ComplaintsforAppalachian Tire & Auto

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Took my car in for water pump leaking .Was called an told it was head gasket.Was told ******* for that then was called an said they couldnt be fixed an new heads would be over a thousand a piece an i needed 2.But that he caled kia ***** an could get a motor an it would be ******* .I asked if that would be charge for all an he said yes. I said go ahead .Then i go to pay ****** down an he writes balance on bill for ******* an i asked what he was talking about . That i am a single mom fighting cancer an didnt have that an that he told me ******* .This is from **** he then said he would take of ****** without owner knowing.I told him to have owner to call me an he gave me reason an reasons.When i went to pickup her owner said he put a water pump on at no charge which was funny.They didnt lock my car up an homeless people got in it an stolen i dont know what all an it looked like they sleeped in it an lord knows what. My car isnt a junk car i have took good care of it .This has really upset me .an not good for my health

  Business response

  05/24/2024

  Our technician checked the vehicle that was brought in for a coolant leak.  We could not determine the source of the leak originally but did find that the head gaskets were blown.  This occurs when a vehicle is driven while it's overheating.  This in turn causes internal damage to the engine.  As is standard procedure, the heads were removed and taken to a machine shop for resurfacing and testing (after customer approval).  The machine shop informed us that the heads were not serviceable and were damaged . **** and myself went over the pricing, and I agreed to do the job at a much lower margin than is our norm because of the situation.  Although it was out of our control, we felt bad for the customer and tried to help as much as we could.
  

  ****, the manager , called the customer in my presence and informed ****************** that the job had become more complicated and we felt her best option was to replace the engine with a newly rebuilt one with a 3 year/100,000 mile warranty.  **** had called the Kia ********** and had gotten a price for the heads and it was close to the same price that we could get an entire engine for.  **** informed her the LABOR would remain the same and the ENGINE would cost $4500.  Apparently, ****************** did not understand and thought **** said that the entire job was $4500.  However, this would not even be in the realm of possibility for the cost of an engine replacement. 

  **** received multiple phone calls from ****************** after she understood the total cost of the job.  ****, myself and my husband agreed to give her $500 additional off her invoice to try to appease her.  She was quite hostile to **** on the phone and ****************** and her boyfriend were also quite rude to my husband when they came to pick up the vehicle.

   

  We then received another phone call from them saying that there were chairs and a pair of sunglasses missing from their vehicle.  We could not lock the vehicle while it was in our parking lot after the heads had been removed.  The battery/alternator/wiring had to be removed to get to the engine heads so the key fob would not work.  The vehicle could not be manually locked (we tried), because the lock cylinder where you placed the key at the driver's door was inoperable.  If we locked it from the inside, we would have no way to access the vehicle afterwards.  We did everything we reasonably could to secure the vehicle.  Again, with no fault of our own, we agreed to appease ****************** and gave her boyfriend $150 in cash, which is the amount he agreed would cover the loss. 

  Therefore, we have already giving ****************** $650 on a job that was already heavily discounted.   We did everything in our power to make her happy and to resolve the situation. 
   
  

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