United Tire & Auto Repair

Review: I needed an alternator replaced on my car. When they called me before the repair, I was told it would be brand new. When I went to pick it up I asked again if the alternator was brand new because the bill was extremely high. Two people in the shop told me that it was not new, but instead it was refurbished. I proceeded to tell them I would not pay the high price for a refurbished one, after being told it was brand new. Another man then came out and said it was actually new. I questioned why no one knew the real answer, and the women behind the counter then called me stupid and told me to leave. I gave them my card so I could leave and the company said they will just take the alternator off and I could find a new garage, because I told them I would take it somewhere else to verify if its new or used. I asked them to please run my card and I was then told they no longer take cards and will only let me pay in cash. I then called my mom because she works for the police department and a man working for the company spoke with her. He also got on the phone the place where they got my alternator from. The found out that they did in fact give me a refurbished alternator and not new. Even though they were caught in their own lie, they still made me pay the full bill. I left very insulted after being called stupid and them trying to run me because I was a young girl who doesn't know much about cars. I feel the business is very unprofessional.Desired Settlement: I do not want repaid the whole price, however, I think I should have to pay the price for a refurbished alternator since that is what I got. It was not fair to make me pay for something brand new when they didn't give me that and tried to lie about it.

Business

Response:

The customer had her vehicle towed here and our tech diagnosed that she needed an alternator. I personally called her and told her what the amount was going to be. I did not tell her it was brand new, I had no reason to. I was only given one option for an alternator from the tech because there was only one option. She complained about the price and I asked her if she wanted it done or not. I told her she could take it somewhere else if she would like to do so. Her response was that it needed done and she had no choice. She arrived to pick up her vehicle and said her dad told her to ask if it was a new alternator. The service manager told her it was refurbished. She started screaming you are liar and you're a liar, you are ripping me off and put a used alternator in my car. No one EVER told her it was brand new. She also said I am taking it to another garage to see if you put a used alternator on my car. We told her to go ahead they will tell you the same thing. We tried explaining to her that it was not used and it was new. Refurbished is still new and had a lifetime warranty. She was not grasping this. If we would have put a brand new alternator on her car it would have much more expensive. She continued to be belligerent, so I told her we were pulling her car back in and removing the alternator and putting the old one back on so she could take it somewhere else she would be happier with their service. She refused to let us do that as well. Still continuing to act like an it, and nothing we wanted to do satisfied her. I finally let her have it. Her response was "You are not allowed to talk to me like that". The way she acted and talked to us was completely uncalled for. At this point 1 had walked away from her and let another manager handle her. He tried everything to talk to her and she did not want to hear it from him. She did not want to pay for her car. He called the dealership NOT the same place we got the alternator from to see how much an NEW alternator would be, to show her how much she would pay for a NEW alternator and a NEW alternator is NOT available for the year of her vehicle. That is why we were not given the option of any other alternator for her vehicle. She finally gave us her credit card and we did tell her she needed to pay cash. We would not accept check or credit card from her. She accused us of stealing her credit card. This is just absurd! She got her mother on the phone (who was very nice and was very understanding) with the owner. He explained the situation to her. Offered to do whatever it takes to solve this problem (except lower the bill. She was told exactly what it was going to be before the work was done.} She told him to put her back on the phone and she would try to explain this to her. She said that is just how she gets and she doesn't understand. The repairs we made to her vehicle are fair and no matter where she will go for a new alternator she will get the same results she got here. There are no NEW alternators available for this car. In our 30 yrs of doing business we have never been subject to a customer abuse like this customer performed. She has been asked to never step on our property again.