Business ProfileforThe Car People, LLC - Nashville

After reading the reviews, especially the one where the lady said they were so honest and topped her oil off for free and another time drove her car and found nothing wrong with it and didn't charge her anything, I called about a suspension issue with my vehicle. The earliest appointment was about 10 days later and on Labor Day which was not ideal but I kept the appointment. I called back to confirm that they would drive my car and let me know what it needed before incurring any charges. The lady I was speaking with assured me they would. I dropped my car off and again explained what was going on with the vehicle and was told they would give it a drive, check it out and give me a call. I called an **** to pick me and take me home. On my way home the lady called to again asking what issues I was having with the vehicle and then told me there would be a $75.00 diagnostic charge. I asked her why she didn't tell me this up front instead of waiting till I was paying an **** driver to take me home. I told her this caused me to distrust this company and their practices and that I would be coming back to get my vehicle. When I returned I voiced my frustration and the same man who was sitting there when I brought the vehicle in and heard my conversation with her chimed in to inform me that he was the manager at that location and he was training her. I suggested he train her to inform people up front about their charges! He then proceeded to scold me asking if I expected people to do things for free. I told him no, I expect them to be honest and state their charges up front. Had they done that I would have paid the $75.00 but because of the way they handled this I couldn't trust them to tell me whether I needed and oil change or an engine replacement. To the owners of this business. You need a better manager! A smart manager would have realized his mistake of failure to properly train the employee and waived the diagnostic fee

We do apologize for any inconvenience the vehicle owner experienced upon their visit. We do our best to make sure that we are as transparent as possible when it comes to any charges for our services. While writing up the ticket for the technician, the service adviser was asked, under what type of driving conditions did the vehicle owner experience the "loose feeling in the suspension"? Was there any audible noises occurring at the same time? Did it act up more at a certain speed, etc. These questions are what aids a technician in duplicating the issues during the test drive, identify which system may have an issue (i.e. steering, suspension, drivetrain, etc.), and allow them to start testing that system for what may be causing the concern in a timely manner. This also allows us to determine what type of diagnostic would be best suited for the type of issue or customer concern. The service adviser had not gathered this additional information upon the vehicle being dropped off, only what the vehicle owner initially stated when they set up their appointment about the suspension feeling loose. The service adviser then called the vehicle owner to gather this additional information and inform the customer as to what type of diagnostic would be needed and how much that diagnostic would cost. Company policy states that we will not do anything to a customer's vehicle that would incur any type of cost without first getting the customer's permission to do so. When the vehicle owner was informed about what type of diagnostic they needed and how much the diagnostic fee would be, they declined to have the diagnostic performed and returned to pick up the vehicle. Upon returning, the vehicle owner was notably upset and began speaking to the service adviser in a manner that was perceived to be intimidating and inappropriate for her (service adviser) position. The service manager (myself) then interjected in the conversation and tried to explain to the vehicle owner that we do not charge a customer for something without their permission first, and that is why we called back before proceeding. The vehicle owner then stated that when they first spoke with the service adviser, about their vehicle needing possible suspension repairs, that they were told there would be no charge for estimates. The service manager then tried to explain that, indeed, we do not charge for making estimates, however, when the vehicle owner set their appointment up we were not asked to make an estimate, we were instead asked to find the cause of the "suspension feeling loose" concern. The service manager was interrupted while trying to explain this and was told that if the vehicle owner had known this, that they would have not brought their vehicle in to be looked at. The service manager again tried to explain that we charge for our services because we pay our technicians for the time they spend to properly diagnose a vehicle owner's concern. The service manager tried to portray this another way by using an example of anybody going into any business for any good or service and being surprised when asked to pay for said goods or services. At this time the vehicle owner stated that they could not trust a company that was not up front about charging for services and that they would be leaving bad reviews about our company on every website possible. As the vehicle owner turned to leave the office they proceeded to tell another customer in the waiting room that we could not be trusted and we would rip them off if they did business with us. The service manager chose not to engage the vehicle owner any further, even after the vehicle owner exited the office and then came back in to make another slanderous remark about our business to the customer that had been standing in line behind them. We do our best to take care of all our customers and be as informative as possible. We apologize for the experience that *********** had with us and will ensure that our staff is appropriately trained in giving all information, as clearly as possible, concerning service costs to customers before they set up an appointment and when dropping off their vehicle.