November 4, 2016Revdex.com To Whom It May Concern: *** *** came to Master Tech Auto Repair on October 5, and asked us to diagnose intermittent noise coming out of her vehicle’s engine. This noise was only present approximately one minute on cold morning startups. When Ms*** and I, Ari G***, road tested the vehicle, no abnoises were heard. This means the noise Ms*** asked us to diagnose was an intermittent and difficult to diagnose noise. Ms*** left the vehicle with us. Our mechanic started the vehicle the following morning. We used a stethoscope and heard a loud noise coming somewhere between the flex plate and the starter, where they intersect. Because the noise was coming out of the intersection between these two parts it was impossible to know which was part was bad; the starter or the flex plate. I did inform Ms*** of the possibility of needing a flex plate At this point I let client know we would need to remove the starter and if we did not see/find an obvious fault in the flex plate we would replace the starter and retest. Ms*** was given the cost of this repair. Ms*** gave me authorization to remove the starter and diagnose. However, the following day when I called her to let her know we had removed the starter and no obvious faults were evident with the flex plate and were about to replace the starter, around 1:pm as she states, she said to wait on that until she could speak with her husband. At this point I had the starter out of the vehicle and waited until Mr*** arrived. When Mr*** arrived, he sat in my office and gave me authorization to replace the starter. I ask if we could keep the vehicle overnight to retest and see if the noise was still present when starting the vehicle. The following morning, Friday, when we started the vehicle, the intermittent knocking noise was no longer present Ms*** came to repair shop on Thursday, the following week, stating the noise was still present. I asked her if she could leave the vehicle, and she did. We retested the following morning and the noise was present. At that point, I told Ms*** we needed to remove the transmission and replace the flex plate. She asked me if I thought the recent transmission replacement could have caused damage to the flex plate during the transmission rebuild. I told her it was possible but there would be no way to find out until after the transmission was removed. I recommended she speak with the transmission shop that rebuilt her transmission to see if they would give her a break on the price to replace the flex plate. Judging from her letter, the transmission shop was going to charge more than the $Master Tech Auto Repair was going to charge her. In addition, we did offer client a $discount off the $price for a total of $plus tax. Ms*** now wants a full and complete refund. We would like to offer to perform the repair of the flex plate at $plus tax, minus the $423.18, which is the labor and the part for the starter replacement on RO *** With this offer there would no longer be a warranty on the starter. Sincerely, Ari G***
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response. I took my vehicle into Master Tech on 10/5 but only to be diagnosed and get and estimate for how much it would be to fix. Ari did contact me around 1 pm on 10/6 to let me know about the starter and his recommendations on how to move forward and the cost to replace the starter. I told him I would have to discuss that with my husband because of the price quoted and the fact that if the replaced starter did not fix the problem we would still have to pay for something that did not need to be replaced, no matter how old the part may have been. Ari's response was that they were on a time crunch and at this point there no sense in not replacing it because of all the labor they had already put into it. That is why I took the vehicle to him in the first place, to pay him to find out what is wrong and to get a price to fix it. By the time my husband got out of work 3 pm that same day and went over to Master Tech Ari had already replaced the starter without us giving him permission to do so. My husband and I picked up the vehicle on Friday at a final cost of $472.11. It sat parked until Tuesday morning when I took my kids to school and I noticed the noise again but worse. We did not have time to get the vehicle back to Master Tech until Thursday. Ari contacted my husband that same day to let him know the new cost to repair the flex plate which was $869 +tax. My husband asked Ari about a refund or discounted price as was discussed before if the starter didn't fix the problem and Ari told him that wasn't possible but that he would give us $150 shop credit towards future work done at Master Tech. We definitely could not afford this new price, especially after just spending nearly $500 a few days before on something that didn't need to be replaced, so my husband made it clear not to do any more work to it and we went to pick it up. We found the receipt for the rebuilt transmission and saw that it was still under warranty. We took it into [redacted] Transmission that same day hoping that the flex plate would be covered under the warranty, it wasn't. We were given an estimate and they worked with us on their price and were able to match the price from Master Tech. Again, after spending nearly $500 at Master Tech we didn't have the money to pay for anymore repairs so we had to decline service there as well. I asked if it is a safety concern since that is the vehicle I mainly use and I usually have my kids with me in the vehicle. He said not at this time but the noise will get worse/louder before it will give out and can cause damage to the rebuilt transmission when it fails. The noise was already much worse that Tuesday when we first drove it again, and has since gotten louder and more frequent. I still have to use it to take and pick up my kids from school, but that is only 6 miles away from our house, I do not trust it to take it back and forth to work or into town in general to run errands (we live 20 minutes south of town). My husband and I have never filed a complaint against any business ever, nor do we go out looking for businesses to swindle into getting free work from them. We pay for services rendered like we planned to do with Master Tech when I took our vehicle to be diagnosed. Had he have come to us with a written estimate of what he needed to do, like first replace the starter for X amount, if that doesn't work we'll have to go back in for X amount more and so on and so on, we wouldn't be in this situation. We were told about it possibly being the flex plate, but were never given a price for that prior to Ari installing the starter. Would we have gotten the work done right away that day? Probably not, but we would have paid him for his labor in diagnosing it, and when we were financially able we would have taken it back to Master Tech so he could fix it. Instead Ari decided to install the part without being told to putting us in a financial and scheduling bind until we are able to get the vehicle repaired. That is the biggest problem I have with this whole situation. I am not disputing that the noise wasn't there before we took it in, it was. that was the whole reason I took it to be looked at in the first place. It was drive-able however, and the noise was not nearly as bad as when we got it back. This has disrupted our lives significantly. I feel Master Tech should at least offer a full refund if he doesn't want to fix the flex plate. We did not give him permission to install the piece in the first place and should not be responsible for that cost.Best Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]
To Whom It May Concern:I have attached 2 repair orders for [redacted]'s 2002 Ford Expedition. RO # [redacted], dated 10/7/2016, was the first time we saw Ms. [redacted]'s vehicle. It came in for a ticking noise. We diagnosed the noise, using a stethoscope, as coming from the starter....
After replacing the starter, with a 2 year or 24,000 mile warranty starter, we retested the following morning and the noise was no longer present. RO #[redacted], dated 10/13/2016, was the second time we saw Ms. [redacted]'s vehicle. Client stated the vehicle was again making a ticking noise. We noted on RO #[redacted] that the noise had indeed come back. We recommended removing the transmission and inspecting it for a damaged transmission flex plate. Client declined further diagnostics and repair work needed to pinpoint the noise. We suspect that the transmission flex plate is cracked and is causing the noise that client is hearing, but without removing the transmission to gain access to the flex plate we are unable to verify the diagnosis at this time. We are sorry that client is unhappy with our service. Replacing the starter was a necessary first step towards pinpointing this hard to diagnose and intermittent noise that the client originally brought the vehicle in for, on 10/3/2016. We are willing to refund client the labor that we charged her on RO #[redacted]. Refund of $190.00 + tax = $205.80. The starter that we replaced was the original starter on the vehicle, which had 214,966 miles on it and was a necessary component in diagnosing the vehicle, therefore we don't feel that we should refund the part.It is important that client understand that the noise was there prior to replacing the starter. And replacing the starter did not cause the noise nor the flex plate to break. The flex plate was likely broken when the transmission was replaced 18 months ago by a different auto repair shop. We believe the damages that client is seeking are excessive and client is looking for Master Tech to repair her original noise complaint issue for free. Please let us know Ms. [redacted]'s response. Thank you,Ari G[redacted]Master Tech Auto Repair, Inc.
November 4, 2016Revdex.com To Whom It May Concern: *** *** came to Master Tech Auto Repair on October 5, and asked us to diagnose intermittent noise coming out of her vehicle’s engine. This noise was only present approximately one minute on cold morning startups. When Ms*** and I, Ari G***, road tested the vehicle, no abnoises were heard. This means the noise Ms*** asked us to diagnose was an intermittent and difficult to diagnose noise. Ms*** left the vehicle with us. Our mechanic started the vehicle the following morning. We used a stethoscope and heard a loud noise coming somewhere between the flex plate and the starter, where they intersect. Because the noise was coming out of the intersection between these two parts it was impossible to know which was part was bad; the starter or the flex plate. I did inform Ms*** of the possibility of needing a flex plate At this point I let client know we would need to remove the starter and if we did not see/find an obvious fault in the flex plate we would replace the starter and retest. Ms*** was given the cost of this repair. Ms*** gave me authorization to remove the starter and diagnose. However, the following day when I called her to let her know we had removed the starter and no obvious faults were evident with the flex plate and were about to replace the starter, around 1:pm as she states, she said to wait on that until she could speak with her husband. At this point I had the starter out of the vehicle and waited until Mr*** arrived. When Mr*** arrived, he sat in my office and gave me authorization to replace the starter. I ask if we could keep the vehicle overnight to retest and see if the noise was still present when starting the vehicle. The following morning, Friday, when we started the vehicle, the intermittent knocking noise was no longer present Ms*** came to repair shop on Thursday, the following week, stating the noise was still present. I asked her if she could leave the vehicle, and she did. We retested the following morning and the noise was present. At that point, I told Ms*** we needed to remove the transmission and replace the flex plate. She asked me if I thought the recent transmission replacement could have caused damage to the flex plate during the transmission rebuild. I told her it was possible but there would be no way to find out until after the transmission was removed. I recommended she speak with the transmission shop that rebuilt her transmission to see if they would give her a break on the price to replace the flex plate. Judging from her letter, the transmission shop was going to charge more than the $Master Tech Auto Repair was going to charge her. In addition, we did offer client a $discount off the $price for a total of $plus tax. Ms*** now wants a full and complete refund. We would like to offer to perform the repair of the flex plate at $plus tax, minus the $423.18, which is the labor and the part for the starter replacement on RO *** With this offer there would no longer be a warranty on the starter. Sincerely, Ari G***
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response. I took my vehicle into Master Tech on 10/5 but only to be diagnosed and get and estimate for how much it would be to fix. Ari did contact me around 1 pm on 10/6 to let me know about the starter and his recommendations on how to move forward and the cost to replace the starter. I told him I would have to discuss that with my husband because of the price quoted and the fact that if the replaced starter did not fix the problem we would still have to pay for something that did not need to be replaced, no matter how old the part may have been. Ari's response was that they were on a time crunch and at this point there no sense in not replacing it because of all the labor they had already put into it. That is why I took the vehicle to him in the first place, to pay him to find out what is wrong and to get a price to fix it. By the time my husband got out of work 3 pm that same day and went over to Master Tech Ari had already replaced the starter without us giving him permission to do so. My husband and I picked up the vehicle on Friday at a final cost of $472.11. It sat parked until Tuesday morning when I took my kids to school and I noticed the noise again but worse. We did not have time to get the vehicle back to Master Tech until Thursday. Ari contacted my husband that same day to let him know the new cost to repair the flex plate which was $869 +tax. My husband asked Ari about a refund or discounted price as was discussed before if the starter didn't fix the problem and Ari told him that wasn't possible but that he would give us $150 shop credit towards future work done at Master Tech. We definitely could not afford this new price, especially after just spending nearly $500 a few days before on something that didn't need to be replaced, so my husband made it clear not to do any more work to it and we went to pick it up. We found the receipt for the rebuilt transmission and saw that it was still under warranty. We took it into [redacted] Transmission that same day hoping that the flex plate would be covered under the warranty, it wasn't. We were given an estimate and they worked with us on their price and were able to match the price from Master Tech. Again, after spending nearly $500 at Master Tech we didn't have the money to pay for anymore repairs so we had to decline service there as well. I asked if it is a safety concern since that is the vehicle I mainly use and I usually have my kids with me in the vehicle. He said not at this time but the noise will get worse/louder before it will give out and can cause damage to the rebuilt transmission when it fails. The noise was already much worse that Tuesday when we first drove it again, and has since gotten louder and more frequent. I still have to use it to take and pick up my kids from school, but that is only 6 miles away from our house, I do not trust it to take it back and forth to work or into town in general to run errands (we live 20 minutes south of town). My husband and I have never filed a complaint against any business ever, nor do we go out looking for businesses to swindle into getting free work from them. We pay for services rendered like we planned to do with Master Tech when I took our vehicle to be diagnosed. Had he have come to us with a written estimate of what he needed to do, like first replace the starter for X amount, if that doesn't work we'll have to go back in for X amount more and so on and so on, we wouldn't be in this situation. We were told about it possibly being the flex plate, but were never given a price for that prior to Ari installing the starter. Would we have gotten the work done right away that day? Probably not, but we would have paid him for his labor in diagnosing it, and when we were financially able we would have taken it back to Master Tech so he could fix it. Instead Ari decided to install the part without being told to putting us in a financial and scheduling bind until we are able to get the vehicle repaired. That is the biggest problem I have with this whole situation. I am not disputing that the noise wasn't there before we took it in, it was. that was the whole reason I took it to be looked at in the first place. It was drive-able however, and the noise was not nearly as bad as when we got it back. This has disrupted our lives significantly. I feel Master Tech should at least offer a full refund if he doesn't want to fix the flex plate. We did not give him permission to install the piece in the first place and should not be responsible for that cost.Best Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]
To Whom It May Concern:I have attached 2 repair orders for [redacted]'s 2002 Ford Expedition. RO # [redacted], dated 10/7/2016, was the first time we saw Ms. [redacted]'s vehicle. It came in for a ticking noise. We diagnosed the noise, using a stethoscope, as coming from the starter....
After replacing the starter, with a 2 year or 24,000 mile warranty starter, we retested the following morning and the noise was no longer present. RO #[redacted], dated 10/13/2016, was the second time we saw Ms. [redacted]'s vehicle. Client stated the vehicle was again making a ticking noise. We noted on RO #[redacted] that the noise had indeed come back. We recommended removing the transmission and inspecting it for a damaged transmission flex plate. Client declined further diagnostics and repair work needed to pinpoint the noise. We suspect that the transmission flex plate is cracked and is causing the noise that client is hearing, but without removing the transmission to gain access to the flex plate we are unable to verify the diagnosis at this time. We are sorry that client is unhappy with our service. Replacing the starter was a necessary first step towards pinpointing this hard to diagnose and intermittent noise that the client originally brought the vehicle in for, on 10/3/2016. We are willing to refund client the labor that we charged her on RO #[redacted]. Refund of $190.00 + tax = $205.80. The starter that we replaced was the original starter on the vehicle, which had 214,966 miles on it and was a necessary component in diagnosing the vehicle, therefore we don't feel that we should refund the part.It is important that client understand that the noise was there prior to replacing the starter. And replacing the starter did not cause the noise nor the flex plate to break. The flex plate was likely broken when the transmission was replaced 18 months ago by a different auto repair shop. We believe the damages that client is seeking are excessive and client is looking for Master Tech to repair her original noise complaint issue for free. Please let us know Ms. [redacted]'s response. Thank you,Ari G[redacted]Master Tech Auto Repair, Inc.