ComplaintsforBlackburn's Automotive, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  04/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I dropped my truck off in October 2022 to have the motor replaced. He said he could have the truck in the shop that week. I contacted him multiple times to follow up on the truck. He lied multiple time to reasons why hasn't worked on it yet. Told me he was busy, but infact he didn't have a truck big enough to move him. Didn't get it into the shop until February 2023. When the warranty place contacted him about the motor he quoted them 85 an hour in February 2023 . When I picked up the truck April of 2023, he charged my 95 an hour. He also tried to charge me for parts I had previously purchased that was under warranty. Dip stick, dip stick tubes, wires etc. When I picked up my truck it was missing bolts from Bell housing of the transmission, bolts from box that holds the cold air tank, and bolts from the top alternator bracket. Also had multiple wires hanging and undone. Has broken vacuum lines as well. After charging over 1900 dollars, the truck still isn't drivable. It just keeps stalling out. When we contacted the Jason he said we didn't know what we were talking about. We were told that the truck needed 3 parts- battery , oil sending unit, and idle air control which we purchased(and was going to replace ourselves before noticing all the othet issues). Along with all the other parts Jason said he needed for our truck. I have all the receipts, but it won't let me upload them .

  Business response

  05/15/2023

  On October 22, 2022, Miss. ***** ***** brought her husbands 2001 dodge ram 1500 to the shop needing a engine installed. This engine was under warranty due to us putting one in a little over three years ago. Her and her husband, ******* ***** purchase the engine through ******** **** *****.. Blackburn’s automotive had no record of purchasing the engine only on the install of labor back 2019. She told me that she could not find her paperwork on the engine and it would be a little while before they can figure out how to get the engine  under warranty and I told her that would be OK cause I was still lack of help anyways due to Covid. And just to let me know when they get it all figured out with a ********* Well, a few months was going by and they was getting really frustrated with ******** auto parts thinking that the engine was just gonna run out of warranty and they was gonna have to pay for a another one. So me myself Jason Blackburn called the manager of ******** auto parts to let them know what was goin on the manager  ***** found the engine that they have been looking for in the computer after I talk to him. And said he will get an engine on the way the warranty company did not have another engine at they time and they should get another one back in stock soon They also said that they would pay for half the labor to be installed ***** then ask me how much would it would be and I told her to be a little over $1900 and she said well it was only 1300 back when I did it last time and I told her everything has gone up and our labor rate went from 60 to 85 a hour which is better than 95 an hour which all the other garage is charging in our area she said OK and she understood well ********* never did get the engine until March 28, 2023 and ***** and her husband was really mad and frustrated towards ******** **** *****. Complaining and yelling as we was removing the engine out of the truck we noticed broken vacuum lines which wasn’t a big deal real simple fix. I told her about that also told her engine motor mounts is Broken and her battery was no good at all and some of her spark plug wires was breaking, and her dipstick tube was stuck and was goin to break and the oil sending unit was bad before I started pulling the engine she said OK she will get the parts looking through the records. The spark plug wires dipstick to was under warranty, so she was not charged for that the engine motor mounts she had to buy and I told her I needed a battery. I got the engine installed in 5 days and she said she did not want me getting any more parts that her and her husband will finish it and started being very hateful with me over the price and parts I needed to finish my job she did get me the engine mounts and I got the spark plug wires and dip stick tube thew  Blackburn’s automotive due to still being under warranty I also explained to her without a battery and a oil sending unit I really can’t finish my job for one. The truck won’t run without a battery and for two. It’s a brand new engine with no pressure I’m not gonna drive it and risk missing something up her husband said he will pick it up and finish it his self I said OK you were stripping me for my capability of finishing this truck so I pulled it outside when they came and picked up the truck. It was one heck of a show that I have on camera. They were screaming, calling us the worst mechanics in the world saying I robbed them over charging them too much bolts was left out and I was the B word just very unprofessional on their part and the warranty company paid half of their labor bill on top of that. I refuse to finish the truck, and I refuse to do any work for them in the future I went above and beyond to try and make ***** ***** and her husband happy seem like it was impossible but if you  have any more questions please call me ************ thanks  
  

  
  

  Customer response

  05/23/2023

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.  My response was committed without my complaint,  is there a way to fix it? This is what I had typed up which I would like added. When we call Blackburns auto in October 2022, we asked if he could replace the engine in our truck. He recently replaced it in early 2021. The engine had a 5 year warranty.  When we called, Jason said he could probably have the truck on by Friday,  but if not definitely that Monday. We said okay, and had the truck towed to his shop. He never mentioned having lack of help, or anything about covid! The reason it had took so long was because he didn't have a vehicle big enough to move my truck (the employee working for him at the time told me). Had Jason told me, my brother could of helped move it into the shop. I stopped by the shop MULTIPLE times and text him to try to see what we could do to speed this process up. Yes, I misplaced the original receipt,  but Jason said he had it at home, and would get me a copy to give to ********.  I begged Jason to run the test on the engine to confirm is was indeed blown. It took him close to 4 or 5 months. And the warranty company would not issue a new engine until he did. Yes, I took the warranty company about a month to get another motor, which isn't on Jason. But the months before that is. He never mentioned broken vacuum lines. And every part he stated I needed, I went an purchased and delivered to him. One day I went to ******* 3 times in a hour getting parts. He told me Spark plugs and wires, which I purchased,  not him . He also told me I needed a dip stick tube and other parts which were under warranty from him replacing the 1st time.  Yet, he tried to make me pay for them again until called out on it. I also purchased the 3 parts he said I needed, battery , idle air valve and oil sending unit. On my way to bring my husband to work, we noticed his truck was parked outside of the garage.  So we stopped in to see what was going on. He stated he was done with it. We asked for an itemized receipt,  because he had reason to believe he was being shady. He original was charging 60 an hour. They increased to 95 hr but told the warranty company it was 85 hr. He refused to give us an itemized receipt,  said his flat rate was 95 hr. When I went to pick up the truck a couple days later I again asked for an itemized bill stating how many hours he worked on the truck and rate an hour.  He wouldn't.  At this point I lost all trust in the company and refused to leave my truck there. Didn't trust what Jason would do to it. When I went to pay, the employee stated Jason had the credit card machine.  I said I would wait, then he said it was broken. I went to get a money order because I was beyond frustrated at this point. It's been no stop games with this garage.  I told him I wasn't paying until he put an hour rate, he called Jason and Jason told him to go ahead and put 95 hr. He wasn't even going to give me a receipt stating I paid! I would like to see the camera footage because that's not what happened at all. Yes, I was frustrated but there was no screaming or swearing.  My truck is currently in another shop being repaired after Blackburns auto "fixed" it. The distributor was in wrong throwing off the timing. Also missing over a dozen bolts and all the vacuum lines are broken.  And he still isn't done diagnosis it. The new garage will give a itemized list of everything wrong with it once it's done . After Jason charging almost 2,000, my truck should be running. Also got multiple messages from other people having the same issues with Jason. ***** *****

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