- Report: #730202
Complaint Review: A1 Smog and Repair Center - Redding California
Reported By:
Rich -
Redding, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
A1 Smog and Repair Center
513 N. Market St. Redding, 96003 California, United States of America
Phone:
530-242-0100
Web:
Categories:
Business Rating:
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A1 Smog and Repair Center Patrick Cullen Tampering with smog pump hose to make my vehicle fail smog test Redding, California
I took my Ford motorhome to A1 smog for a smog test. Prior to this, I being a certified mechanic, gave it a tune up, went over all lines, hoses,exhaust manifold and even replaced the muffler. When the test was complete, my vehicle failed at the idle test very bad. They told me they could diagnose the problem for $178.00 plus parts and labor to repair. I took my vehicle back home and got out the work shop manual trying to figure out why it failed. Afte rechecking everything on the top side of engine, i then crawled underneath to inspect again. And guess what, I look up and there is a hose pulled off my smog/air pump. The fitting was perfectly clean and there was all the markings of a hose clamp that was now missing. I took my motorhome to another smog/inspection station and had the owner test my vehicle with the hose off and then with the hose reconnected. With hose reconnected I Passed w/flying colors. I then contacted the owner of A1 smog and told him what went on at his shop. The owner Brent did give me my money back, but the mechanic, Patrick Cullen did pull the hose off my pump. Brent would not admit his mechanic did this on purpose, but you have to tug real hard to pull that hose off. It didn't and can't fall off. I will never use A1 smog again, and hope you don't either
1 Updates & Rebuttals
TONY
REDDING,California,
United States of America
NOT WORTH THE LOSS OF JOB OR LICENSE
#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, November 30, 2012
Daniel,
I am the manager at the Market St. location. Let me start by telling you that is not the type of business we run. The reason you were given back your money, was because the technician should have seen the hose off and reattached the hose to the pump. He made a mistake in his visual inspection by not seeing the hose off. If you had done a diagnostics, we would have found it at that time and you would not have paid a diagnostic fee. People do make mistakes and I am not going to tell you it has never happened before, (because no charge is how we have handled it.) but it happens very rarely & we work hard to limit any mistakes made. If you are a certified mechanic then you understand this fact. We work on & inspect every different make & model of vehicle out there and THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT. We inspect roughly 10,000+ cars a year (not counting the maintenance & repairs we do) and we have very little complaints because we try to take care of all our customers, so not only will they return, but they will bring friends & family. This kind of activity that you speak of is not tolerated in our businesses and would be cause to release from employment, not to mention the fines and license suspension possibilities for the technician and the shop. If you have Certifications then you know the cost of taking the tests and expenses incurred with such certifications adds up quickly as well as the cost to keep them current. It is not something our technicians are willing to give up. I would ask you to honestly ask your self, is it possible to have left it off yourself while you did your tune up & repairs or maybe someone else you had doing any work for you? The only thing Pat did wrong was miss the hose on the visual inspection and for that we are sorry.
TONY / MANAGER
A-1 SMOG & REPAIR / NORTH MARKET
