West Werks Auto

Unnecessary suspension diagnostic test, as stated yetstill performedIsuspect that something has been damaged while in the process of replacing the part as I've been informed that they had difficulty removing the Bosch starter from the vehicle.Also, I was told over the phone that I will not be charged $to get the car "back running", yet after my mother called and came from Portland worried, wanting to know whats wrong with the vehicle, they took advantage of thesituation and still went ahead and charged $That was pointless because the vehicle, as of today, is deadIt is NOT a coincidence that those problems happened right after they worked on the car.The note for our June appointment was " [redacted] Xdiagnose and repairsteering/suspension issue (tracking on freeway)." When the vehicle wasbrought in we test drove on the freeway and determined the condition of thesuspension to be a safety concernat this point we were informed by [redacted] that she had suspension repair previously performed from a collision and therepairs may be under warranty This may be the case, upon inspection wefound that many of the suspension components replaced had been sourced fromsalvage yards, and were in fact worn out[redacted] opted to contact the shop who did the previous suspension repairs.(attached are some of the recommended repairs)The first visit of the vehicle was due to rough running condition, which wediagnosed as being an ignition coil that had failed We had also notedslow cranking and suggested a battery may need to be replaced We testedit at that time and saw that it had recently been replaced and also testedgood We advised taking a closer look at why the vehicle seems to crankslowly.When [redacted] brought the Xin on June we inspected the starter motor andfound that it was heavily corroded, and causing a significant voltagedrop We replaced the starter andcleaned the connections, at this time cranking returned to and thevehicle left working correctly.A short time after we received a call from [redacted] whowas having trouble starting the car Weprovided a tow back to our shop where we inspected our work and tested thereplacement starter motor (which tested okay.) The starter motor we replacedwas not the cause of the failure, when jumped at the starter the vehiclecranked as normal The electricalconnections at, or near the starter motor were also found to not be at fault.It was at this point we started to look elsewhere for afailure, and found that the vehicle’s security module was not allowing the carto crank We asked the customer if theyhad another key for the vehicle, [redacted] only had the one key We advised without a known good key, we areunable to determine if the module is failed in not recognizing the key, or ifthe key is failed and not recognized by the moduleWe were able to bypass this key recognition module, andthe vehicle would start This verifiedthat the key recognition was the source of the problem, and not the previousstarter motor replacement This is not asystem we would have been able to anticipate failing, or cause failure of with therepairs that we did.I believe that West Werks went above and beyond for thiscustomer by paying for the vehicle to be towed, not charging the customer forthe diagnostic work on her car, providing at no charge a loaner vehicle with afull tank of gas.What would you like us to do for you [redacted] ?

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:..not charging the customer for the diagnostic work on her car.." ARE YOU SERIOUS? When I arrived on June 9th, I stated that I do NOT need the diagnostic test ($99) about my broken axle, as the vehicle is under warranty at another shopYet I was talked in to the "recommendation" and them "spending the money on inspection"
Second, charging $with the promise that the vehicle will start, yet not work properly is pathetic as it is something that over the phone, they said "they'll not charge me"
Loaner car and tow as my vehicle died AFTER work from this shop? Am I supposed to be grateful that these people destroyed my car and caused tremendous inconvenience??
It seems that they are only concerned about charging people and testing out vehicles

Unnecessary suspension diagnostic test, as stated yetstill performed. Isuspect that something has been damaged while in the process of replacing the part as I've been informed that they had difficulty removing the Bosch starter from the vehicle.Also, I was told over the phone that I will not be charged $200 to get the car "back running", yet after my mother called and came from Portland worried, wanting to know whats wrong with the vehicle, they took advantage of thesituation and still went ahead and charged $200. That was pointless because the vehicle, as of today, is dead. It is NOT a coincidence that those problems happened right after they worked on the car.The note for our June 9 appointment was "[redacted] X5 diagnose and repairsteering/suspension issue (tracking on freeway)." When the vehicle wasbrought in we test drove on the freeway and determined the condition of thesuspension to be a safety concern. at this point we were informed by [redacted]that she had suspension repair previously performed from a collision and therepairs may be under warranty.  This may be the case, upon inspection wefound that many of the suspension components replaced had been sourced fromsalvage yards, and were in fact worn out.[redacted] opted to contact the shop who did the previous suspension repairs.(attached are some of the recommended repairs)The first visit of the vehicle was due to rough running condition, which wediagnosed as being an ignition coil that had failed.  We had also notedslow cranking and suggested a battery may need to be replaced.  We testedit at that time and saw that it had recently been replaced and also testedgood.  We advised taking a closer look at why the vehicle seems to crankslowly.When [redacted] brought the X5 in on June 9 we inspected the starter motor andfound that it was heavily corroded, and causing a significant voltagedrop.  We replaced the starter andcleaned the connections, at this time cranking returned to normal and thevehicle left working correctly.A short time after we received a call from [redacted] whowas having trouble starting the car.  Weprovided a tow back to our shop where we inspected our work and tested thereplacement starter motor (which tested okay.) The starter motor we replacedwas not the cause of the failure, when jumped at the starter the vehiclecranked as normal.  The electricalconnections at, or near the starter motor were also found to not be at fault.It was at this point we started to look elsewhere for afailure, and found that the vehicle’s security module was not allowing the carto crank.  We asked the customer if theyhad another key for the vehicle, [redacted] only had the one key.  We advised without a known good key, we areunable to determine if the module is failed in not recognizing the key, or ifthe key is failed and not recognized by the module. We were able to bypass this key recognition module, andthe vehicle would start.  This verifiedthat the key recognition was the source of the problem, and not the previousstarter motor replacement.  This is not asystem we would have been able to anticipate failing, or cause failure of with therepairs that we did.I believe that West Werks went above and beyond for thiscustomer by paying for the vehicle to be towed, not charging the customer forthe diagnostic work on her car, providing at no charge a loaner vehicle with afull tank of gas.What would you like us to do for you [redacted]?

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
Unnecessary suspension diagnostic test, as stated yet still performed. 
I suspect that something has been damaged while in the process of replacing the part as I've been informed that they had difficulty removing the Bosch starter from the vehicle.
Also, I was told over the phone that I will not be charged $200 to get the car "back running", yet after my mother called and came from Portland worried, wanting to know whats wrong with the vehicle, they took advantage of the situation and still went ahead and charged $200. That was pointless because the vehicle, as of today, is dead. It is NOT a coincidence that those problems happened right after they worked on the car.

Originally,she had scheduled to have the slow crank looked at. Before the appointment shechanged her mind and I changed her appointment in google calendar to state"[redacted] X5 diagnose and repair steering/suspension issue (tracking onfreeway)" She did mention at some point the suspension (tie...

rodsspecifically) may be under warranty, but I informed her that after I drove theX5 it felt quite dangerous, and being that there are many other components inthe suspension that can wear, I explained to her that we should spend the moneyto inspect the suspension and figure out what needs repairs. After writing up aquote for the suspension repairs, she declined those services and decided toaddress the slow crank issue. Upon inspection of the starting system we found corroded connections on thestarter solenoid, the wire from the solenoid to the starter motor, and thestarter itself covered in rust. We recommended the starter as the first mostlikely culprit of slow cranking as corrosion will cause excess resistance inthe power feed to the motor and prevent full amperage usage of the startermotor, which would cause slow cranking. I quoted her the total for replacementof starter including diagnosis of suspension and starter. I stressed that thesuspension was more important due to safety concern, although more expensivethan the starter, but she stated that the suspension may be under warranty, soshe decided to go ahead with the starter replacement. We took out the starter,showed it to her and why it needed replacement, and installed the new(remanufactured Bosch) starter (a remanufactured Bosch starter is also what weremoved). With the new starter installed, the vehicle cranked better and leftthe shop under it's own power. 30 minutes later she called saying the vehicle did not start. I arranged a towtruck to come and pick the car up and bring it back to the shop (which we paidfor). We inspected the vehicle and determined the starter was working properly(from bench test and in-vehicle test). The symptoms the vehicle exhibited waspower with key on to interior lights, but no crank and no click, just noresponse when the ignition switch was turned to start. We did a series of othertests of the wiring from ignition switch to starter and power wires and groundwires to starter and engine, to key immobilizer recognition chip, toimmobilizer itself (all of which required some level of disassembly to accesswiring)(hours of diagnosis time which we did not charger her for). We were notable to finish diagnosis of the issue that afternoon before closing, so we gaveher our loaner car to drive until we could have a definite answer for her onwhat was in need of repair to make the vehicle start again. Wedetermined the immobilizer is at fault and the right way to repair the vehicleis to purchase new immobilizer and key set from BMW which would need to beprogrammed to the vehicle after we received and installed it. This ~$1600estimate (not exact) was too much and she insisted that we fix it at ourexpense as it was immediately after the starter replacement that the vehiclefailed to start and must be related. The immobilizer failure we have determinedis not related to the starter replacement and is a coincidental failure whichhappens to also cause the vehicle not to start. (A similar failure happened tothe co-owner's vehicle recently, also a BMW with the same immobilizer system,just suddenly would not start because the key chip quit putting out signal tothe immobilizer, which required purchase of a new key from BMW. There is no wayto predict this).Her parentscame up from Portland to talk to us in person and we talked with them about theissue, showed them the starter, showed them the wiring diagram and explainedwhat we found. The father understood our explanation and we suggested that wecould bypass the immobilizer and the vehicle will start, although it is not theright way to repair the vehicle, it will at least get the vehicle back on theroad and it will be a reversible procedure, and be significantly lessexpensive. He agreed to this course of action and paid us for the work. Weperformed the procedure and the vehicle starts, although admittedly notnormally, as the computer systems are aware the immobilizer is being bypassedwhile the vehicle is trying to start. She had our loaner car for two days while we discussed options and finaldecisions with her and her parents. We understand that the bypass option isstill not desirable as an actual repair and understand her disappointment withthe situation. We don’t feel we can justify paying out of our own pockets torepair an issue that we cannot link to our supplied starter or our installationof said starter.