Guenther Automotive

Per the Revdex.com request, the following is in regards to complaint ID# ***; thank you for the opportunity to respond.

Ms. scheduled an appointment for her 2010 *** for Thursday, January 16, 2020. As you will see by the photograph I have attached of our schedule for that day (picture 1), Ms. made an appointment to have the resonator replaced on her vehicle, as well as having a noise on turns and while accelerating. Upon bringing her car in for diagnosis of the whine complaint, we found the high pressure line on the power steering system to be leaking fluid, and the power steering pump reservoir to be very low, thus causing the noise while turning and noise on acceleration issue that Ms. stated she wished to have fixed with her vehicle (the power steering pump was the source of the whine noise as a result of the fluid being so low). We also found the resonator to have an exhaust leak, and to be in need of replacement as the customer had stated.

At that point, we called Ms. with a price to repair her vehicle for the issues that she had stated she would like fixed when scheduling her appointment. As she stated in her complaint, she was quoted a cash/check price of $540.00, plus tax. She gave us the approval to go ahead and proceed with the work.

Upon completion of the work on Ms. vehicle, the whine noise on turns and on acceleration was significantly improved, the power steering leak was repaired, and the exhaust was much quieter. As we noted on Ms. invoice, and explained to her when picking up her car, there was still a small amount of noise in the power steering pump as a result of being run low on fluid, but that it generally clears up over time following a repair. The work that was done as requested by Ms. was professional, and performed by a technician that has worked for our company since we opened our doors 30 years ago.

After picking up her vehicle, Ms. returned later that evening with her fiancé, and expressed their displeasure with the repairs done to the car (they felt it was still too loud), as well as the price. At that time we expressed that we don't want any of our customers to be unhappy, and would try to resolve any issues that they had. I personally brought their vehicle back into the shop, and put it on a lift to see if there were any issues with the work that was performed. I found the issues that Ms. had made her appointment for to be correctly addressed. I showed Ms. and her fiancé what we had repaired, and attempted to explain the labor that was required to do so. Additionally, I did find a small hole at the top of the muffler , that was not easily visible, and was causing the exhaust to be louder than what Ms. considered to be acceptable. Although this was not part of her original complaint, I tried to do whatever was necessary to make everyone happy.

Having recognized Ms. fiancé, Mr., from the local *** that we occasionally do business with, I offered to replace the muffler at no cost if he provided me the muffler. I figured Mr. could probably purchase the muffler cheaper than I could, and this would be the most inexpensive way to resolve the additional issue that they were complaining about. Mr. did not accept my proposal. I explained again that we did not want them to be unhappy, and asked what would they consider to be a fair resolution. Mr. informed me that he had an extensive background in automotive repair, and thought $50 back would make things right. Without any argument, I credited Ms. card the $50 that they had requested (please see picture 2). At that time, Ms. asked if they provided a muffler, if I would still replace it at no charge. Although I had already agreed to what Mr. felt was a fair resolution, I agreed to still replace the muffler at no charge, if that is what was necessary to make Ms. leave our business happy. I never heard any more from them in regards to installing the muffler.

I sincerely feel bad that Ms. and Mr. were unhappy with the work that we performed, as well as their displeasure with the price. Ms. was charged for two hours labor to replace the high pressure power steering line, fill with fluid, and vacuum bleed the system (2 x $89 = $178). She was also charged $62.04 in parts to do that portion of the job, for a total of $240.04 in the power steering repair work ($178.00 + $62.04 = $240.04). As far as I am aware, there are no complaints with this portion of the repair. As for the resonator replacement that Ms. requested, we quoted, and subsequently charged $300, which included the parts and labor. As you will see by the photograph I have attached from the *** parts portal (picture 3) that we have access to, the resonator itself is not available anywhere; and as the note states, if the vehicle has a welded assembly it requires replacement of all required parts, which is the way that her vehicle came equipped (meaning even if this part was available anywhere, it wouldn't be a direct bolt on replacement for this particular vehicle). Looking further, I found a direct replacement part only available through *** at a list cost of $917.14 for the part alone (please see attached photo of GM quote - picture 4). As a result, we found the cheapest solution for Ms. was to custom fabricate a pipe that included a resonator of approximately the same dimensions, to replace the bad resonator assembly. Unfortunately this is more labor intensive and subsequently more expensive than being able to purchase a pipe pre made to fit, but it was still far cheaper than the pipe from GM that fits her car correctly ($917.14 plus installation labor). Instead of breaking down all the components needed to do the job: resonator, pipe, welding wire and materials, etc; I arrived at the $300 by figuring I had roughly $125 in materials and two hours of labor (2 x $89 = $178) to do the repair ($125 + $178 = $303), which for ease was rounded off to $300. In hindsight I wish that we would have broke it down separately on the invoice, as I agree, that would have made the charges more clear to understand.

In closing, I feel that it is very unfair to say that what we did to Ms. car is "highway robbery." Ms. was given a quote to do the work on her vehicle, which she agreed to pay. The charges when she came to pick up her vehicle were exactly as quoted ($240.04 power steering line repair + $300 exhaust repair = $540.04), for the work that she asked to have done. Even if she felt as though she was not properly informed about the sales tax and 3% additional charge for using a credit/debit card, I refunded her $50, which I believe essentially covers the amount she feels as though she was over charged for those items (sales tax and 3%), and just as her fiancé requested to make things right. In addition, I also told Ms. that I would replace the muffler for her at no labor charge, which is an additional hour of labor ($89), and was not part of the original work she requested. From my perspective, I don't feel that Ms. has even considered what someone else might have charged her to repair her vehicle, before stating that our price is "highway robbery." I don't believe that many other shops would have had the equipment and capability to fabricate a custom pipe to replace the resonator in Ms. vehicle as we did, and instead would have concluded that the replacement of the entire assembly was required, which would have been at a significantly higher cost; it leads me to believe our price may in fact been reasonable in comparison to what she may have been charged elsewhere. I also feel that I have gone out of my way to make Ms. happy by doing anything asked of me, including refunding her the $50 that her fiancé requested, and by agreeing to do a free hour of additional labor with the muffler replacement on her vehicle as she asked ($50 + $89 = $139). I honestly don't know what more I can do to satisfy her complaint.

Regards,

Matt G