Complaint Review: High Tech Tire & Auto

Did you ever implicitly trust a mechanic for 10 years, refer him thousands in business and then one day realize that you got screwed? Well, this is the story of Ed Gaydosik's HIGH TECH AUTO REPAIR FLYING CIRCUS FRAUD, a con man who owns a building full of sophisticated equipment but who can't even diagnose a faulty spark plug.

In May of '06 Ed told me I had an oil leak and said I needed a $1213.60 head gasket repair on the right manifold. This was the first time I needed a major repair with this mechanic on this truck. My 7-year-old Ford F-150 engine with 97,000 miles wasn't giving me any trouble but Ed said that the engine could fail "tomorrow or in a few years" and it was best to be proactive and buy another 100,000 miles of insurance while the engine was still good. After all, I towed a camper and didn't want to get stranded, did I? I reluctantly agreed to the repair.

A week later I picked up the truck on the way to our vacation and the Engine Light came on. DUH? This was buying me peace of mind? My trip back to Ed's revealed a vacuum problem which the mechanic missed, not to mention the horrible chronic burning odor which became known as the "mystery smell." Did you ever wonder, what does the mechanic do all week while your car is sitting in there, that the repair is never completely finished and you ALWAYS have to drive back to the shop?

A few weeks later I had my 100,000 mile check-up. Suddenly the engine started running poorly, skipping & missing and vibrating over 50 mph. Now we had CREATED a problem. Ed offered lame explanations such as "it's old" and "the overdrive on older trucks does that" and other such nonsense. I got the clear picture that he assumes all women are stupid. This started a 10-month nightmare of chronic visits to the shop where nothing got fixed and Ed treated the situation like it was a joke. High Tech guarantees everything but what good is a guarantee if they can't fix it right in the first place?

On 3/22/07 the truck lost all power but Ed had the answer: a new set of wires for $270.28. The next morning on a cold start the engine backfired, spewed a huge cloud of white smoke the size of Rhode Island out the tail, and blew a hole in the valve cover gasket. I barely got it back to the shop and was told not to drive it. The mechanic, Robert, drove me home and offered the comment that Ed had ripped me off on the original head repair because he and Tim felt it was NOT necessary. He and several other mechanics I spoke with claimed that older F-150's have a slow "seepage" on the right manifold because they see it on all the Ford fleet vehicles that come in. All you do is monitor the oil level until they wear out. I'd been had!

They replaced the faulty valve cover gasket (Thank God, which had been the source of the mystery smell) and charged me another $324.74 for an air flow sensor which he had now determined to be the REAL culprit! After all this, when I first drove the truck on April 3rd, it was still skipping and vibrating! Ed now claimed that - wait for it - I simply needed a new engine! What happened to the $1213 worth of "insurance" I bought last year, only 5,000 miles back?

On April 4th I hired a local mechanic, Joe, to be my advocate. Within 5 minutes he had located the problem: 2 spark plugs with cracked insulators which had been improperly installed during the 100,000 mile tune-up. A compression test indicated that I had 3 cylinders with bad rings, a situation that should have been disclosed BEFORE the head repair was considered. The $1213 that was wasted on this disaster could have been put toward a new engine.

On April 5th I confronted Bozo with a demand for a refund for Joe's bill, the unnecessary wire set, the unnecessary air flow sensor and the unnecessary head repair, total $1986.32 I didn't expect to get too much cooperation but slamming those cracked platinum plugs on the counter seemed to add just the right touch. GOTCHA.

Ed wrote a check for everything except the $1213.60. We argued for 10 minutes where he tried his con-man loopy logic to distract from the fact that he got caught defrauding a loyal 10-year customer. I suggested a compromise of $770 on the head labor only but Ed refused. I felt it was more than fair considering that this flying circus of gross incompetence had caused me several lost days at work and 11 months of inconvenience and stress. I'll wait for my $1213.60.

Mary
Durham, North Carolina
U.S.A.