Sears auto incompetent work stripped out oil drain plug resulting ina locked motor valdosta, Georgia
Due to an employee using an air impact wrench, it stripped out my oil drain plug. therefore all the oil ran resulting in my motor being locked up. They diagnosed it as a locked starter. What incompetency! They had it towed to the local Ford dealership where it was determined that they had changed out the oil drain plug, despite what was determined that it was a new oil drain that Sears had changed to try to hide their mistake. the service person at the Ford place tried to set up a meeting between myself and the manager, he declined. Sears understandably is doing everything to keep from owning to their mistakes. But, not surprising they are denying their liability. Despite the obvious oil blow back from the oil pan. their assistant manager is probably confused on what to do except lie and deny, which comes to no surprise as he is stoned half the time. He has ulterior motives to this denial because he has just been promoted to the assistant manager position. Funny he acts like mr goodwrench but when he needed his brakes changed, he drove 25 miles to my house to fix as well as his belts, and his alternator. It seems that there should be some type of a govt advocasy group to look into these matters. they have attorneys on retainer and they know most people can't afford to keep an attorney to keep a case going. This level of incompetency will result in me changing out the motor at a tune of about $4000. So customers beware of the sears auto center in valdosta ga. Has anybody experienced this type of crap work at this location? ps what is the most effective way to make other people aware of this type of activity and the best way to picket their store?
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sears Auto Center Mgr.
Hahira,Georgia,
United States of America
We take these accusations seriously.
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, November 14, 2012
We react quickly when presented with accusations of this nature. Both so we can take action to satisfy the customer and also to find out if there's a training issue with any of our associates. An impact wrench is never used during an oil change. The 19mm and 21mm impact sockets provided by the company are too large to fit an oil drain plug.
Three months had passed since the service. The vehicle was towed to the facility where the only thing that could be determined with certainty was that the starter would not turn over. Being primarily a tire and battery shop the customer was advised to have the dealership make an un-biased third party decision as to whether or not the engine was locked up and whether or not it could be attributed to service done 3 months prior. They must have disagreed with the customer as well because the customer then notified the corporate office.
Next a third party insurance and liability investigator (neither an employee of Sears nor the dealership) was dispatched to the dealership to conduct an investigation. Thereby removing the option of a simple denial on the part of the service center. These individuals are trained to identify attempts to cover up mistakes by auto centers. It was found that there was no evidence of related repairs.
Every resource was afforded this customer and no expense was spared in an attempt to find fault with this shop at no cost to him. Unfortunately, the outcome was not in his favor so no money exchanged hands.
Regrettable to hear of the personal insults and accusations directed at the Asst. Manager. He is not a technician in the facility and does not perform service on vehicles but he seemed to be a definite target of the report. It can only be hoped that this whole affair was not propelled by personal motives.