T W G W Inc

Review: Napa employee installed the battery the wrong way in my vehicle resulting in it shorting out several parts and $649 in additional damage. I have tried to work this out with the owner, [redacted], but have had no success. He offered me $25!!Desired Settlement: $649 for the damages and repairs caused by the incorrect installation

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/07/21) */

First and foremost, we review all customer complaints and when we are found to be at fault we always make that right to our customers. Our business and reputation has been built on creating a positive customer experience for each and every customer. With the growing cost of vehicle repairs through traditional aftermarket repair facilities, many customers are coming into auto parts stores with the expectation that we can help them repair their vehicle. We train all of our employees that they are not allowed to do repairs on customer's vehicles and they are specifically not allowed to be under a vehicle's hood. Several years ago we had an employee that was admitted to the emergency room because he was inspecting a faulty coolant hose, under the hood of a customer's vehicle, and it exploded in his face. Since then, the only task our employees are permitted to assist customers with is the installation of wiper blades.

Ms. [redacted] came into our store on June 8th with a vehicle that was not running properly. From the information that we could gather it seemed as though she may have just recently purchased the vehicle. She was helped by our employee [redacted] He was asked to come outside to help show them how to install their battery. After explaining that he couldn't install the battery for her due to our company policy, she insisted that he just explain how to do it. He told her that he was only permitted to go outside to install wiper blades. She continued and talked him into coming outside to help explain how to install their new car battery. After the customer had complications installing the battery in our parking lot, she wound up calling a tow truck. She had the repairs done by a mechanic in our service area (Wilsonville-West Linn area) that we had never heard of. We asked [redacted] for a receipt so that we could maybe split the repair costs with her. She provided a repair order with many more damages than we were expecting. When you hook up a car battery backwards there are fuses that are meant to go out so that more expensive parts are protected from being damaged further down the line. The fuses were on the repair order and so was an ignition control module as well as an igniter. We question the professionalism of this automotive shop, [redacted], as well as the "hand written" receipt we were given to reimburse Ms. [redacted] from. We told her that we were willing to cover the costs of the fuses but that is all. Of course Ms. [redacted] was very upset that we were not going to cover the entire repair order but we explained this reason to her. With the compounding issues of challenging the validity of the repair order and conflicting story's coming from the customer and our employee, it has been difficult to resolve this matter. She claimed many things that our employee denies. We have no reason not to believe our employee as he has been a model employee for us throughout his employment. We also tried to look at our video system but do not have a camera where her car was parked that day. We had been expecting to hear from you as Ms. [redacted] continually threatened us that she would pursue further actions.

At this point we feel like Ms. [redacted] is trying to take advantage of our company. She should have taken the vehicle to a repair technician in the first place, but she came to us with the expectation we could fix it. How that repair actually happened is her word vs our employee's word. We are willing to cover the costs of the fuses, as we stated earlier, but we are still not willing to pay the full amount of this repair order to Ms. [redacted]. We feel as though if our employee truly hooked this battery up backwards, and we are to be held accountable for our actions, the fuses are the only parts that should have needed to be replaced. We need to be clear that our employee's story has been consistent from the beginning, Ms. [redacted] has added details with every conversation we have had with her. We always do the right thing and we are troubled with "paying her off" for the full amount because we do not feel that is right after our thorough investigation into this matter. We would appreciate your help in determining what we need to do to resolve this matter.

Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/07/23) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

First and foremost, the ONLY time I touched the battery was AFTER Mr. [redacted] had put it in the vehicle. He then handed me a wrench to tighten the cables. After I told him that it didn't matter how many times I tried to turn it it was simply too big to fit. He then took that battery out, went into the store and came back with another one and placed that into the car. When that cable was also too big he told my son "you're going to learn how to "jimmy rig" something and proceeded to put a small metal wire along the cable to make it tighter. All the while doing this I was continuing to thank him and he replied "I keep looking over my shoulder for one of the owners so if they come out, I'm changing your windshield wipers". He then tried to get the other cable on and it was too tight so he asked my son to hand him a tool "with a rubber handle" and proceeded to pound the cable on. My son then tried to start the car and of course, it wouldn't start so we ended up towing it to a local mechanic.

There are a lot of small mechanic shops that I'm sure they have never heard of but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I have asked several other mechanics and shown them the invoice for the work (including a mechanic that TEACHES mechanics at [redacted] and all have said that we were lucky it didn't do more damange and of course it could cause the damage that it did.

I came to them for a battery, pure and simple. There was nothing else wrong with the vehicle. I am not trying to take advantage of anyone. I am an extremely honest and honorable person and to suggest such a thing is insulting.

My son was also there and can cooberate the events if need be.

Thank you for your assistance.

Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2014/08/08) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

I will start by saying that original customer service has never been in question. Mr [redacted] was extremely helpful. He simply made a mistake by installing the battery the wrong way and is making matters worse by not being truthful about it. In regards to his statement about "I keep looking over my shoulder for one of the owners so if they come out I'm changing your windshield wipers", obviously the hood wouldn't be up and I would have no knowledge of when the owners are on site. He made the statement when I continued to thank him for his help and I can only guess he said it so I would know he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. In regards to the invoice from [redacted]-I would be happy to get part numbers from the owner but the invoice that I supplied is what the parts and service costs were to me. When I purchased the battery from Napa I did not request to see their invoice from their supplier on what they had paid for the part as that is not reasonable. The invoice I supplied is itemized by part and cost to me, the consumer. I don't consider the original "offer to resolve the issue" of half or the subsequent offer of $25 that were made reasonable.

Final Business Response /* (4000, 34, 2014/09/29) */

As stated before, TWGW Inc. has requested copies of receipts with specific part numbers and prices in regards to the vehicle repairs in question. Until we see such receipts, TWGW does not feel they should reimburse money without proper proof of alleged repairs.