Michael GVelazquez, State Farm Insurance Agent

To Whom It May Concern,We are writing this letter as a second response to complaint # [redacted] filed with the Revdex.com on January 22, The customer’s vehicle was brought to us on two separate occasions The first repair was completed on July 18, We were instructed by the customer to install a camshaft sensor and a crankshaft sensor that the customer provided We also replaced a tie rod end and a tie rod adjusting sleeve An alignment was also completed The requested repairs were made and Ms [redacted] picked up the vehicle and paid for the repairs Three days later the vehicle was dropped off at our shop again Upon examining the vehicle, we saw that the timing belt had broken This issue was a completely different issue from the repair that had been made a few days earlier The vehicle in question has an interference engine, which means that a broken timing belt can cause internal engine damage Unfortunately, there are only two ways to check for this damage One way is to re-time the engine, which involves replacing the timing belt (and water pump if needed) and then checking the engine compression The other way is to remove the cylinder heads to inspect for damage The cheaper of the two options is to replace the timing belt After examining the vehicle we contacted Ms [redacted] and told her that the timing belt had broken We gave her a quote for replacing the timing belt She said she would let us know what they decided to do We were not given permission to do any repairs at that time The vehicle was then left in our lot from that date in July until December.We allowed the vehicle to sit in our lot for all of those months without any call from the customer who had said she would get back to us about how to proceed At the time we had a $per day storage fee which we charge at our discretion for vehicles left at our facility for more than hours We did not charge the storage fee since it appeared to us that the customer may have been having difficulty finding the funds for the repair In December we contacted Ms [redacted] again At that point we told her that she would either need to do the repair or pick up the vehicle We have limited space in our parking lot and with the arrival of winter, we did not want to have to plow or shovel around the vehicle Ms [redacted] was unable to talk at length with me when I contacted her, and she again told me she would get back to me She called back a week or so later and gave permission for us to do the repair by re-timing the engine She stopped in and made a partial payment to cover the parts, which we then ordered We completed the repairs as directed on December 29, We re-timed the engine, which included replacing the timing belt and the water pump which had seized As soon as the engine was re-timed, we started it We could tell that the broken timing belt had caused internal damage to the engine The engine was running rough and had internal damage to at least two cylinders We called Ms [redacted] and explained that we had replaced the water pump and timing belt, but that we could tell that there was internal damage because the engine was running rough We told her that the internal damage would either need to be repaired or the engine would need to be replaced I believe I told her that the cheapest recourse would be to replace the damaged engine with a used one We were not told to do any additional repairs to the vehicle, so we did not Ms [redacted] came to pick up the vehicle and paid the remainder of the bill for the re-timing when she picked it up A gentleman came with her to collect the vehicle He did not come into our facility I went outside with Ms [redacted] after she paid to start the vehicle and show her that it was running rough I explained to the gentleman who was apparently going to be the one to drive it, that the engine seemed to want to stall at idle I told him that he would need to use two feet to drive it to get the vehicle to wherever he was taking it I did not explain anything about the repairs that were done or the additional repairs that were needed to this gentleman since I did not know who he was and was under the impression that Ms [redacted] was the owner of the vehicle I had already explained to her that the vehicle needed additional repairs Ms [redacted] did not contact us again, and the vehicle was never brought back to our facility.In order to respond fully to the complaint that was filed against us, we will address each part of the complaint separately First, the complaint was filed by [redacted] * [redacted] We do not know who this person is The only person that we have ever been in contact with regarding the repairs to this vehicle is Ms*** She is the person who signed the initial repair order, gave permission for repairs, discussed with us the issues with the vehicle, and paid for the repairs Based on the complaint, we are now assuming that the gentleman who came with Ms [redacted] may have been the actual owner, Mr [redacted] If so, we do not understand why he did not ask us about the internal damage that we had explained to Ms [redacted] over the phone or question our recommendation for additional repairs or replacement of the engine If he was the owner, why didn’t he say something when I was explaining how he would need to drive the vehicle in order to get it home? It is unclear to us how a third party can file a complaint, even if he is the owner, when he has never so much as spoken to us about the problems the vehicle was having, the repairs that were completed, or the repairs that were still needed If he is the actual owner of the vehicle, we were never made aware of the fact All of our invoices, repair orders, and customer information regarding this vehicle is filed under Mrand Ms*** Mr [redacted] is not and never has been in our systemThe initial complaint alleges that when Mr [redacted] picked up the vehicle, it was in worse condition than when he dropped it off This is impossible A vehicle with a broken timing belt is not drivable, so Mr [redacted] either had the vehicle towed to our facility by someone else or towed it here himself The vehicle was dropped off after hours, so we did not see how it got here, but we know it was not drivable In order to re-time the vehicle, we had to push the vehicle inside We agree that the vehicle was not in good condition when it was picked up We never claimed that it was That is why we explained to Ms [redacted] that there was internal engine damage caused by the broken timing belt That is also why we told her that she would either need to repair the engine or replace it The vehicle was not running right when it was picked up because we had not been given permission to repair the engine damage that was found after the re-timing It was, however, in better condition than when it was dropped off since the vehicle could at least be driven rather than towed off of our property He stated that “the check engine light started flashing within five miles of driving it.” We are not surprised that the check engine light started flashing because as we told Ms [redacted] over the phone prior to pick-up, the engine needed additional repair or replacement due to the internal damage She picked up the vehicle without having us do any additional work on the vehicle Mr [redacted] alleges that he was told to “drive the car like it is a manual because the car bogs down when coming to a stop.” From this statement we are assuming that he must be the gentleman that came with Ms [redacted] at the time of pick-up He also said that he did not have to drive it like this before he dropped it off The vehicle was not drivable when it was dropped off Of course he didn’t have to drive it like that before the timing belt broke, but before the timing belt broke the engine wasn’t needing repair or replacement Once the timing belt broke, the vehicle wasn’t drivable After the re-timing, the vehicle was still not running right because of the internal engine damage that was incurred when the timing belt broke If Mr [redacted] was the gentleman who helped to pick up the vehicle, why didn’t he ask me why it was running the way it was? I would have gladly explained it to him I do not know why he seems confused by the engine running poorly I would have thought that Ms [redacted] would have shared our conversations with him if he is the owner If her explanation wasn’t clear to him or didn’t seem to coincide with what he was seeing at the time of pick-up, why didn’t he ask? Mr [redacted] states that “the code that came back from the check engine light, was a few cylinder misfires, so if this was not done intentionally when they replaced the timing belt, than it shows that this place does not check over there work and make sure they did the job correctly.” Again, in the phone call after the re-timing, Ms [redacted] was told that the engine was damaged when the timing belt broke and that it would need to be either repaired or replaced We never said that the vehicle was completely repaired Ms [redacted] chose to pick up the vehicle as it was rather than doing the additional engine repair or replacement The issue is not that the repair that we were given permission to do was done incorrectly The initial repair of the timing belt was done correctly The check engine light and any cylinder misfires would have been fixed if Ms [redacted] had left the vehicle and given permission for the additional work that was needed It is not clear if Mr [redacted] is accusing us of tampering with the vehicle when he uses the word “intentionally.” We are a company that prides ourselves on our honesty and integrity We have never been accused of any dishonesty and would NEVER damage a vehicle intentionally We would caution Mr [redacted] to be careful in his accusations We do not wish to involve our lawyer in a defamation of character or libel suit, but will if necessaryMr [redacted] next states that “they gave me the car back with a dead battery basically and you would think if spending $on a timing belt, the least a company could do would be to charge a battery I have not been able to drive the car at all because of this issue.” The battery had been dead after sitting unused on our property for five months We charged the battery for several hours in order to start the vehicle after the re-timing It was still working at the time of pior the customer would not have been able to leave the property The battery may not hold a charge well after sitting for so long, but we did not replace the battery since that would have been an additional expense for the customer and we weren’t sure what the customer planned to do regarding the additional repairs needed We are confused as to why he would say that he can’t drive the car because of this issue Of course he can’t Since the customer did not give permission to repair the vehicle fully, it is not in good driving condition.The final allegation in the initial letter from Mr [redacted] states, “I do not feel comfortable dropping my car back off for them to fix this issue because I believe this may have been done intentionally because of political bumper stickers that are all over this car.” Again, we would NEVER and have NEVER intentionally damaged a vehicle All of our previous customers will corroborate this The idea that we would treat this vehicle differently because of political bumper stickers is truly ridiculous We see political bumper stickers of all kinds in the course of our work If the bumper stickers on this vehicle had offended us, we would not have allowed the vehicle to sit on our property for over five months We would have been calling Ms [redacted] constantly to have the vehicle removed or we would have had the vehicle towed to an impound lot In Mr [redacted] ’ response to our initial statement on this matter, he states that he has contacted multiple people and has found no one who states that in order to tell if a vehicle has internal damage to the engine, after a timing belt has snapped, you have to repair the timing belt to do so We would like to know who his sources are, because any certified auto technician will tell you that the only way to tell if an interference engine has internal damage after a timing belt breaks is to replace the belt and re-time the engine or remove the cylinder heads and inspect for damage This is not the case with a non-interference engine, but the vehicle in question has an interference engine Mr [redacted] alleges that we did not inform [redacted] or [redacted] that the engine had internal damage We did not speak to Mr***, but Ms [redacted] was informed of the issue over the phone after the re-timing was complete We can not say what the exact words were that were used to tell her that the engine was damaged since we did not record the conversation, but she was informed We would have no reason not to inform her We certainly would not return a vehicle to a customer with the engine in the condition that this engine was in and state that it was okay That is not the kind of business that we run We do not know where the breakdown in communication occurred in this situation If Ms [redacted] did not understand what was explained to her, why didn’t she have Mr [redacted] or Mr [redacted] talk to me? More importantly, if Mr [redacted] is the owner and was the gentleman who helped to pick the vehicle up, why didn’t he talk to me about the vehicle? When I was explaining to him about how he would need to drive the vehicle to get it home, he had the perfect opportunity to ask any questions he had He could tell at the time of pithat the vehicle wasn’t running right It was obvious If he didn’t understand what Ms [redacted] had told him or thought we had done something wrong, why didn’t he ask? We would have explained it to him, answered any questions he had, and even shown him the timing belt and water pump that were replaced He could have called or stopped in to ask us any questions or express any concerns that he had even after the vehicle was picked up I am always willing to take the time to discuss the repairs that we have done or explain what repairs are needed and why I can not think of a single customer who will not vouch for this Mr [redacted] further states “We dropped the car off not knowing what the issue was Tim’s Southside Auto was told to diagnosis the issue of the vehicle.” We did exactly what we were told to do We told Ms [redacted] back in July of that the timing belt was broken We could not tell her that there was internal damage at the time, because we could not possibly know that without re-timing the engine I have been a certified auto technician for 20+ years In that time, I have repaired several Chrysler vehicles with this same kind of engine that have had a broken timing belt In all of those cases, there was no internal engine damage I always try to provide my customers with quality service at the most affordable price Based on these past experiences, re-timing the engine seemed to be the most cost-effective way to try to repair this vehicle Unfortunately the re-timing showed that there was additional damage We understand that Mr [redacted] is upset that the vehicle still needs additional repair after so much was already spent on the re-timing We are unwilling to refund the money that Ms [redacted] paid because we are not responsible for the internal damage to his engine It was caused by the breaking of the timing belt We had nothing to do with that We are, however, willing to work with Mr [redacted] if he decides to repair or replace the engine We will apply part of the cost of the re-timing toward the additional repairs We also have no plans at this time to charge Mr [redacted] any storage fees for the five months that the vehicle was left at our facility We hope that this document addresses Mr [redacted] ’ concerns Please let us know if you have any additional questions Sincerely, Tim’s South Side Auto

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] Regards, [redacted]