Complaint Review: HOMEDALE AUTO SALVAGE

In July of 2001, we were given a 92 Ford Ranger, to give to our oldest son when he got older, by my mother in-law (who was his whole world) that passed away at the end of that month. We decided to move to Idaho in August, so we went to Uhaul to get a trailer to haul our stuff. Uhaul attached a 6'X12' trailer to the truck and said our truck would be able to pull it from Vancouver, Washington to Boise, Idaho with no problem.

We left for Idaho August 17, 2001. We took I-84 east and broke down just before Dead Mans Pass on the hills just east of Pendleton, Oregon. Uhaul towed it to Boise and we had to call Republic Western Insurance Inc. who represents Uhaul. We tried desperately to work with our adjuster, Brian Vannen, and the vice president of the company, Tom LaTush. We asked to have our truck fixed by Al's Car Care in Boise. At first they towed it there. However, when Al's Car Care mechanics said that it needed a new engine and transmission, and possible a new radiator, as a result of the trailer it was pulling, they sent the truck to Homedale Auto Salvage in Homedale, Idaho with out our permission on August 28th.

Then they told us they would not move it somewhere else despite our rejection to the shop it was at and they were going to put a engine and transmission in the truck that had 14,000 miles on it, the truck would only take 7-10 days to fix, and it would have a 1 year warranty.

Three weeks later, September 18th, they said it was done, and we could get it back. When we arrived at the shop to pick it up, we discovered that they lied to us and the engine and transmission has at least 67,000 and the name on the receipt said Jerry's Auto Clinic in Caldwell, Idaho. Both the shop and the insurance company were rude to us, lied to us, and gave us death threats. We called the insurance company immediately and told him that we did not trust the work that was done because it was not running right.

We also told him we were heading back to Portland, Oregon to live with family, of the threats the shop made to us, that the shop would not give us an invoice of the work that had been done, and the suspicions we had about the shop not being legitimate We even called the phone number from the shops receipt and the person who answered said they had that number for 15 years.

We were also told that Jerry's Auto Clinic was shut down in Caldwell, Id by the police for stolen auto parts, which is when they moved to Homedale, Idaho and changed their name to Homedale Auto Salvage. We headed back to Portland, Oregon the same day we got the truck back.

On September 19th, at 4:00am we finally hit the eastern border of The Dalles, Oregon and the truck broke down because of the engine and transmission again and is, still today, sitting at the Shilo Inn at The Dalles. We called the Auto shop and they said "too F***ing bad.", refused to help, and made more threats.

We called the insurance company and told them the problems and they gave us the same response as the shop. We are still fighting with both of them just trying to get some help and some answers since they have ruined our sons truck. We are still getting death threat's from the insurance company and the shop. Our name's are Robert and Tracy Hawk and our son involved is, 4 year old, John Brundage III. Our other children that have suffered as a result of this are Zolynn Brundage and Nickolas Hawk. If you or anyone else can help in any way, we would all appreciate it. Thank you in advance!