Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/20/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have had my converted sprinter van at a mechanics shops since October 2024. We broke down and got it towed to this mechanic(A Duck Mobil) who diagnosed that the whole engine was bad and needed a new engine swap that the mechanic, ****, said he could do. We paid him close to $15k up front for the labor and cost of the new engine, labor and various other parts he claimed he needed. He estimated the job would be done in about 1-3 months. Now in August of 2024 with the vehicle still not complete, the mechanic had his receptionist call us and tell us that he has quit and given up on our vehicle and will no longer work on it. We get it towed out of his lot to another Mechanic's Shop in the Area(Alpine Autohaus). Mechanic #2 diagnoses it and discovers that mechanic #1(A Duck Mobil) negligently and improperly did a number of different things incorrect in the installing of the new engine that has now caused the whole transmission, which was not originally broken to need to be replaced. We were quoted from Alpine Autohaus that a new transmission would be $8500. We never received a refund from Mechanic #1 for the incomplete job and now with his improper repairs and he has caused additional $10k worth of damage to the vehicle with his negligence and poor repair job on top of the original job that we paid him $15k not being completed.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/03/2024

  I will have a full response sent over tomorrow before noon.

  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/07/2024

  Response to complaint Id# ********

   

  The vehicle in was towed into the home shop for A Duck Mobile Mechanics, LLC in late October 2023.  During the tow in, the tow truck driver damaged the fuel tank on the Sprinter van. It was parked in the back field where the *****, Amy and their dogs were living in the converted sprinter while Zachery (*************) worked on finding an engine replacement and put together a quote.   ***** was given an estimate to replace the engine in the 2006 Dodge Sprinter through FreshBooks electronically.   ***** accepted the estimate on 11/1/24 in the amount of 14248.34 (see attachment A).   ***** was informed at that time that parts and engine needed to be covered before the engine could be ordered.  

  On November 8th – *****made deposit payment in the amount of 9922.04 (see attachment B).  Order was placed for the engine through Seattle parts November 15th after the payment made by the ***** cleared the account.    ***** was informed that the shop was currently doing an engine exchange in the garage, and we had another customer in line that was also waiting for engine, but that customer had not paid anything yet so we would put him next in line.   After different conversations, ***** paid the remainder of the estimate in the amount of 4326.30 (see attachment C) The engine finally got shipped from Seattle Parts on December 1st.   The delay was waiting for our payment to clear their account, then they shipped the week after the Thanksgiving holiday.   ***** and Amy ended up leaving the sprinter and headed up to the Denver area for the holidays.   Just to be clear, they stayed in their sprinter home, residing at the owner's house, had full use of bathroom in the house, was fed meals and taken care of while waiting for the engine to arrive.    

  With many weather delays, engine finally arrived by mid-late December, right before the holidays.   The engine was brought into the shop and started on during this time.    Multiple things were moved over from prior engine to the rebuilt engine except for gaskets that needed to be new items.  Engine was installed into the vehicle and completed.   New gas tank was paid for and installed by tow company. ******* took vehicle out for test drive to verify all was working well when he heard a loud “cluck” noise and lost all power.   Vehicle was then towed back to the shop to verify problem.    The remanufactured engine had failed.  A large amount of metal was found in the oil filter.  ***** and Amy were contacted and informed of the situation.   Technically at this point, the vehicle had been completed, but Zachery told ***** he would fight warranty to get a replacement engine.   

   The process of fighting the Seattle Distribution to get the replacement took months. Theyrequiredadditional deposit and shipping of the core engine along with the purchased refurbished engine (D5-purple star) none of this 3K was refundable to the company.  They required to review the refurbished engine before they would ship the replacement – Their only tech that could validate the failure went on “vacation” the from mid-March 2024 to 2nd week of April 2024.   When he returned, he validated that the engine had failed, we then shipped out the original core engine so they would ship back the replacement engine.  4/26/24 - Core engine was picked up, 5/2/24 - replacement engine arrived. 

   Over the summer months (May, June, July) the company opened a physical shop location in town (Papa’s Garage) and went through some growing pains with staff.  August is when staffing was complete between garage and mobile services – ***** was informed that the months prior was only the owner while we hired and trained techs, he was also informed that he was not the only vehicle being worked on.  

  ******* worked on the sprinter but found that multiple parts were missing off the replacement engine that were still on the core engine (attachment D1-D5). It took months to get parts in and test the engine to find another part failed or missing.   ***** was communicated with by ***** during these months directly.  August 30, 2024 ***** informed **** (office manager) that he needed the vehicle back complete or not.    Beth informed ***** at that time that it was not complete, they were waiting on a mounting bracket and a few other things to complete the engine.  ***** insisted that he was picking up his vehicle regardless.   Beth explained to him at that time that if he was going to tow out the vehicle, it was considered AS IS condition and that A Duck Mobile Mechanics, LLC and Papa’s Garage, LLC would not be liable for any unfinished repair or missing parts, and that any service warranty would be void since the vehicle was taken before service was finished. ***** said he was going to have it towed out on September 3, 2024.    Beth explained again that the vehicle could not be driven anywhere, that the transmission was not hooked up to the engine due to still replacing missing parts on the engine.  ***** ignored this and had it towed from the home shop September 3, 2024 sometime between 4am and 6am.   

   The invoice (D1-D5) shows how much money and time went into the warranty engine – None of this was charged to ***** or ***.   After the vehicle left the shop, ***** had it taken to another shop in town to finish repair.  ***** called multiple times to the shop demanding that we pay for his transmission (E), stating that we had “broken” it.   **** reminded ***** multiple times that the transmission was never hooked back up and when he removed the vehicle, he voided his warranty with our companies.   September 26th, (after the initial report with the BBB was filed) ***** spoke to the Shop Manager at Papa’s Garage and stated that he wanted refunds, and parts paid for.   ****** (shop manager) spoke with ***** at length and in good faith paid 706.06 for a fuel line that the other shop claims was needing repair (F).   ***** made a verbal agreement with ****** at that time that there was no other action (legal, social media, etc) to be taken against A Duck MobileMechanics, LLC or Papa’s Garage, LLC.

  
  

  I have attached all the documentation referenced above.

  
  

  **** ****** - Office Manager