat repairs. 

  As an added note, we did not ask her not to come back until she started using profanity towards our owner. After derogatory statements and explicit language, our manager told her that we do not need to talk like that and kindly told her she needed to take her vehicle elsewhere. After being threatened to be sued several times and talked down to, we decided to part ways. 

  Customer response

  07/26/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is going nowhere and you may close the complaint.

  I WAS told not to come back over the phone by ******************* the day I was coming to pick the car up the very last time.

  They didn't offer me a loaner vehicle until I had already been there several times and that was at my request NOT theirs. I HAD TO ASK. And then, I couldn't give up my vehicle to my son because I was moving stuff for my late father's estate and needed the space in my SUV so therefore after they said they would try to find one but he couldn't drive it, I did reject it.  Their previous response said they "GAVE ME A LOANER ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS", I was correcting that statement because I NEVER drove a loaner.

  The same puddle of oil on top of engine is and has been there every single time we brought it in, thus repeatedly telling them it was still leaking.  I don't care how many miles a car has on it, you don't lie and say "There's no leaks" and IT CLEARLY LEAKED ON THE WAY HOME!!!
  

  I did not use profanity until I got my car back for the last time and the *** was damaged AND the car had left my son stranded ALONG THE **** and we had to pay for a tow. My son used his inheritance from my late father's estate to fix this vehicle.  Trusting they would resolve the issue. I don't want their "warranted work" at this point as I DO NOT trust this shop to ever bring ANY vehicle in again, EVER.  Especially after knowing they did an oil change on my acquaintances'  car and forgot to put oil in it and blew her engine!!! And, the shop I took my son's car to for second opinion (WHO ALSO TOLD ME THIS LEAK SHOULD BE WARRANTED BECAUSE IT WAS THE NEW TURBO) has also stated they have gotten a few customers from Anderson's for repairs they haven't been able to fix as well.

  I didn't ask for money back for parts, but for labor.  For MY TIME, MY INCONVIENCE WITHOUT A CAR, THE **** THE SAME SPOT LEAKED AFTER PAYING THEM OVER 3K!!!!!! For the times they kept my car and said they wanted to keep longer, to ensure no leaks because their shop manager told me he was tired of seeing me in there. His exact words to ME were, "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN AS MUCH AS YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO COME HERE AGAIN"  So, I had already been talked down to LONG before this end result AS THIS COMMENT WAS MADE TO ME LIKE THE 3RD TIME I WAS IN And I DO have emails where I asked for a pressure test.  The POINT is it leaked in same spot EVERY SINGLE time we took it to them.  And each time, they said "come get it, there are no leaks"   **** IS, the car never stopped leaking. 

  I work in insurance thus the reason for the insurance comment I am sure.  However, they would have a garage liability/keepers policy which would have been a 3rd party that would be able to determine and investigate this matter.  They refused. Hence, my comment of an attorney.  

  So, I will close my complaint. Not on the basis that I agree with their response on services AT ALL - but I am tired of forking out cash (over $3k) and getting no evidence of repair other than the evidence itself -- that it's still leaking in same spot.  They can't even get their invoices correct.  One states that they replaced the oil cooler pan, which they did not. 

  I however, wouldn't want this to happen to someone else.  

   

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