Joseph T. Berrena Mechanicals

I was referred to Berrena by another local business. I called them about my onboard RV generator which was not running properly. The woman I spoke to initially immediately told me the labor rate (a great thing), that there was a $20 check charge, and that I would be paying for their travel. I noted that they would probably need to remove the generator, at the garage, and asked if I shouldn't I just bring it there. She said she'd check and call back. She didn't. When I called again, I was told that they would come to me.

On the scheduled day, they called me at about 9:00 am and arrived by 9:30. By 9:45 they determined they would need to remove the generator, and asked if I could bring it to the garage. Somewhere around 10:00 am, they actually began work. At 4:30 I was presented a bill for 8 hours of labor (even with the "travel," more hours than spent) to open it up, clean the carburetor, clean valves, adjust linkages, change oil and spark plug. Generator worked onsite, though the throttle stop seemed to be behaving differently. Mechanic insisted it was normal. I was not happy about the labor charge, but with the repair supposedly completed, I was ready to move on.

I drove 10 miles to my campsite, and attempted to start the generator, which started very rough and then "ran" incorrectly, surging and revving, and then shutting off. I called the mechanic's cell phone by mistake, which to his credit he answered after hours to tell me I could make a manual adjustments to the throttle to keep it running until it could be addressed.

When I returned with it, after having to explain why I wouldn't pay more for them to fix the problem, and after telling them two other people who had listened to it thought there was still a carburetor issue, the mechanic informed me that he had made the same throttle adjustments as he had the first time; and when I asked why I should expect a different outcome, he had no answer. Again, it worked onsite. Again I drove 10 miles to find that it would not run properly and that I had to adjust the throttle manually to keep it running at all.

I brought it back a third time to be informed that for another $300 in parts (including the carburetor) and "only" another hour in labor, they would repair this. When I stated I would not be paying any more labor, they said they would waive that. However, as I now had no confidence in the outcome, I requested a refund of all but the oil change and spark plug, as I assumed these had been done correctly, although these were only done secondarily since they were already working on it. I was told the charge was $250 and was refunded the difference.

I took the generator to another shop. They did replace the carburetor (and said they would have done so initially). I watched the tech check the oil, which was beneath the “low” mark on the dipstick, estimated a third low, and dirty enough that it was unclear whether the oil was in fact changed. There was no evidence of leakage. It was also not clear whether the spark plug was new. They found valves out of adjustment and leaking, the spring for the throttle stop not seated correctly (the behavior I noted and was told was “normal”), and linkages out of adjustment. (They found another unrelated issue and repaired that as well.) The generator has worked perfectly since they finished with it.

I returned to Berrena, noting that the oil change they charged me for was either not done or done incorrectly, and requested a refund of the remaining $250. I was refused. The service manager told me he saw the tech do it properly, and asked how low the oil was, noting that the generator "takes 2 quarts of oil." It does not, and their invoice only noted one quart, so apparently his statement that he watched his technician do it was false. I was told that "no one is here to authorize a refund anyway." I left them paperwork showing their invoice, and the new invoice showing the things from their "repair" that had to be corrected, and a note explaining my request for a refund. A week later I have heard nothing from them.
I write to ask your assistance in getting a refund of the $250 retained for an oil change that apparently was either not done or was done improperly.