A J's Auto Repair Inc

*** Please See Attached Documents ***
Included is a letter we sent to *** *** in response for his request for a refundI willalso try to make this situation more understandable to your department***'s statementthat the vehicle came to us with a rotational noise coming from the left
rear of the vehicle iscorrectThe fact that his vehicle left our shop with the same noise is also correctI will explain.To determine the nature of a mechanical problem with any given wheel the process alwaysstarts by raising the car and rotating the wheels by hand and checking for either noise,resistance, or excessive bearing playThree ofthe wheels on the vehicle spun freely, andshowed little sign of wheel bearing wear, however, the left rear wheel was mechanicallycompromised and very difficult to rotateWe removed the wheel and tire on that side as wellas part# being the brake rotor and part #l being the caliper and bracket assembly so that wecould tell if the wheel bearing itself was the reason why the axle was so hard to rotateBy thenwe knew the wheel bearing was damaged so we told Mr*** and gave him a price toreplace the wheel bearing which was the same price that we gave him when he originally calledand asked for a phone quoteUpon his authorization we removed the axle and bearing and justas all suspected the bearing was partially locked up and so tight it could not be spun by hand sowe replaced it and began to assemble the vehicleUpon assembling part #to the axle housingitself we found that it would not fit properly and asked Mr*** for additional time to setup and measure to determine the source of the misalignmentWe knew then that somethingwas bent and that whatever was bent was the most logical cause for the wheel bearing to lockup in the first placeNone the less we completely reassembled the vehicle and as we againsuspected the axle and bearing assembly was again very difficult to rotate by handSince wework daily with collision shops and deal with this sort of damage often, we told Mr***that the damage was most likely the result of an accident that involved an impact to thevehicle's left rear wheel and tire and that in many cases the entire rear axle housing itself has tobe replacedThose sorts of cast steel parts are certainly not parts that one would attempt tobend back in placeHe said that he did not believe that was the case and told us that he wasgoing to pick up the vehicle, which he didI also received a phone call from ***'s mechanicaladvisor telling me that we should give ***'s money back prior to *** asking for a refundIsuspect that *** is an honest person with according to himself, little to no mechanicalknowledge and is being ill-advised by a friendAll else aside he asked us to install a new wheel
bearing and we installed a new wheel bearingHe can't possibly believe that we are responsible
for damage beyond thatWe have a great deal of time into telling and showing him what'swrong with his vehicleI believe we have gone over and above our commitment to deliver thebest possible customer service

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
This response from Aj's is far from the truthI never claimed that they missed the grinding soundThey misdiagnosed and fixed the wrong thingEven after being told what the problem was, they seem to have little understanding of what was wrong with my vehicleI would like to point out that this new brake caliper and mounting bracket that this shop suggests I would've been paying for, had I let them finish repairs, wouldn't have fixed my vehicleIt looks like I am forced to resolve this in court.Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
This shop has given many excuses as to why they missed this problemI wrote a letter in response to the letter they mailed to me, he failed to respond or return my phone calls while "considering my request for a refund"This is what led to a complaint through the Revdex.com
I do not believe that my wheel was diagnosed in the manner he describes, as the form of diagnosis stated on my invoice from this shop is "test driven"This is the first I have heard from him that they physically examined my wheel prior to working on it, I suspect that this is because I questioned this in a prior letter to the shopFurthermore, if they did physically examine my wheel, it was not done properlyIt would not be required to remove the brake caliber and rotor in order to diagnose a bad wheel bearingThis would only be counterproductive in diagnosing the cause of the grinding, as you are removing a potential cause prior to examinationI have spoken to multiple certified mechanics that support this to be trueI will have statements prepared as physical proof of thisIt is ridiculous, you expect me to believe that the parts causing the grinding sound had to removed in order for you to examine the bearingNot trueAlso, you would've noticed the groove worn in rotor, this should've alerted you that this part is rubbing and causing the grinding soundI have a picture of these grooves, taken by the mechanic that fixed my car, directly following the mishaps at your shop
I should add that the price I was charged at your shop was more than I was quoted on the phone, contradictory to a statement that you previously madeThis is clearly stated on the invoice from your shopI will upload a copy of my invoice if needed, but this shop has this information already, so they know this to be true
I did not have them install the bearing until they told me that is was the problem.
This shop admits my car came to them with a noise coming from the wheel, and that it left with the same noiseYet I'm still being charged full price for a job that didn't fix my vehicleI'm paying a shop 100+ dollars and hour for a certified mechanic to fix my vehicleI do not expect to be charged if the mechanic fixes the wrong thingAnd I certainly don't intend to pay for mistakes made, be them honest or not.
This situation has been well documentedI am confident in presenting my case to a judge, if this is needed in order to resolve the situation.
Sincerely,*** ***

*** Please See Attached Documents ***
I am now responding to yet another letter forwarded to you folks from Mr*** ***The Revdex.comcase number in question is ***I will try to answer this letter and be as brief as possibleIn thislast letter *** states that our facility missed the grinding noise which was coming from the left rearwheel of his vehicleNothing could be further from the truthThe left rear axle bearing that he asked usto change and got a phone quote for prior to us even seeing the vehicle was completely ruinedSince*** knows nothing about vehicle repair you might want to ask him who told him that his vehicleneeded a new wheel bearing in the first placeHe further states in his last letter that it is not necessaryto remove the brake caliper to correctly measure the rotating resistance of a wheel or axle bearingwhich again Is not accurateThe brake caliper along with the bracket in question and that pads areremoved because brakes pads rest slightly on the rotors and thus can skew an accurate measurementnot just of rotating resistance, but up and down tolerance as well.Next he suggests that the groove in the rotors should have alerted us the noise was coming from therotorAgain not true as we see grooves in disc brake rotors all of the time that are nothing more thandisc brake wear"these groves are simply machined out of the brake rotor when the brake padsneed to be replaced or the rotor is changed if the grooving is past machining federal traffic safetyprotocolPerhaps it would be easier for all to understand if we were to look at this situation from adifferent angleLet's say the mating surfaces that house the wheel bearing were not bent and we wereable to correctly replace and install the damaged bearingWhen we got to the final assembly stage andattempted to install the brake caliper, bracket assembly, and pads it would have been clear that thebrake caliper bracket was also bentWe would have called Andre, explained the additional damage.There would not have been any additional labor, simply an additional charge of$ for the caliperand bracket assemblyThe vehicle would then have been repaired completely and correctlyAs it waswhen we called *** and told him that the wheel bearing axle flange and wheel bearing housing werebent out of alignment and that we needed extra time to measure so that we could see why, he told usto put the vehicle back together and that he would have it towed to another shopThe other shopstraightened the caliper bracket in question and although that was not the correct procedure it madethat source of noise go awayNonetheless, there are four 3/bolts that secure the two wheel bearingmating surfaces together, so we were able to bolt them in place even though that put his new axlewheel bearing in such a bind that it was not possible to rotate the axle by handThis will causepremature bearing failureThat is why we told him that it was important to find out what was bent andwhyI also told *** that after plus years of doing this sort of axle repair that he could end upreplacing the entire differential I axle assembly which could cost over$ He then left and thatwas when he called back asking us to put it together anyway so that he could have it towed to adifferent shopHis vehicle received a substantial impact in that area which is the only way things in thatarea can be bentThat is likely why it was just sold to him to begin withMany times vehicles like this aresold because of the expense of correctly repairing them and we see that happen often