Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  22/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  September 4th my car was towed from clinic 215 to Lester lube after my brake lines unexpectedly gave out. After hearing from them I was told it was my brake lines and my brake pads were bad and I had a seized caliper suddenly when before my brake line gave out everything else was fine but I said go ahead and fix the rear pads and caliper as they said they couldn’t bleed the lines without it. They quoted me $1000. I picked up my car September 18th and was charged $1666 rather than the agreed upon quote. On pick up of my Car I noticed that I had 4 missing glassware prices bought before the tow was needed. I am missing 2 knives that were purchased on a vacation, a winning scratch ticket and a few other small things. Some of these items were in bags and in various parts of the car. Upon realizing I checked everywhere my items could have possibly been misplaced and to no avail, they’re still misssing. The only place my car was was the shop and I called and spoke to the manager who knew exactly what car i was calling about but said the cameras delete after 7 days and said he couldn’t do anything. I think this is very unprofessional as I left my car in their care after undergoing a medical procedure, being overcharged & then disregarded when someone in that shop literally robbed me on my personal items. This shop knew they were towing me from a medical clinic and I feel they took advantage of the situation as I was unwell and under medication. Finally, they never even fixed my car to working condition and I can barely drive the car because the brakes do not work

  

  Business response

  24/10/2024

  Oct 24, 2024
  
  On Sep 4/24, we received a phone call from ******* that her brakes had just given out, with the pedal going to the floor.  We supplied her with the phone number of * * * ****** for her to call and advise the location of her car and its key.  She was told that we are currently booking out almost 2 weeks down the road.  The vehicle was towed to our lot and sat outside for the better part of the 2 weeks until we had space to service the car.  Upon inspection, we found that the brake lines from the front going to the rear wheels were rusted and leaking and the rear brakes were rusted and not functioning.  The customer was contacted with an estimate that included rear pads, rotors, and 1 rear caliper, as well as brake lines and labour.  We were given the ok to proceed.  As we progressed through the work, we needed to replace the 2nd rear caliper as it was too rusted to bleed the air out of the new lines.  This vehicle needs more repairs that we did not address as it did not pertain to the leak it was towed in for.  The initial estimate was, as always, quoted before tax.  The only extra expenses incurred were the additional rear caliper and the taxes.  I don’t expect it to drive like a new car, we only fixed the leak and did rear brakes.  Nothing else was touched and no one on my staff took the time to go shopping through her car at her expense.  I really don’t appreciate any insinuations that she was taken advantage of due to any medical condition irrelevant to our business or her car.  The vehicle in question was picked up over a month ago and 2 days ago was the first time I’ve heard of any issues.  I honestly don’t see how we could have wronged this customer and don’t see anything reasonable that I should do to rectify the situation. 

  Customer response

  24/10/2024

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I was NOT the one that called. ***** ***** ****** - a worker at the clinic called the shop for me and told me these guys were extremely trustworthy. None of this information was relayed directly to me until the following week when someone from the shop called to tell me it was all of the above listed issues. I was undergoing a medical procedure and said clinic offered to call. I had no clue where my car was going as I was not the one who called the tow and didn’t know it was at Lester lube until I was home and the clinic worker called me to let me know my car was picked up. I have cameras all around the property of my home and my car was NOT broken into. It was entered with keys and my things went missing some time in the 3 weeks my car was on their lot. Conveniently they do not have camera footage anymore. For $1666 i expected to have a) all of my things in my car upon return. I did my due diligence to check my home and make sure it was not I who misplaced my things and then took it upon myself to contact the only business I left my car with since owning it: I called and stew essentially said ‘tough luck’ I think this is very unprofessional and should have at least offered to investigate the situation but just said immediately ‘nope no one did that’. I don’t appreciate trusting a business with my personal belongings and paying a lot of money for a barely functioning car and over $500 of missing items. I am trying to come to a resolution as at the very least I’m sure there is some sort of back up to the camera footage and I would like it to at least be investigated. Its very shady to me that stew will not look further into this. They have plenty of negative reviews online and I’m sure I won’t be the last person to make a complaint. Do better as a business. 

  

  Business response

  29/10/2024

  I want to clarify that I never intended to dismiss ********* concerns. Our cameras record continuously on a seven-day cycle, which means that on the eighth day, the footage from the first day is overwritten. As a result, I can only review recordings from the last seven days; anything older has been lost.
  
  I understand that ******* was not informed about the second rear brake caliper that needed to be installed. She received an estimate of $1,000 plus tax, while the actual cost of the second caliper was $265.95 plus tax, bringing the total to $305.84. Although this caliper was necessary and is currently installed on her car, I would like to offer a refund of $305.84 for the caliper that was not quoted as a gesture of good faith. I believe this is a fair resolution.
  

  Customer response

  29/10/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 22458200, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

   

  i will accept the refund and appreciate the offer. I’m sorry it had to come to this but i am glad it could be resolved here

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