Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/17/2024

  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.

  In good faith my fiancé and I took my 2012 Ford Explorer into Chritian Brothers Automotive to evaluate why the AC system in the vehicle was not working. We use this old vehicle in the summer to transport our large dogs to the Vet etc. On April 17, they did a diagnostic evaluation ( see #1) and found NO LEAKS but stated the problem was with the compressor. The charge for the diagnostic and compressor was $264.99 plus $1305.41. I agreed to pay this amount to have the AC working again. "Repair" was performed. We drove the car 128 miles and the AC was no longer working. We returned the car and was told there WAS A LEAK in the system, that the charge for the replacement part was minimal but the labor was expensive. They wanted to charge an ADDITIONAL $1958.94. Why was the LEAK NOT FOUND on the INITIAL evaluation? I would have never have agreed to pay $4,000 to repair this old vehicle that we only use to transport large dogs. We tried to compromise and stated we would pay for the replacement part and 25% of the labor. They refused. So now I have paid over $2,000.00 and have no way to transport my dogs safely.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/06/2024

  This guest brought their vehicle into our shop because their AC system was not blowing cold anymore. They were told by another shop that the compressor was bad and the guest asked us to replace it. We discussed that we would like to confirm that the compressor has failed and would like to do our AC evacuate and recharge diagnostic. During this diagnostic our technician found that the compressor had failed and thus we recommended replacing the compressor. Because the compressor had failed, there was no pressure on the system and therefore we would not be able to see if there were any leaks until the compressor was replaced. Once the guest approved for us to replace the compressor, we did our quality test drives and inspected the vehicle and at that time, we did not see any leaks at that time and the AC was blowing cold.
  
  We only recommend repairs on issues that we can verify and at the time they brought the vehicle in, we could only verify the compressor being bad due to the nature of the system. The guest drove over 100 miles and had the car for over 3 weeks before they brought it back in stating that the AC was not blowing cold again. We checked the system and the compressor was working but there was a leak coming from the rear low side AC line. At that time we recommended replacement of that line.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/08/2024

   
  Complaint: ********  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The response is NOT in alignment with the facts. While we did say another shop told us the compressor was faulty we did ask and PAY $264.99 for a diagnostic evaluation to confirm that the compressor was faulty or diagnose any other issues with the system before agreeing to pay $2000.00 to have the repair performed. Christian Brothers failed to detect the leaking pipes in the system. Christian  Brothers content that they could not pressurize the system to detect the leaks until the new pump was fitted and the system charged. We were never made aware other leaks were possible in the system. Once the new pump was fitted however and the system put under pressure they STILL FAILED to detect the leaking pipes. 

  We told Christian Brothers this vehicle was only used sporadically to transport large dogs. They claim we had the vehicle for three weeks but we only used the vehicle one time and the air conditioning failed.

  I am having difficulty uploading the invoices but can easy submit for proof.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********

  Business Response

  Date: 06/12/2024

  The guest did authorize us to perform our diagnostic as stated in our previous reply, and after performing our diagnostic we found that the compressor was faulty. There is no way to check for leaks until a new compressor is put on the vehicle and then even after that is installed a leak may not immediately appear. Also, there is a possibility that the system was not leaking before they brought the vehicle in and once we restored pressure to the system a new leak appeared. Again, these are all factors that we would not know or not even know immediately until a compressor was put on there. There was also the possibility that just the compressor was bad. Thus we only recommended what we could prove what had failed.

  If we would have known it was leaking beforehand, then the guest would have been informed, but as stated before, we installed a new compressor, did a quality test drive on it and then checked for a leak and at that time it left our shop, the system was not leaking.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/13/2024

   
  Complaint: ********  
  I am rejecting this response because:  When the vehicle was delivered to Christian Brothers as part of their diagnostic they must have connected the vehicle to their charge stroke evacuate system. This would have clearly shown that there was no gas in the air conditioning which would indicate a leak in the pipework. If they did not do this as part of the  diagnostic they would have seen that when discharging the system that there was no gas. We were never made aware that there were leaking pipes and that changing the compressor was not the only issue. The cost to replace the compressor and pipes would have been much higher and we would not have agreed to proceed with this repair on this old vehicle.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********