The Consumer Complaints Blog

Jim’s Auto Repair
Hamilton Rd,
London, On
CA

I have an old sportscar. It is German. It had a blown head gasket, clouds of white smoke out the tailpipe. The son said no problem. $700. I have all parts already.

Then when I talked to the owner, the dad: he told me he can’t do it for $700 and quoted $1000.00.

I had the head gasket replaced, water pump, timing belt and tentioner and the starter all replaced with new product.

The bill was $1030.00.

I went to pick up my car and they told me I need new plugs, as the engine was running on 5 out of 6 cylinders!

The washer pump did not work now (I had to re solder the wires they tore out) They did not understand why I had wires running into my hood…(heated washer jets)and they lost the retaining nut for my washer tank and -get this… they crammed foam into the engine bay.

Coolant was pouring out of one hose clamp…but I was told it was not leaking as they tested it.

I picked up new plugs and had them install… no change. Then they claimed after “testing” that there was only 60 psi on cylinder #4 and that it was dead.

Nothing they could do. I was told to buy an additive to free “stuck” rings.

I took my car to another garage and they found the compression to be 165 psi across all 6 cylinders, and that the injector was plugged. I replaced it and all was good for about 3 days…

The same thing happened.

Replaced the injector again and 4 days later… back to square one.

I inquired at many shops why my engine was doing this, and a main tech from my dealership told me there is only two likely reasons, first the head could be warped or cracked… or the gasket was improperly replaced. I am getting the engine inspected to find out the cause.

Jim’s Auto aslo did not bother to plane down the heads… Jim claimed he tested with a straight edge and it was only out .004″ well within spec. So he decided not to send it out to be re surfaced.

The mounting for the brand new water pump was also stripped and had to be re tapped at my expence.

All in all I spent about $2000 in labour and parts to have the head gasket blow again only 3 months later!

Jim said it is not his problem.

He feels that he did his job right.

Don’t ever take anything to Jim’s Auto.

Not only could they not even diagnose a simple injector fouling but their workmanship is very poor!

I heard from a neibour that they also scammed them.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I had recently had a bad experience with the Service side of Vickar Community Chevrolet in Winnipeg Manitoba.

I had made 3 appointments to get warranty work done on my vehicle, and had the first appointment canceled because when i called earlier that day to see if i had rent-a-car coverage with my warranty. The gentleman on the other end said ” we don’t have any technicians here at that time”
to which i replied ” why would you make me an appointment at that time if you don’t have any staff there?”
He had no answer but apologized and re-booked me for the following week, which was completely fine with me.

The next appointment i had my father drop off the car two hours earlier than my previous appointment time. He was sent away with the explanation that ” the work that we need to do on your vehicle will take too much time to complete before the end of the day”. I just didn’t understand why they didn’t put me in a rent-a-car for that one night?? considering the fact that my warranty covers a rent-a-car if my vehicle is tied up over night.
So when i returned home that night after work to find my vehicle in my driveway, i was not impressed.
I picked up the phone and let Vickar Community Chevrolet know that i was very unimpressed with there service that they have/haven’t provided to me. they then apologized again and re booked me for the following Tuesday.

When i came in on Tuesday morning there was a line up of cars so i parked in the parking lot because if i would have lined up i would have been blocking the entrance to the dealership. So while inside i waited for 10 minutes before a “service advisor” spoke to me and asked where my car was. I told him it was out in the lot because i couldn’t park behind the other vehicles for the reason that i would be blocking the entrance. Well he didn’t understand that i guess and told me to park there anyway and wait till someone let me in.
8:30 rolls around and I’m finished with the paper work and now sitting in a small room with 10 other people which they called the “lounge”. After waiting for a whole hour for my shuttle to take me home i realized that i might be waiting a while. So in that instant i called a friend to come pick me up because now i was teetering on being late for work. My friend showed up so i went to the front where i had given my name for the shuttle and told them that i had got my own shuttle and if the shuttle wasn’t in operation when i come pick up my car could they please let me know. By the time i had gotten to work i was 30 mins late.

1:30 pm i get a call from the “service advisor” that my vehicle had been checked over and is ready for me to pick up. I asked him at that point if he could check the pressure in my back passenger tire because for a while it was loosing pressure. He agreed and he said he’d call me back after that was done.

4:00 pm i get a call again from the “service advisor” telling me that everything was complete for what they could do for that day and they can get the shuttle to pick me up. I asked if they could pick me up at 530 because I knew that they close at 6 and i could get off work a little early to pick up my car. He “advised” me that the shuttle could not pick me up at that time because ” they don’t run at that time”. I replied ” why don’t all of your services run within your hours of operation?” He didn’t have an answer for me. I told him i would try to get out of work early and be ready for the next available shuttle.

So when i finally arrived at the dealership that night i found out that they had only lubed the gear shifter and glued a piece in my trunk. ya that’s it! the whole day and they glued and lubed something!
At that point i told him to cancel everything he had ordered for my vehicle and that i was done doing business with this service dept. and that I’ve had the worst experience dealing with them than i had had anywhere else that offers customer service…including fast food!
He then went and spoke with his manager and they cleared everything up so that i wouldn’t be charged for anything that they did on my vehicle that day. (first decent thing they’ve done for me)
After, he reminded me that the tire that was loosing pressure wouldn’t be covered anywhere else but Vickar. I declined the offer and told him i still was not going to be having any service done here. He gave me my keys and i walked out to my car…but to only find one more surprise.

I let my vehicle warm up and then backed out. But when i backed out of the spot i heard a strange almost rubbing noise. I thought it was just the parking lot and i was going to try it on the road and see how it sounds. Nope, still the same noise. I put my four ways on and got out of my vehicle, walked around to the back and discovered that they had put a donut on my vehicle!

I got back into my vehicle and reversed it back to the service doors and walked inside and exclaimed “HEY WHO AUTHORIZED YOU TO PUT A DONUT ON MY CAR!” (and even when we went over the work order and he told me nothing of them replacing my tire with the donut.)
He told me ” well the tire was in the trunk”.
“no it isn’t, why would i be back in here if it was!!!”
He then ran to the back and rolled out my tire and rim for me.
“and now you can go put it back on my car” i said.
So then he got a technician to take my car into the back and put my tire back on and my donut back in my car and i was out of there.

At no point throughout this whole ordeal was i ever offered any type of compensation for my wasted time and money. All i wanted was my vehicle and needs to be taken care of…which it was certainly not.

…. a side note is that i am 22 years old. wonder if that had anything to do with it.

I also wanted to add that i had a great experience buying my vehicle from Vickar Community Chevrolet in Winnipeg. Its just too bad the service side of business cost them all of my business.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I would like to share a recent experience with a Canadian Tire store in Toronto.

This is the letter I wrote to their Corporate Office:

I’m writing this letter to share a recent experience at a Canadian Tire Auto service located at Weston Road and 401 (#119).

Please be sure that I will be sharing this horrifying experience to all of my family and friends including any outlet available to me.

I received a phone call from head office offering their sincerest apology and that they will be forwarding my complaint to the owner of the store who did eventually contact me. He also gave his sincerest apologies regarding my awful experience and that he will convey this to the entire staff as an example of ‘what not to do’ in terms of customer service.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Toyota Canada demonstrates what a terrible company they are.

I have a 2001 first generation Prius. We bought it new, are the first and only owners, and keep it serviced at Toyota Dealers-first Richmond Open Road Toyota and then Granville Toyota, near our home.

Except for the car’s odd over-sensitivity to set off engine warning lights if the gas cap isn’t quite closed, and a tendency to fire off all the alarms during a cold spell, we have been happy.
But not so with Toyota Canada. Our car was re-ended in downtown Vancovuer in August 2009. It sustained quite a bit of damage-suprisingly, and my daughter and her partner were knocked about. The collison repair people removed the bumper to discover that the bumper was simply a hollow shell. The bolts were clean, indicating no rebar had ever been installed, nor had foam to absorb the impact. The insurance company paid for the repair costs and injuries, but would not pay to repair the bumper’s missing parts-rebar and foam -since they weren’t there to begin with. I contacted the dealer, Open Road Toyota, and they told me to bring in the paper work when I picked up the car and they would contact Toyota Canada. I did and then proceded to be jerked around by Toyota Canada for months.

First, two weeks after I contacted the dealer and Toyota Canada, they wanted the bumper (despite the insurance and collison repair photos and my early contact with the dealer, they wanted the old shell of the bumper. the repair shop had recycled it and neither the dealer nor Toyota Canada had indicated that the bumper should be kept. )

Second, they had to run it all by the legal department.
I reasonably asked that they check into the car and examine it for safety/. Was the car properly built-for example, was the front bumper complete with the specified rebar and foam? the door panels? Toyota Canada replied that since my 7 year purchased full warranty had expired, they had absolutely no obligation to look into that. If I was concerned about the car, I would have to pay to have it looked at. Presumably, I was to guess whether it was safe to drive. After a few weeks of pointless conversations with Toyota Canada and “Mike” at 1-888- Toyota 8 local 3361 should anyone wish to call Mike from Toyota Canada-I called Open Road and the service manager offered to take off the door panels and bumper to check that the car was safe. He seemed suprised Toyota Canada hadn’t immediately arranged that, and agreed the concern was valid.

Second, Toyota Canada via Mike informed me they would reimburse me for the costs of the rebar and foam in my new bumper (800 plus dollars) as a good will gesture if i would sign a release absolving Toyota Canada of any future claims by me or by anyother party. In essence, this meant that I would be sued by the Insurance corporation should they decide to pursue the incident because the car itself was unsafe and shouldn’t have been on the road.
Mike agrued that Toyota couldn’t proved (substitute my name here) that the bumper was a Toyota bumper. This despite the photographs taken at the collison repair shop, the insurance appraisers’ reports, the unblemished service record from Toyota dealers who presumably can’t tell a toyota bumper and paint job from a fake bumper in all the year the car, the tires, and even the battery have been subject to their service technicians ministrations.
Even the service technicians, both Prius trained, were stunned by Toyota Canada’s attitude and refusal to check over the car.

So I want to be clear I am not out of pocket-ICBC will not pursue a law suit against me-the Richmond Open Road Toyota Dealer service department was lovely and checked out the car for free.

But I find the treatment by Toyota Canada and their complete lack of concern for whether their cars are safe despite what was an obvious manufacturer’s defect astounds me.
There comment that the warranty had expired in 2008 and so they had absolutely no reason to look at the car was shocking.

My only consolation is that among my family, my adult children’s families, my brothers, sisters, inlaws and cousins we own 23 Toyotas-camrays, priuses, echoes, Rav4s, two vans and even a convertible.

And as a close knit group with a shared sense of outrage, none of us will buy another, despite a fondness for the cars (dating, in my case, back to the early Tercel). We vow to become a Honda family, extended.

I believe Toyota makes good cars, that Mike (at local 3361) is a pleasant human being, but that Toyota Canada doesn’t take any corporate responsibility to make sure their cars and their consumers driving the cars, are safe. They are a bad company.

My advice is, buy another manufacturers’ product. or if you buy a Toyota, realize you are on your own.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Auto Dealer Complaint – Whiteoak Ford Deceptive “Bait & Switch” Sales Program

I contacted Whiteoak Ford on Saturday October 31 about an advertised special on the internet. I spoke with Ray Kulchysky, a salesperson at the dealership and went through the line by line financing on the Ford F-150 pricing advertised. Ray said that they had vehicles in stock although colours were limited unless I went with the XLT package (an additional $2K). Ray advised that the price would be available until end of day November 2.

When I called today to make an appointment to view and purchase the vehicle, Ray advised that the vehicle was no longer available. When I pointed out that the vehicle was still advertised with the same price, ($24,995), he said that there were no more available, and the best price he had was $28K for the same year, vehicle, and model. I then spoke with sales manager Ben Cliff, and dealership co-owner Dave McQuillan. All said the same thing, that they couldn’t honour the advertised deal.

I contacted Ford Canada because this “bait and switch” practice is appalling. Ford Canada was able to view the same advertised price on the internet, and also said that there was not too much they could do except contact the dealership and give them feedback. I told Dave McQuillen that I would be contacting Ford Canada and he told me that they couldn’t do anything.

I believe this kind of response to consumer complaint is a problem. It seems to me that deceptive advertising practices are all too common and frankly, car dealerships have enough problems with perceived lack of integrity to perpetuate it in this obvious way. I’ve now done some searches to see if other consumers are having a similar experience and as one consumer says, “Go ahead and contact Ford Canada about the dealership. Nobody will care.” I’m concerned about this dealership and the lack of integrity. It looks like I’ll be buying a GM, which is too bad, because all of my previous vehicles have been Fords. However, if a dealership behaves this way at the point of sale, I can’t imagine how unfortunate the sales experience would be. I wonder how many other people have been jerked around by this dealership and their bait and switch practices. I guess the internet has opened up a whole new way of doing business, where a dealership can post a price for a vehicle and then back out of it when asked to honour the internet price. I’m concerned as a consumer that there is such limited recourse for these tactics. The dealership is not held accountable for their behaviour to Ford Canada. And, despite the millions and millions in advertising from Ford Canada on behalf of the dealership, there seems to be little consequence for advertising deception by the dealership. There doesn’t seem to be any way to address this situation – the dealership and Ford don’t care. How will consumers be treated fairly in an environment where there are no consequences for this kind of behaviour?

As far as I’m concerned, Whiteoak Ford should have a new slogan, “We’re People Too. Sometimes.”

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.