St. Helens Auto Center

Mr*** brought the vehicle into the Dealership on 08/29/customer had two concerns 1: Oil gauge not working 2: Customer requests front brakesPlease note that this a ford Fyears oldTechnician replaced the brake pads, turned the rotors and topped off the brake fluidHe then test
drove the vehicle to seat the brake padsBrakes are working to the factory specs at that time with no other concernsAs a Dealership we don't advocate up selling parts that we don't see needing replacement, such as brake calipers unless we see something wrong Customer states that after driving the vehicle for more then miles they noticed an issueCustomer states that he went to another mechanic to have them look at his concernCustomer states that his passenger front brake was smoking and hot to touchCustomer states that he called the Dealership and left a message. Dealership had no message from the customer and customer came into the Dealership the following weekWhen talking with the customer, customer stated that he broke down in Crooked river ( Terrebonne , Oregon ) roughly miles from St Helens, OregonCustomer states he took to Les Schwab and they sold him Rotors, brake pads, calibers and flushed the brake system. This is Les Schwab practiceUnfortunately they sold him a bill of goods that weren't needed but the only way they would perform the workCustomer couldn't provide old parts to Dealership so that we may see any issue with our factory parts that where installed during repair, so at that time, I apologized to the customer for any issues that he maybe having but, we would be willing to give him a $in store credit as a customer GOODWILL gestureCustomer contacted Owner of Dealership as well and the owner again apoligized for any issues that the customer maybe having but found that the Dealership had done nothing wrong at time of repair -- Ken K*** Service/Parts Director St Helens Auto Center Ford Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:StHelens Auto called me to inform me about my brake padsI did not go in asking for them to do any work before they notified me. According to the other dealership, they just replaced the pads, nothing elseThe work that was done was the bare minimum, in and out, nothing else. I did call St Helens Auto Saturday morning, spoke to someone in sales because the service department was closedThey said they would tape the note / message to the door for them to see when they arrivedAgain, poor customer service if they never received my messageBecause they were closed, I had to go to another mechanic to have them replace the caliper that locked upWhen I voiced my concerns after several calls and stopping by, the service manager told me that there is "always a chance" for the calipers to lock up on older vehiclesWell, if I would have been told that upfront, I would have had them replacedI should have been made aware of that risk from the beginning. I did not brake down in Crooked River as they statedI broke down in NW PortlandThey know this because he took a copy of my work slip from the other dealership. If they wanted to provide a goodwill gesture, they should cover the $I had to pay for their brake pad replacement because I was NEVER informed of the potential risk of the caliper locking up until AFTER it did lock up. They should also follow through on calling people back when they say they willThe level of poor customer service I received is really upsetting, this should have never escalated to this point at all.
Sincerely,
*** ***

We have reviewed the complaint filed by *** *** Mr*** did bring his truck into our shop to have the transmission checked out Due to it being an internal transmission failure the *** *** service contract has to send an inspector out to see the failure We have
to get the customer to authorize us to tear down the transmission for inspection because if the inspector comes out and says the repair is not covered under the warranty the customer is responsible for the technicians time We explained this to *** *** and she thought we were going to make her pay $up front before we did anything Dean C*** our General Manager talked to her and explained the situation further and then they made the appointment to come in and have the transmission tore down When they brought the vehicle in our technician started on the vehicle and found a technical service bulletin that says that these trucked can have a problem with the valve body with come loose and the transmission oil filter will sag and creates a hole and creates a bypass situation and it can suck air into the transmission In order to verify if this concern is present we need to removed the transmission oil pan, oil filter, make the valve body is tightly secured, install a new transmission filter and installed the pan and refill transmission This may or may not have corrected the problem When our service advisor called to explain this to the customer, he did not explain it correctly and quoted them the wrong price John our Service Manager called them back almost immediately after the phone call to clarify the mix up Jim was a new service advisor and that is why he did not explain it correctly When John called back and explained the situation Mr& Mrs*** were very upset that we had quoted the wrong price and was told wrong information John apologized and tried to clear up the mix up but Mr*** said at this point they were going to pick it up and take it elsewhere We understand there was a miscommunication about the price of the repair from our new Service Advisor Jim and we apologized to the customer and tried to explain the situation We did not tell the customer at any time there was worn components in their transmission as we never got a chance to tear the transmission apart to see what the cause of failure was We did contact *** *** when the customer came in about the transmission concern but when we found the technical service bulletin that says to see if the valve body is loose we did not call back *** *** because they do not cover components coming loose they only cover broken components We had to make sure that wasn't the problem before moving forward Also, if we have called *** at that time and told them we thought the valve body could be loose it could negate further coverage on the transmission The contract only covers broken parts, not loose or worn parts. We understand it is frustrating to the customer to have your vehicle not working good and then to have the miscommunication but we at no point intentionally tried to mislead the customer or cheat the customer in any way There are certain procedures we have to follow to verify cause of failure for the service contacts and if we had pulled the transmission apart and there was not damage to the inside of the transmission the customer would have been very upset with us if we knew we could had fixed it or try to fix it by tightening the valve body and replacing the filter After talking with the General Manager we are not going to reimburse the customer for rental for the time his vehicle was in our shop We were in contact with the customer the entire time and we following procedure to make sure the customer's vehicle was fixed properly We are sorry that it was not done to their satisfaction.If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to call or email me.Thank you, Traci N***Office Manager*** FAX

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:At no point were we told about the service bulletin. Both the time taken to make progress (none, from our point of view), and the mish-mash of stories we received are completely unacceptable.Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:At no point were we told about the service bulletin. Both the time taken to make progress (none, from our point of view), and the mish-mash of stories we received are completely unacceptable.Sincerely,*** ***

We have reviewed the complaint filed by *** *** Mr*** did bring his truck into our shop to have the transmission checked out Due to it being an internal transmission failure the *** *** service contract has to send an inspector out to see the failure We have
to get the customer to authorize us to tear down the transmission for inspection because if the inspector comes out and says the repair is not covered under the warranty the customer is responsible for the technicians time We explained this to *** *** and she thought we were going to make her pay $up front before we did anything Dean C*** our General Manager talked to her and explained the situation further and then they made the appointment to come in and have the transmission tore down When they brought the vehicle in our technician started on the vehicle and found a technical service bulletin that says that these trucked can have a problem with the valve body with come loose and the transmission oil filter will sag and creates a hole and creates a bypass situation and it can suck air into the transmission In order to verify if this concern is present we need to removed the transmission oil pan, oil filter, make the valve body is tightly secured, install a new transmission filter and installed the pan and refill transmission This may or may not have corrected the problem When our service advisor called to explain this to the customer, he did not explain it correctly and quoted them the wrong price John our Service Manager called them back almost immediately after the phone call to clarify the mix up Jim was a new service advisor and that is why he did not explain it correctly When John called back and explained the situation Mr& Mrs*** were very upset that we had quoted the wrong price and was told wrong information John apologized and tried to clear up the mix up but Mr*** said at this point they were going to pick it up and take it elsewhere We understand there was a miscommunication about the price of the repair from our new Service Advisor Jim and we apologized to the customer and tried to explain the situation We did not tell the customer at any time there was worn components in their transmission as we never got a chance to tear the transmission apart to see what the cause of failure was We did contact *** *** when the customer came in about the transmission concern but when we found the technical service bulletin that says to see if the valve body is loose we did not call back *** *** because they do not cover components coming loose they only cover broken components We had to make sure that wasn't the problem before moving forward Also, if we have called *** at that time and told them we thought the valve body could be loose it could negate further coverage on the transmission The contract only covers broken parts, not loose or worn parts. We understand it is frustrating to the customer to have your vehicle not working good and then to have the miscommunication but we at no point intentionally tried to mislead the customer or cheat the customer in any way There are certain procedures we have to follow to verify cause of failure for the service contacts and if we had pulled the transmission apart and there was not damage to the inside of the transmission the customer would have been very upset with us if we knew we could had fixed it or try to fix it by tightening the valve body and replacing the filter After talking with the General Manager we are not going to reimburse the customer for rental for the time his vehicle was in our shop We were in contact with the customer the entire time and we following procedure to make sure the customer's vehicle was fixed properly We are sorry that it was not done to their satisfaction.If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to call or email me.Thank you, Traci N***Office Manager*** FAX

We are sorry the customer is not happy with our response to his concern When MrNaes brought is vehicle into our shop we replaced the brake pads, turned the rotors and topped off the brake fluid The rotors did not need to be replaced as they were within specs and the calipers were functioning as designed and also did not need to be replaced We do not believe in charging our customers for work that does not need to be completed Calipers do not need to be replaced unless they fail as they are not a wear item Unfortunately there is no way of knowing when or if a caliper will fail When a calipers failed the brake pads and rotors do not necessarily need to be replaced It is Les Schwab policy to always replaced the brake pads, rotors and calipers as they will not warranty their work unless that is done. We have offered the customer an in store credit and he has declined that offer We will not be reimbursing him for the brake job we performed as our work was not faulty We are disappointed we could not come to an understanding with the customer We are still willing to offer the $in store credit on service work performed. Please let us know if there is anything else you need.Thank you,Ken K***Service Manager