Austin's Auto

Hello, In response to the letter dated 10/20/2016, I am sorry that you have had so much trouble. Unfortunately, when the vehicle came to me it was disabled and I was unaware that there was a problem with your transmission. There was no way for me to road test it or foresee any other issues and you didn’t’ mention any other problems with it until after we put in a new motor. I tried my hardest to keep the cost down by installing all “used” parts, which there are no issues with. I kept the labor costs as low as I could to help you out and have been willing to work with you throughout this whole thing. I have been in business for years and during that time, my intentions have never been to make customers spend money needlessly. I try my hardest to fix every vehicle that comes through my shop at a good price and I take pride in the fact that I have never had any such complaints. Hopefully, this will rectify this situation. *** ***

Hello, This is in response to a compliant you received regarding Austin’s Auto on 9/20/2016. The *** *** *** was towed into Austin’s Auto and Truck Repair. Upon arrival, we diagnosed that the engine was seized. At this time with a seized engine the vehicle cannot be
road tested so all we knew was that the engine was expired. We called the customer and explained that the engine was expired. They asked what they should do. We gave them a price for a new engine and a used engine. At the time, they could not afford either option. So I decided to help them out and I lowered the price of labor from $to $600. They thanked me and gave me the go ahead to do the job. I requested the payment of the engine up front. They gave me $up front as a down payment and I had to wait a few weeks for the remainder of the cost of the engine. The labor was due when they took the vehicle. After replacing the engine with a used engine, we had bearing noise in the alternator and in the power steering pump. The customer was aware of these noises and took the van anyway. They paid the bill in full. A few days later, they called back asking about the power steering pump and alternator being replaced and asked for a price. They could not afford new parts so to save money and try to help them out, we gave them a price for a used alternator and to put their used power steering pump from their original engine back into the van. We only charged them for the used alternator and half of the labor to change the alternator and steering pump. The engine ran beautiful and was quite as a mouse. They paid us in full and took the vehicle. Before they took the vehicle, we asked them if they noticed their battery was dead every time they started the car after it sat for a day or two. They explained that the car is used to drive for *** They knew that they had an issue with the car charging but didn’t know why. We explained that they are overloading their cigarette lighter with the external taxi lights that they plug into their cigarette lighter for *** We explained that if they didn’t plug the taxi lights into the cigarette lighter the vehicle would run fine. A few hours later, they called back and they told us that the motor was doing the exact same thing that it was doing before the motor blew up. They said that the vehicles RPM’s were racing very high and was losing power. They were worried and we asked them to have it towed back in. Upon receiving the vehicle, we test drove the van, the RPM’s were racing very high and the transmission was slipping. They told us that they had very little money and after everything they just spent on the used engine, they didn’t want to spend any more money. We explained the transmission was slipping and the fluid smelt burnt. So after speaking with the customer again, we explained that the cheapest option would be to drain the system, change the filter and flush it out and hope that would solve the problem. We had the van for a couple days, we road tested the vehicle and it seemed to be fine. They came and picked up the vehicle and we charged for the cost of parts and half of the labor rate. They paid the bill in full and took the van. They called back a few hours later and said that the van RPM’s are still racing and they noticed that the water temperature was rising just like it did before the original motor blew. We had them tow the vehicle back in again. This time, I told them, I was going to bring the van to the *** Dealership so they could make sure that the work we did to the vehicle was done correctly and if not, I was going to pay for it to be fixed. Upon bringing it to the *** Dealership, they said the used engine was installed properly and it may have to be reprogrammed so the used engine and the original transmission would be compatible. The customers agreed to do it and the service was performed by the *** Dealership. We called the customer back on that Friday and told them it was done. They said they would pick it up on Monday and asked if I would pay for the service. The cost was $80. I said no because the Dealership indicated that everything we did was completed correctly. The only issue is that there was an overload to the charging system which was due to their external lights that they plug into the cigarette lighter, which was told them previously. Also, that the transmission fluid was over by a half of a quart, which was most likely due to overheating of the transmission. The failure of the original engine was most likely caused by the transmission issue they are having now. The transmission is overheating the engine putting too much stress on it raising the RPM’s and too much temperature causing it to fail. So the diagnosis for this van is the original transmission caused the entire issue for the engine to expire. Austin’s Auto was unaware of this problem and because the car came in with a blown engine there was no way to diagnose the transmission was bad. To fix this car, they need to replace their transmission. If they do not change the transmission, they will destroy the motor we just installed. All of this was explained to the customer and they said they had no more money to put into the vehicle and they indicated that Austin’s Auto was responsible for it. We told them that we would work with them on the labor to put a used transmission into the van but they decided they wanted to trade it in. We haven’t heard from them again until we received this letter. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you
*** ***Austin’s Auto and Truck Repair*** *** *** ** ***

Better Business, I don't like the response because it is u fair and I no they tried but at the same time I put way too much money into it and all I asked at the start was it even worth it to fixI have a kid who is severely sick and need that van because we pretty much lived in it while she at the hospitalI would of gladly went to find something else with the money I put into itI do think that he did try and attempt but if there was a source causeing it why not find it right away so it didn't have to drag on and cost so much in the end to me
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***Please add your rejection comments below Regards,
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