ComplaintsforAl Willeford Chevrolet, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  12/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I brought my truck in for service in late December of 2022 and in early November of 2023. On both occasions, the service advisor *******, tried to sell me unnecessary repairs based on a fraudulent diagnosis. In Dec 2022, he claimed the rear differential was leaking and in Nov 2023, he claimed the radiator was leaking and needed to be replaced. On both occasions, I asked to see the leaks before authorizing the repair. On both occasions, neither ******* nor a mechanic could find the leaks. The first time, I assumed it was an honest mistake and proceeded with the remaining work. However, when it happened again, I knew it was not an accident. At that point, I refused to authorize any work from their fraudulent diagnosis. To my disbelief, they then held my keys hostage, demanding a diagnostic fee that was never disclosed or agreed upon prior to dropping off my vehicle. To make matters worse, when I refused to pay the clearly retaliatory charge, they threatened me with a mechanic's lien and repossession of my vehicle. When I contacted the General Manager, **** doubled down on the service advisors commitment to charging a diagnostic fee and added the threats of liens and repossession. These strong-arm tactics are not only unprofessional but also border on criminal, as their claimed diagnosis was ultimately fraudulent. I ultimately paid the fee in order to recover my keys, however I would like the fee refunded, as no legitimate diagnosis was performed. Moreover, it is unethical to charge a fee for service without disclosing said fee prior to entering into a business arrangement. It is clear that the fee was charged as a post facto retaliation for choosing not to proceed with any of the recommended work. I am reporting this incident to not only recover the fee, but to warn others that Al Willeford Chevrolet is not an honest or respectable business worthy of your time and money.

  

  Business response

  01/03/2024

  Al Willeford Chevrolet is sorry that ****************** not only disagrees with the diagnostic performed but also feels that the dealership is fraudulent. However, the diagnostic was performed, as **************** mentions, and the dealership does charge for the diagnostic service regardless of whether or not the repairs ultimately get authorized.

  When ****************** disagreed with the diagnostic and refused to pay for the service, he then used his spare set of keys and picked up the vehicle without paying his bill. ********************** keys were returned when He eventually came to the dealership and paid for the diagnoses. No mechanics lien has been filed on the vehicle and no report made for theft of service.

  Al Willeford Chevrolet values our customers and strives to perform quality and timely service at reasonable costs. We are disappointed ****************** disagrees with our diagnosis however we are not willing to perform diagnostics for free or return the diagnostic fee.

  Furthermore, had the vehicle not been removed from the service depart, our dealership is always willing to put a vehicle on a lift in the service bay and work together with all customers toward resolution and any further explanation requested, but an unwillingness to pay for repairs and even remove a vehicle without payment we are not willing to extend further services. 

  Customer response

  01/05/2024

  Complaint: 20994791
  
  I am rejecting this response because at no point has the dealership acknowledge or provide a satisfactory resolution to the fundamental issue I raised. The heart of the matter is the dealership's consistent practice of dishonesty, specifically in misrepresenting necessary repairs for my truck. Multiple times ************************* Chevrolet has lied about what has been wrong with my truck to sell me bigger and more expensive repairs that I did not need. Multiple times, I have already come back into the shop and inspected the vehicle to see if the work was actually needed. Every single time, the service advisor was unable to show me the leaks that they found during this alleged "diagnosis." The fact that they are still calling this a "diagnosis" is evidence of their corrupt character. Lastly, this diagnostic fee was not disclosed or agreed upon prior to dropping the truck off for service, which is not an honest business practice. It was only after I refused to do the work that I was hit with the diagnostic charge.

  In the response the dealership stated, "Al Willeford Chevrolet values our customers and strives to perform quality and timely service at reasonable costs." This generic and patently false statement is a disingenuous attempt to appear to care. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is ************************* Chevrolet regularly rips off unsuspecting customers by selling them work they don't need. Instead of owning it, apologizing, and making it right, they're attempting to cover it up and blame the customer.  People should be aware that this is not a reputable dealership and avoid doing business here at all costs.

  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  01/08/2024

  Mr. ******** 2014 Chevrolet was presented to the service advisor on 11/03/2023 with 3 concerns noted. The first issue was a request for a coolant system flush, the second concern was the coolant fans continuing to run even after the vehicle was turned off and the third issue was the service engine soon light on. The concerns were documented by the advisor on repair order RO#****** (attached).
  The technician performed the initial diagnoses for the service engine soon light with a computer scanner and found diagnostic trouble code (DTC) P0128 recorded in the computer. The technician then referenced the ** document ID#***************** to validate and verify the failed component.During the diagnostic steps noted in the mentioned document, the cooling level is to be checked. The coolant reservoir was lower than the acceptable level.The technician continued the diagnoses and found staining at the lower corners of the radiator. The stained radiator is evidence that the radiator is seeping and could cause a significant leak.
  Continuing with the proper diagnoses as per **, the technician referenced ** document ID5700895(attached). In accordance with that document, when such stains are present, the technician is to replace both the thermostat and the radiator.
  By our findings the diagnoses were performed using the correct ** recommended procedures.
  The service engine soon light was on, a failure code was present and investigated, and the findings were presented by the service advisor.
  The diagnoses were thorough and complete.
  ****************** declined to authorize these repairs.

• Initial Complaint

  11/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My husband and I bought a 2013 Jeep from them, drove 2 hours because we were hoping to avoid a shady corrupt dealership, We were told that the vehicle has been through a Car Bravo 62 point inspection Car bravo inspection claims that the inspection covers know problems. Less than 2 weeks after we bought the Jeep we had to take it in to a mechanic and were told the entire front end suspension is shot. It has what they call the Jeep death wobble the mechanic said theres no way that this vehicle passed an inspection. We called the dealership and were basically told were out of luck. We explain that clearly this vehicle has not gone through an inspection, and we wanted proof that it did. Here we are 2 more weeks later and they are giving us the run around. ********************* has still yet to send over the paperwork on the inspection report that they performed. The cost to fix this known issue that they either didnt disclose because they didnt actually do the safety inspection or knew about it and sold it without informing us of the problem. The cost to have this fixed is $4665.58 we have already reported them to car bravo. We asked for them to take the Jeep back or fix the issue and they told us No. we would either like to take the vehicle back for a full refund, or we would like the cost to cover the repairs needed.

  

  Business response

  11/15/2023

  Al Willeford Chevrolet would like nothing more than to deliver each and every vehicle completely trouble free and establish customers for life on every transaction. Unfortunately, that does not always happen, however, to address the concerns brought to our attention in this transaction through the BBB correspondence we have attached the mechanical inspection performed, signed and dated by the mechanic to include the ************** Vehicle Inspection as well as the Repair ordered dated and Entered date of Sept 15 ******************************************************************************* fact performed. The attached Carfax is a 3rd party proof of the performed State and internal inspection both dated and documented through the 3rd party ******************* that tracks and reports vehicle servicing records performed on all vehicles in the **************. This effort is to assure the customer ********************** does in fact do its duty to inspect and deliver this referenced vehicle in question.

  In reference to the Car Bravo inspection process Al Willeford Chevrolet performs Car Bravo inspections on vehicles that are under 10 years of age and under ******* miles only. It is the dealer's discretion to the participation level in the program. This referenced vehicle is not Car Bravo inspected but rather as mentioned and attached State inspected and internally inspected again see attached document for reference.

  In reference to responding to *********************** not forwarding the documentation requested, managers are instructed not to do so when a customer has consulted an attorney, and all correspondence must go through legal process only and we have been informed by the customer of their intent to acquire legal counsel.

  The documentation provided via Internal Repair order, internal mechanical inspection, State of **************** of ****** Safety Statement of Inspection and 3rd party Carfax report are all dated as proof of inspection and the customers test drive all attest to the fact that the referenced vehicle purchased was not misrepresented and in good mechanical condition when the transaction took place.

  The terms of the sale AS-IS No Warranty signed by the customer is attached and the customer clearly agrees by signing that YOU WILL PAY FOR ANY COSTS OF REPAIRS the dealer assumes no costs of repairs after the sale regardless of any oral statements.

  The negotiation agreement is also attached showing payment offers to include a warranty available for purchase to cover future costs of repair and was declined by the customer.

  We appreciate and value our customer however the opinion of their mechanic is not in fact ours and we believe we did our due diligence to deliver a quality product and given the 10-year age of the vehicle there are parts that are probably worn there are mechanical failures that *** occur, and the customer has a list of those on the attached AS-IS statement page 2, and some of those very items are listed as example. Furthermore, our agreement states the customer is responsible for any repair after the point of the sale.

   

  Customer response

  11/15/2023

  Complaint: 20873309
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The areas they claim were inspected are all on the report that is attached for needed repairs from the shop we took the vehicle. Their in house receipt claims they replaced a front shock, but from the photos you can tell that neither of the front shocks are new. You can also see the corrosion on the metal parts and the bushings on the suspension parts. The text message with the sales person shows him confirming it was inspected. The tires were listed on their report as needing to be replaced and showed obvious signs of the alignment being off which they **** on their inspection as passed. All the areas on their inspection they show passed, and all the inspections, including the state inspection are done by their own people. There is no third party confirmation of the inspection like they are trying to claim by attaching a "State" inspection. 

  As for the carfax, I asked about a carfax report before purchasing the vehicle and was told all their used cars go through CarBravo which is similar and gives the same information. They are now trying to backpedal and claim that the car was not a CarBravo car because of its age. This is the exact opposite of what we were told. They did attach our signed page for declining their extended warranty. The only thing that was brought up was that because of the age of the vehicle, their warranty wouldn't cover us past the distance to drive it back home, and wouldn't have covered the parts that are in question anyway. We had expressed an interest in an extended warranty, and were told they would have the paperwork for one ready, but didn't bother to let us know until we were already signing paperwork that the only warranty they could offer was minimal for coverage, to the point of being useless. I'm not sure why they are producing a carfax report from today, other than that if they had to produce the report they told us they had before we bought the vehicle it would be a CarBravo report and would prove our point. 

  The reality is they washed this vehicle and checked all the boxes on the inspection report without doing anything more than changing the oil. They knew before we left we were travelling from out of town and were trying to get a quality vehicle that had been through a decent shop and had the repairs it needed done, not just boxes checked on a piece of paper. After we got the vehicle back and took it in to have a couple of items checked as I was noticing some issues we got handed a $5000 repair estimate. We contacted the dealer to give them the opportunity to make things right as this vehicle did not go through and pass the rigorous inspection they claimed over the phone and on the website. They simply said its "as is" ***** to be you. We understand sometimes things get missed, but for us to have paid high retail price on the car to have to turn around and repair parts they claim were inspected and passed is simply poor business practices. They absolutely misrepresented this vehicle, no differently than if they lied about the odometer reading or accident history. If it is something that was missed by the shop to get repaired, or some other thing that the vehicle slipped through the system and it got missed, then they would make it right. The reality is they knowingly sent a vehicle out that they knew needed thousands in repairs but sold as if it was in great condition. 

  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

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