Cleo Bay Honda RipOff Scam Artists Liars Killeen Texas
My husband was deployed away to Iraq and we had just got stationed here in Ft. Hood, Tx. Our car started over heating when we brought it back from the port. As always when I had a problem with the car, I took it in to a Honda dealer. When I took the car in to Cleo Bay they had called me down there to tell me nothing was wrong with my car and there should be no reason for it to overheat. Then they came with a long list of maintence things that needed to be done on it. Funny thing was, that I had the car safety checked by a garage before shipping it and they said everything was clear on my car.
Now all of sudden it starts overheating and Cleo Bay tells me it fine and didn't over heat with them, their master mechanic even came out to reaasure me and that him and the manager even test drove it. And then came the maintence list for $900/plus for maintence issues they said needed to be fixed. So believing them when they reassured me over and over that the car was fine, I gave them the OK to fix the maintence issues on the car that equaled out over $900. It was hard for me to come up with that amount of money but made a agreement to make payments and pick the car up when I finished paying. I made 2 payments and paid in full and picked the car up as a present to my husband returning from Iraq. My husband drove it home not even two miles back to housing and the car was overheating again and running worse then when we put it in there! We took the car back and complained. They took the car back and once returned it saying nothing was wrong with it. This went on for weeks and I called and called the manager to no avail.I left so many phone messages I lost count.
After awhile the woman answering the phone started hanging up on me. Mean while we called a Honda dealer in San Antonio who told me to ask them if they had done a pressure test to check for overheating, when I asked they said No, they put it on the machine and the machine came back clear. A pressure test is how you check a car for over heating problems and when I told them that then they knew I had talked to someone and stopped talking to me. It was only when I called the cooperate office did he (the manager)finally call me and then said for us to bring the car back in again and once again they returned it saying OH! It had a hole in the rediator and now they wanted to charge us more money to fix that! I was like NO! I broight this car in with overheating issues and I told u that and your dealership told me it was fine! Now you want me to pay again to fix what u missed?
My husband against my wishes went and bought a new radiator from Autozone took the car back to Honda dealer and had them put it in. Still the car was overheating and now was running worse after they told us it was safe to drive for the millioneth time! We called again and complained. The manager was not only rude and snotty but condesending. Again my husband took it back to them and they had the car for two days and now they say it's a cracked head gasket! I now am not only out of the money they charged us for the maintence but also for the extra labor every time we brought it in but also I am now out of a car and my husband has now deployed back to Iraq! Another mechanic has told us that driving it after we started having problems and Cleo telling us it was fine, caused more engine damage!
It's because of them I have the cracked head gasket! The cooperate office was of no help and I have given up on Cleo Bay Honda all together! They want another $1,000 to fix the head gasket! I am NOT paying that, what do they think because we're military we're made of money as a E-5? I think they should fix the car as requested in the first place and any damage that occured after they returned the car stating that the car was fine. They even went so far as to say our car would go another 100,000 miles after the maintence work was done! They scammed me out of money to fix maintence things instead of the real problem at hand, knowing their was a overheating issue and I would come back. Please someone help me!
Mrs
Ft. Hood, Texas
U.S.A.
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8 Updates & Rebuttals
Jennifer
California,California,
U.S.A.
Those are good ideas Michael
#9Consumer Comment
Mon, December 18, 2006
My husband use to be in military also. Some places really take advantage of people in the military and alot of thier business comes from them.
I was unaware of those options, I had heard something before about the barring thing, but didn't know much about it.
As for the BBB however, they might be helpful. The business may decide to help out if someone else gets involved, but the BBB cannot MAKE them do anything. It is the businesses decision in the end. All they can do is mediate, and try to work out a compromise between the two, which may be helpful so it is worth a shot.
The dealerships don't care too much, they have a constant flow of new customers from the sales department, so customer service isn't a priority after the work has been done. It is when you are there, and thier commission is on the line, they treat you like you are thier best customer. Other than that, when conflict arises, they act as if they don't know you, they can't remember the details, etc.
I bet getting barred would get thier attention though, like Michael said. Especially if they hear from the BBB and you about the petition thing.Do whatever it takes to get them to come around and accept responsibility, but if you have to take them to court.
I don't understand why Texas doesn't have better laws about this stuff.
Jennifer
California,California,
U.S.A.
Those are good ideas Michael
#9Consumer Comment
Mon, December 18, 2006
My husband use to be in military also. Some places really take advantage of people in the military and alot of thier business comes from them.
I was unaware of those options, I had heard something before about the barring thing, but didn't know much about it.
As for the BBB however, they might be helpful. The business may decide to help out if someone else gets involved, but the BBB cannot MAKE them do anything. It is the businesses decision in the end. All they can do is mediate, and try to work out a compromise between the two, which may be helpful so it is worth a shot.
The dealerships don't care too much, they have a constant flow of new customers from the sales department, so customer service isn't a priority after the work has been done. It is when you are there, and thier commission is on the line, they treat you like you are thier best customer. Other than that, when conflict arises, they act as if they don't know you, they can't remember the details, etc.
I bet getting barred would get thier attention though, like Michael said. Especially if they hear from the BBB and you about the petition thing.Do whatever it takes to get them to come around and accept responsibility, but if you have to take them to court.
I don't understand why Texas doesn't have better laws about this stuff.
Jennifer
California,California,
U.S.A.
Those are good ideas Michael
#9Consumer Comment
Mon, December 18, 2006
My husband use to be in military also. Some places really take advantage of people in the military and alot of thier business comes from them.
I was unaware of those options, I had heard something before about the barring thing, but didn't know much about it.
As for the BBB however, they might be helpful. The business may decide to help out if someone else gets involved, but the BBB cannot MAKE them do anything. It is the businesses decision in the end. All they can do is mediate, and try to work out a compromise between the two, which may be helpful so it is worth a shot.
The dealerships don't care too much, they have a constant flow of new customers from the sales department, so customer service isn't a priority after the work has been done. It is when you are there, and thier commission is on the line, they treat you like you are thier best customer. Other than that, when conflict arises, they act as if they don't know you, they can't remember the details, etc.
I bet getting barred would get thier attention though, like Michael said. Especially if they hear from the BBB and you about the petition thing.Do whatever it takes to get them to come around and accept responsibility, but if you have to take them to court.
I don't understand why Texas doesn't have better laws about this stuff.
Michael
Warner Robins,Georgia,
U.S.A.
There are other options
#9Consumer Suggestion
Fri, December 15, 2006
Hello Mrs, I know exactly what your going through, except my incident was with a different dealership in Killeen. There aren't any laws that would offer the kind of protection you seek in texas. But as the spouse of a military member you can speak with the Command Financial Specialist assigned to your husbands unit, and if the car is your only mode of transportation, an AER loan would fix anything that your car needs.
You can also get a petition out there for other soldiers to sign for the commander to bar military members from doing business with Cleo Bay. It may be a long shot, but I've seen it happen before, and in a military town, you don't want to get barred from anything. Once you get the ball rolling with a petition, let Cleo Bay know what you're doing, and they might just give in.
The other thing you could do is, call the Better Business Bureau, if they do an investigation, then Cleo Bay may be obligated to help you. The important thing here is, not to quit. You know what you want, and you know what they need to do. Tell your husband thanks for his service, and I hope he comes home safe.
Good Luck
Michael
Warner Robins,Georgia,
U.S.A.
There are other options
#9Consumer Suggestion
Fri, December 15, 2006
Hello Mrs, I know exactly what your going through, except my incident was with a different dealership in Killeen. There aren't any laws that would offer the kind of protection you seek in texas. But as the spouse of a military member you can speak with the Command Financial Specialist assigned to your husbands unit, and if the car is your only mode of transportation, an AER loan would fix anything that your car needs.
You can also get a petition out there for other soldiers to sign for the commander to bar military members from doing business with Cleo Bay. It may be a long shot, but I've seen it happen before, and in a military town, you don't want to get barred from anything. Once you get the ball rolling with a petition, let Cleo Bay know what you're doing, and they might just give in.
The other thing you could do is, call the Better Business Bureau, if they do an investigation, then Cleo Bay may be obligated to help you. The important thing here is, not to quit. You know what you want, and you know what they need to do. Tell your husband thanks for his service, and I hope he comes home safe.
Good Luck
Michael
Warner Robins,Georgia,
U.S.A.
There are other options
#9Consumer Suggestion
Fri, December 15, 2006
Hello Mrs, I know exactly what your going through, except my incident was with a different dealership in Killeen. There aren't any laws that would offer the kind of protection you seek in texas. But as the spouse of a military member you can speak with the Command Financial Specialist assigned to your husbands unit, and if the car is your only mode of transportation, an AER loan would fix anything that your car needs.
You can also get a petition out there for other soldiers to sign for the commander to bar military members from doing business with Cleo Bay. It may be a long shot, but I've seen it happen before, and in a military town, you don't want to get barred from anything. Once you get the ball rolling with a petition, let Cleo Bay know what you're doing, and they might just give in.
The other thing you could do is, call the Better Business Bureau, if they do an investigation, then Cleo Bay may be obligated to help you. The important thing here is, not to quit. You know what you want, and you know what they need to do. Tell your husband thanks for his service, and I hope he comes home safe.
Good Luck
Michael
Warner Robins,Georgia,
U.S.A.
There are other options
#9Consumer Suggestion
Fri, December 15, 2006
Hello Mrs, I know exactly what your going through, except my incident was with a different dealership in Killeen. There aren't any laws that would offer the kind of protection you seek in texas. But as the spouse of a military member you can speak with the Command Financial Specialist assigned to your husbands unit, and if the car is your only mode of transportation, an AER loan would fix anything that your car needs.
You can also get a petition out there for other soldiers to sign for the commander to bar military members from doing business with Cleo Bay. It may be a long shot, but I've seen it happen before, and in a military town, you don't want to get barred from anything. Once you get the ball rolling with a petition, let Cleo Bay know what you're doing, and they might just give in.
The other thing you could do is, call the Better Business Bureau, if they do an investigation, then Cleo Bay may be obligated to help you. The important thing here is, not to quit. You know what you want, and you know what they need to do. Tell your husband thanks for his service, and I hope he comes home safe.
Good Luck
Jennifer
California,California,
U.S.A.
Unfortunatly
#9Consumer Comment
Fri, December 15, 2006
Texas doesn't really regulate auto repair. You can check out the attorney general website, but as far as I know the law doesn't protect auto repair customers like other states do.
I think your best option would be to write down all the conversations you had with them, any statements they made about your vehicles condition, reciepts and some documentation of what the other mechanic found, etc and put together a timeline of the events that occured. Then take them to court.
Your report is pretty clear, detailed and it sounds like you have a good understanding of all the things that happened. (Unlike some people on here start spouting crazy things that the shop did to them, or caused to go wrong with thier vehicles, which are unlikely. and just want somebody to pay for all thier car's problems lol)
Anyhow like I was saying, I think you would stand a good chance in court. If you had a cracked head or blown head gasket when you went in and they did any sort of testing for overheating it is most likely they would find it!
If a vehicle comes in and the customer is complaining of overheating we check for blown head gaskets, cracked heads before any work is done. Lots and lots of people continue driving a vehicle when it is overheating, leading to a blown head gasket and maybe cracked head. It is pointless for a customer to spend money on a radiator (or whatever caused the problem) just to find out they have a blown head gasket and possibly a cracked head.
Many people decide that is more money than they want to put into the car, if they just spent 400 on a new radiator, they are going to be REALLY upset to find out they have another 1800 dollar repair! I can't say for sure (I'm not a mechanic, I just type up repair orders, notes from mechanics, and talk with customers) but it seems that if those problems exsisted when you brought it in ( radiator and head gasket) and they actually did inspect it they would have found it.
You should ask the second mechanic for details, like what type of testing would be performed on a vehicle that came in for overheating, specifically your vehicle. And if that testing was done, would a blown head gasket be found if it existed at the time?
Basically is there anything you can use to prove they didn't do the work you asked them to (check for overheating problem) and that they failed to find the problem, leading to the head gasket. Do you have thier reciept saying what they did to test for the problem? Did you pay for the diagnostics/testing for overheating, or just the maintenance items?
Anyhow I'm tired, I think you get my point. See what you can come up with that shows they didn't do what they said they did, etc. and take them to small claims court. They should have been able to find a hole in the radiator if they knew the car was overheating!