Bernie Bishop Mazda

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely, [redacted] Yes, there were some errors in the chronological order, I was working from memory on a few things, so I want to thank [redacted] for providing me with the information I needed to correctly list the order of events as they occurredExhibit A reflects those changes If you look at the span between servicing, you will see the period is consistently between and months and since I am retired and my mileage is pretty regularThere is no reason to believe someone else changed my oil during this time frame and coincidently caused a problem resulting with the same symptomThe exact order in which events occurred is not the issue and BBM is using this as a smoke screen! Sure, they have presented their service record, but I don’t see any notes on this document that indicate the field trip they made to my house to deal with the first time I had a puddle of oil under my car, or the or other times I complained about the exact same issue As far as noticing the Thread Lock on the drain plug when I was on my knees, peaking under my car, in the shade, no I didn’t! The real issue here, regardless of who caused this damage, is the fact that BBM was made aware of this problem many timesBecause of their ineptness, I was intentionally mislead by these people, causing me to misdiagnose the problem and suffer inconvenience and stress of not having my car for a week and monetary lose They have suggested I should have gone back to them yet again, to seek help on this issue, instead of working on it myself, when they already had or chances to make it right I don’t think so!? One more thing that I didn’t mention earlier, when I reassembled my truck I replaced all the fluidsI also checked the air filter and discovered a rat’s nest in the air cleaner box and the filter hadn’t been changed in quite some time To sum it up, there is no excuse for behavior like this from any professional entity! REVISED EXHIBIT A On 04/03/I decided to let Bernie Bishop Mazda do the oil changes on my Ford RangerEverything went well on my first visit On 10/16/I returned for my 2nd oil change, however I noticed a puddle of oil under the car when I got homeI called the dealer and explained the situationWe agreed it would be best not to move my vehicle, and so they decided to come to me with their mechanicThey worked on it for a while, and then told me they had it fixed and told me I was good to go On 03/25/I went back for my 3rd oil change and again another puddle under the carThe leak wasn’t that large so I decided to drive to the dealer, again they claimed to have fixed the problemIt took some talking to convince them they owed me at least a free oil changeConsidering it could have been a new engine, if it wasn’t for my vigilance I returned for my free oil change on 03/25/2014, this time I noticed the smell of hot oil occasionally when driving and thought they must have spilled oil on the exhaust manifold when they refilled the crankcaseI made a mental note to mention that to them on my next visit I had my oil changed again on 08/13/and 12/22/but I can’t remember if I mentioned the smell of burning oil while I was drivingThey changed the oil but failed to mention any leaks or problemsAt this point I began to think the problem may be a leaky valve cover seal and so I tightened the bolts but to no avail My last oil change with them was on 4/28/and this time I vividly remember telling them I was still having problemsAgain they reported no issues to meThe smell of burning oil continued and so one day, after the engine cooled down, I crawled under the truckWhat I noticed was a rather large puddle of oil at the rear of the engine, right under the rear main crankshaft sealSince I didn’t notice any oil under the drain plug and so assumed I had a bad seal I hired a mechanic to replace the rear crank sealFive hours latter; he had the transmission out and was ready to replace the sealHe had a hard time getting the drain plug out and when he finally got it out, it was cross-threaded with a large amount of Blue Thread Lock on the plug and panIt’s obvious they stripped the threads back on 10/16/and kept Mickey mousing it, when they should leveled with me in the first placeThe latest attempt at stopping the leak caused the drain plug to leak only when the engine was hot and seal up once it cooled down It cost me $to hire a mechanic to remove and replace the transmission, buy the necessary parts, and replace transmission and engine fluidsThe dealer admitted no guilt in this matter; he wouldn’t even pay for the plug I needed to repair the drainAs mentioned above, if the dealer just fixed this problem on one of the three times I described the issue to them, I could have avoided all this trouble and expense

Mr*** came in with the above issues on his Surbaru ***. He asked us to diagnose the vehicle only. We informed him that the vehicle was reading three codes which were P0171, P1112, & P0130. The first code, P0171, could be from numerous issues such as fuel pressure
regulator, ground connections, injector problems, MAF sensor, Osensor and/or IAC valve. Mr*** informed us that he just replaced the IAC valve with a part he purchased off EBAY for around $25.00.
When we would tap on the IAC valve, it would work for a bit, then not work. We stated that the part purchased may be bad, as you generally "get what you pay for". This was a general place for the customer to start, as he indicated he would do his own work to his vehicle. We quoted him a price for repairs and he declined. He paid for the diagnosis and left
I don't understand how and why we are responsible for repairs we did not do and/or parts we did not purchase or install. We were asked to diagnose the vehicle only, then reported the findings to the customer
The first disclaimer under code Pon the North American Subaru website on troubleshooting, it states "if you are getting a code after tinkering with something on your car, chances are the tinkering caused the code. Always look to what was MOST RECENTLY changed (meaning installed, uninstalled, modified". As the customer just replaced this part, that is where Subaru tells you to start your diagnosis

To Whom It May Concern:p.2This letter is in response to a complaint our company received from the above referencedcustomerAlthough we are sorry to hear about Mr*** problems with his vehicle,there are some things that aren't matching up in which he states in his complaint.The first being that
the dates in which he came in for service do not match our records onthis vehicleMr*** states that he came in on February 15, for an oil change, butour service records do not show him coming in for this serviceI have attached the servicerecords for this vehicle, and as you can see, there was not an oil change or other servicework for February, This is the time he states he noticed a smell of burning oilHealso states that he crawled under the vehicle but didn't notice any oil under the drain plugat this timeIf the customer looked at the drain plug, would he not have noticed the "bluethread lock" around the drain plug in which he references later in his letter? The reasonthat I bring up this point is that Mr*** accuses our dealership of "Mickey Mousing"the vehicle and striping the threads on drain plug, but neither our dealership nor servicetechnicians use or have "blue" thread lock.Mr*** also states that 12/23/was his latest oil change, which I believe is a typo inwhich he meant 12/23/ However, our service records show that he came in on April28, for an oil change
I am not sure at which point Mr*** had other work done on his vehicle by anothermechanic to replace the rear crank sealUnfortunately, we can not warranty any workdone by another mechanicWe also can't warranty another mechanic's mis-diagnosis.If there was an issue with the drain plug after an oil change, we are always happy to lookat the problem or issue and fix it if indeed we caused the problemMr*** did come into discuss the drain plug with the "blue thread lock", and we explained to him at that timethat it is not something that we use or have in our service department.Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact meThank you
Sincerely,
Renae D***
Office Manager of Bernie Bishop Mazda

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: I did what they told me to do and that did not fix the trouble. even if they had put in a new iac valve it would not have fixed the trouble. they don't know what they are talking about I have worked on cars for many years and I know a snow job when I see one. this is just a way for them to get out of their responsibility. their advice was a bad iac valve witch it was not , tapping on the iac valve did not prove anything, the map sensor is very close to the iac valve. therefore if the person was using his head he may have thought a little defferntly on this diag. that they should have done correctly and did not.[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]
Yes, there were some errors in the chronological order, I was working from memory on a few things, so I want to thank [redacted] for providing me with the information I needed to correctly list the order of events as they occurred. Exhibit A reflects those changes.
If you look at the span between servicing, you will see the period is consistently between 4 and 5 months and since I am retired and my mileage is pretty regular. There is no reason to believe someone else changed my oil during this time frame and coincidently caused a problem resulting with the same symptom. The exact order in which events occurred is not the issue and BBM is using this as a smoke screen! Sure, they have presented their service record, but I don’t see any notes on this document that indicate the field trip they made to my house to deal with the first time I had a puddle of oil under my car, or the 4 or 5 other times I complained about the exact same issue.
As far as noticing the Thread Lock on the drain plug when I was on my knees, peaking under my car, in the shade, no I didn’t!
The real issue here, regardless of who caused this damage, is the fact that BBM was made aware of this problem many times. Because of their ineptness, I was intentionally mislead by these people, causing me to misdiagnose the problem and suffer inconvenience and stress of not having my car for a week and monetary lose.
They have suggested I should have gone back to them yet again, to seek help on this issue, instead of working on it myself, when they already had 5 or 6 chances to make it right… I don’t think so!?
One more thing that I didn’t mention earlier, when I reassembled my truck I replaced all the fluids. I also checked the air filter and discovered a rat’s nest in the air cleaner box and the filter hadn’t been changed in quite some time. 
To sum it up, there is no excuse for behavior like this from any professional entity!
REVISED EXHIBIT A
On 04/03/2012 I decided to let Bernie Bishop Mazda do the oil changes on my 2005 Ford Ranger. Everything went well on my first visit.
On 10/16/2013 I returned for my 2nd oil change, however I noticed a puddle of oil under the car when I got home. I called the dealer and explained the situation. We agreed it would be best not to move my vehicle, and so they decided to come to me with their mechanic. They worked on it for a while, and then told me they had it fixed and told me I was good to go.
On 03/25/2014 I went back for my 3rd oil change and again another puddle under the car. The leak wasn’t that large so I decided to drive to the dealer, again they claimed to have fixed the problem. It took some talking to convince them they owed me at least a free oil change. Considering it could have been a new engine, if it wasn’t for my vigilance.
I returned for my free oil change on 03/25/2014, this time I noticed the smell of hot oil occasionally when driving and thought they must have spilled oil on the exhaust manifold when they refilled the crankcase. I made a mental note to mention that to them on my next visit.
I had my oil changed again on 08/13/2014 and 12/22/2014 but I can’t remember if I mentioned the smell of burning oil while I was driving. They changed the oil but failed to mention any leaks or problems. At this point I began to think the problem may be a leaky valve cover seal and so I tightened the bolts but to no avail.
My last oil change with them was on 4/28/2015 and this time I vividly remember telling them I was still having problems. Again they reported no issues to me. The smell of burning oil continued and so one day, after the engine cooled down, I crawled under the truck. What I noticed was a rather large puddle of oil at the rear of the engine, right under the rear main crankshaft seal. Since I didn’t notice any oil under the drain plug and so assumed I had a bad seal.
I hired a mechanic to replace the rear crank seal. Five hours latter; he had the transmission out and was ready to replace the seal. He had a hard time getting the drain plug out and when he finally got it out, it was cross-threaded with a large amount of Blue Thread Lock on the plug and pan. It’s obvious they stripped the threads back on 10/16/2013 and kept Mickey mousing it, when they should leveled with me in the first place. The latest attempt at stopping the leak caused the drain plug to leak only when the engine was hot and seal up once it cooled down.
It cost me $425 to hire a mechanic to remove and replace the transmission, buy the necessary parts, and replace transmission and engine fluids. The dealer admitted no guilt in this matter; he wouldn’t even pay for the plug I needed to repair the drain. As mentioned above, if the dealer just fixed this problem on one of the three times I described the issue to them, I could have avoided all this trouble and expense.

To \Vhom It May Concern:p.2We are in receipt of Mr. [redacted] second letter regarding the above identification numberand/or case. Unfortunately, I don't believe that we are going to be able to come to amutual agreement on the matter or one in which the customer will be happy with.As we now we have the issue with a 3rd party working on the vehicle, we can't warrantytheir work as now they have taken the vehicle apart, replaced parts, removed items, etc.which makes it impossible to deny or confirm where the problem originated from.Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Renae D[redacted]