Complaint Review: Precision Tune Auto Care

I am an active duty Colonel in the United States Air Force stationed in California.  In July 2010 I was home on leave visiting my Mother in Englewood, Ohio.  My Mother had detected the odor of overheating brakes on her 1989 Chrysler mini-van and asked me to take it to a repair shop to have the brakes examined.

I took my Mother's mini-van to Precision Tune Auto Care, 591 South Main Street, Englewood, OH 45322 on Monday July 19th, 2010 in the afternoon around 1:30 PM.  I told the Manager, Mr. Dale Francis that my Mother and I had smelled the odor of overheated brakes and I believed she had a brake that was sticking.  In addition, I asked them to do a diagnostic check on her air conditioning system which was not operating properly.  After approximately one hour of waiting I was told that that her coolant was low in her A/C system and that she needed new rotors and pads for her front brakes.  Mr. Francis told me that the odor was due to an oil leak that was dripping oil on the exhaust manifold.  I contacted my Mother and she gave Precision Tune the go-ahead to complete the recommended work.  However, I was skeptical about the odor as I know the difference between the smell of burning oil and the smell of overheated brakes.  I was also skeptical about the need for new front brake pads and rotors as the mini-van had just a few miles over 37,000 on the odometer.  However, I didnt want to take any chances with the vehicle my 82 year-old Mother was driving, so I kept my concerns to myself.  The total cost for completion of this work was $472.

The next day I ran some local errands for my Mother and noticed smoke coming out of the passenger-side wheel well upon returning to my Mother's home.  I parked the vehicle and took it back to Englewood Precision Tune at 8:00 AM the next day, July 21st 2010.  I advised Dale Francis that I still had a brake sticking on the front passenger-side of the vehicle.  Mr. Francis drove me back to my Mother's house in his vehicle and kept my Mother's van for approximately one hour.  He returned to my Mother's house driving her van and told me they could find nothing wrong with the front brake system.  I then drove him back to Englewood Precision Tune in the mini-van and returned home.  Upon pulling into the garage and shutting off the engine, I again saw smoke coming from the front passenger-side wheel well.  At this point I was disgusted with the inept performance of the Englewood Precision Tune shop and determined to take the van to a local Dodge dealer to fix the sticking brake.

On Friday July 23rd I took my Mother's van to Arena Dodge in Trotwood, OH at 8:00 AM.  The Arena Dodge Service department found that the front passenger-side rotor had been overheated and had significantly changed color and the front brake pad had glazed over due to overheating.  Arena Dodge replaced the brake hoses and calipers on both front brakes as well as both pads (pads come in sets of two) and the front passenger-side rotor at a total cost of $725.

On Friday July 23^rd at approximately 4:00 pm my Mother and I drove to the Englewood Precision Tune facility and requested her money back for the brake work performed.  The incompetence of Mr. Francis and his employees (or possibly their dishonesty) cost a senior citizen on a very limited income a large amount of money.  Mr. Francis told us he would have to think about it when asked for a refund for the brake work.  To date my Mother has heard nothing from Mr. Francis and has filed a formal complaint with the Dayton, OH Better Business Bureau.

In my opinion, Dale Francis is either an idiot or an outright thief.  Through incompetence or deception he has bled money from an elderly lady who can scarce-afford such large expenses.  No person or corporation should purposely take advantage of elderly people like my Mother.