Honest 1Auto Care

May 20th 2015,To [redacted] ***,This is SUDHAKAR T [redacted] the owner/president of Honest-Auto Care located at [redacted] ***, Alexandria, VA ***This is in response to the customer (Omar Yasin's) complain [redacted] has visited my location timesHe works at [redacted] which is next to my business locationDuring the visits, we have documented the details on his [redacted] Below are the detailsJan 17th 2015-Customer had Check Engine Light which was repaired at customer's authorizationDuring the same time we have recommended injector #bad pulse pattern, Radiator leak which was declined [redacted] was given standard 10% of labor since he is working the same shopping centerCustomer bought his own part in this caseInvoice attachedMar 4th – Customer came with the Check Engine light ON, Diagnosed the vehicle initially FREE and later needed more time to diagnoseWe charged hrs which is $which is against the customers complain where he has said we have charged $During this diagnosis we have recommended EGR and throttle bodyCustomer declined the workInvoice attached with deferred workApril 17th -- Customer came in on April 17th to change his exhaust systemCustomer got his own parts and requested to change his exhaust system by charging only the laborMy technician removed the old exhaust (very rusted) and later tried to put the customer supplied partFound the part was not matching to his vehicle specsSpent around hours and my technician put his old exhaust system back into his car as much as possible with no charge to the customerAt this point [redacted] requested us to change the EGR since his check Engine light was ONHe left the car and we honored the same cost what was differed on the Mar 4th invoice which was $($for the part and $for the labor)However when we ordered the part on April 17th, the price changed from $to $and also my labor rate changed (effective April 1st) from $to $This change in price was acknowledged by the customerMy technician started working on his carOn analyzing his engine, my technician gave extra thought if it is safe enough to fix it because of the age of the car and the amount of rust built on his engine components [redacted] works next door and he frequently visits my shop to check on the status of his car during his breaksAs usual he came the same day (April 17th at pm) and my manager and my technician explained about the chance of other problems for changing the EGRMy technician said we need more time, as the bolts are rusted and there is a great chance of the bolts may snapAt this point we also declined the workBut [redacted] gave us authorization to proceed with great cautionWe have also asked [redacted] to take back his vehicle and bring it back on Monday (April 20th) as the technician will be off on MondayAs [redacted] left the vehicle, my technician started working on his car on Saturday (April 18th)There are bolts which secure the EGR valve (bolts hold the Exhaust Manifold (passenger side) and bolt attaches to the Intake manifold) which needs to be removed to replace the EGRThe technician was able to remove bolt which holds to the intake, but when the technician tried to remove the 2nd bolt attached to the exhaust manifold, the bolt snappedAt this point he tried to use the extractor tools to extract the broken pieceSpent lot of time extracting the broken boltDuring this process he broke couple of his extractor toolsFinally he was able to extract the broken piece securely after a long timeThe technician did not want to extract the 3rd bolt, since it was more rusted then the other boltsThe same was informed to [redacted] ***At this point the vehicle cannot be moved and the same was conveyed to the customerSunday being a holiday and my technician being OFF both on Sun and Monday, my technician started to work on Tuesday April 21stThis time while my technician tried to remove the 3rd bolt, it snapped again, but this time the broken piece got stuck into the Exhaust Manifold.At this point we did not have any other option but to send it to the machine shopJust a reminder, all this being done by charging only hr labor which was agreed initiallyThe machine shop took around days to get the broken bolt extractedDuring the time when the exhaust manifold was sent to the machine shop, the machinist told us that exhaust manifold surface was warped from inside due to ageHe promised to fix the issue at no cost to the customerHence it took days to get the work completed from the machinistDuring the same time, we were locating for similar bolts so that we can install the customers car at the earliestHowever it was a tough task to find the right size boltsWe received a few but later found that it was not the right onesThis was really the toughest choice we made to fix the customers carWe promised [redacted] that we will have the car fixed by April 25thBut found that the bolts which were promised by the supplier did not come as scheduled on SaturdayThis again threw off the schedule as the parts available for this vehicle is very rareFinally the car was done and delivered on April 28thThe complete cost to fix the car with the bolts, gaskets, labor was around $approxwhich was updated during his visitHowever customer argued with the manager for the price difference even though he was being informed whenever he walks to the shop during his breakHe threatened that he will use social media to bad mouth our businessBecause of his argument, my manager reduced the cost to $with no labor costInvoice attachedDuring the same time we have recommended other works which were declined by the customer.As a business owner I have lost lot more money and time than we did justification to his vehicle [redacted] also complained to the corporate where I have responded back to him with due diligence.Please see our reviews on my webpage www.honest1alexandria.com under [redacted] reviews are being filtered out since closed my account with ***All the filtered reviews have great appreciation to our service.Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concernsThank YouSudhakar TPresident

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: because Hdidnt offer a remedy to poor workmanship, delays in providing vehicle and overcharging and continued price fluctuationthe poor workmanship is evidenced by MIDAS repair bill for correctly installing an EGR valve installed incoorrectly by H! Regards, [redacted] ***

Dear Sir,             This is in response to the customers complaint. As an owner of Honest-1 Auto Care, I have responded to the customer with his concern. The customer has written a complaint to Honest-1 corporate on May 1st @ 8:06 AM.  Received the letter from my corporate on May 1st  @ 8:48 AM to get in touch with the customer. Did call the customer few times before I got hold of the customer. Got to hear the concerns of the customer and explained the situation as was sent before. However at that point the customer was still not happy and concerned that his vehicle is not sounding correct and a tune up was recommended by my manager. Since the customer was not happy I offered him to provide a courtesy repair at my cost and also since the customer complained about dust on his car, I also offered him a FREE car wash. However the customer wanted cash for the cost of repair which I politely declined. A call log can be provided at your request. Also as per the customer, EGR was not properly installed. Any work done at Honest-1 Auto Care has a warranty of 3 years or 36K miles nationwide warranty which the customer is aware of and the same has been included in the invoice signed by the customer. If any issue arise due to the work done at Honest-1 Auto Care, we will repair the same with no cost to the customer both in parts and labor. Again the customer has not utilized the services offered. As an owner of Honest-1 Auto Care, I have done all I can to provide the best service possible. The same has been communicated to the corporate as well. The customer has also communicated with the corporate head office in this regard. Thank YouHonest-1 Auto Care###-###-####

[A default letter is provided here which indicates that the business has not responded to you directly.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
Honest 1auto care regarding complaint ID [redacted]. The owner/manager did contact me to tell me it was not his fault that the car left in worse shape than when I delivered it  to them. H1 did offer to wash my car to make amends for the poor quality workmanship and other problems generated by H1 in repairing my EGR valve. I subsequently took the car to another shop and they discovered that the EGR valve had been placed incorrectly into the system, so $500.00 later another shop and H1 did not offer anything other than a car wash because they returned the car to me with 14 days worth of filth.
Regards,
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
because H1 didnt offer a remedy to poor workmanship, delays in  providing vehicle and overcharging and continued price fluctuation. the poor workmanship is evidenced by MIDAS repair bill for correctly installing an EGR valve installed incoorrectly by H!
Regards,
[redacted]

May 20th 2015,To [redacted],This is SUDHAKAR T[redacted] the owner/president of Honest-1 Auto Care located at [redacted], Alexandria, VA [redacted]. This is in response to the customer (Omar Yasin's) complain[redacted] has visited my location 3 times. He works at [redacted] which is next to...

my business location. During the 3 visits, we have documented the details on his 1988 [redacted]. Below are the detailsJan 17th 2015-Customer had Check Engine Light which was repaired at customer's authorization. During the same time we have recommended injector #4 bad pulse pattern, Radiator leak which was declined. [redacted] was given standard 10% of labor since he is working the same shopping center. Customer bought his own part in this case. Invoice attachedMar 4th 2015 – Customer came with the Check Engine light ON, Diagnosed the vehicle initially FREE and later needed more time to diagnose. We charged 60 hrs which is $59.96 which is against the customers complain where he has said we have charged $100. During this diagnosis we have recommended EGR and throttle body. Customer declined the work. Invoice attached with deferred workApril 17th 2015 -- Customer came in on April 17th to change his exhaust system. Customer got his own parts and requested to change his exhaust system by charging only the labor. My technician removed the old exhaust (very rusted) and later tried to put the customer supplied part. Found the part was not matching to his vehicle specs. Spent around 3 hours and my technician put his old exhaust system back into his car as much as possible with no charge to the customer. At this point [redacted] requested us to change the EGR since his check Engine light was ON. He left the car and we honored the same cost what was differed on the Mar 4th invoice which was $221.35 ($121.42 for the part and $99.93 for the labor). However when we ordered the part on April 17th, the price changed from $121.42 to $173.45 and also my labor rate changed (effective April 1st) from $99.93 to $103.34. This change in price was acknowledged by the customer. My technician started working on his car. On analyzing his engine, my technician gave extra thought if it is safe enough to fix it because of the age of the car and the amount of rust built on his engine components. [redacted] works next door and he frequently visits my shop to check on the status of his car during his breaks. As usual he came the same day (April 17th at 3 pm) and my manager and my technician explained about the chance of other problems for changing the EGR. My technician said we need more time, as the bolts are rusted and there is a great chance of the bolts may snap. At this point we also declined the work. But [redacted] gave us authorization to proceed with great caution. We have also asked [redacted] to take back his vehicle and bring it back on Monday (April 20th) as the technician will be off on Monday. As [redacted] left the vehicle, my technician started working on his car on Saturday (April 18th). There are 3 bolts which secure the EGR valve (2 bolts hold the Exhaust Manifold (passenger side) and 1 bolt attaches to the Intake manifold) which needs to be removed to replace the EGR. The technician was able to remove 1 bolt which holds to the intake, but when the technician tried to remove the 2nd bolt attached to the exhaust manifold, the bolt snapped. At this point he tried to use the extractor tools to extract the broken piece. Spent lot of time extracting the broken bolt. During this process he broke couple of his extractor tools. Finally he was able to extract the broken piece securely after a long time. The technician did not want to extract the 3rd bolt, since it was more rusted then the other 2 bolts. The same was informed to [redacted]. At this point the vehicle cannot be moved and the same was conveyed to the customer. Sunday being a holiday and my technician being OFF both on Sun and Monday, my technician started to work on Tuesday April 21st. This time while my technician tried to remove the 3rd bolt, it snapped again, but this time the broken piece got stuck into the Exhaust Manifold.At this point we did not have any other option but to send it to the machine shop. Just a reminder, all this being done by charging only 1 hr labor which was agreed initially. The machine shop took around 3 days to get the broken bolt extracted. During the time when the exhaust manifold was sent to the machine shop, the machinist told us that exhaust manifold surface was warped from inside due to age. He promised to fix the issue at no cost to the customer. Hence it took 3 days to get the work completed from the machinist. During the same time, we were locating for similar bolts so that we can install the customers car at the earliest. However it was a tough task to find the right size bolts. We received a few but later found that it was not the right ones. This was really the toughest choice we made to fix the customers car. We promised [redacted] that we will have the car fixed by April 25th. But found that the bolts which were promised by the supplier did not come as scheduled on Saturday. This again threw off the schedule as the parts available for this vehicle is very rare. Finally the car was done and delivered on April 28th. The complete cost to fix the car with the bolts, gaskets, labor was around $977 approx. which was updated during his visit. However customer argued with the manager for the price difference even though he was being informed whenever he walks to the shop during his break. He threatened that he will use social media to bad mouth our business. Because of his argument, my manager reduced the cost to $456.23 with no labor cost. Invoice attached. During the same time we have recommended other works which were declined by the customer.As a business owner I have lost lot more money and time than we did justification to his vehicle. [redacted] also complained to the corporate where I have responded back to him with due diligence.Please see our reviews on my webpage www.honest1alexandria.com under[redacted] reviews are being filtered out since closed my account with [redacted]. All the filtered reviews have great appreciation to our service.Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concernsThank YouSudhakar TPresident