H & H Diesel Performance

I am writing to address the complaint that I believe was intended to be logged against my business,
incident ID of ***. While I am under the impression my business, H&H Diesel Performance was the intended recipient, the complaint was addressed to ***—which is a business that is no longer in existence. The letter is addressed to a “***”—no such person exists within our company. Thankfully the address was close enough to correct that our excellent postmaster was able to see to its delivery.

The complainant, ***, was a customer of H&H Diesel Performance. He did spend approximately $16,000 with our business, and indirectly with ***. The truck was originally brought into our shop not running; we tested the truck and found the entire fuel system required replacement—which is an issue that *** is currently in a lawsuit over. The truck did not run correctly after installation of the new fuel system, which we discovered was due to a cracked piston, most likely caused by continued use with a bad fuel system. At this point, the truck needed a new engine. Mr. and I agreed to purchase an engine from ***.

After several months of use, the truck again experienced issues and was brought back to the shop. As we are not the manufacturers of the engine, it is not our product to warranty; as we had previously informed Mr.. We tested the engine, and confirmed it was damaged. *** insisted we test various components of the truck, such as compression, oil consumption, crank case ventilation, etc., all of which required over 40 hours of combined testing. All tests confirmed that the rest of the truck was in working order, however *** attempted to pressure us into replacing the fuel system again, which is nearly $7000; as well as the turbo, which is approximately $4000, even though both had tested to specification. We were eventually able to convince *** to send a new long block, after they relented regarding the fuel system and turbo, which, once again were fully functional and tested to specification.

We are still waiting on *** to confirm whether the engine’s issues were due to manufacturer defect, or operator error, which leaves both Mr. and our shop waiting for answers.

Had we followed the requests of the ***. we would have billed Mr. S700. for an additional fuel system, $4000 for a new turbo, and $4000 in testing as our shop rate is
$100/hour. Due to the complexity and extensive turnaround time on this project. we chose To waive our diagnostic labor expense. When Mr. came to pick up his truck, we presented him with a bill covering only the labor of dressing and undressing a long block, and installation of a new engine. Mr. threatened our business with legal action, at which point we reduced his bill by approximately fifty percent in an effort to appease him. By our calculation, we were able to save Mr *** well over $15,000 in additional expense for testing, and unnecessary parts.

Furthermore, the engine was never torn apart in our shop as stated by Mr.. Doing so would have voided the warranty. Any parts removed for testing purposes were painstakingly placed in the bed of his truck, or directly under it. We work on many engines, which could potentially be confusing to those not familiar with engine builds, leading to Mr.‘s misperception regarding the location of his parts. The frequency of communication to the customer was dictated by the rate at which new information was available—sometimes several times per week, and sometimes taking multiple weeks to have a relevant update. As majority of our customers understand, due to the excellent reputation and service level of our shop, we generally have a 1-2 month waiting list on major repair projects.

As to the cleanliness of our shop, we repair many vehicles used for agricultural and construction purposes—they come in covered in frozen mud, which melts off when they are in the shop for repair. And as to the beer cans, myself and my employees frequently work on personal vehicles outside business hours, at which point, we may very well indulge in a beer.