ComplaintsforIndependent Automotive, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Brought my manual swap ****** Svx to independent automotive for them to replace the transmission. I had an extremely s***** experience overall. My car sat for 6 months due to the shop inability to source a transmission, they told me I needed to do it myself and I would check with part numbers before buying a transmission, I bought 3 transmissions all of which I was told would work and when I spent the money and time to get them and bring them to them they told me all 3 times that they were not going to work, not because of condition but the spec. Finally they magically have a source with a transmission for 900$ and tack it on the invoice at 1200$ of which I had to call to correct. When I received my car they had broken multiple trim pieces and the transmission was immediately making concerning noises as I drove away from the shop. I took pictures and video immediately, contacted the shop, it took over 3 weeks to get a call from the owner who told me with the amount of custom work we did you should know that some things may break in the process I would have expected after spending so much money they would have at least used proper trim removal tools but evidently didnt and broke things in the process. The owner quickly ended our conversation on the phone prompting me to text him where he responds once and never again. I really had hope for this shop due to the recommendations I received but first hand I expirienced some of the shittiest automotive service I have ever come across and a s***** attitude when asked to correct the mistakes.

  

  Business response

  02/07/2024

  Upon Initial scheduling and assessment of this very rare **** ****** SVX, we did inform the customer that there would be significant issues,as well as most certain delays regarding sourcing parts for this heavily modified and fabricated vehicle.
  When initially brought into our shop, the vehicle was completely incapacitated and non-functional. We did offer the correct remanufactured transmission, but due to the cost he declined to use the suggested part. He wanted to try and source a used transmission for a lower cost, which ultimately was the biggest delay. We did let him know our sources were unsuccessful due to the age and model, and even so, we spent hours researching and continuously checking and expanding our search to satisfy his needs. In the early stages of this repair, the used transmissions we tracked down were too expensive. He stated he could get one for less.   He was insistent on fixing this vehicle and finding used parts that might work. This vehicle had been heavily modified from the stock initially came from the manufacturer with, which caused more parts sourcing issues as we went along to try and find a resolution for him. There were multiple lapses in his communication or response with our shop regarding parts and the progress. Thus delaying the progress of the vehicle. We did not charge for storage in these lapses, nor for the countless hours of research and communication spent with this customer.Upon eventually finding parts that would work we were successful in installing and restoring the vehicle to a running state for him. Through out repair process he noted how knowledgeable we are and how happy he was with the services. After picking up he became combative and verbally insulting. We did offer him parts from an SVX we had that no longer had a motor, but he did not want those. He used offensive language, was aggressive and despite multiple times being set up for him to come in a speak with the owner regarding the issue, he no call no showed us on multiple occasions. Our reputation stands on its own merit,thousands of responses on multiple online review sites back that up. We did do our best to address his concerns, however this customer became unpleasable.

*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. ↩