Business ProfileforRichlen & Sons

On August 23rd, I was driving on the Milwaukee County freeway when I received a warning light
and buzzer from my car a 2002 PT Cruiser. The signal meant that it was overheating. I immediately
pulled off into the distress lane and shut the car off. When I got out of the car, I saw a puddle of water
running on the ground. I called for a tow truck and the Sheriff’s Department and told them of my
predicament. The sheriff arrived waited until the tow truck arrived and the car was towed to my
residence. The next day a friend looked at the car and we decided to have the car towed to a Richlen
Garage, (a BBB member,) at 6424/6427 W. Lincoln Avenue on August 24th. I have had car service
work with this bus***ss before and was satisfied. Several days after, I called Richlen and asked about my
car and was told they were diagnosing the problem and tried a pressure cap on it and were still testing it.
The day after I called again and was told that it could be a number of things and they were still testing.
Then a few more days went by and I called, and again still testing. Finally, they called me back and said
it could be a bad head gasket and asked if I wanted it repaired. I need a car and told them to fix the car as
it was no good to me in that condition. I was never given or quoted a cost at that time or at anytime on
the phone or in person.
After more time went by, I called Richlen and spoke with **** Sr. about the vehicle. He claimed he had
to wait for “another person” to help but he said there is nothing else he could do without this person.
When the car was finally repaired, I was told to pick it up and the charges would be $2,768.41.
I was taken aback and floored at the cost. Again, I was never given an estimate or costs until that day.
I had been told nothing all that time that the car was there about the cost involved until the day before
it was ready for pick up. However, they insisted they told me the cost before and no estimate was ever
provided as they did not seem to know what the real problem was. Judging from the amount of parts
they returned to me or said that they put in, they seemed to be guessing and kept trying parts until it
was fixed.
Had I been informed of this high cost before they repaired it, I might have shopped around for a newer
vehicle as Blue Book Value for this vehicle is only approximately $924 for a dealer trade in, or perhaps
$2,286 for a private sale. I was not given the opportunity to make a choice of either repairing the
vehicle or selling it. It appeared they also had replaced several items without asking or informing me if
I wanted or needed these replacements. I was forced to pay for repair work that I feel was totally
unnecessary and had nothing to do with the initial problem. They charged me for a timing belt set,
and a fan assembly and the labor for this that had not been the problem.
On the day that I went to pick up the car, they would not release the car unless I signed the bill stating
that it was OK to fix it. Seems to me that they had no idea as to what the real problem was so they threw
everything but the kitchen sink at the car to fix it. This clearly indicates a situation of taking advantage of
a female car owner.
I respectfully request that the BBB look into this situation for me that no estimate was given to me.
repairs.
A friend of m*** referred me to a U Tube video that he found. It depicts a 2002 PT Cruiser with an
overheating problem. The video shows a person taking the radiator cap off the car and watching the
bubbles come out of the top of the radiator fill hole. This video came out in 2012. It must have taken
the person in the video no longer than 15 minutes to determ*** the problem. It took Richlen almost 7
days of testing and yet they replaced several items that had nothing to do with the overheating problem.