Walkers Automotive

Review: My son was driving my 1999 Dodge Durango on March 11, 2014 on Hy 99. He develop problems with the car transmission. The car was tow to Walkers. The mechanic said that the transmission was shot and needed to be replace. They order one that had over 100.000 miles. I gave the OK, but I ask them to check the inside first, but they never did. The repair was done and the coast was $2,502.23. My son continue on his way to his destination. When he got to Kingman Arizona, the car broke down with transmission problems. He was tow to [redacted] in Kingman. The mechanic said that the mechanics never check the liquid on the torque converter, because it was empty and they never check the transmission. I would like some kind of re-fund from them for not doing their job right.Desired Settlement: A refund for not doing their job right. Half

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted]'s son's 99 Durango was towed into our shop with catastrophic drivetrain failure. The transfer case exploded and only half of it was remaining in the vehicle. When the transfer case broke it allowed the front driveshaft to come around and impact the automatic transmission and broke the corner of the case off rendering it un-repairable. An estimate was prepared to try to get Mr. [redacted] back on the road in the most economical and timely manner. A used transmission and transfer case were deemed to be the best method to repair the vehicle due to the high cost of cores for a remanufactured unit. Mr. [redacted]'s transmission and transfer case housings were broken and not repairable therefore they would incur a $480 core charge on top of the cost of a remain transmission and a $600 core charge on top of the cost of the transfer case. We were able to sell Mr. [redacted] a used transfer case for $110 dollars less than the cost of the core and a used transmission for $269 more than the cost of the core (These figures were refrenced from [redacted] Engines and Transmissions, our supplier as well as [redacted] for which [redacted] informed me this was the brand of unit they were selling Mr. [redacted]). These parts were represented as used and the inside of the transmission was checked as best as possible and the filter and fluid was replaced. Mr. [redacted] may be confused in his statement "that we were going to check the inside" the only way to "check the inside" would have been to completely dis-assemble the transmission and rebuild it which would have incurred substantially higher costs. When the vehicle left our facility it ran and drove fine during our test drive and must have been ok for some time to have reached Arizona which is approximately 14 hours away. I received a call after the vehicle had been gone for a few days and was told that the vehicle had failed on the freeway and had been towed into All American Tire and Wheel. I spoke with the service manager [redacted] and he informed me that a transmission line had blown off near a new looking radiator and external transmission cooler and caused the transmission to lose all of its fluid. He asked had we replaced these parts and I informed him that no we had not. I asked our technician if it was necessary to remove the lines at or near the radiator and was told that we did not have the lines off at anywhere than directly at the transmission. I later spoke with [redacted] and he informed me that a [redacted] shop in Seattle, WA had recently installed these parts. I contacted LKQ our supplier for the used parts, which is a nationwide auto wrecker and gave our rep the number for the shop as well as [redacted] all of our rep's contact information to secure a warranty unit. The last I spoke with [redacted] he was going to get back with me in regards to Mr. [redacted]'s vehicle and I have yet to receive a call back from him or have ever heard from Mr. [redacted] in regards to this matter until now. [redacted] informed me that the customer wanted (or [redacted] had sold him) remanufactured units from Jasper Engine and Transmission and for some reason [redacted] was also recommending to replace the transfer case for which there was no problem with. We cannot be held responsible for the used transmission failing when another shops faulty work was the cause of the failure. I recommend Mr. [redacted] contact the [redacted] dealer that installed the external transmission cooler and radiator and attempt to get some form of re-imbursement from them.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: Yes, [redacted] did work on the radiator. The mechanics should have notice the problem with the radiator, when they were working on the transmission. The Durango would have not broke down in Arizonia.

Review: Walkers Automotive of Modesto, erroneously replaced my car's radiator and thermostat, when only the engine radiator fan switch needed to be replaced.

On May 28, Walkers Automotive of Modesto, CA erroneously replaced my car's radiator and thermostat, in response to my request to them to diagnose why my car's Engine Red Warning Light was coming on intermittently. After the repairs, the Engine Red Warning Light continued to come on intermittently. I then did my own diagnosis and found that the real problem was that that the engine radiator fan switch was defective, and upon replacement of just the engine radiator fan switch, the Engine Red Warning Light stopped coming on intermittently. They charged me $613 for all their work, including almost three times the cost I could purchase a new radiator for ($88 at [redacted] Walkers Automotive mis-diagnosed my engine red light problem and needlessly replaced my radiator and thermostat, and overheated my car's engine during diagnoses testing, and damaged the car's heater hose splices. All of this cost me $613, when only a new $16 radiator fan switch was actually all that was needed to fix the problem. My car is a 1983 Plymouth Reliant. I worked with [redacted] of Walkers Automotive. I submitted my car to them on Friday, May 24. Work Order [redacted]Desired Settlement: I feel Walker Automotive needs to refund to me the cost of this repair cost of $613, less the material cost of the new radiator, thermostat, gasket and hose clamp ($254), or a total of $359.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

I spoke with Mr. [redacted] the week of the 24 cannot remember the date and have thrown away my notes because after speaking with him I was under the impression that the matter was resolved. I explained to Mr. [redacted] that the radiator was bad and prior to installing a new one we attempted to have his old one repaired to save him some money and the radiator shop called and said that the radiator was not repairable as it was completely clogged and had several tubes leaking that were not repairable. I also explained that at the time we were diagnosing his car including when the heater splices burst in our shop the fan was on and operational. After our repairs before we released the vehicle the fan was operational. We are dealing with a 30 year old car and it is possible that it may have more than one problem with the vehicle. At the time that the vehicle was in our shop the only problem we were able to find was a plugged radiator that had cold spots in it at operating temperature.

Consumer's Final Response

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

Why would I return my car for further evaluation to a business that had already misdiagnosed the original problem, and then proceeded to make unnecessary repairs that cost me $613, and still did not solve the original problem ? At this point I am asking only for a refund of the cost of the repair ($613), less the material cost of the new radiator, thermostat, gasket and hose clamp ($254), or a total of $359, which is fair.

Business' Final Response

Mr. [redacted] as I explained previously when your vehicle was in our facility the fans were operational both during the diagnosis when the vehicle got hot enough that it blew a splice in your heater hose and after our replacement of the radiator and thermostat. At no time did we find the fans not to be operational. We are only able to diagnose and repair what is broken/non-operational when the vehicle is in our facility. At the time the vehicle was here what we found wrong with it was a minor leak coming from the radiator but more importantly was that the radiator had cold spots in it indicating that the core was plugged and those portions of the radiator were not cooling. We confirmed our diagnosis when we sent the radiator to the shop for an attempted repair and they confirmed that indeed the radiator was plugged and leaking and unfortunately was un-repairable. It would have been a blessing had the fan as well acted up while in the shop and we could have repaired that at the same time but it did not. Had it we would have reccomended replacement of the radiator anyway, because the radiator was bad. As I explained previously when working on an 83 Model Plymouth Reliant with 334,000 there is a possibility of multiple things being wrong with the vehicle. It is entirely possible that the radiator was the cause of the light being on and after our repair the fan switch failed. During the time the car was here it worked the entire time and after our repair the light was not coming on and the fan was operational. After we received your letter on June 4th informing us that the red engine light was coming on my service advisor attempted to contact you on 6/5/2013. You returned our call on 6/6 and we told you that if you were still having an issue to bring the car back and we would re-check the vehicle for you. I am unwilling to give you a refund for any portion of this repair due to the parts we replaced were bad and did need replacement. Had you brought the vehicle back to us we would have gladly re-checked the problem at no charge. I would be happy to send you a check for the cost of the part that you had to replace ($16.).

Review: Last year we took our toyota pickup in for a smog. It failed,we applied for a for Gov. assistance voucher. A few months later we took the truck back and it passed after not being moved for months, we did not need the voucher. This year it failed again so we got another voucher,after they fixed the problem they charged us 166.00 for a smog and cert. This seems like a lot for a smog.Desired Settlement: I would like an explanation as to why this smog was so expensive?

Business

Response:

Attempted to contact the customer on 6/6/14 and 6/11 via telephone and left messages both times; have yet to receive a return call. Customer was charged 166.32 for the co-pay for the Consumer Assistance Program. The copay is the fee the state allows us to charge for all of the testing and diagnosis of the smog failure. The vehicle in question was diagnosed to have a bad oxygen sensor which was replaced and the vehicle was certified. The state paid for the replacement of the oxygen sensor. You can go online to smogcheck.ca.gov and look up the procedures and rules for the Consumer Assistance Program. I hope this helps to explain the charges. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me at the shop at ###-###-####