E.L.W

Review: My complain is against E.L.W Co. I had some issue with my truck and set up on appoitment with E.L.W. for monday March 3th 2014. I left the truck there on friday February 28th 2014 so they can start working on frist thing in the morning on Monday. I called them on Monday around 12pm to ask the status on the truck and they said they are waiting on a part from the dealer. I called them again at 4pm and they said they are putting the sensor now and it should be ready in 30 minutes. When I went there I paid my bill of $532 which of $450 in labor to find out that that truck has not been fixed and the issue not resolved. They changed some parts that probably did not need chaging( their esxuse was that is electrical problem). They told me to leave the truck there and they will take a look at it in the morning, and that is what I did. I gave them a call today March 4th 2014 at 2pm and he said the rosoved the problem and it took them hour and a half. When I went there the truck wasn't starting. They did fix the original problem but called a new one( He said it was a bad wire).The mechanic came to take a look at it and told me that the starter was bad( The starter was perfecly fine the day before, and when we left the truck). I might not be a mechanic but I know that the started does not go bad over night. So I had to pay another $112 to leave with a truck with a bad starter.Desired Settlement: I am not looking for a full refund, but I am sure it doesnt cost $644 to fix a wire. Plus I need to change the started now.

Business

Response:

This customer dropped off their truck on Friday February 28th, to be worked on beginning Monday March3rd. The customer stated that the truck had an electrical problem, the speedometer and tachometer were working intermittent and when he came to a stop the truck would die. He said he had to have the truck back by the end of the day Monday. First thing Monday morning our tech began working on the truck, we pulled the ecm codes and found multiple codes. There was a major electrical issue and it would take time to trace and diagnose the exact problem. We began by testing the batteries and cutting split loom and tracing wires. The tech found several badly corroded wires and 2 broken wires. He also found that one of the speedometer sensors was bad. We called the local Volvo dealer, they recommend changing both speedo sensors, we ordered the parts and were told that they did not have them in stock. Around 3:30 Monday afternoon, the sensors came in from the dealer. We started to replace the sensors and it was difficult to remove them, due to the age of the truck and almost 1 million miles on it. The customer called around 4PM and we told them that the sensors had shown up and we were working on replacing them. We told them that the truck would be done as long as the sensors fixed the electrical problem. The customer showed up at the shop while we were still working on the truck. They paid the bill and we were in the process of cleaning up and pulling the truck out of the shop. We pulled the truck out and tested the speedometer and tach, they were not working but the truck was not dying any more, only part of the problem was fixed. The customer did not understand how we could spend all day working on the truck and not fix the entire problem, they did not want to spend any more money to troubleshoot. I tried to explain that electrical issues can be very difficult to diagnose and are often very time consuming to repair, especially when the truck has multiple issues and has the high miles that this one does. He then agreed to leave the truck so we could troubleshoot some more on Tuesday morning. First thing the next morning, the tech worked on the truck. He worked for 2 hours, at that time he found another broken wire. He repaired the wire and this fixed the speedometer and tachometer problem. In total we had about 11 hours working on the electrical issues, we only charged the customer 7.5 hours to try and alleviate some of the cost for him since he had been a good customer since November of 2013. We parked the truck outside and let the customer know it was ready to be picked up. When he showed up between 4:30-5pm that day the truck would not crank, it would only click. I went outside and determined the starter was stuck engaged, the customer stated that he never had that problem before. We never touched the starter and didnt do any work any where near the starter. The truck started multiple times while we were working on it. After looking into it further, I saw that the truck had a new starter relay on the firewall. When I questioned the customer about it, he stated that they DID IN FACT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM about 2 months ago and they changed the relay. I crossed the wires on the starter and freed it up and the truck started. I tried to explain to him that the starter was going bad and that is what caused the relay to go bad 2 months ago. Due to a language barrier, the customer still could not comprehend why we were charging him to do the repairs that we did.

My company is a family owned and operated business that has been open for 25 years. We pride ourselves on having customers that have continued to come back for years and years, we have always had a good reputation in the truck industry and gain new customers every day simply from word of mouth. We are always operating on a full schedule, that does not happen by treating customers poorly. This customer made no attempts to talk to me about this matter or resolve his issue, we have not heard from him since they picked the truck up. At the time that he paid the bill he was satisfied that we fixed the original problem that he brought the truck in for. We will not be issuing any type of refund for the repairs that we completed. We have worked on numerous electrical issues over our 25 years, sometimes the bills go into the thousands of dollars, and our customers continue to bring their trucks here maintain their vehicles at costs that are significantly lower than what a dealer would charge.