Complaint Review: WAL-MART - San Antonio Texas

My husband, a United States Marine, is stationed in Maryland and just had a knee surgery yesterday. I could not fly there to help him because we have to save all funds to pay for the car repairs Wal-Mart caused. I paid for a $60.00 oil change and now have over $2000 in auto repair costs.

 Immediate attention is appreciated. My family is enduring hardship due to Wal-Mart’s negligence. I do not want anyone else to go through what we are going through. Wal-Mart should either hire qualified mechanics or close there service department.

On September 16, 2015 I took my 2012 Ford Explorer to the Wal-Mart at 11210 Potranco Road San Antonio, TX for an oil change. (Order Number: 48570000729)A few hours after leaving the store I began having problems with the vehicle. It began to shake, then the check engine light came on. At approximately 5:30 I called to the auto department and spoke with assistant manager Robert who asked me to take the vehicle back so they could check it. I was told "someone really did a number on your car and he had never seen these codes" by Robert when he looked at the car. He did notice my filter was not properly installed and screwed properly so he replaced that. After he and another employee looked at the car they couldn't read codes so they asked me to return on the 17th to get further assistance.

I requested to start a formal complaint so a manager, Maria came to assist. She took some general information and assured me that when I returned I would get a rental and my car would be sent to a local shop to be fixed. However, on the 17th when I returned to the store the manager Angel first suggested that my battery needed to be replaced and he would install for 1/2 price "for my inconvenience". Installing the battery made no difference to the state of my car. I was not provided a rental but was told to drive the car home until I was contacted with a claim number. This left me with no transportation. I then waited hours with no contact. Then, after calling Angel myself, I finally got a reference number and a phone number to Wal-Mart's insurance company. However, I was never able to speak with anyone at CMI. Even after leaving countless messages.

So, I called Angel back. He instructed me to take my car to Pro Tech Auto as he spoke with the owner, Charles, who would fix my car. "A quick fix" he said. After 5 hours my car was not fixed and I was asked to return when a part was in. I returned 2 days later to learn that the part would not fix the problem and I should take the car the local Ford dealer as it was too new to be having the issues it had. Meanwhile, I had no working car. So, after several days my husband filed a formal complaint through Walmart’s corporate office and I got a call from Manager John Sanchez who listened to my concerns and arranged a rental car. Sandra Ponce picked me up from my house, ironically in a Ford Explorer just like mine! She was surprised at the issues I was having and commented that even though she works at WalMart she takes her car to the dealer for oil changes. I had the rental from 9/23 to 10/6. My vehicle is still not fixed today ( 10/7) however,  John Sánchez (manager at Wal-Mart) was ignoring my calls and cell phone messages.

I finally tracked him down by calling the store’s main number and having him paged. I spoke to him 10/6 in the afternoon and he indicated it was out of his hands. Yet for 2 weeks he assured me my car would be fixed and even had a rental car arranged for me. He was unwilling to renew rental agreement. His suggestion was, "Call Blake at CMI". When he knows as well as I do Blake does not answers his calls and takes at least 2 days to return a call if he does at all.  As I share my story with people I am shocked at the number of people who have had a similar incident with the Walmart Service department. My car was not in the condition it is in now when I took it in for the oil change. Isaac Miller at Red McCombs ford clearly explained that the issue stemmed from a contaminated oil filter. (Which Wal-Mart installed).

Desired Resolution:

My vehicle is currently at the Red McCombs Ford dealership and the Wal-Mart insurance (CMI)is not taking responsibility for the repairs. I paid $60.00 for an oil change and now have over $2000 of auto repairs. I want my car fixed.