Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/02/2023

  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.

  Last year this business put a new ball joint on my car. In the process of the work,the mechanic failed the grease the ball joint and it failed after a year. This was an after market product that differed from the OEM part, in that it had a grease fitting that the mechanic didn't see. An understandable mistake. When I contacted them about it, they tried to blame it on me and claimed I wasn't following a regular lubrication schedule, and said they would pay for the part and charge me the labor. My car has no lube schedule for ball joints because according to the service manual there are no lube points so there for I DID following it. All I wanted them to do was fix there mistake. And they refuse to except responsible.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/04/2023

  On 3/17/2022, we replaced the left front ball joint at no charge to the customer due to work promised to be performed at the time of vehicle purchase (We Owe).  Please see the attached.  This repair was performed by one of our very knowledgeable service technicians, who has years of experience.  We serviced the car again on 6/30/2022 for a TPMS sensor (low tire pressure), again at no charge to the customer.  Those are the only two occasions the vehicle has been serviced by 4YCC since the customer purchased it. 
  
  The customer called in on 5/2/2023, stating that his vehicle would not pass PA State Inspection because of a ball joint that our technician failed to grease when installing it a year ago.  Our service advisor asked the customer how many miles were on the vehicle so that he could see if we could repair the vehicle under the part's warranty.  The customer had put 25K miles on the vehicle since the repair.  Our service advisor then asked the customer if he had ever greased the ball joint or had another shop grease it while performing routine maintenance on the vehicle and the customer replied that he had not.  The service advisor then informed the customer that this is required routine maintenance, every 3000 miles it should be greased.  It is impossible to determine if our technician failed to originally grease it after being driven 25K miles and not being routinely greased by the customer.  Although the part was out of warranty, our service advisor did the right thing by explaining this to the customer.  He told him that we would cover the part if he would like to bring the vehicle in and all he would be responsible for was the labor to install it.  The customer then became very combative and asked to speak with a manager.  The call was then forwarded to our service manager, who explained the same things as the service advisor.  The customer started to use profanity and told him he wanted to speak to his manager.  The customer then spoke to our Operating Manager and was told the same thing, we would cover the cost of the part and he would need to cover the labor.  The customer refused to bring the vehicle in for us to look at or even attempt to repair unless we agreed we would do it at no charge.  He stated he was calling the BBB and his (profanity) lawyer and hung up on our Operating Manager.  A year has gone by since the original repair and the vehicle was driven 25K miles, there is no way to say if our technician failed to grease the part or not.  Additionally, since the customer stated he had not ever greased this part or had it routinely checked, we feel this is a compromising solution, to split the cost of the repair.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/08/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  In March of 2022. I purchased a 2012 Honda Civic from $ your car connection in Cranberry Pennsylvania. When I purchased it, I was told that it had a bad ball joint on the left side of the car and that they would replace the ball joint. They did the work and gave me the car back when they were done. The mechanic spoke with after the job was done and informed me that one one the tire pressure monitor sensors was bad. At this time they also preformed a Pennsylvania State Safety inspection for which the same mechanic passed it and put a valid inspection sticker on it.
  
  On 05/04/2023 I had the car taken to a Pennsylvania State inspection station to update its its safety inspection sticker. When the car was jacked up to check the ball joint there was movement to the point of failure for safe operation. This was witnesses by the mechanic preforming the inspection, the owner of the shop and myself. When we looked deeper into it we discovered that the mechanic that had installed the ball joint failed to put any grease in it at all. It was also discovered that it was not an OEM part which required after market maintenance not list in the service manual, which is the mechanics/shops responsibility.
  
  I contacted 4 Your Car Connection about this and was transferred to the Service Manager. When I told him about what had happened. The manager became defensive and started insinuating that I was not properly maintaining the car. They offered to buy the part and charge me the labor to repair their mechanic mistake, which I flat out said no, because I am not the mechanic who failed lube a critical part or inform the customer of a NON OEM part.  
  
  The failure of the mechanic to lube the ball joint when installed, Place my safety, the safety of any passengers and others traveling on the same road in serious danger. This mechanic passed my car for state safety inspection with no grease in the ball joint.
  
  I can not take the car out to show them because the car is not safe to drive, but more than welcome them to send someone to take a look. 
  
  As to any assertions that I am not maintaining the car, I just put 2 brand new hubs on the rear, a new wheel cylinder, new brake shoes and ,have new pads for the front brake to put on.
  
  It is the mechanics/shop responsibility to inspect all part both before and after installation to insure the job is properly done.  It is also the mechanics/shops responsibility to inform the customer of any NON OEM parts that require maintenance and or service not listed in the service manual. The service manual only calls for visual inspection of ball joint for cracked boots and leaks, which of course there were none.
  
  Even if I had been informed of the after market part that required non listed maintenance and did not do so, the ball joint would not be worn to the point of failure of Pennsylvania State Safety Inspection. This failure is due to the failure of the mechanic/shop to insure that the new part was properly installed.
  
  1: The shop failed to add necessary lubrication to a part they installed.
  
  2: The shop failed to inform me that a NON OEM part was used.
  
  3: Passed my car for Pennsylvania State Safety Inspection , with no grease in the ball joint.
  
  Had this ball joint fail, 4 Your Car Connection would have been both civilly and criminally liable for any damage, injuries' or deaths associated with the failure.
  Respefuly
  ******* ******

  Business Response

  Date: 05/10/2023

  We did install a ball joint on the customer's car on 3/17/22.  Our company policy states to lubricate all parts requiring it after replacement or repair.  We have no reason to think that this did not happen with this customer's repair.  The vehicle has been driven 25,000 miles since the ball joint was replaced and the customer stated he had not ever greased the ball joint himself.  To our calculations, that means the ball joint should have been greased 8 times since installation.  Had it not been greased at installation, it probably would not have lasted the customer 25,000 miles.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/16/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  I first of all would like to correct an incorrect statement I made in my last response. I stated that a LUBE and oil change was done at the time of the ball joint  installation and STATE SAFETY INSPECTION. This was incorrect. The LUBE and oil change was done at a later date and the ball joint was once again not greased.
   I am not sure where they are getting I missed 8 lubes. Honda Service clearly states every 7500 miles. At that rate the oil changes and VISUAL ball joint inspection (per Honda service) was called for 3 time (its been done 4 times). Further there repeated failure to acknowledge the failure on their part to inform me that THE PART IS NOT OEM, It WAS their responsibility to inform me of this. Had they done so, none of this would even be an issue. They have not mentioned any notation that I was informed of this. This is 3 failures of responsibility on the part of 4 Your Car Connection , 4 if you count the Pennsylvania State Safety Inspection which should not have passed with no grease in the ball joint.
  
  Since 4 Your Car Connection is so confident the ball joint was greased when the job was done and at the LUBE and oil change. I offer them this. we have the Pennsylvania State Police Inspection mechanic look at it. I am sure that the mechanic in his/her official capacity, will easily be able to tell if the ball joint was ever greased and whether or not inspection sticker fraud was committed. 
  
  I await there response
  
  Respectfully
  ******* ******

   

  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/19/2023

  As stated to this customer in his original phone call with our Operating Manager, he is free to contact whatever state agency he feels is necessary.  Thank you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/23/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  

  From: ******** ***** *******************>
  Date: Tue, May 23, 2023 at 1:13?PM
  Subject: Re: You have a new message from the BBB serving Western Pennsylvania regarding complaint **********
  To: Better Business Bureau <[email protected]>
  
  
  I once again invite 4 Your Car Connection to come down and look at the ball joint for themselves. I can not drive the car out there as it is not safe to operate. Due to the danger of the mistake made on the part of 4 Your car connection and the fact that no grease in a ball joint is an automatic fail under Pennsylvania State Safety inspect, I have contacted the Attorney Generals Office. 
  
  I was traveling on Interstate 80 and had the cruise control set at 65. I felt a shimmy. I slowed down and passed it off to losing a wheel weight. It sickens me to think that it was most likely that ball joint and that myself, the passenger in the car with me , and anyone on the highway near me could have been killed

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/11/2023

  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.

  My grandmother bought a car from 4 your car connection. 2 weeks after she got it the transmission went out of it. It was towed and sent to Kia after weeks of testing and trying to figure out what it was. Kia in Meadville put the transmission in and didn’t tighten the cap underneath, the transmission fluid went all over 2 days after she received it back. After 3 months of them having it. We were stranded 3 times with children in this car. We have asked them multiple times to do something about this car that has been nothing but problems. They currently still have the Kia optima because the new transmission that was put in not even a month prior wouldn’t move. We were stranded once again with my babies in the cold. We’re not happy with the results we are getting and we want let out of this loan. They obviously aren’t fixing things correctly it’s very sloppy work. We don’t feel as if we should be responsible for paying for a car we haven’t been had in our possession for a month. When we have paid 6 months worth of payments z we have tried to speak with them about getting into something reliable but they won’t let us out of our loan.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/21/2023

  RE: ********
  
  
  This is in response to complaint #18722660 filed by ***** *******  *** ******* grandmother did purchase a 2015 Kia Optima Hybrid on 6/17/22, however, she was the only purchaser of the vehicle.  Therefore, we do not feel ***** should be the one filing the complaint unless she has the Power of Attorney to do so.  
  
  The first notification that our service department received was on 7/14/22 when the vehicle was towed in for a non-starting issue.  When we scanned the vehicle to see what the diagnostic codes reported, they stated a high voltage system error which should only be fixed by a trained and certified Kia technician.  As a courtesy to our customer, we then contacted the closest Kia dealership, Griffin Kia in Meadville, and towed the vehicle there free of charge.  As an additional courtesy, we gave the customer one of our service loaner vehicles, also free of charge.  
  
  Our service manager then continued to monitor the progress of the repair at Griffin Kia.  The extended warranty company, a third party, supplied the replacement transmission to Griffin's to make the repair.  It took 2 months for them to locate this transmission and get it to that dealership, all along the customer was still driving our loaner vehicle.  
  
  The customer received the vehicle back in early Oct.  Over the next few weeks, we made three additional repairs to the Kia that Griffin Kia had either missed or did not perform properly.  Please keep in mind that the customer did purchase an extended warranty on the Kia which includes FREE towing so she would never be stranded.  On 11/18/22, we were notified that the Kia had broken down again and had the same error codes that it had originally reported.  The Kia was towed to Griffin's again and a courtesy loaner of ours was given to the customer.  
  
  Again, our service manager is monitoring the progress at Griffin Kia.    He calls every few days for an update.  Not only have I called the owner of Griffins on this but I have also had our Operating Manager call and speak with both the Service Manager and the owner of the business.  The warranty company is providing a new transmission to replace the failed one they already installed.  With the original repair and this repair, Griffin Kia is telling us that they have to reach out to the Kia Tech Line (Kia Engineers) to find a solution because their service technicians are unable to diagnose the issue.  The customer is still driving our loaner vehicle and we have offered it to her until the repair is complete at Griffin's.
  
  As of today, we were informed that Kia, the manufacturer, is sending out one of their field technicians on 02/02/2023 to Griffin Kia to help diagnose the issue.  The owner of Griffin Kia is also monitoring this repair.  Unfortunately, since electric vehicles have not been around long enough to experience every issue that may arise, some issues may take awhile to diagnose and fix.  The customer was aware that this was an electric hybrid vehicle at the time of purchase.  
  
  At this point, we feel both 4 Your Car Connection and Griffin Kia have done everything within reach to make this as least inconvenient as possible on the customer.  Additionally, if the customer wants to trade the vehicle in, we would be more than happy to appraise it and work on a new deal.  Furthermore, if *** ******' grandmother has a complaint, it should be filed by her, not her granddaughter.  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  Scott W. S**** President
  4 Your Car Connection, Inc.