Complaint Review: Courthouse Tire - Fredericksburg Virginia

I am a consumer who also contacted courthouse tires for an inspection for my car.  I was told also that I needed the car's ball joints replaced and that it would cost approx. 500 dollars.  Since our family has little money extra each month, my husband decided to get a second opinion.  He went to another inspection garage and was told this work was not necessary and that all that needed to be replaced on my car was one windshield wiper at a cost of 8 dollars.  After this was completed my state inspection was approved.  In addition my husband was honest with the second garage and told them the problem the first place had encounted, but they did not see any problem with this area.  It is dishearting to learn that places are trying to tell customers additional work that needs to be done, when in fact it is not the truth.  Like I stated before, our family does not have an extra 500 dollars to spend, and would have be devastated if we learned we spent that much money on something that we would later have learned was not needed.  I hope this helps other consumers in the future think about where to take their car. 

My name is Richard Paschal, and I am the owner of Courthouse Tire and Service Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I would like to take the time and oppurtunity to respond to Amy's concerns, and in doing so, give an expalnation as to the repairs performed on her vehicle and why said repairs were performed. Contrary to her belief, I have founded my business on the belief in Jesus Christ, and every day those I employ and I strive to lift up His name with our actions and deeds. To address the issue at hand, let me start by saying this: we have never replaced a ball joint of any type on Amy's vehicle. Amy originally brought her vehcile in for service on March 10th, 2005 for a wheel bearing issue. The bearing was so badly deteriorated that it had begun to wear into the hub assembly itself, thus mandating replacement (however unfortunate) of the hub as well. At the time the vehicle originally appeared in my shop, the odometer read 184,506 miles. At this time we also discovered that a bulb had blown out, bringing the total of the customer's ticket to $422.96 (Repair Order #51849 for reference). After the time of invoice, we noticed that a typo had occurred on her ticket: we had stated that the right front bearing and left front hub were replaced when in actuality, we had replaced the left front hub and bearing assembly in its entirety. Then, on April 6th, 2005, the customer returned with her vehicle to receive a Virginia State Inspection. Unfortunately, her vehicle encountered problems passing the State Inspection when it was discovered that her windshield wipers were not functioning properly and one of the two wiper blades on the front was deteriorated enough to mandate replacement. The overall total at time of invoice for this particular visit was $71.69 (Repair Order #52787 for reference), which included the Virginia State Inspection, repair of her winshield wipers, and the replacement of the one deteriorated wiper blade. Even though these repairs were made, her vehicle still required a few more items to be corrected before it could be deemed as safe for Virginia State roads, at least according the State Inspection standards and guidelines. As I'm sure most Virginia residents are aware, if your vehicle has failed a State Inspection at any particular location, you have fifteen days from the time of the original inspection to have the vehicle repaired and re-inspected without requiring that the inspection be performed all over again. On August 6th, 2005 (four months later), the vehicle appeared again in attempt to have the State inspection performed. As I have stated previously, you only have fifteen days from the date of the original inspection to have the vehicle re-inspected, so natually my technicians were required to perform the complete State Inspection over again (Repair Order #56461 for reference). At this time, the odometer on her vehicle read 190,096 - over five thousand miles since her last visit. Upon completion of the most recent inspection, we found that she had another bulb that had gone out and a power steering belt that would require replacement. Considering her loyalty and history with us, I had my service writer at the time apply a ten percent discount, in an attempt to help the customer out. At this time, without taking into account any further work that would be required, her repair total was $108.86. Shortly thereafter, we discovered that in the five month period between visits, her right front hub bearing had managed to go bad (just as the left had failed earlier). Due to the mix-up involving her previous visits, I elected to repair her vehicle at no charge to the customer. I am extremely sorry that she feels as though she has been taken advantage of, and would still like to do whatever necessary to resolve this situation in a manner most beneficial to the customer. I am concerned as to why the customer would wait almost three years to bring a matter of this nature to my attention; I have always been available to my customers on a first hand basis to resolve any issues they may encounter while having their vehicle serviced at one or any of my shops. If there is anything I can do to make the situation better, please contact me, and I will do anything I can. I appreciate you taking the time to read this post. Richard Paschal Owner and Founder, Courthouse Tire and Service Center "James 1:16-23"

Nate, the CV shaft came to mind because of the "clunking", the price of the job, and the fact that "the boot" needed replacement. The CV joint could also have been explained as a "ball joint" to someone not in the business just so they would understand what the mechanic is talking about. Replacing one ball joint while leaving three worn out joints in place is like changing one tie-rod end, or replacing one brake cylinder. Cheaper to just replace them all while the car is on the rack and be done with it, considering the labor cost. As far as the wheel turning sideways, I've towed a few cars that have had this happen, and it usually costs them a fender, wheel, and tire in addition to everything else that gets torn up. I'm not trying to "scare" anyone, there is plenty of busuness to go around. I don't force people to fix it my way, I just send them to someone else. I also won't install cheap customer-bought parts because I can't verify the quality, am I a crook for that too?

Nate, the CV shaft came to mind because of the "clunking", the price of the job, and the fact that "the boot" needed replacement. The CV joint could also have been explained as a "ball joint" to someone not in the business just so they would understand what the mechanic is talking about. Replacing one ball joint while leaving three worn out joints in place is like changing one tie-rod end, or replacing one brake cylinder. Cheaper to just replace them all while the car is on the rack and be done with it, considering the labor cost. As far as the wheel turning sideways, I've towed a few cars that have had this happen, and it usually costs them a fender, wheel, and tire in addition to everything else that gets torn up. I'm not trying to "scare" anyone, there is plenty of busuness to go around. I don't force people to fix it my way, I just send them to someone else. I also won't install cheap customer-bought parts because I can't verify the quality, am I a crook for that too?

Nate, the CV shaft came to mind because of the "clunking", the price of the job, and the fact that "the boot" needed replacement. The CV joint could also have been explained as a "ball joint" to someone not in the business just so they would understand what the mechanic is talking about. Replacing one ball joint while leaving three worn out joints in place is like changing one tie-rod end, or replacing one brake cylinder. Cheaper to just replace them all while the car is on the rack and be done with it, considering the labor cost. As far as the wheel turning sideways, I've towed a few cars that have had this happen, and it usually costs them a fender, wheel, and tire in addition to everything else that gets torn up. I'm not trying to "scare" anyone, there is plenty of busuness to go around. I don't force people to fix it my way, I just send them to someone else. I also won't install cheap customer-bought parts because I can't verify the quality, am I a crook for that too?

Nate, the CV shaft came to mind because of the "clunking", the price of the job, and the fact that "the boot" needed replacement. The CV joint could also have been explained as a "ball joint" to someone not in the business just so they would understand what the mechanic is talking about. Replacing one ball joint while leaving three worn out joints in place is like changing one tie-rod end, or replacing one brake cylinder. Cheaper to just replace them all while the car is on the rack and be done with it, considering the labor cost. As far as the wheel turning sideways, I've towed a few cars that have had this happen, and it usually costs them a fender, wheel, and tire in addition to everything else that gets torn up. I'm not trying to "scare" anyone, there is plenty of busuness to go around. I don't force people to fix it my way, I just send them to someone else. I also won't install cheap customer-bought parts because I can't verify the quality, am I a crook for that too?

I really don't see where Marc is getting the idea that the original poster has a CV joint problem rather than ball joints. Perhaps from his complaint of a 'clunking' sound 'from [his] tires', but that would not really indicate CV joints. Also the fact that the other facility confirmed a problem with the driver side ball joint. I also have to call you out on your policy of replacing 'all four ball joints'. There is no reason to do that. This is unnecessary work if the ball joints are not bad. It is quite simple to check ball joints to see if they are due for replacement. True, you can also take into account the odometer reading, age of the vehicle, etc., but to say that replacing all four every time is required is unethical. And finally, there is a very good quote from you that deserves mention: "The affected wheel will, eventually, turn sideways in a violent manner and cause you to crash." This is what is called in the trade 'scare tactics.' If a part needs replaced, just tell the customer it needs replaced. Any mechanic who has to use scare tactics to sell services obviously has no relationship of trust with his/her clients. It is obvious that Courthouse Tire had no intention of making the situation right. Their idea of rectifying a problem seems to be to ignore it, and wait for it to go away.

When you replace ball joints, it's wise to replace all four of them at the same time. Customers are reluctant to do so, thinking they are being ripped off by the mechanic. When you replace just one joint, the "looseness" moves to the next weakest joint in the system, and if it's bad enough you will fail inspection. I think that is what happened in your case. If someone comes to me with a ball-joint problem, I'll turn them away unless they allow me to fix the problem correctly. It's either pay now, or pay much more later. Also, from your post it sounds as though your complaint is with the CV driveshaft joints, not the ball joints. If so, allowing you to drive the car with either a bad CV joint or ball joint would be criminally dangerous, and most likely illegal. The affected wheel will, eventually, turn sideways in a violent manner and cause you to crash.In addition, $400 is a fair price for a driveshaft replacement, depending on the model car.