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MATS Equipment Co Mat's Equimpent Co. charged more for a small repair than my tool cost new. Then they kept the tool. West Carrollton Ohio
I took my Pneumatic flooring nailer into Mats Equimpent Co. for a minor repair.
I asked if it could be repaired quickly since I would have to rent a nail gun until it was repaired. The told me that it would be only a few days. When I did not hear anything for several days I called to check on the status and they told me that they had 6 parts on order. This seemed suspicouse since the tool only had a blown seal which is a minor repair.
So I asked the the technician, Mike, who is also the owner I believe, if the expense was getting high since I didn't want to get too much money into the repair. He told me that it was the company policy to call the customer if the repair was going to cost more than 30% of the value of the tool. This seemed a little high as I paid $400.00 for the tool but it reasured me that there was at least a cap on what they would charge me.
After a couple of weeks and several phone calls on my part Mike finally called me and said that the tool was ready for pick up( it had been about a month since I brought it in. I asked what the total bill was and He told me $450.00.
I though I had heard wrong and asked him to repeat it but he said the same thing. Rather than discuss it over the phone I decided it would be best to talk about it in person.
When I went to the store to talk with them he gave me an invoice for $504.00. He said that $380.00 of the total was parts.
I had checked out 4 different retailers before going to the store. All of them were selling the tool below $430.00. So I asked why they hadn't called me when it was obvious that the cost was going to be more that 30% of the value of the tool. He said that the " 30% policy " wasn't a strict policy but that 60% of the value was the "strict policy".
Even though he was changing his story on me, I still didn't understand why he was charging me more than I would pay for a brand new gun. Then He said that they don't base the value on what I would pay for a new one. They base the value on the MSRP. He said that the MSRP for this tool was over $800.00.
That type of reasoning was dishonest and bad business practice. It made it to where they could charge more than the tool was worth for a minor repair.
I tried to reason with him but was not succeeding. I asked what my options were if I thought to wasn't fair and he said if I woudn't pay the costs then they would sell the gun to another customer.
When I asked if I could have a copy of the list of parts that he had put in the gun, He got angry and forcibly took the invoice from me that he had given me earlier. He said " you don't get anything" and then took the nailer and all of the paper work from the counter.
Since I was trying to keep everything low key I wasn't prepared for it to get physical and so he was able to take the invoice from me before I could resist.
I asked if he would be willing to give the invoice back and also give me a parts list. He said that if I would give him all of the money he wanted then he would give me the invoice. He said if I didn't give him the money that he wanted then he would sell the tool to another customer.
So basically I've had my nail gun stolen and now I have to purchase a new one.
So far I have filed a report with the Better Business Bureau.