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Auto Advantage Rip Overcharged Me And Damaged My Car unauthorized parts, spray painted the inside of my engine, did not honor their work Brentwood Tennessee
In April I had taken my car to Carl Black Chevrolet (In Nashville) for a recall and because I was having problems with a "squeal". The individual there (Kemp) told me the Intake Manifold was bad and needed to be replaced, and that that was the ONLY problem with my car. Kemp checked it out thouroughly! I had plans to take it in to Carl Black, when my 23 yr old daughter was told by people that "auto advantage" was a good shop and since I was in Florida and she was in Nashville and she being new to the area and relying on word of mouth, she took the car to Auto Advantage since it was near her work. Billy was the mechanic who was going to take care of my car.
He called me in Florida and told me the intake manifold was bad and he would suggest replacing the water pump at the same time which I agreed to. Needless to say, without any written authorization the following parts were replaced on my car: Intake Manifold Set, Thermostat Waterpump , air filter , fuel filter , spark plugs , spark plug wire set , transmission filter kit , left hand window regulator , shop shupplies, pcv valve, transmission fluid, atifreeze, disposal, oxygen sensor bank 151, drive belt tensioner pulley, and serpentine belt tensioner and then charged me for labor for Fuel Injection service, Coolant leak, Tune up, Service Transmission,Serpentine Belt replacement, left hand Window Regulator, and Check the engine light for a total of $932.55 in parts and $1621.00 in labor coming to $2789.91 total, and we could not pick up the car without paying the bill. All for a job I was quoted would cost about $1200.00-$1400.00
Further, the car was kept by auto advantage for over 2 weeks costing us an additional $800-1000 for a rental car. My daughter being young did not realize she had just paid for items that had not been authorized. The day after the car was picked up it was taken to the shop AGAIN with problems. Billy said there was nothing wrong with the car. I called Kirstie and asked her why all of these parts had been put on my car without my authorization (we have stringent laws in florida regarding this) and she told me my daughter signed for everything WHEN SHE PICKED THE CAR UP. I promptly told her, THAT was not an authorization, signing upon pickup, and she needed to show me documentation of everything listed showing where my daughter agreed to all of the above, and since it was MY car she would have needed MY authorization. She then agreed, with hesitation, that no one had signed any authorization for all of the work done on this car.
In May the car returned to the shop with problems from their repair and when my daughter went to pick the car up (Billy no longer worked there, it was now a mechanic named John who I told I was NOT paying one more cent for this car to be repaired). Upon arrival she was charged an additional $331.00 for a right wheel assembly. Again she could not pick up the car with out paying the bill. She called me in Florida upon picking up the car and needless to say I was livid over the additional payment.
On Friday June 6, 2008 I was so angry over this car and still having problems that I called and demanded to speak to the owner, Tim. The girl in the office assured me that he "was a fine Christian Man" and would take care of the problems with this car.
I discussed with Tim the problems with the car since it had been in his shop, my anger over being charged for parts that I had never authorized and not knowing whether these parts had been put on my car since TIM told ME that Billy was fired or left because he got caught ordering new parts for cars, and never putting them on cars, but stealing them from the shop. Billy also took it upon himself to spray paint the inside of my engine electric blue as well as the back wheel drums, so you can't tell if new parts were put on. Tim assured me that he would take care of my car and get it back to pre "auto advantage" shape, and I would not be charged one more cent to have my car fixed.
I told him at that point in time that "someone" owed me over $2000 for the work done on this car without my authorization and of course he blamed his old partner or employee, Billy and gave me the song and dance about his lawyer and such and maybe his lawyer would contact me and then I could get my money back if we went after Billy, etc, etc...He assured me that he would check my car to make sure that new parts had been put on and then continued to speak of "Billy" taking advantage of young girls and charging them for things that were never done, LIKE my daughter. I politely assured him that I WAS NOT A YOUNG GIRL, his problems with his "partner or whatever" was not MY problem, My only problem was my car and getting it back to PRE auto advantage repair!!! He assured me that HE would take care of this.
On Friday June 13th after calling numerous times Tim finally returned my phone call and told me that my car had not EVEN been looked at yet (even tho it had been there 7 days) due to him being very busy with other cars and no bay was open. However he did give my daughter a courtesy vehicle...which had a broken windshield and no air conditioning. How very nice of him for someone who is 5 months pregnant.
Today, Monday, June 16th, my daughter picked up the car after my conversation with the Office assistant or manager Kirstie (spelling could be wrong). When I called and asked if anything had been done with my car, she asked the mechanic and then told me that yes it had been checked out, and they BELIEVED the problem was the tensioner pully (which they supposedly had put on in April). I asked if it was fixed and I was told NO, because they needed to get my authorization IN CASE their was A CHARGE for this service. And of course my car had not been checked to see if "new parts" had indeed been put on. Needless to say my blood began to boil! I demanded to speak with Tim and of course she "couldn't reach him". Tim has had 4 messages from me today, and has not even had the courage to call me back.
After no phone calls from Tim I sent my daughter back to their shop and pulled my car from their shop. Kirstie had the nerve to tell my daughter that "her mother" was rude....Of course why would I have a reason to be angry??? AND now I am taking My Chevrolet Venture back to Carl Black Chevrolet, where I should have taken it to begin with, to have my car fixed the RIGHT WAY! Of course this will also cost ADDITIONAL money!
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE YOUR CAR TO AUTO ADVANTAGE IN BRENTWOOD TENNESSEE. THEY ARE RIPOFFS AND YOUR CAR WILL BE WORSE THAN IT WAS BEFORE YOU TOOK IT IN. And the owner Tim, will tell you how he was done wrong by Billy and John (john went to work for billy.....so stay clear of any shop that has those two guys working together) and how he wants to do the right thing and fix all of the mistakes. DON"T believe him! He has 4 messages from me today alone, as well as others from this past weekend, and I STILL have no return phone call, A CAR WITH MECHANICAL PROBLEMS after spending over 3 grand and the girl in the office named Kirstie calls me rude.
I have contacted the Tennessee Department of Consumer Affairs to file a complaint, and the paperwork is in route to me in Florida, I will contact the BBB in Tennesse and ANY other organization, ie....news channels and the like to resolve this problem. To me this is nothing short of thievery! If anyone knows of anyone in Nashville Tennessee that can help with this PLEASE feel free to email/contact me! This shop HAS to be stopped.
Mary Lou
New Port Richey, Florida
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Teresa
Murfreesboro,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
I may be able to tell you how to get your money back
#2Consumer Suggestion
Thu, July 17, 2008
I have had a similar situation with Auto Advantage recently. I have just contacted Channel 5 news for a media investigation, which usually motivates the company to make restitution. If you are interested in helping me and possibly getting your own money back, email them at investigate@newschannel5.com.