ComplaintsforHometown Garage, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  10/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Asked the shop to diagnose a problem with the fuel gauge not reading accurately. The shop didn't have the tools to diag it so I paid $150 for them to have another shop diag it. They told me aftermarket replacement parts reportedly would break within 90 days and they needed to wait for name-brand parts. They did the repair, which they now say is very complicated. I picked up my car the day before a trip to the airport 2 hours away. In the first 10 minutes of driving the car after pick-up (starting my trip), the check engine light reappeared. When I tried to refuel, the entire purchase of gas leaked out the passenger side of the car. After the gas evaporated, I took it back to the shop. They did not apologize and instead made an excuse about how they hadn't even been under the car. Luckily, a friend let me borrow their car, but I had to take toll roads and only made my flight 10 minutes before doors closed. This shop was nearly responsible for making me miss a thousand-dollar trip. The day after I returned, I picked up my car, and they said dirt got in a fuel valve and it hadn't properly sealed. Again, the check engine light came on shortly after. The next day, the car smelled of gas. When I went to talk to the shop owner, I waited 40 minutes for him to return and I was almost late for work. He defended his work by saying the problem must have been there before, the quality of engineering in my car is lesser because of the brand, the repair was very complicated, etc. Also learned then that they used aftermarket parts after first saying they wouldn't. Called next day requesting a full refund because 1) I brought my car in 3 times and it's still not fixed. 2) I can't test if they ever fixed the initial issue because I don't feel safe putting gas in the tank. 3) The car was drivable before the repair but now I don't feel safe driving it. The owner offered a refund for diag only (1/4 cost) and to work on it a 4th time under warranty but I don't trust them at this point.

  Business response

  11/14/2022

  The customer does have a few things right but fails to communicate what we have told him. In the initial discussion with him regarding the problem with his car, his concern was that the fuel gauge may not be reading correctly, therefore, a diagnosis of the instrument cluster was needed. This is done by a specialty facility, as I spoke to him about. I went ahead and subbed that work to the specialty facility (we have no ******* dealer here). It was then diagnosed that the fuel gauge was reading correctly and that the fuel sending unit in his tank was faulty. He approved the work and we installed new fuel sending units. This requires removing a portion of the rear seat and pulling back the carpet and padding. This is where the access is located on top of the fuel tank. We performed our work, yes, with some fuel smell attaching itself to the interior of the car to some degree. This is how it is accessed I explained to the customer. This is why we have a fuel smell. It takes some time to get out I explained. We also had left the windows and doors open the night after the repair to dissipate some of these fumes. It's nearly impossible to get them all out right away.

  The customer then picked up his car and proceeded to fuel it up, only to be informed by a person at the gas station that fuel was dripping out from underneath the car. I refunded him the fuel amount when he brought it back and upon removal of the seat, carpet, padding, and service cover, we rechecked all of our work and determined that a potential piece of debris had fallen from the carpet upon installation of the O-Ring that seals the sending unit housing to the fuel tank. The customer picked up his car with the fuel gauge and unit working correctly. I don't know where the "Check Engine Light" came into play with all of this but it was communicated to me when he dropped off the car initially. Between by technician, Daniel, and myself, it seems as though something had gotten lost in communication. His initial problem WAS the check engine light, which posted a code that also determined that there was a correlation problem between the fuel sending units and the fuel gauge. I remembered explaining to the customer that there were two brands of aftermarket sending units available, and that the one brand I'd had a lot of problems with. I mentioned that if I couldn't get one from Hyundai, which I couldn't, that I would install the Dorman branded one.  This was the discussion we had when he came in to complain about the work.  At this point I think he had lost trust in us even though we had been transparent and honest about the entire process. I felt that the initial communication problem between the customer and myself possibly warranted a different initial diagnosis and so I offered to refund him the instrument cluster diagnosis. I would still do this but the initial problem with the car still existed and negated the replacement of his fuel sending units. 

  When the customer returned, he waved his refund of the cluster diagnosis and refused to let us look at his car again, as it showed another code representing a check engine light again. This wouldn't have costed him any money as I explained that the diagnosis and work, if related, would be covered under our 1 Year Warranty Policy and part warranty. He, later on the phone, said that he would get his Credit Card company to give him the money back and so I've been awaiting a dispute/resolution case to be presented by them. To this date, I have not been requested a refund from a credit card provider. He had said he would get a second opinion from a ******* dealer but I have heard anything back from them either. The parts we installed and the labor are still under warranty and we are still willing to find the problem.
  

  Customer response

  11/17/2022

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

  I took the car to a ******* dealership, who reported that, as they opened access to the fuel tank, parts were poorly secured, some with zip ties. My backseat had also not been reinstalled correctly. The source of the remaining check engine light issue was that Hometown Garage installed one of the new fuel sending units backwards/upside down, which was causing the fuel gauge to only show half of the full gas tank. The dangerous 8-gallon gasoline spill occurred because my tank was full and the gauge was only reading half-full, and all of the overflow came out of the gasket they dirtied. Hometown Garage clearly did not check and test their work thoroughly before returning the car to me, despite having told me twice that they did so.
  
  The last time I spoke with the owner of Hometown Garage was before getting it fixed by the ******* dealership. I called the owner of HG and explained that, having already seen my car four times for this issue (9/6, 9/21, 10/12, 10/13), I wasn't comfortable with them working on my car again, and I again requested a full refund so I could get it sorted out by the dealership. The 1/4 refund offered for diagnostics would not cover the costs of a dealership's repairs. He refused and eventually said, "I don't have time for this," and then hung up on me. So, I took that as the owner's final word on refusing a full refund, and as I was not comfortable having Hometown Garage work on my car again, I took it to the ******* Dealership and filed a dispute against the charges on my credit card. The ******* dealership found and cleaned up the issues caused by Hometown Garage, which incurred additional charges for ********s additional service and repairs. I have spent nearly 40 hours on trying to get the car issues and disputes resolved since first taking my car to them at the beginning of September.
  
  In the past, I had Hometown Garage repair a leaking valve cover gasket (~$550), which went bad again ~1.5 years later, and they only offered to warranty the labor, not the parts. I was told that the valve cover gasket was leaking all over my alternator, and the alternator died less than one year after that (~$1100 replacement). When I came to Hometown Garage with an acceleration issue, they failed to discover that the issue was caused by a 1-inch difference in diameter between my front and back tires (~$140 diagnostics). I only bring up these past issues to reemphasize my distrust for their work/warranty and justify getting a second opinon.
  
  See attachment, which documents ********s review and repair of Hometown Garage's errors.

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

  Business response

  11/21/2022

  The customer was refunded through credit card processing. We will not dispute the charge back as it was determined that the new part may have been installed incorrectly by the technician.

  Customer response

  11/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** *******

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