Eugene Welding Co

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Al's Car Care of Boise  (Grove Street) gave me a written statement,  saying that my vehicle needed the exhaust manifold replaced. They quoted me  $740 for a new manifold,  plus installation....or roughly  $1200.The going rate for a manifold is $200-450. Al's upcharges 200%.Mike, Al's mechanic said my vehicle would not pass emissions until I paid them $1200 for a manifold and roughly  $600 more for a new converter.They further claimed that the factory wiring harness had been hacked.Except for the addition of LED lights and an electrical cooling fan, the stock wiring harness is intact complete with the Hitachi carburetor.    I trusted Al's Car Care when they told me my existing manifold was "cracked" and "needs replacing" in their written estimate. Obviously,  they lied. I should have returned the header, but didn't want to lose money on return shipping.  I made a video of the parts Al's Car Care said "you must replace" because "they are bad".https://youtu.be/RiXHPFLsiXc See for yourself: Al's Car Care tried to scam me, and is probably scamming other motorists too.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

In response to Mr. [redacted],   The vehicle in question came into our shop for a failed emission problem.  The vehicle had many modifications to the engine, missing components and many electrical short cuts.  Our diagnostic fee for a failed emission is 1 to 1.5 hours.  Our shop rate is 89.63 per hour.   We spent our time trying to repair the vehicle to comply with the Ada County Emissions Laws. After repairing the rotor and fixing the two bad spark plugs, we ask for more diagnostic time to check out the manifold and oxygen sensor, the customer declined any more time for us to inspect the components.  He stated that” I will do my own repairs “.  We did suggest that if the manifold was cracked then we would be $740 for that repair. That also included the money we were already into the emissions repair. We also noted that the catalytic converter is bad at a cost of $475.     There was obviously a miss understanding with what was needed to do and what the customer heard as far as what the next step in the repair proses was going to be. I do not feel as though we did anything wrong, nor did we lie in anyway.  The customer denied any further diagnosis to find any other reasons why the vehicle would fail emissions.       I also see from post on Mr. [redacted] facebook page that he replaced the manifold with a header not a regular manifold, a couple weeks after leaving our shop.  I am summiting pictures of this, as well as our tech sheet from the repair.   Thanks Brad F[redacted] Al’s Car Care Grove

I am currently working in Alaska so I don't have the original paper receipt in front of me.Attached is a copy of my bank statement showing I paid $199.32 to Al's Car Care.Services included diagnosing the failed emissions issue, rethreading spark plug holes, installing a new rotor. The estimate...

 (which I paid for) to fix the emissions issue stated that a new exhaust manifold needed to be installed,  because the old one was "cracked". Also, the catalytic converter needed to be replaced.  Al's quoted me $1500 to replace those two items. Which typically costs less than $300 plus installation elsewhere.  I had already ordered the parts Al's said "must" be replaced when I found that there were ZERO cracks in the existing manifold.  Al's stated very clearly that they found cracks, and wrote such in the repair estimate. That turned out to be a blatant lie. Therefore, I believe that I should be refunded the cost of the estimate, because it was submitted to me under false pretenses  (stating that the manifold was cracked, when it clearly was not).