Steves Auto

*** *** sent her boyfriend to our shop at closing time with a head that had been worked on at another machine shop, I inspected the head and I thought it looked good and that is what I told himHe said he had been told by someone else that the finish was too smoothI showed him our machine and the finish it would put on the head and he said that was what he wanted, so that is what I did for himHe asked how much he owed us and I told him there would be no charge because we didn't have to straighten up the head, that had already been done at the shop before us, what we did was minute*** *** who is making the complaint against us has never been in our store and we have never discussed this with her except when she called the store and asked my boss to give her $for her head that we had touched only minimallyAll of our initial communication has been with her boyfriend and he was happy with what we had done even though we had told him beforehand that *** does not recommend this being doneFirstly, in *** ***'s complaint she admits that her boyfriend was told the head looked fineHowever he insisted it was too smooth and when I took him back to show him what our machine would do, he agreed that was what he wantedMs*** should have either accompanied her boyfriend or brought the head in herself to see what would happen if we did what her boyfriend wanted us to doSecondly, it is our policy to try to make our customer's happy with the job we doIt is not our policy to make their decisions for themWe did the work that her boyfriend insisted he wanted done, even against our adviceI am wondering if Ms*** has also filed a claim against the first machine shop she usedThirdly, Ms***'s demand of $from my employer would be almost robbery since we did so little to this head that we didn't even charge for itI would suggest that she call ***, tell them what her boyfriend had done to the head and see what they suggestI would also suggest she does this herself instead of sending a third party to make decisions on her behalf* ***

Customer brought a [redacted] head to us.  We told him [redacted] does not recommend resurfacing those heads.  He said the finish from another shop was not to his liking.  We told him to come in our shop and we will make the finish like he said he wanted.  We did not charge him.  We...

tried to give the customer what he wanted and did it free.  These heads are not recommended to be resurfaced but we have customers to want them resurfaced.  We tell them it is not recommended but they say do it.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this response does not resolve my complaint. Please see letter written and signed by my boyfriend, [redacted], for his account of the interaction with Steves Auto. 
Regards,
[redacted]To whom it may concern:In early April of this year, I took a [redacted] cylinder head in to a machine shop in [redacted] to be resurfaced. This shop did not resurface the head to my satisfaction — they left it rough and unclean — so I decided to take the the part to Steves Auto in Oak Hill for a smoother finish, per recommendation of a friend. Before taking the head to Steves Auto, the head's surface was too rough to put into the vehicle, but had plenty of depth left for a smoother resurfacing job (as seen in photos sent with [redacted]'s initial complaint on 4/16/2015.) Because the head was still usable at this point — although it needed a smoother surface — I did not file a complaint with the machine shop in [redacted].On April 13 in mid-afternoon, I took the cylinder head to Steves Auto to be resurfaced with a smoother finish. The employee at Steves suggested that the head at that point would likely be fine to go straight into the vehicle. I disagreed, explaining that I was looking for an even smoother finish, needed for the specialty head gaskets I was using for the vehicle. I asked if a smoother finish was possible at Steves Auto, and the employee said that yes, he could provide the smoother finish I was looking for using a machine that he showed me. It is of note that [redacted] does recommend resurfacing these cylinder heads as needed. The employee at Steves never recommended against resurfacing, and never discouraged me from having him resurface the head. He said I may not have to pay, but that he would provide the smoother finish. Trusting that the employee would provide a smooth and even surface for the head, I left the part with him. When the employee returned the head to me, I saw that the finish was not what I had asked for. It was unsatisfactory and very uneven — far from the smooth finish the employee had told me he could provide, and more uneven than it had been when I brought the head to Steves Auto. I confirmed that the employee was not going to make me pay for this inadequate finishing job, took the head, and left the shop. When I returned home with the head and was able to measure it with my tools, I suspected that this latest resurfacing may have ruined the head entirely.  The next day I went in search of a different machine shop that could give me a professional opinion and a satisfactory resurfacing, if the head was salvageable. After consulting with a machine shop in [redacted], **, I learned that the head, in the condition I had received it from Steves Auto, was entirely unsalvageable. The [redacted] machine shop (which is familiar with resurfacing [redacted] heads) said that under no circumstances could this cylinder head be used in a vehicle. The damage caused by the last resurfacing job was too great; the head was destroyed. Steves Auto may have only minimally touched the cylinder head, but in that short time they succeeded in destroying it, as seen in the "after" photos sent on 4/16/2015. I returned to Steves Auto midday on April 14 to consult with the shop about what they had done to the cylinder head. The employee who had performed the unsatisfactory resurfacing was not in, but I spoke with another employee. Upon looking at the cylinder head, this employee agreed that it was ruined and unusable. He refused to accept responsibility on behalf of the shop for the damage. When I politely tried to discuss the situation with him further, he frankly told me to leave the shop. At that point, [redacted], who owns the car and would be paying for the new cylinder head, called Steves Auto. She spoke with an employee (it is unknown if she spoke with the employee who performed the resurfacing job or the latter employee) about the situation. She called the owner the next day as well, but made no progress with either employee or owner. Steves Auto continues to refuse to even acknowledge that their employee ruined the cylinder head, let alone accept responsibility for the damage they caused. Thank you, [redacted]