Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  27/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Date of transaction: November 20, 2023 Amount paid: 2634.36 The business committed to provide a diagnosis of an abnormal noise coming from the transmission of a passenger vehicle, as well as performing the necessary repairs. The nature of the dispute is the business causing damages to the vehicle that were not present prior to providing them temporary custody of said vehicle, as well as refusing to remedy said damages. On November 13, 2023, in the afternoon, the vehicle was dropped off at the business for diagnosis and repair, following a phone call prior the same morning. It was agreed during the initial phone call with one of the employees, that the issue was related to the transmission of the vehicle. After the vehicle was dropped off, and for the following week, several phone calls were made discussing options and prices of the repair. It was agreed that the vehicle would be fixed and ready to be picked up on Monday, November 20, 2023. On November 20, 2023, while waiting for the vehicle to be completed repairs, one of the employees notified me that there was an issue with how the engine was performing. During the conversation, several accusations were made against me stating that the engine performance was due to a "transmission lockup", which according to one of the employees, caused internal damage. This accusation is untrue however, as the transmission never locked up, instead, the gearshift lever locked up; this situation caused the transmission to freewheel, which could not have affected the engine in any negative way. The shop further refused to take responsibility. Due to these events, I have been caused undue stress, as well as missed appointments, and missed employment opportunities. The vehicle has been in the custody of another shop since November 22nd for further diagnosis and repairs. The shop responsible for repairing the damages has provided me pictures of said damages caused by I.M.Z Service, to substantiate my claims.

  Business response

  06/12/2023

  Thank you for your email and a “professional “ opinion of your mechanic . Please let me - as a mechanic with 11 YEARS of European mechanical schools and over 20 years experience in the mechanical ground as well as the other mechanic you were talking too a former Manager of ***** ******** ********* with 20 years mechanical experience - go over all the accusations, slander and bad mouthing my business .

   You came to us telling us briefly what is going on with your vehicle and asking for opinions. Upon a brief inspection of your vehicle we determined that yes the shift lever was indeed bound up and jammed. When we tried to push your vehicle into the shop we also found the transmission to be locked up. After manually manipulating the shift forks of the transmission under the hood we got the transmission free and were able to push the vehicle into the shop for further diagnosis on the hoist.

  At this time we confirmed the transmission was failed internally, as you stated we discussed the repair options and sourced you a used transmission from an auto wrecker. Upon removal of the transmission from the vehicle we discovered the clutch friction plate was misaligned in its housing, further evidence of a transmission lock up.

  Once the original transmission was removed from the vehicle, I removed the rear housing and discovered large pieces of broken plastic, most likely from the shift fork detents that would prevent multiple gear engagement at one time. With both transmissions side by side on the bench we confirmed they were identical units, with the exception of one additional speed sensor on the rear as the transmission is from a newer vehicle. When we attempted to remove the original transmissions blanking cover we discovered it was seized in the housing due to corrosion. We decided to leave the speed sensor in the new transmission as a blanking plug – this does not effect the performance or functionality of the transmission and is why there is no plug on the harness of your vehicle.

  Whilst installing the used transmission we also installed the new flywheel, clutch friction, and pressure plate at your request. Drained flushed and refilled the new transmission with the provided oil.

  Going through all the pictures you have sent :

  Yes the ground strap was relocated from under the battery tray to the front radiator support, both locations provide a direct path to ground.

  The battery hold down bolt broke when disassembling due to corrosion, had we had more time a proper extraction could have been performed. Due to the time constraints placed on us we made the decision to use a new fastener.

  The idle adjustment was made due to the low RPM misfire the engine presented on start up. Marek explained the potential for damage to the adjustment screw due to corrosion before starting whilst you were stood next to him.

  Lastly the front transmission mount – 100% our mistake- the only defence I can offer to this is exhaustion due to working until 10pm to get you back on the road that day as you wanted and kept insisting . There was no overtime rates applied for us doing this, so as to give you break on the labour due to the unfortunate experience of breaking down so far from home .

  Now I will address the content of your email, you state your ‘car was intentionally tampered with’ this points to someone deliberately interfering with your vehicle to leave it an unsafe condition… This is not the case as proved by the good operation of the transmission as you drove to Two Hills, Ab from Moosomin, Sk some 900km+ what wouldn’t happen if we would damaged your vehicle .  Previously you left a negative review of our business on ******** alluding to the same scenario.

  We would like to offer a refund of 2hrs labour @ $135 = $270 plus PST/GST $299.70 to cover the mechanics time to relocate the transmission mount that was unfortunately installed incorrectly which covers way more time than its actually needed for this. The cheque can be send to you the day of your response.

  Should you not find this acceptable and wish to proceed with a small claims case against us, we will be happy to respond with our own case of libel, defamation of character, slander and loss of business earnings due to the public review you left personally attacking both our experience as mechanics, and professional ethics.

   

• Initial Complaint

  25/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Came to their place of business to have a 2003 F250 truck towed into town and troubleshot as cylinder #5 had a misfire. The employee came to our farm and tore up our yard After about a week of not hearing anything I called IMZ to find out the status of the truck. Was informed that the cylinder in question had nearly no compression. I instructed IMZ to stop work and make up the bill. Another week goes by with no call back I called again was told that they replaced parts in the engine and would require more parts to make the engine work properly. I NEVER authorized IMZ to replace any parts as knowing the engine would require a complete overhaul. After the first phone call I ordered a new engine for the truck. They are trying to charge me just over a $1000.00 for what towing,troubleshooting. I never authorized any repairs. To the truck. I went to the place of business to negotiate with them, only to get told that I had no clue what I am talking about. I was furious,

  Business response

  07/09/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/08/20) */ Good day, I apologize for the late respond , the first email went to the spam folder and we didn't see it . Lets start from the fact that the customer is having a serious anger management issues , comes drunk to the garage and is mentally unstable yelling and screaming what can be seen on the cameras that we have and that behavior won't be tolerated anymore, if this will happen again RCMP will be called immediately . Customer called to have his truck towed from his house , before the driver has arrived we have received a phone call screaming that the driver is wrecking his driveway spinning , first of all at that time the driver wasn't at his place he was at the gas station, secondly with the tow truck its not really possible to spin what later on confirmed a woman living there that it was a ******* truck driving pretty fast . Once driver got there indeed he got stuck as the place was horribly muddy and the tow truck is very heavy. After towing the truck to our garage customer said that suspects cylinder number 5 not working , he told me that if that will be confirmed he doesn't want to change it as that would be quite a big cost as the head gasket would have to be removed but he wants this truck running . As there was an intake valve problem and there was no pressure injector didn't work and had to be replaced in order to check the rest, as well as glow plugs that were burned . Those were the only one and necessary parts changed in order to have the truck running , all pressure tests were done . Truck runs much better there is still problem with cylinder 5 as customer knows but as customer asked the truck is running . It has never been said not to repair it ,it has never been a phone call with a instructions to stop the work on a truck... it has never been said not to fix or as he says now that he was planning on getting new engine .... Why would we want to fix anything if the customer wouldn't want it ??? As customer claims that he is a mechanic he also knows that every other garage would have charged 4-5 hours for injector and glow plug replacement . as the mechanical websites say .We have charged 4 hours labor that is including towing from out of town . I could have charged 3.5 hours just for towing and get that bill paid without repairing the truck . We have made a very good deal for this customer that he wouldn't find anywhere else. There will be no negotiations with this man because we did what he asked for , we have charged minimum labor , towing cost was reduced and it didn't had to be and on top of that we have to bear his behavior and screams at myself and my staff .

• Initial Complaint

  15/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  April 2021 Stopped into ask ***** at IMZ Garage, located in Moosomin, SK to ask if he could rebuild our engine in the 2011 ******* He said "Yes I can rebuild the engine and it will be better than a new one, I guarantee my work!" So we called him back and he said to bring it down, so it sat there for a few weeks, we kept going down or calling him, then next few months see if he had started to rebuild the engine. ***** kept saying, "Next week, Next week, it will be ready!" We kept getting the run around and excuses upon excuses from him. He eventually told us it would be ready by end of June, but bit eve close to that date! Our ****** sat outside for months and months, never moved at all! In the fall we still kept going and calling to see if he's started yet and ask when are we going to get the ****** back. He still kept saying, "Next week, next week and that he was to busy, and no room in the shop." Finally, he calls and says it's ready in December, 2021, 9 months later! We go to pick it up and he tells us it needs a starter now! We said, "Well, put a new starter in it then!" We picked the ****** up the next day and remember it is winter now, so we just parked it in the garage and only drove it a few times uptown to get groceries. So now comes the spring of 2022 and we decided to take ****** on our first road trip. We drove to Virden, MB, just 45 minutes away, and as soon as we leave town to drive back to Moosomin, the ****** made a few loud noises and died. We pulled over and called *****. He says, "Oh it will just be something small, nothing big or wrong at all!" We end up getting a tow truck and hauling it back to Moosomin. We talked to ***** at the shop, he says, "Oh it won't be anything big wrong." Okay so three weeks later we go to pick it up and ***** tells me, "I don't have good news for you.", I said, "What could be bad news, as you just fixed it for me!", he says, Engine is shot.", and I said, "What are you talking about, we just paid you $7,300 to rebuild the engine and it only lasts a few months!", He says, "I found a engine in Toronto for $3,850, with only 15,000 kms on it, and I can get it shipped in a few days.", I said, "You have got to be kidding me, we just gave you $7,300 for the engine rebuild and do you think money grows on trees man?" He didn't even care that we just gave him $7,300 to rebuild the engine! So we got the ****** home and parked it in the garage. There was no mention of warranty on his work! I am not impressed at all with *****'s work, his promises and excuses and lies. We called another mechanic and he said they would take a look at the engine and tell us what he finds out. We have had three mechanics look at the engine and all three said, it was a butcher job, and that ***** should have come good on his job with warranty. We asked to have the engine rebuilt and that he quoted us $4,000 - $5,000, but when we saw the bill it was $7,300, a far cry from his quote. We thought and we told that he was rebuilding the whole engine for that price and found out later he only did the bottom end of the engine. So we were lied to again, and paid a very high price for only half a rebuild. All three mechanics said the banging noise was coming from the bottom, so this was supposedly what he had rebuilt, but we were never told he was only rebuilding half the engine, another lie! We paid $7,300 for a very bad job, and only half a engine that wasn't done properly and quit within a few months.

  Business response

  17/08/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/06/27) */ Good day, as a new business owner in a very small town like Moosomin i couldn't possibly afford to lie to my customers in a first place as i would be out of business very quickly . The reason why we are so busy is because we are honest, respectful and care about people that we serve .It is very dissapointing to see people in this age being able to lie so much and make their version of the story which has nothing to do with what happened and putting a mark on my business. This couple came last year asking about partial repair of the engine .I have told them that i'm fully booked for the next few months and that looks like quite a big job so i don't know when could that happen, i have explained that this is a big job that will require one hoist and lots of time to do it if it even can be fixed .She told me that it doesn't really matter as the car just sits in their garage so they will bring it here and no matter when if i can have a time to look that will be good. They brought the car and forgot to mention that 3 other garages were previously working on it and nobody could fix it . On top of that half of the engine was in the boot of the car in parts... well that is a butcher job! When i saw in what condition this engine is i told them right away that best option here is to get a new engine in this case would be worth a money and they would get a warranty for the engine and my work. They didn't want to hear about it she started raising her voice that this engine has a very low milage and they won't get new one . They ask about the price and i said if engine wouldnt be in pieces it would be around $4500-$5000 in this particular case i don't know that's why it would be better to get new one , i couldn't say how much damage is done to the engine,how are all those parts in the boot ... It turned out some of the parts were missing,some were completely destroyed what meant that new parts have to be ordered and the cost will rise. They came to the garage and they've been told again to get the new engine that would be in their best interest, with this condition of the engine doing a partial engine repair the cost will be high and i can't give them warranty as it it very risky and i still don't know about other part of the engine . i said it could run another 5 years without any problems but it might as well stop after few month so eventually you will have to get a new engine anyway but again they decided to try and fix it and were not concerned about the cost what didn't make any sense to me as they could get new engine with a warranty and have a car as new. They have been informed about every part that has been ordered from ********** as well as about the long time we were waiting for parts as i said earlier some of the parts were missing and some were destroyed. Repairing and engine from the condition it was brought take much more time, when we started the engine it turned out that a starter is partially burned. They have been informed, part has been showed and the decision was to change the starter. 3 days later ( not 3 weeks later like they said - another lie) starter has been changed in front of both of them and they got their car. They have never complained about their total bill , they didn't even let me explain everything that was written on the invoice he started laughing and said - that's ok **** no need to explain every part you got i know what was done .I said that oil needs to be change soon if they want to drive it now but they have never showed up. This car was driven constantly for few months - as i said we live in a very small town there is no way you won't see this car- not only for groceries. When they called that there is a problem with the car i said i really hope it is something small and it is so not true that i didn't care when it turned out the worse scenario i did and i felt terrible but they knew the risk even before i started repairing it unfortunately crank shaft was damaged , Yes i suggested them my first option that was said right from the beginning that they should replace the engine and save them money. Right now crank shaft is not working but that didn't happen because of my job as I didn't touch or repair head gasket or crack shaft . I have fixed what they asked me to and repaired the job the other mechanics left in pieces . Reading all those lies that this old couple is saying is very dissapointing ,i was very honest with them from the first day we've met , if they didn't want to wait that long a sit has been told them it will why didn't they take their car somewhere else? They didn't as this car was fixed everywhere around and nobody wanted to deal with it anymore or with them. We've got warned by 2 another garages as soon as they saw their car parked in front of our business that we will have troubles and broken nerves with them . ************************************************************************************************************** As per scooter ... i can't even belive they could say that ... what does it mean they are not sure if they can get it ? They've been told over a year ago that i am not able to find parts for this model and i won't fix it so they might as well take it from the shop but they never did so it is taking space in my shop and honestly for what they just said i will start charging a parking fee from now on as my shop is not a free storage . It is very frustrating and increadibly sad to see older people being able to create so many lies because they have made a wrong decision ... lies about their vehicle right from the beginning, lies about my words and attitude , lies about the scooter ... *************************************************************************************** They knew about the risk with this engine ,they knew i can't give them warranty , i would if they would get a new engine , they knew that i was fully booked and told them that i don't know when i can start working on it , they knew i can't find parts for the scooter... All the mechanics that work with me have heard all the conversations that we had and could witness. I worked very hard from the day i have opened my business , i have 12 years of mechanical schools and i have always put my customers first . The fact that we are so busy is because of my knowledge , experience , always putting my customers first and being honest. I think right now i should ask for compensation for all the stress this couple brought into my life , for all the lies and ruining my reputation . Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/07/13) */ This is not about our character or our age. It is about the engine being rebuilt. ***** never once advised us to buy a new engine because ***** told us why buy new, when I can rebuild that engine for cheaper and when I rebuild that engine it’ll be better than new as my work is guaranteed. We trusted his work. Labour was supposed to be free as he told us because it took so long. ***** showed no sympathy when he told **, I have bad news for you, the engine is shot. I was totally floored after giving ***** $7300 to rebuild it. I said “We just paid you 7300 for what? ***** then said I can get you another engine for 3850 from Toronto. I asked him, Do you think money grows on trees man? We knew we were in trouble when everytime we stopped to see how the rebuild was going and it was excuse after excuse. We trust people to their word to do a good job and when someone reassures you that their work is better than new, of course we believed him. How are we supposed to argue about how expensive the bill was as we were just happy to get the car back on the road. We said just pay the bill and get out of here. That was Dec/21 - early Spring is when engine quit. We were so disappointed with the trouble we’ve had and a car not working again. Says on bill crank shaft was repaired + replaced $1203. We wrote out the cheque and ****** said, Put on the bill that there will be warranty and ***** said no need to do that as all my work is guaranteed. We trusted *****’s word. $7300 is a very expensive lesson to learn.

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