ComplaintsforUnion Tire & Auto Center, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had a car towed to Union Tire on February 26th, 2021 because it would not start. After some troubleshooting, the mechanic identified the issue as a simple relay. They called me to pick up the vehicle at the end of March claiming that it was repaired but it still did not start. I was driving the vehicle daily up to the point of the relay failure without issue. The mechanic met me in the parking lot and agreed there were multiple issues and the car was not drivable. The mechanic agreed to fix all of the issues believed to be caused during the troubleshooting. I returned a missed call to a new mechanic on July 31st, 2021. The new mechanic stated that they would not be fixing the issues and that I just needed to come and pick up the vehicle. The mechanic laughed and hung up on me when he no longer wanted to discuss the issue.

  Business response

  09/20/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 13, 2021/09/07) */ I am enclosing the statements written by my employees, ****** & *****, who both tried to satisfy the requests of the customer regarding this vehicle. As you can see, both gentlemen spent time and considerable effort to address the issues with this car. It was a situation where the customer was not happy with anything we tried to do for him, and so we asked him to take his vehicle elsewhere. He came to us with multiple issues, and his car was extremely dirty, all of which he tried to blame on us. The dirt that was in this car was something that had accumulated over time, not something we could have done. The seats and carpet were not even the color they originally had been due to dirt. The customer stated more than once that he just wanted to get the car in a sellable condition and didn't want to put much money in it, or just to continue to use as a work car. My mechanics kept him apprised of each issue they found, and warned the customer that repairs could be expensive. They only did what the customer asked them to do, even though there were multiple things wrong. When the customer learned of how many things were wrong with the car, and what the expense for repairs could be, he became very insulting and rude to my employees. *** ******* See attached

• Initial Complaint

  05/13/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I took my 2000 F150 in for an oil change, new tires and a squeak. Damian the mechanic who has since quit said i needed a timing belt. My truck almost has 100,000 miles on it so this sounded reasonable. I have used union tire many times and trusted them. A week into getting my truck being fixed Damian makes the comment the other mechanics said it needed a new engine. I knew I could fix it. A few days later i go to pick it up and he informs me it is 2500.00 which is the price we agreed on to fix my truck but then says it makes a very loud high pitched noise, you cant drive it above 20MPH or on the highway AND you need a brand new engine. I have spoke to *** the owner and he is not willing to give my truck back unless I pay the 2500.00. If given an option I would have put a new engine in my truck. Now I am stuck and do not know how to dissolve this matter. I appreciate any help you can offer.

  Business response

  06/28/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 12, 2021/06/16) */ I am writing in response to a complaint you received from my customer ****** *****, for Union Tire & Auto Center, Inc. Ms. ***** brought her Ford pick-up truck in for service, and it was discovered that there was potentially a serious problem, and she was advised that it would be best for her to replace her engine. There were several conversations with the customer about the seriousness of the problem and the expense that would be involved in trying further repairs that may not work, that it was a gamble to try to keep repairing the truck, and again suggested an engine replacement. The customer did not want to replace the engine, wanted us to proceed with taking a chance that the truck could be repaired. It was then explained to her that we could try putting in a timing kit, which would bring the total repairs up to around $3,00, but it would be another gamble that this would correct the problem, and again suggested she replace the engine rather than put more money into a fix that may not work. She instructed us to keep going and try to fix it, not replace the engine. We continued to work on the truck, and after all of the work was complete there was still a problem, which meant that there was internal engine damage, and that there was no choice but to replace the engine. We offered to discount her bill, as she was a repeat customer, but she then refused to make any payment to us whatsoever. We even had conversations with her ex-husband, who is also a customer, and he advised that he talked to her twice about the situation, explaining that she needed to pay the invoice for the first repair as it was the fair thing to do since work was done at her direction. She continued to insist that we try to repair the truck, and not put in a new engine, thus incurring more expense. My mechanic is very experienced, and spent time talking with Ms. ***** explaining the entire situation, and that his best advice was to replace the engine and not put more money into it. Ms. ***** makes mention that the mechanic quit after this situation, which is true, because he is moving to Texas. Before he moved, he did write an explanation of the entire situation, which is included herein. I would also like to note that after all repair attempts had been made, the mechanic that was working on the car had another mechanic take a final look at it as well, so the customer could understand that everything had been done that could be done, in the experience of two very experienced mechanics, following her directions to keep attempting to make a repair that was unfortunately unable to be accomplished, as she had been advised several times. Ms. ***** also immediately went on Facebook and started disrespecting my business before she even had a conversation with me, the owner, about her unhappiness. What she posted was not true, the facts were distorted, and I have had my good name tarnished as a result of her post. Ms. ***** in this situation continued to okay work that was done, and did not listen to the advice of my mechanic. We do not make repairs that aren't approved in advance. We work very hard to make sure that we are always completely honest with our customers so that they understand exactly what work needs to be done on their vehicles. We cannot work on a vehicle and not be paid. As a further note, Ms. ***** has brought other vehicles to us in the past that needed extensive work, even though we have advised her to let us check out a used vehicle before she purchases it, which we would do for free. She has never taken us up on that offer, and has purchased more than one vehicle that needed major repairs, just like this truck. Sincerely, *** *******, President Union Tire & Auto, Inc. Customer brought vehicle in asking if we could change the oil, check the tires, and to inspect a belt noise. They changed the oil and quoted her for four tires up front then asked me to check for the belt noise. Upon first inspection I noticed that because of the excessive wear on the drive belt tensioner it had cut a hole in the front timing cover allowing oil to leak out of the engine. Customer was called and quoted for a new drive belt, drive belt tensioner, and timing cover. I explained to her that the work would be roughly $1500 which she approved. After I removed the front timing cover I noticed that there was a broken timing chain guide laying on the right hand side of the timing case. I called the customer and explained that with the guide laying there it was causing extensive slack in one of the timing chains allowing the engine to jump time. I then explained to her that when this usually happens I recommend replacing the engine because there is not a way to know if there was any internal engine damage done but it is expensive. She stated that she didn't want to get rid of the vehicle because of the low miles and I told her that I could try and just put a timing kit in for her which would bring her total bill up to around $3000. I also explained that this was not going to be a guarantee fix and that she could spend that amount of money on a gamble and it may still need an engine but she said keep going. After the engine was put back together and all of the fluids checked I started it up and it ran fine. When I took it on a road test to make sure it wouldn't over heat and that there was not any other problems before I called the customer the engine started making a loud whining sound and ran very rough. When I took a closer look at it the sound was coming from under the passenger side valve cover. I called the customer and explained that there was internal engine damage done and that there was a few things that I was going to try so that she could maybe be able to drive it for a short period of time to while she looked for a new vehicle but all failed. I called her one last time and explained that there was nothing else I could have done and that the vehicle was going to have to have a new engine.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩