Repair Shop Reviews

Problem Date: 9th Jan 2006
Billing / Invoice Date: 11th Jan 2006
My Car Model Number: Chevy Cavalier 2001
Invoice Number: 2306
Item Number: 102
Sales Rep: Ave
Payment Amount:$83.00
Payment Method: Mastercard Credit Card

My car had problems starting and would not jump start. I replaced the battery by myself and that didn't help either. I got my car towed to H & W Repair shop on T.V. HIGHWAY on 1/09/06

After spending a day on it Ave concluded that it was the fuel pump and quoted me $700 for it. He said he would waive the diagnostic fee of $83.00 if I got it serviced through him. He had never mentioned this diagnostic fee up until this point.

I questioned him about this fee, and he said he had thoroughly checked the car (fuel pressure, fuel pump relay etc etc) and hence for being so thorough with his tests, he only deemed fit to charge this amount for his efforts.

Since this was a big expense I decided to call the dealership. The dealership quoted $590 including labor. I called up H&W later on 1/10/06 and tried to negotiate. After failed negotiations, I told him that I might get the car towed to another shop or the dealer. At this point, Ave turned around saying that he would release my car only if I paid him the diagnostic fee of $83 and now he started telling me that there was no guarantee on his diagnostic which just hours ago he was so confident of. He even went on to say "If a doctor misdiagnoses you, you still pay him". I had NOT even thought about misdiagnosis till he himself started defending himself. I lost ALL confidence in him at this point.

I told him that I needed time to think and would let him know the following day (1/11/06). The next day without telling him, I reached his shop, called up AAA to tow my car, paid him his $83 and got my car towed to Meineke Car Care Center (23023 SW T.V. HIGHWAY HILLSBORO, OR 97123, Tel: (503) 848-3231 ). You can check my AAA records. My AAA # is 438-177-859307600-6)

After spending a couple of hours on 01/11/06, Dave from Meineke calls to say that Fuel pump is perfectly okay and its only the Fuel pump relay thats broken which would cost less than $20 to replace. He said that he did not have the part and asked me to replace it myself and he would charge me nothing since the problem was so obvious and easy to fix. You can confirm this with Dave at Meineke on the aforementioned number. I can obtain a letter if necessary. He interchanged my Air-condition relay with the fuel pump relay so that car would be in a running condition (with the air condition non-operational). Dave at Meineke as well as ANY mechanic will tell without hesitation that if they would get the car with the symptoms my car exhibited, the first thing they would check is the Fuel Pump Relay. In fact H&W have explicitly written on the invoice that they checked that besides other things.

I called up H&W and told him that his diagnosis was wrong and that he owes me a refund of $83.00. He was obviously trying to cheat me into getting the fuel pump replaced. Ave flatly refused to give me the refund claiming that I might have got the fuel pump replaced elsewhere (thereby calling me a lair) and am now claiming the $83. I asked him to speak to Dave at Meineke and gave him the phone number. He spoke to him and still would not accept his mistake and give me a refund.

You can check with AAA that the car was towed straight to Meineke (without stopping elsewhere to replace the pump) and call Meineke to check with their diagnostic.

Hence this complaint.