My Family Car Care Center

Complaint: ***

I am rejecting this response because:Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Nick J (Service Manager) is not representing a truthful account of my experience with My Family Car Care Center. I visited their shop a total of 5 times, not 3. An oil change was needed as regular maintenance. However, this was NOT the cause of the engine stalling out as any ASE certified mechanic would know. Contrary to what Nick described in his response, I actually pleaded for him to perform diagnostic testing to determine the cause of my vehicle stalling. I was told in his words verbatim, “We are unable to diagnose your vehicle if there is no light present on the dashboard”, to which I was skeptical seeing as regardless of a light not being visible on the dashboard, the vehicle is obviously not able to function at a normal capacity if it would initially stall randomly and then more frequently. The first time I visited My Family Car Care Center, an oil change was completed. 20 minutes after leaving, the vehicle stalled again. Upon immediately returning (not with a MAP Sensor), Nick took it upon himself to toggle and fiddle around with objects, wires, sensors, valves and various other components of the vehicle’s engine in the parking lot, which then and ONLY then triggered a Check Engine light to be displayed on the dashboard. Up until this point, the vehicle NEVER displayed a Check Engine light in the history of my ownership of this vehicle. This leads me to believe that whatever Nick decided to pursue in maneuvering within the engine on my initial visit ultimately is what caused the Check Engine light to be displayed on the dashboard. Nick then plugged in a handheld Onboard Diagnostics Scanner (not an official computer diagnostics as I suggested should be done before jumping to conclusions) and was STILL unable to pick up a code except for a Random Misfire of All Cylinders and a possible malfunction with the MAP Sensor, but we BOTH unanimously agreed during this initial visit on 02/04/2020 that an OFFICIAL computer diagnostics should be performed on the vehicle, to which I made an appointment the following week in order to do just that.Upon my second visit on 02/14/2020, I arrived with the preconceived notion that I was scheduled there for an appointment to have Nick and his techs run a full and official computer diagnostics test on my vehicle to determine the issue causing the engine to stall. Nick came running out of the back with all of the spark plugs that were in my vehicle and claimed that they were the reason my car was stalling. When asked if the spark plugs were tested, Nick said verbatim, “There is no way to test them, they just look worn”. After undeniably asserting that the spark plugs are the reason for the engine stalling and that replacing all 6 of them would resolve the issue, I reluctantly agreed to his strong recommendation of a tune-up (not to mention there was not a full comprehensive tune-up completed as no calibration was performed, just new spark plugs thrown into the engine). Also, contrary to what Nick stated in his response, I WAS in fact charged for labor of this service as documented in the receipt provided to Revdex.com within my initial complaint! To say that the spark plugs were not replaced to address the issue of the engine stalling is futile, as the entire reason I agreed to have the service performed was due to Nick’s insistent recommendation that the spark plugs were the culprit to my engine repeatedly stalling incessantly. For Nick to state in his response that replacing the spark plugs were done for any other reason than to address the issue of the vehicle stalling is a downright LIE! Nonetheless, the vehicle stalled again shortly after leaving the auto shop. Upon immediately returning once again, one of Nick’s techs had to troubleshoot the handheld Onboard Diagnostics Scanner because just as before, a code could not be accessibly projected in order to determine a cause for Random Misfire of All Cylinders and Misfire of Cylinders 1-5, which could have been determined had full and official computer diagnostic testing been performed on the vehicle as we had previously agreed back on my first visit. Now, without any official computer diagnostics being performed STILL, Nick was trying to tell me that the problem “could be” the ignition coils. He gave me an estimate of $399 to replace all 6 ignition coils and said that now replacing all of the ignition coils would definitely solve the issue of the vehicle stalling. At this point, I was past the notion of skepticism and truly felt as if I had been taken advantage of due to an overwhelming lack of communication and disingenuous and falsified information provided by Nick. However, given that I was still under the impression that computer diagnostics had been performed on my vehicle at this particular time, I explained to Nick that paying nearly $400 on top of $186 for a so-called “tune-up” and $45 for a MAP Sensor that was not even showing signs of malfunction and due to extremely limited income and resources, that if I purchased the ignition coils on my own, it would be more viable than paying for their parts. After realizing that I was onto his cat and mouse game of “guesstimating” in order to charge me for parts that my vehicle didn’t require, he agreed to install the ignition coils I purchased myself and via our phone conversation on 02/25/2020, he told me to come on by that Friday anytime and he’ll install them and he’ll also check the EGR Valve since I brought to his attention that this could be identified as a potential cause of the engine stalling after going to Auto Zone for another opinion considering that no results were being achieved at My Family Car Care Center. He said that it wouldn’t be an issue and he would see me Friday.I called and arrived at the auto shop on Friday 02/28/2020 to an empty waiting room and no customers on site. He took a look at the ignition coils I bought and said verbatim “Yeah, these look like they’ll work just fine, but we can’t see you today as we’re too busy and all of our bays are full”. I was perplexed seeing as he told me to come, but in any case I agreed to schedule an appointment for the following Tuesday.I arrived on 03/03/2020 and the ignition coils were installed. I asked if he checked the EGR Valve as he had said he would and vehemently shouted, “NO, I DIDN’T CHECK THE EGR VALVE BECAUSE I’VE BEEN IN THIS BUSINESS A LONG TIME AND I THINK I KNOW WHAT TO DO”. I just replied, “Okay”, thanked him and left as he became extremely hostile and I didn’t want to engage in that aggressive, condescending and disrespectful behavior. Shortly thereafter, my vehicle stalled once again, but this time it was incredibly difficult to turn on the engine. I immediately went back and after I caught him in a string of lies by acknowledging I did some research and that there are indeed ways of testing spark plugs and ignition coils to see if they’re functional as opposed to his statement of that there’s no way to test them at all, he FINALLY admitted to me that even though we unanimously agreed to run computer diagnostics upon my first visit, which was an entire month prior to this fifth and final visit, he stated verbatim, “We never did any kind of diagnostic testing on your vehicle, but we’ll do it if you really want”, to which I was flabbergasted. I felt lied to, deceived, appalled and above all, vulnerable to the fact that I instilled my trust into this auto shop and was betrayed to the utmost extent. The first course of action that should have been taken to address the issue of my vehicle stalling would OF COURSE to run computer diagnostics. So, for Nick to claim in his response that I “refused” to have this testing done is absolute ludicrous. Also, to state that they have photos documenting the worn spark plugs from my engine at the time of service is impossible given that this service was performed nearly 2 months ago and if they are submitting photos, they are most likely from another customer’s vehicle, not mine. I contacted a representative from TechNet Professionals named, Ruben Ortiz, who contracts out with My Family Car Care Center and I was informed by him that Nick is refusing to service my vehicle any further.My Family Car Care Center should be ashamed of themselves for taking pride in their name because this is not how you treat family as they claim to treat their customers in their slogan. Nick did anything, but provide the highest quality of service to me and for that, I demand a full refund of the cost of parts and labor rendered due to negligence, misleading estimates, failure to return my original spark plugs to me and installing unnecessary parts in my vehicle’s engine that did not address the issue at hand. My Family Car Care Center violated many provisions of the Auto Repairs Deceptive Practices Regulations as well as the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Thank you for your time regarding this matter. Regards,***

Regards