ComplaintsforHardey's Motorwerks, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I brought my 2011 Audi A3 Quattro to Hardeys. My car had 100k miles, ran fine but had no heat. I brought the car in to fix the heater core, DSG fluid change, & for a timing chain replacement. the final bill came out to $4800. After getting the car back my CEL came on within 5 miles of driving away. The next day it was having a hard time starting, so I decided to replace the spark plugs & ignition coils as further preventative maintenance. Upon opening the hood, I found many coolant hose clamps not connected, disconnected vacuum lines, screws missing, & over filled coolant. **** miles after having the car back I noticed an oil leak developing near the upper timing chain cover where they had done ********* dash indicated a coolant leak.The next day ****** called to inform me that my timing chain cover was cracked & that it would need to be replaced for $300. I stated that I should not have to pay for that repair because they just completed the timing chain ******* could visibly see where they over torqued the bolts causing the gasket not to be flush. He said he didnt want to make excuses for their previous bad work & that he would talk to ****** about taking care of it. They did replace the cover for free & I was informed that ****, the mechanic who did my work, no longer worked for the company. Regarding my coolant leak, supposedly my car developed a leak from the turbo coolant hose which was hard & conveniently expensive to replace. He quoted me $500 for this repair & when it was all said & done he actually ended up charging me nearly $800 & wouldnt honor his previously quoted price. They informed me that my rear main was leaking & would require an additional $2400 to fix. Up until I brought my car back to have them rectify their work, my car never used any oil nor leaked any oil on my assigned parking spot. Now that I have my car back, it is using 1 quart per day & is leaking all over the place.

  

  Business response

  02/02/2023

  Good afternoon.

    ****** has been a tough customer.  Certainly not comparable to our many many clients over the last close to two decades of service.  To say I have never had any mechanics, myself or other employees do anything wrong that has resulted in our no complaints would be false.  Many many times we have failed and let people down.  However, given the opportunity to make it right, I always do.  That is why we have had no complaints

    ******** car arrived with a used engine in it with ********** plates.  The vehicle was barely running, in hindsight I wish we would have turned it away. He joked that he was able to make it here, barely, all the way from **********. 
  

    We made some recommendations, most of which he declined.  He just wanted the car to limp him though he said.  We did the work.  He complained.  He never brought it back for us to reinstpect.  The employee that worked on ******** car no longer works here due to what ****** texted he found after the work was performed in October.
  

    Finally in February ****** brought the car back after ***** miles of 'limping it'.  Coolant and oil were leaking from new spots.  I goodwill repaired everything we previously touched and he happily paid to fix one other leak, but declined repairs on the oil leak. 

    I did not read Morgans complaint.  I am fully aware of his story.  In fact ****** has been holding this "I may leave a bad review" above me for five months.  I am happy with the service we provided him in the end.  I am also happy to never work with ****** again.   I also am fully aware of the steps I took after letting ****** down in October as well as the steps I took in February to make it right. 

  -******

  -******

   
  

  Customer response

  02/09/2023

  Complaint: 18967964?
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  When I received the car back from my original repair none of the coolant lines were clamped down, the coolant was overfilled, and there were lots of things left loose. This was a result of a now defunct employee being in a rush and doing a sloppy job. I originally contacted ****** about my concerns post repair and he did indeed tell me to bring it back in so he could talk to his staff about it. I sent him pictures showing all of the loose ends that I could see. My email stated:
  
  Car is running good, however I went under the hood today to change the spark plugs and ignition coils. I found some sloppy work left over from your team who replaced my timing chain and heater core. I found lots of loose screws, missing vacuum lines, coolant over filled and clamps not connected on the hose lines.
  
  For $5k i expected to see professional clean work. It seems whoever did the work rushed and didnt double check their work.
  
  Ive attached a few pictures but there were a few other things loose and or missing under there that I didnt document. The coolant being over filled seems pretty ridiculous to me.
  
  He responded:
  
  Hey ************* 
    I agree.  Is there a time you can stop in and I will address these problems directly with the guys? 
  
  -******
  
  To which I responded:
  
  Hey man,
  
  Its a long ways out of the way for me to drive down there. I addressed most of it already except I havent drained the excess coolant. Im gonna check the oil later today too to see if that was also overfilled. There was about ten clamps and screws that werent tightened or connected. Literally coolant lines slipped on but not fastened and thats just what I can see. Who knows whats going on below the surface.
  
  - ******
  
  As I stated in my email, I chose to fasten the coolant lines myself. I also stated that I was more concerned with what I couldn't see going on below the surface. In the original pictures that I sent on my 1st follow up email to ****** you can already see the oil leaking from the upper timing chain cover. 
  
  After driving the car for a few thousand miles (2-3k) the oil leak on the upper timing chain cover became more apparent and I contacted ****** to schedule a time to bring it back in. I scheduled it a week out, as I didnt believe that it  was a major issue. Later that day, my car started to display a low coolant notification on the dash, which could indicate a serious problem, so I called them and drove it back for immediate diagnosis under his advertised "2 year 24k mile warranty." They were closing when I arrived, so I dropped it off and took a $59 uber ride back to my house in the snow. 
  
  As I mentioned in my original BBB complaint, ****** and ****** (who was listed as the mechanic on my invoice) agreed that the work was sloppy and unacceptable. They also informed me that **** was the mechanic who had performed the work and that they should NOT have returned my vehicle to me without looking over his repairs. They also stated that he was no longer with the company because of his performance. They informed me that the oil was indeed leaking from the upper timing cover which was cracked during the repair of my timing chain. They originally quoted me $300 to replace the part, but eventually agreed to replace it under warranty because it was related to my previous repair and should have been caught before returning me my vehicle. This part of this visit seemed acceptable to me as they did "make it right" like they promised, or so I thought. 
  
  Regarding my coolant ********************* informed me that my car had sprung a coolant leak on a hard to reach line that connects to my turbo. ****** verbally quoted me $500 to do the work, which I believed was fair considering he told me it was unrelated to my previous heater core job. I asked him to double check the coolant lines and the heater core repair for leaks, as they had repaired my heater core which is a technical repair related to the cooling system. They had previously quoted to replace my turbo and it seemed all too convenient that this was now the cause of my coolant leak. It seemed that if my timing chain was done by an inexperienced mechanic it was likely my heater core was also improperly repaired. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, even though a leak from this coolant line seemed incredibly uncommon which ****** even stated himself.  I had no reason not to trust them up to this point, although it seemed like they could be creating a problem to cover up their mistakes and charge me for coming back in there.  
  
  I started to really get skeptical when they also informed me that my car was now leaking engine oil from the rear main seal. The quoted me an additional $2400 to fix this. At this point I started feeling as though they were starting to play games and take me for a ride. When I brought the car in I was only aware that I had an oil leak from the upper timing chain cover. I had not had to add oil at fuel stops nor had I ever seen any leaks on my assigned parking spot at home. I had driven the car to the mountains a few times and had never noticed that the car was leaking, burning or ever low on oil. I brought the car in for them address the visible oil leak on the timing chain cover. I declined the rear main seal repair because I no longer had trust in their shop. I paid their $780 bill, for the coolant leak, and picked up my car after hours. I was never given a written estimate for the turbo coolant line repair, nor did I ever authorize this repair in any written form. I paid the bill which came in nearly $280 over their verbal quote, because I am an honest person and I then drove it home. 
  
  The following day I jacked up the car up and did indeed see that the car was now leaking oil from around rear main seal. I also noted that there was oil leaking from the lower timing chain cover. That being the case, I scheduled an appointment with a reputable shop to review the previous work done on my vehicle. The mechanics at ******************** sent me a detailed inspection report with many pictures. They noted that the oil was indeed leaking from my rear main seal, but even more oil was leaking from the lower timing chain cover. I asked how much oil was coming from the rear main seal vs the timing chain cover and they said it was 40% rear main / 60% timing chain. They stated that it appeared that the lower cover had been installed improperly and was indeed leaking oil. 
  
  This confirmed my fear that ******** team failed to diagnose their faulty repair and/or chose to be dishonest about the leak coming from the previous employees job. I firmly believe that the lower cover was not properly installed, just like the upper cover that they cracked and overtightened causing damage to the gasket. 
  
  After receiving this information w/ pictures and report from ******************** I reached out to ****** for some follow up. ****** did take my call and was rather defensive. I told him what was found from the other shop. He responded by telling me that I could take it back to his shop to have it addressed under warranty. I told him that I was no longer comfortable having them work on my vehicle. He then informed me that I could take the car to any Tech Net shop to have it repaired under his a nationwide warranty. I told him I would rather have it fixed at ******************** but asked him to give me a list of the shops that I could take it to. He responded, "I don't want to work on your car and I don't want to refer you anywhere else because I don't like you". I responded that I felt his response was unacceptable seeing as how he already acknowledged that there were problems with the employee who did the work and that it was leaking from his repair. He responded, "Fine have them bill me and I will pay for the repair with my credit card." I responded can I get that in writing via email. He then responded I don't want to talk to you anymore and hung up. I called the other shop and authorized the repairs out of pocket. I then tried to call ****** back at the shop and his phone # stated that he was no longer accepting calls from my phone number.  He completely blocked my ability to communicate with him to facilitate the necessary repairs. 
  
  I believe that their repairs were not done properly. I also believe that they damaged my turbo coolant line to justify the additional $780 repair. I also believe that they did something to cause the new oil leak from my rear main seal to cover up the necessary repairs that they failed to mention on their faulty timing chain job. 
  
  ****** stated in his response that my car "Barely made it from **********" to which I would respond that I had a CEL for my Turbo that doesn't cause any issues pertaining to drivability. The waste gate doesn't close all the way and it drives just fine with that P0299 code. His mechanics quoted me several thousand dollars to replace the turbo, but also told that it wasn't necessary and to drive it just the way it was. My main complaints when I brought in the vehicle was the lack of heat from the heater core and wanting to do the timing chain so the car would continue to get me to the ski slopes. This is why I had them fix the heat, change the transmission fluid, & do the timing chain which were scheduled preventative maintenance. None of the other issues they quoted me to fix justified his claim that my car was "Barely Running." That is a gross misrepresentation of my vehicles condition when I brought it in for these repair. 
  
  ****** also states in his response: that the employee who worked on my car "no longer works there due to what I found after he worked on my vehicle". This further acknowledges that there were issues with the work they did on my car. He stated "that he goodwill repaired everything we previously touched" however this is obviously not the case as there is oil visibly leaking from the lower timing chain cover which they failed to acknowledge or repair. 
  
  ****** states he did not read my complaint and that I have been holding the fact that "I didnt leave them a bad review" over his head. They did send me an automated follow up text message which I responded to and have attached. I gave them a chance to respond, which they chose not to. Then the next day after thinking it over I chose to open this complaint and leave them a bad review. 
  
  The bottom line is I took my car to ******************** for a second opinion, where they have confirmed that the timing chain repair is indeed leaking oil. Replacing the upper cover, which ****** did for free, was not the only required fix to their repair and ****** Motorwerks did not fully fix or notate the problems with their work.
  
  I also agree that I do have a new leak in my rear main seal, which is not specifically related to the previous repair. I am not asking to be compensated for this repair, however convenient and questionable its timing may be. 
  
  I ask for either a full refund for the cost of the timing chain replacement or for them to fully cover the final cost of diagnosing the leak, rectifying the leaking timing chain cover, and half the cost of cleaning up the underbody of my vehicle. 
  
  I am shocked by the lack of professionalism from a company with 17 years of service and seemingly good reviews. The way my complaint has been handled by ****** seems both unfair and unreasonable. When I reached out to his follow up text message I was being completely honest and fair. I really wanted to like his shop and be satisfied with his companies performance. I know he is a VW / Audi fanatic like myself. Up until having spoken with him after the diagnosis from the other shop, I thought he was a fair and reasonable business owner. However after having him block my number and tell me he wouldn't help me post repair I question his ethics. 
  
  ****** states "Given the opportunity to make it right, I always do." If this is what he truly believes, and if he truly stands behind his seemingly respectable code of ethics, he will make it right and resolve his previous employees faulty work.  It is unacceptable to not refund the repair of my timing chain, to not tell me where to go to get it repaired, and to then block my phone number from contacting him because he simply doesn't like me.
  
  I paid a lot of money for professional work, I did not receive it, and now I want my money back or the problem rectified by a shop that I can trust. 
  
  Sincerely, ?*********************
  

  

  Business response

  02/14/2023

  I am still willing to make it right right with *************  I hope that he repairs the other components on his car as well.  I left ****** a vm and called the shop he mentioned.  I agree, moving forward is best for me to pay them to complete the work.  I apologize for how this has transcribed to ****** and anyone else that Ive caused an inconvenience to with this repair in particular. 

  Customer response

  02/24/2023

   
  Complaint: 18967964
  
  Ok I finally have my car back from the other shop. Not only did they have to replace the lower timing cover, but they also had to replace the upper timing cover gasket which your shop replaced under warranty. To rectify this situation I am asking for the following:
  
  
  $1357 to cover having to fix the upper and lower timing cover replacements.
  
  
  $70 to cover half the cost of cleaning up the oil leak under the vehicle
  
  
  $200 to cover all the Uber rides I had to take as a result of not having my vehicle.
  
  
  For a grand total of $1,627 to be paid by check to me at my address.
  
  
  *********************
  1050 ************** #***
  ******, ** 80218
  
  
  I think this is more than reasonable considering that both the original repair as well as the follow up warranty work was done improperly. 
  
  
  Please provide me a tracking # via *** or ***** after you have mailed the check.
  
  
  I have attached a detailed invoice from ******************** showing the details of the work that was performed. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  

  Business response

  03/03/2023

  Good to hear it ******.  I will write that check and send it. 

  Customer response

  03/11/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

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