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Simple Tranny Flush Turns Into $800 Scam

S

satur9poet

CEG'er
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
45
What a day! So, my mom takes our car ('98 Mystique GS, Zetec ATX) to a different mechanic (All Tune & Lube had coupons) for a simple tune-up and tranny flush. We got a price quote over the phone yesterday and brought the car in today. Simple enough, right?

All of a sudden, the mechanics tell her, "We're taking you home because we need to keep the car all day. There's oil all over the engine, 2 oil leaks, spark plugs covered with oil etc, etc." They basically coerced her into having the work done and whisked her away, dropping her off at home this morning. They claimed they needed to "wash the engine" to "find" one of the leaks. I never heard of this in my life. Then they said one of the oil leaks was coming from the timing belt. Is this right? Something sounds funny here.
At the same time, they found a problem I already know about--the car likely has a loose sway bar and makes a clunking sound when turning the wheel or braking. But that wasn't the reason we brought the car to the shop! They "had" to go ahead and fix that, too.

This all lead to a few funny things. 1. A bill for over $800. Nearly $600 of that was labor. 2.) The bill said "Replace both stabilizer bar links" yet the clunking sound is still there, if not even WORSE this time. I'm wondering what the hell they did to our car. 3. I instructed my mom to ask for all the original parts after they were removed. I noticed that the so-called "oil-covered" spark plugs were squeaky clean and in good condition. 4. If the spark plugs were covered in oil as these people claimed, I'm assuming the car wouldn't run very well (and it runs just fine, no starting problems)
AND, if the engine was covered in oil, I would have noticed! The engine was clean. This is obvious.:mad: There was no indication of an oil leak whatsoever. No warning lights, no drippings, no low dipstick readings. Nothing.

After all of that and some deeper questioning, the mechanic changed his story and said there was hardly a leak at all!

I'm very angry my mother was coerced into all this insanity when all she wanted was regular maintenance. It's only too bad I was stuck at work all day. What a :censored: ripoff!
 
Holy arse raping. My boss and I were just talking about this today. He want to get new pads and the mech. called him over. They dumped fluid on the caliper and said he need brakes all the way around. He got out of there fast as he could. He was in a pinch and has a mech buddy. He looked at them and said they were all fine.
 
I would get me a lawyer :laugh:


Man, if I would of had all that work done down here where I live, the labor would have been $100 max. I used to work at a lube center, and when customers would come in they would be surprised at how cheap the service would come out to. They would start telling us all sorts of horror storys about the stealerships, and Pep boys.
 
After doing some digging around, I'm finding TONS of stories like mine from people who all took their cars to All Tune & Lube. What happened to us today just seems to be a variation of the "we'll need to fix A-Z for a million bucks or else you won't make it down the frigging block without breaking down" scam.

I'm really getting concerned that they F'ed up our car--there's several stories of parts being damaged and everything!:mad:

I'm off to go scream and curse now...
 
satur9poet said:
After doing some digging around, I'm finding TONS of stories like mine from people who all took their cars to All Tune & Lube. What happened to us today just seems to be a variation of the "we'll need to fix A-Z for a million bucks or else you won't make it down the frigging block without breaking down" scam.

I'm really getting concerned that they F'ed up our car--there's several stories of parts being damaged and everything!:mad:

I'm off to go scream and curse now...
Click to expand...

Got a local newpaper and/or TV station with a consumer advocate reporter? Get the media involved. These people need an arse raping of their own & you may get the money back for your mom.
 
This kind of sh*t frosts me to no end. You work hard to keep a car in good order, take care of her, enjoy her, etc., and in no time at all, crooks screw things up. I dislike having other people work on my car, with rare exception. I've got a few guys that are straight shooters, so if there's something that I'm not tackling myself, I know we won't have problems.

No more trips to quickie lubes, that's for sure, but you don't need me to tell you that at this point.

I like Tour de Force's idea about involving the media. Perhaps the Better Business Bureau would like to hear from you as well. It sounds like it would be worth it to press on and stop these bast*rds from doing this kind of stuff.
 
I did oil changes and tire rotations for a shop in Oceanside. As soon as I pulled the tires off the sales man came over and would inspect the breaks then would tell the owners that they wouldn't last and they need to have the breaks replaced. Since they were already there 2 rotors and 4 pads later they got a bill for 400-500 dollars. I hated the way the worked things there. I got out as soon as I could. For 12 dollars an oil change I took My Taurus there abotu 8 months after I quite and they said I had less then a 1000 miles left on the pads and rotors. Said that is good I am driving to Sacramento 500 miles away I can fix them there. 11k miles later I traded the car in with the same pad and rotors.
 
What was the price of the service with coupons supposed to have been? Ford service charges $400 with coupon for a major service, including tranny flush, plus everything else a major service implies.
Karl
 
LauraSVT said:
This kind of sh*t frosts me to no end. You work hard to keep a car in good order, take care of her, enjoy her, etc., and in no time at all, crooks screw things up. I dislike having other people work on my car, with rare exception. I've got a few guys that are straight shooters, so if there's something that I'm not tackling myself, I know we won't have problems.

No more trips to quickie lubes, that's for sure, but you don't need me to tell you that at this point.

I like Tour de Force's idea about involving the media. Perhaps the Better Business Bureau would like to hear from you as well. It sounds like it would be worth it to press on and stop these bast*rds from doing this kind of stuff.
Click to expand...

You can also get the AG (Attorney General) involved. Here in TX anyways, the AG Consumer Office is RUTHLESS. I'd call the AG and BBB offices first and file a complaint... and THEN the TV/radio stations... so that you can say ON THE AIR that the AG and the BBB are investigating. That way the AG and BBB don't slack cause now THEY are under a microscope too.

Whenever I go into a car shop for work, I let be well-known that I'm not ignorant when it comes to cars, so that they don't play that crap about "this and that is broke and it'll cost X to fix". "oh yeah?... SHOW ME" :laugh:
 
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The shop that I normally bring my car to is good at letting me know what is wrong with it. They bring me back into the shop and show me exactly what is wrong. That and my family has been going there for like 15 years now and they know we are good buisness LOL. It is nice to know there is one place that won't screw you over. But the only downside is that they don't do transmissions...and I have never had one go, so i don't know were I would bring it.
 
BigheadVelaSVT said:
You can also get the AG (Attorney General) involved. Here in TX anyways, the AG Consumer Office is RUTHLESS. I'd call the AG and BBB offices first and file a complaint... and THEN the TV/radio stations... so that you can say ON THE AIR that the AG and the BBB are investigating. That way the AG and BBB don't slack cause now THEY are under a microscope too.

Whenever I go into a car shop for work, I let be well-known that I'm not ignorant when it comes to cars, so that they don't play that crap about "this and that is broke and it'll cost X to fix". "oh yeah?... SHOW ME" :laugh:
Click to expand...

Right! I only wish I could've went with my mom to the shop, but I was at work in the middle of a lunch break when it all went down. While I'm no mechanic, I do know how the car runs, and I know a few things about cars, as well as the kinds of questions to ask. They seen my mother coming, a woman all alone, and saw a money tree walking in there. She was a sitting duck! And they treated her like complete crap, adding insult to injury.

Update: She called them back this morning to complain that the problem concerning the stabilizer bar wasn't fixed. They demanded she bring the car back right away and she refused. The mech. then got nasty and said, "You're no mechanic, so how do YOU know there's a problem?" (It's not rocket science to notice a car problem persisting, folks). He claimed to've taken it for a test drive and didn't notice any more popping noise. But I looked at the invoice and the car was listed as having the exact same number of miles coming into the shop as it did coming out of the shop. I doubt they ever did a test drive at all.

I took the invoice to a different garage in the area and they basically agreed that they overcharged for the labor. So at least I know I'm not talking out of my ass!

I'm getting ready to file a BBB complaint in a few mins.
 
call your local news and get the people that do scams/investigative reporting stories. Then call back All Tune and let them know that you called them and you want a refund of everything. Calling a lawyer woudln't hurt either. or your local coucilmans office and let them know of the sheisty sheistiness going on.
 
LauraSVT said:
This kind of sh*t frosts me to no end. You work hard to keep a car in good order, take care of her, enjoy her, etc., and in no time at all, crooks screw things up. I dislike having other people work on my car, with rare exception. I've got a few guys that are straight shooters, so if there's something that I'm not tackling myself, I know we won't have problems.

No more trips to quickie lubes, that's for sure, but you don't need me to tell you that at this point.

I like Tour de Force's idea about involving the media. Perhaps the Better Business Bureau would like to hear from you as well. It sounds like it would be worth it to press on and stop these bast*rds from doing this kind of stuff.
Click to expand...

Could not agree more with you Laura. I do 90% of my own work, and when its a project I just dont have the resources to take on, I take it to a guy that my family has known for a decade now, Never once has he screwed us over, and his work is always of the highest quality, prices are pretty cheap too.

The only time I wont change my own oil, is if its balls ass cold outside, in which case I take my car to a ford dealer to have it changed. Last time I had my oil changed by a dealer they used all Motorcraft Synthetic blend, a motorcraft filter, and only charged me $25 :shocked:
 
Con-Man said:
Here is the scam
http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx
Click to expand...

Thankyou for that great clip. Very telling. I have never taken my car to any of these types of places. Only trusted shops. I moved about 20 mins (40 kms) away and still drive my car to the shop I used to live near to get most of my work done. I get oil changes done at dealer local to me. Oil changes actually are quite competitive at dealer. Other service is expensive so I drive to the trusted shop. I have never trusted these shops. Who knows if they are even chaning the oil.
 
Always good practice to get a shop to show you the old parts they replaced or if you can, watch them do they work.

Like some other's have said, its always nice to find a mechanic you know and trust. Too bad they are far and few in between.

I wish I could still take my car to my old mechanic, but the hour + drive doesn't help. Still have yet to find a place around here I can fully trust.
 
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