Metric Motors

Review: the staff were unprofessional and damaged my vehicle and did not take responsibility.

My original problem with the vehicle is that the car was not starting correctly however it was starting. on 11/06/2013 I brought my car to Metric Motors for just a quick battery assessment because that's where I believe the problem was. they told me to come back in 45 minutes and when I returned the car was not only not starting but they provided no explanation as to why. after I insisted that something be done to start the car they informed me that they did not have the proper tools to diagnose a Jeep. why was my car admitted into their service if they do not have the equipment to service it?? I was forced to tow my vehicle to a nearby dealership where they informed me that my PCM had been fried most likely from a miss-jump or a surge, something that could not have happened except in a careless shop. I proceeded to pay the dealership over $800 to order and replace the necessary part. I placed a call to Metric Motors and explained the situation, the woman at the front desk gave me a sob story about how car problems make it hard for them to stay in business. their lack of knowledge should not affect my bank account and she agreed to buy the piece for me at retail price saving me about $100. however given the amount of stress, inconvenience, and money I had to pay for their mistakes it is not sufficient whatsoever. Desired Settlement: I would like to be paid directly from Metric Motors for atleast half of the cost. that would be an additional $300 to the $100 they supposedly worked out with the dealership.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

I'll take this statement by statement:

"the staff were unprofessional and damaged my vehicle and did not take responsibility."

My staff was certainly NOT unprofessional and as we did not damage her vehicle, there was no responsibility to assume.

My original problem with the vehicle is that the car was not starting correctly however it was starting. on 11/06/2013 I brought my car to Metric Motors for just a quick battery assessment because that's where I believe the problem was. they told me to come back in 45 minutes and when I returned the car was not only not starting but they provided no explanation as to why.

Ms. [redacted] complained of a recurring poor start in her Jeep. She stated that she had to have the car jump-started on numerous occasions and thought her battery was weak. Upon opening the hood, it was very obvious to my tech that the battery cables were poorly connected. He simply tightened the cables. Upon trying to start the car, the car would turn over and not start. When my tech tried to communicate with the car's ECM, there was no connection. It was his diagnosis at that time that the ECM was preventing the car's ignition from starting the car. We explained this in numerous ways, several times. Ms. [redacted] did not understand. She was crying and rude, and kept demanding that we start the car, while repeating "I just don't understand".

after I insisted that something be done to start the car they informed me that they did not have the proper tools to diagnose a Jeep. why was my car admitted into their service if they do not have the equipment to service it??

We have the proper tools to diagnose and service Jeeps. We do not have the proprietary equipment needed to reprogram Jeep ECM's. We again explained this numerous times.

I was forced to tow my vehicle to a nearby dealership where they informed me that my ECM had been fried most likely from a miss-jump or a surge, something that could not have happened except in a careless shop.

No one forced anyone to do anything. I can't speak to what was told Ms. [redacted] except to say that I spoke to the technician and service writer that handled Ms. [redacted]'s vehicle when it arrived at the dealership. They both agreed that the damage to the ECM probably occurred due to the multiple times that Ms. [redacted] had the vehicle jump started prior to bringing it to us. There was no jump start and no surge that could have happened here prior to finding the ECM being damaged. The battery cables were tightened. That's all. We did try to jump start the vehicle after Ms. [redacted] insist that we try it and stated "It's worked every time we've jumped it before", but that was after my technician diagnosed the problem with the ECM. What's more likely, that the damage occurred while tightening battery cables, or that the numerous jump starts damaged the ECM?

I proceeded to pay the dealership over $800 to order and replace the necessary part. I placed a call to Metric Motors and explained the situation, the woman at the front desk gave me a sob story about how car problems make it hard for them to stay in business, their lack of knowledge should not affect my bank account and she agreed to buy the piece for me at retail price saving me about $100. however given the amount of stress, inconvenience, and money I had to pay for their mistakes it is not sufficient whatsover.

I am the woman at the front desk and I certainly DID NOT give Ms. [redacted] a "sob story". Really? Car problems make it hard for us to stay in business? Car problems ARE our business. I don't know what she heard or understood, but that is most certainly NOT what I said. I am only responsible for what I say, not for what she misunderstands. She was the one crying from start to finish. Cars are inconvenient sometimes. We don't design & engineer them, and we most certainly don't force people to purchase them or drive them. The service writer at the Jeep dealership said that this was extremely common among that vintage of Jeep. That is unfortunate, and I'm sure she was stressed, as she was crying most of the time. But again, I didn't engineer, purchase, drive, or jump start this car numerous times. We employ technicians that are ASE Master Technicians. They have oceans of knowledge about cars and have for over 20 years. We made no mistakes here. We talked to the dealership and they sold Ms. [redacted] the ECM at our cost, which saved her $100. We didn't have to do that, and the dealership certainly didn't have to do that. Ms. [redacted] was originally grateful for the deduction when I called to tell her about it.

I would like to be paid directly from Metric Motors for at least half of the cost, that would be an additional $300 to the $100 they supposedly worked out with the dealership.

Nope. (And supposedly?? Really?)

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

My car had never been jumped before so the bogus cover up by the unprofessional establishment is laughable. I paid the dealership the exact price they quoted me without any savings on either of their parts. Being lied to and taken advantage of is upsetting to any person in my situation so the fact that I was crying has nothing to do with the case of my car although that seems to be repeated multiple times. These people should find a profession that they are knowledgeable about....20 years of experience means that's just 20 years of terrible service and lies. After reading other reviews after leaving the shop many others have complaints about how they mistreat and take advantage of people out of town.

Final Business Response

The customer stated on arrival that she had to repeatedly jump start her car and that she felt that the battery was going bad. We have her signature on a repair order that states exactly that. That is no "bogus cover up". The dealership gave her our discount on the part - that is the amount that they quoted her and the amount she paid. In addition, they told us that this is a common occurrence for these vehicles, and that there was no fault on our part. I can get an affidavit from the dealership for that if I need to. We have neither lied to nor taken advantage of this woman. For information's sake, Alldata shows numerous Technical Service Bulletins stating issues with various control modules, electrical issues, and at least one recall that states a control module has a chance of "electrical overstress." If I felt we were responsible for this ECM going bad, I would pay for it. But it is not our fault. Period. We did not engineer, build, purchase, drive, or break this vehicle. Unfortunately, everyone encounters vehicle troubles and unexpected expenses, and these are almost always inconvenient and upsetting. I had sincere sympathy for Ms. [redacted]. But blaming someone who is blameless, and doing damage to their business, and their family, is not OK.

Review: The repair that was supposedly done was not actually completed when they told us to come pick up the car. There were loose parts left in the windshield wiper well which is obviously a potentially dangerous situation. The car also was leaking antifreeze which was not a problem before we brought it in. When brought back to have the original job completed they "found" new issues that were not a part of the initial estimate at all.Desired Settlement: My desired outcome is a partial refund of at least #300-$400. The total cost of the repairs was about $1300. The owner told me that he already gave me a discount but would not specify what that discount was, so as far as I know that didn't actually happen.