ComplaintsforHighland Auto Center

• Initial Complaint

  10/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 9/3/2022, I paid Highlands Auto Center (HAC) $695 to replace both side front ball joints and a front wheel alignment. On 9/24/2022, I took the car back to HAC due to hearing a knocking sound when I turned right. I was advised the sound was coming from the left wheel bearing and that I should replace both wheel bearings. Due to HAC expensive price to replace the wheel bearing, I called Pep Boys (PB) to inquire of the price for the same service. After confirming a cheaper price at PB, I spoked with HAC to ask if they would match PB's price. HAC advised they could not meet the price; therefore, I went and picked up my car. I took my car to PB on 9/28/2022 to have the wheel bearings replaced, based on HAC's diagnosis. I contacted HAC to advise of PB's different diagnosis of a faulty ball joint, damage spindle, and wheel bearing replacement, & alignment. The owner sent the mechanic to PB to view the damage. The mechanic called me to advise he was not allowed to touch the car and offered to have the car towed back to HAC to repair the car for free. I refused to allow the mechanic to fix the vehicle considering I initially took the car back to him on 9/24/2022 to fix car, was given a wrong diagnosis, and turned away due to not accepting the price. I was afraid the mechanic would not repair my car correctly. PB replaced the left wheel bearing and $100 alignment . They replaced the left ball joint due to a faulty ball joint that HAC had placed on the car. They also replaced the spindle ($829.59) due to the faulty ball joint causing damage. The faulty ball joint and damage spindle was the actual cause of the referenced knocking noise. HAC reimbursed me $300.00 for the faulty ball joint on 10/1/2022. I contacted HAC on 10/6/2022 to request a refund totaling $929.58 for the spindle due to the faulty ball joint placed on the car by HAC's mechanic, and the wheel alignment which is needed for such repairs. The owner and mechanic refused and hung up on me.

  Business response

  12/15/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/10/15) */ BBB Case #: XXXXXXXX Case Description: For the record, Mrs. ***** is not a new customer. She has been a regular customer for many years without any problems, which is why we have no idea why she would suddenly not trust our shop. Part of Mrs. *****'s story clearly states that we offered to tow the car back to our shop to fix the car for free. It is not our fault that the part we received was factory defective. This goes for any part we may have received and used to fix the car. Our best solution was again for her to bring the car to us so we could fix it free of charge. However, as Mrs.***** mentioned in her story, she refused. What she failed to mention was that after she refused to tow the car to us and have it fixed for free, we called her, and there was a mutual agreement that we would pay her $300 as a refund for the faulty ball joint and agreed to settle the matter after that reimbursement. Mrs.***** claimed later that we owed her a full reimbursement because the parts we installed damaged parts of her car. She is not considering that we sent two mechanics, twenty-five miles from our shop, to investigate what Pep boys recommended she fix. By our account, a lot of the work recommended by pep boys was additional extra work that was unnecessary and had nothing to do with the ball joint. Therefore we consider ourselves being one hundred percent fair to Mrs. ***** because we took time out of our day to investigate Pep boy's claims; we offered to tow and fix the car for free, and even after she refused, we offered reimbursement for the side ball joint. There isn't much else we feel we could've done for her. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/10/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have been a regular customer for over 20 years; therefore, I am appalled the owner and the mechanic provided poor service and hostile customer service. Please note, the mechanic advised he would fix the car for free; however, the owner advised me they would only repair the ball joint for free, and I would be responsible for the other repairs. Their responses were conflicting which is another reason I chose not to allow them to repair the car. As mentioned in the initial complaint, I initially brought the car back to the shop on 9/24/2022. The car was at the shop for over 5 hours with no diagnosis to the status of the car. After calling a second time for the status of the car, I was advised by the owner's brother the issue was "only" the left wheel bearing and not the ball joint. The shop never referenced the faulty ball joint. Please note, when I initially brought the car back on 9/24/2022 and advised the owner's brother of the knocking and whirling sound, the owner's brother told me it was not the ball joint, however, the wheel bearing. He took me in the back of the shop to show me a car part that was laying on the ground. He showed me and example of where the part would be broken to make the whirling sound. He told me inside a whole of the part must have broken, and causes the whirling sound. He told me he would allow the mechanic to review the car to confirm. The mechanic was not privy to the faulty ball joint until after I called and advised them and asked for a refund although the car was at the shop for over 5 hours. When I asked for the refund, the owner advised he and the mechanic would go to Pep Boys immediately to view the damages. The owner advised if there were damages, the mechanic would have to pay him back to reimburse me. The owner advised it's bad business and causes a bad reputation for the business. Pep Boys advised me "only" the mechanic showed up, not the owner. The mechanic told me Pep Boys wouldn't allow him to get close to the car to review the damages; however, the shop's 10/15/2022 response indicates Pep Boys recommendation was "additional extra work that was unnecessary and had nothing to do with the ball joint." This response is conflicting considering the mechanic said Pep Boys wouldn't allow him to get close to the car. How could he and would he know of the real damages if he couldn't get close to the car? Why would the shop agree to reimburse me for the ball joint if he was not allowed to get close to the car? Why didn't he call me while at Pep Boys to address concerns about not being able to review the car? The mechanic called me "after" he left Pep Boys to advise he was not able to review the car. The shop agreeing to reimburse me for the ball joint confirmed the shop's acknowledgment of the faulty ball joint and not diagnosing and repairing the car when I brought it back to them on 9/24/2022. Again, the response provided by the shop is conflicting. The shop is responsible for faulty ball joint and the damages caused by the faulty ball joint due to me initially bringing the car back to the shop to fix; however, the mechanic was not competent to find the real issue and refused service due to me not agreeing to pay the expensive price for the diagnosed wheel bearing repair. Considering the mechanic did not become privy to the faulty ball joint until AFTER "I" advised him of "Pep Boy's recommendation", leads me to believe the mechanic never check to the ball joint when I brought the car back on 9/24/2022. The mechanic's negligence put my life in danger, as well as caused additional damage to the car. As previously mentioned, this is the reason I did not trust the mechanic to repair the car when the shopped offered. Please note, the mechanic "only" knew how to repair the car based on Pep Boy's recommendation. He was not competent to diagnose the issue himself when I brought it to him on 9/24/2022. The $300.00 mutual agreement was "only" for the ball joint. After receiving the $300.00 for the ball joint from the owner's brother, I asked to speak with the owner to further discuss the additional refund for the spindle and alignment. The owner's brother advised me the owner had left for the day and to call back during the week. As mentioned in my initial complaint, I called on 10/6/2022 to request an additional refund of $929.58. When I spoke to the owner on 10/6/2022, he told me to "forget about it" and to "take him to court". Without notice, he put the mechanic on the phone. The mechanic was rude and spoke loudly. The mechanic would not stop talking over me to allow me to fully address my concern. As the mechanic spoke, I heard the owner ask the mechanic was the spindle damaged when he reviewed the car at Pep Boys. The mechanic told him "no". The mechanic response was inconsistent to him advising me Pep Boys wouldn't allow him to get close to the car. If Pep Boys didn't allow him to get close to the car to review it, how could he conclude the spindle was not damaged? Based on what the mechanic told me, it appears the mechanic lied to the owner to cover himself from not having to reimburse me for the spindle damages. The mechanic rudely told me I "f***** up", I was done, and hung up. Also, per the shop's response, if two people arrived at Pep Boys, why did the owner have to question the mechanic about the repairs? If he was there, like he told me was going to be and referenced in the response, he could have reviewed the damages himself. Why did he have to ask the mechanic about the repairs? Again the shop's response is inconsistent. Highland Auto Center is responsible for reimbursing me for the spindle damages and the wheel alignment totaling $929.58. I am baffled as to why the shop is refusing to reimburse me for the damages. If I would have agreed to allow the shop to tow the car back to their shop and repair the car, the shop would have been out of more money to repair the damages if the intent was to truly and accurately repair the car. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/10/31) */ First of all, we did not refuse to help her fix the car. We fixed the car in our shop and sent two mechanics to Pep Boy's to survey the alleged damages caused by the faulty ball joint, only to find that there were none. Therefore, we don't agree with Pep Boy's diagnosis of the car and believe they charged and quoted her for many services the car didn't need. When Mrs.***** called and agreed to accept the $300 she told us she would resolve the rest of the cars issues with Pep Boys. If we knew from the beginning that she was expecting us to pay her an additional $929.58 we wouldn't have offered her the $300 for the ball joint and instead would have insisted to have the car towed to our shop to fix anything wrong with the car for free. It's simply not fair that she's blaming us for a factory defective car part. The fact that she believes Pep Boys over us, even after being our customer for 20 years baffles us and is not our fault. If Mrs.***** reads this rebuttal I would like her to think about this. Is there any other shop that she can think of, that would exercise all the effort we've put into offering, negotiating, and compromising. Mrs.*****'s admission to us offering to tow the car to our shop for free, sending two mechanics to Pep Boys to check the car ourselves, and her confession to us offering to fix the car for free, is all the proof the BBB should need. If Mrs.***** is still not satisfied after this rebuttal, we will confidently accept a court invitation. Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2022/11/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) As previously mentioned, I initially brought the car back to Highland Auto Center (HAC) on 9/24/2022 and advised the owner's brother of the knocking and whirling sound, the owner's brother told me it was not the ball joint, however, the wheel bearing. Due to HAC's expensive price to replace the wheel bearing, I called Pep Boys (PB) to inquire of the price for the same service. After confirming a cheaper price at PB, I spoked with HAC to ask if they would match PB's price. HAC advised they could not meet the price; therefore, I went and picked up my car. Per HAC's responses, it's obvious HAC refuses to acknowledge and address the fact that I "FIRST" brought the car back to "their" shop to repair the knocking noise, after "their" shop attempted to repair the car on 9/3/2022; however, HAC continues to address Pep Boy's service in their responses. If HAC would have thoroughly and accurately diagnose the needed repairs when I brought the car back to them on 9/24/2022, Pep Boy's wouldn't be in the picture. HAC is providing false information when advising there were two mechanics sent to the shop. When I initially advised the owner of the damages, I advised the owner Pep Boy's offered to take pictures of the damages and to send to him. The owner said no, he wanted to see for himself. As mentioned before, the owner told me he and the mechanic would go to the shop. Pep Boy's advised me only one person (the mechanic) showed up. As mentioned before, the mechanic advised me Pep Boy's did not allow him to view the damages. The mechanic told me the Pep Boy's mechanic said, "Don't touch the d*** car." He said he chose to leave because the Pep Boy's mechanics appeared to want to argue and fight. HAC's responses and the response the mechanic at HAC provided to the owner on 10/6/2022 when the owner asked him if the spindle was damaged, are complete opposite of the information provided to me. It is obvious HAC's mechanic is providing deceptive information. As mentioned before, I "only" agreed to accept $300.00 for the faulty ball joint. Regarding resolving the rest of the car issues with Pep Boys, I advised HAC I would allow Pep Boys to proceed with repairing the car for the reasons previously mentioned. My decision does not negate my expectation and request for HAC to reimburse me for the additional repairs that were needed due to the HAC's mechanic's negligence. Regarding HAC's response indicating their belief of Pep Boy's charging and quoting me for services the car didn't need, I am appalled HAC has the audacity to judge Pep Boy's performance, when HAC's mechanic was not competent to thoroughly and accurately diagnose the car when I BROUGHT IT BACK TO THEM. HAC should only be concerned about "their" poor performance and negligence. HAC's response referenced offering to fix "anything" with the car for free. Please note, when I spoke with the mechanic, he offered to fix "everything" for free. If the mechanic viewed the damages while the car was at the shop and "only" saw the faulty ball joint, why does he/HAC continue to use words such as "anything" and "everything". The mechanic's use of the words is evident he was aware of additional damages caused by the faulty ball joint; however, continues to provide deceptive information to myself and the owner. Please note, as mentioned before, the owner advised me any additional repairs would "not' be free; however, the mechanic advised the repairs would be free. Again, HAC's responses provide contradicting details. I perceived the contradicting responses as indication the owner was not aware of all the damages, and the mechanic provided a response as an attempt to manipulate me to get the car back to the shop and "patch up" the damages to cover up his negligence. Regarding HAC's response indicating "...the fact that she believe Pep Boys over us, even after being our customer for 20 years...", is another attempt of manipulation. My tenure as a customer has absolutely nothing to do with HAC's negligence. HAC did NOT accurately and thoroughly diagnose my car when I brought it back to them; as a result, there were additional damages to my car. The deceptive and contradicting information, and attempts of manipulation provided in the responses and verbally to me, is evident HAC is aware there were additional damages to my car due to the mechanic's negligence; however, is trying anything possible to NOT be accountable. Highland Auto Center is responsible for reimbursing me for the spindle damages and the wheel alignment totaling $929.58.

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