Velde of Peoria, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/06/25) */
My name is *** *** and I'm the Sales Manaager at Velde of PeoriaOn Friday 6/she did leave her car overnight and we placed her in a Lincoln loaner while she worked with her bank on financingWhen this occurs, customers cars are placed
in the rear (fenced) area of our dealership and locked by the salesmanThose keys are kept in a secured areaThe following day she elected not to purchase the vehicle so I took her keys and went back and brought it up front (it was locked when I went to open it) At that time I said I was sorry that everything (the purchase) didn't come togetherShe drove awayA short time later she returned and said items were missing from her vehicleMost importantly was her work badgeI looked throughout her vehicle while she was there but also checked the loaner to see if by chance she did grab it and moved it to the loanerWe even instructed other employee's to walk the rear lot and even checked the dumpster (even though we knew the vehicle was locked and only the salesman and myself had been in it)I did say that I was sorry that her items weren't found but I was confident that none of our employees would do anything like thatShe did call the police to file a report and sat in her vehicle for a long period of timeDuring that wait I walked back out and offered her a bottle of waterShe thanked me but said she was fineA police officer did arrive but did not ask myself or anyone at the dealership any questionsWe at Velde of Peoria are very sorry that she seems to have missing items but we are confident that none of our employees took anything from her vehicleSincerely, *** ***
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/06/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The statement from MrBrown is wrongI not once left the parking lotAs I was waiting for my car I saw it got pulled to the front and then taken to the back againThen a couple minutes later it was pulled back to the front of the buildingThey then gave me my keys and I went out to my car and opened the door to my back seat to grab my badge for work and the box with over $in stuff was goneSo I went back inside and found the closest person and told them my stuff was missingThey then began to search but not for longThey told me there was nothing they could do so I called the police and waited in my car because I was told to wait thereI not once left the lot for the 3+ hours I was thereThe employees at Velde kept asking if I took the box out of my car and put it in another car that they were letting me driveWhy would I take my stuff? I filed this complaint because I want it to be known how this business is not professional and that stuff got stolen while they were responsible for my vehicle

Print out from identifix Direct Hit showing frequency and type of repairs related to the search term "overheating"Relevant operations are circledCopies of the invoices from MrG***' repairs.M*** ***

Complaint:
I am rejecting this response because: There are claims within the report that are falseThere was a report by the first mechanic stating what was fixed and notes for what needed to be fixedI am no mechanic, but antifreeze was leaking out of my car hours after I drove it off the lot and as soon as I opened the hood I can clearly see what area may have needed to be worked onSmoke was coming out of my car next to the right side of the engine, the same area he claimed to have fixedI am really beginning to question if they even gave it some time to run after the "repairs"I am very upset with this company because they keep trying to find someone else to blameThis five star company completely cheated me, did not want to do any interaction after I got my car back stating that all the repairs were on the receipt, after I came back with the same exact problem I had left them with (the overheating of my car) they tried to charge me moreI also had to rent a car, which through the help of them, I was able to rent one cheap for my travelsAfter my vacation, I had found morin brothers dropped me off of their insurance waiver via Hertz rental agencyNow they want to continue my suffering by continuing with these arguments instead of offering the fixThis is why I want the money backLastly, the only thing I was offered was free oil or antifreeze to go in my car which was something I already hadOil and antifreeze aren't going to bring my car backI do believe this current case is between me and morin brothers, not anyone elseAll other situations will be dealt with laterI am a full time student who is currently on summer vacationI work a part time job, will be enrolled in summer classes and is in the middle of a transfer lease to move placesMy time is very limited to deal with this matter
Regards,
G*** ***

Re:
Complaint ID 10687928
Dear Sirs,
The owner of
the 2002 Honda Civic VIN 2HG[redacted]79614 
(DEALER PLATES) came to us with a complaint of overheating and smoke
coming out from under the hood. He showed us an invoice from another shop that
indicated that it was overheating and...

that they replaced the radiator cap.
Nothing else – no notes, no diagnosis, no recommendations.
We requested
and received permission to perform a diagnosis. Our primary concern was that the
1.7L engine in these Civics have a history of head gasket problems. Once they overheat
it is often only a matter of time, often days, before the head gasket “blows”
into the combustion chamber. We performed a chemical test of the cooling system
checking for the presence of combustion gasses in the coolant and found none at
this time, as noted on the owner’s repair order. We did find that the radiator
was leaking coolant, and found sealant in the coolant, probably in an attempt
to repair the leak on the dealer’s lot. Our customer authorized replacing the
radiator, hoses, and thermostat. This is the industry standard and recommended
practice on a car with this many miles. After the repairs we pressure checked
the cooling system to verify it was free from leaks and test drove the car, as
well as letting it idle long enough to allow the electric radiator fan to
cycle.
Customer
picked up the car after hours and found that after driving it a short distance
that it had developed another leak. When he returned to Morin Brothers we found that the
water pump was now leaking. We also rechecked for combustion gasses. We provided
him with an estimate to replace the water pump and further offered contact the
seller on his behalf, as he clearly bought a “lemon”. Customer declined our
offer. Customer was clearly and understandably upset by the need for further
repairs and felt that we were treating him unfairly. We offered to provide him
with the phone number of the Bureau of Automotive Repair so he could lodge a
complaint and he declined. Customer further declined to allow us to top off his
cooling system, despite our warnings that further overheating would inevitably
lead to head gasket and/or engine damage, regardless of the current lack of
combustion gasses in the cooling system.
At Morin
Brothers Automotive we take our customers’ satisfaction seriously and spend a
lot of time and energy trying our very best to satisfy everyone that walks in
our door. A satisfied customer is the best advertisement a business can
possibly have.
With respect
to the unhappy owner of the 2002 Civic, we feel that he is suffering “buyer’s
remorse”, and that he realizes that he bought a lemon and is hoping that
someone else will bail him out. We completely understand how much stress and
anxiety a problem car like this one can cause. Having spent what is perhaps all
the spare cash he might have and then finding out that the new car he bought is
a lemon has to be extremely stressful, and we are concerned that radiator alone
did not bring his car back into serviceable condition. However, we do not feel
that we should buy him another car, which is essentially what he is asking us
to do.  The person he should be directing
his anger and frustration at is the seller of the car, not the auto repair shop
that attempted to revive it.
I have faxed
a copy of the search results we found on Identifix Direct Hit, an online data
base we subscribe to, as well as copies of the invoices in question. The search terms included the year, make and model of the
Honda and the word “overheating”. The results of the search are presented in
order of the frequency of what caused it to overheat and what fixed it. As you can
see, out of a total of 96 confirmed fixes, no less than 83 concerned the head gasket, with the radiator and water
pump coming in 4th and 5th respectively. We repeated our
concerns about the head gasket several times to our customer, and should he get
the water pump repaired, it still may have issues with the head gasket. We are
repeating this as a precaution, and would like to point out that he bought the
car with the problems it had and has, and that they did not originate with us.
Thank You
M[redacted], former owner
J[redacted], Owner, Morin Brothers Automotive