Shinder Auto Repair & Auto Body

Review: I've patronized Shinder for over a year & while I wasn't always pleased with their efforts to ensure that the customer thoroughly understands the problems, they were friendly & convenient. Recently I went in because my serpentine belt was making quite a bit of noise. The mechanic put a new belt on and told me the problem was fixed. I continued to hear the same squealing sound thereafter and eventually went back when I woke up one morning and it sounded horrible. The mechanic told me that it was my harmonic pulley that had been damaged and the owners quoted the parts and labor at over $300. My friend & I did some price comparison on the spot and found that they doubled the price of parts. We brought this to their attention and they proceeded to deny and then doubled back and basically said "so what?". No longer trusting them, I took my business to [redacted]. [redacted] found that Shinder had put on a belt that was too small for my car and therefore aggravated and caused not only the harmonic pulley to break, but the censor responsible for the car starting as well. They were able to get the censor to a working state after it wouldn't start for sometime but my check engine light is now on. The subsequent work cost me nearly $230. I returned to Shinder to inform of their work, the problems caused & to request a refund. The wife said I could have a refund but that the husband was not there. When the husband return days a later [as did I] he refused to provide me with a refund & said that they put on the proper belt--this is as I'm on the phone with [redacted] who repeatedly said "No, they didn't--it was too tight to even get on" & therefore would have had to been forced on therefore bringing an overhaul of stress to the harmonic pulley and causing it to break as well as the censor. Shinder still refuses to provide a refund as well as an apology for doubling the price of the part [we end up going to [redacted] to purchase it at the regular price).Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the belt which was priced at $60. That's it. I just want my money returned for the wrong belt that they put on that subsequently caused more damage to my car.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com,

We are disappointed that we have received your letter stating that a customer has a complaint about the way we conducted business with them. We have read the customer's statement and would like to provide an explanation.

We would like to address three sections of the customer's complaint.

1. Customer Service:

a. The first time the customer came into the garage she stated that her vehicle was making a noise so we brought the vehicle in to inspect it. She stated that she knew it was the belt and so we went forward with fixing the belt only. The car was still making a very small faint noise after the belt repair. I told the customer that if the noise got worse she would need to come in and have the pulley fixed. The second time she came back the car was making more noise and the pulley did need repair. At this point the customer became agitated and it was difficult to communicate with her. She brought her friend with and they started accusing me of doubling the price of the parts which is a hundred percent false. She was confused about the price that I quoted her was which was for a new belt, pulley and labor. Any price that she found online unfortunately does not apply to me because I cannot wait five days of shipping before starting work on a customer's vehicle. All of the part prices I charge the customer are between my price and the list price as evidenced by the "Shinder Auto Repair Supplier Invoice" and the "Shinder Auto Repairs Customers Invoice". Since she was having an issue with the price of the part, we still tried to work with her and told her she could bring in her own part as well and we would charge her for labor only. Enclosure "[redacted] - Belt and Pulley Quote" shows that the job we quoted her would have cost her $298 for the pulley. She started cursing at me in the customer lobby and telling customers not to do business here. After about a half an hour she left on her own. The third time she came back she was demanding a refund and refused to leave until she received one. We were in the process of closing the garage and I asked her to step outside. She proceeded to block the driveway with her car and at this point we decided to call the police.

2. The size of the belt:

a. The customer stated that we put the wrong part size on the vehicle. We have confirmed with the [redacted] manager twice that the part was not the wrong size. Also we would like to add that we would not put a belt on that was too small because it would be extremely difficult and not worth it in any way. If the belt was even a half inch smaller it wouldn't fit on the car because the belts don't stretch that much.

3. The price of the part:

a. Enclosed we have provide ail the documents to prove that we did not overcharge the customer. The first enclosure "Shinder Auto Repair Supplier Invoice" shows that the list price of the part we used is $58.98. The second enclosure "Shinder Auto Repair Customer Invoice" shows that we only charged her $50 for the part and for labor. The breakout of the invoice is $20 for the part and $30 for the labor. Therefore the refund price should be $20 not $60 the customer is requesting. This price is the lowest price you can find in the area. We always work with this customer like this because she asks us for help and we want to build a customer base since we are a new business in the area. On a separate note, the brake service we provide is well below market price as well. Enclosed is the "[redacted] Brake Quote" showing that we charged $70 for parts and labor compared to their quote of $221.54 which is $151.54 less.

Now that both sides of the story have been told, I would like the Revdex.com to advise me what I should do in this matter. I will comply with any decision made by the Revdex.com. It's unfortunate that we have come to this predicament with this customer who we appreciated very much. In the future I will work to place processes to avoid conflicts such as this that escalate this regretful point.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.