Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello,I am *********************, owner of ************* LLC and i made a purchase of a 2006 Sterling Acterra on 02/16/22 from Nationwide Haul of *************, ** using the financing company Tandem Finance. I am based in ***** and i went to pick up the truck on Monday Feb 21, 2022. Upon arrival at around 10:30 am, i was told to wait for a tire to be changed and finally picked the truck after 3:00 pm. I started my journey back to ***** and a few miles down the road, the check engine and engine protectant lights came on and i stopped and found out the coolant had gone down below the required minimum. I added some more and continued to drive and shortly after, the check engine and engine protectant light came on again. I called the salesman and told him what was happening. The salesman asked me to take back the truck at their repair shop. On Tuesday Feb 22, 2022, the salesman called me to pick up the truck and 15 miles after leaving the shop, the same lights came on again and once again i called the salesman who told me to take the truck to the shop. On Wednesday at 4:30pm, the manager called me to pick up the truck, i let her know it was too late and did not have enough time to inspect before the shop closed. I went on Thursday Feb 24, 2022 to pick up the truck. Once i got to the shop, before i could look at the truck, the service manager informed me that they had hot wired the truck to keep the fan running constantly and at the same time the check engine light would stay on. I told the manager that i could not drive that truck with the check engine light on and fan running constantly as being a hazard and no way to know if the coolant issue had been fixed at all. At this point i requested to have the financing contract cancelled and would not do it. I went ahead and called the financing company about the issue and the gentleman said the seller had called earlier and said the truck had no issue. The financing manager said the cancellation has to be done by seller.

  Business response

  05/17/2022

  ************** purchased a ******************************************************* February.  After leaving our facility and driving several hours north of us, he experienced an overheating issue with the truck.  Even though the truck had no warranty we offered him the opportunity to bring the unit back to our location to determine what was causing the overheating issue, and advised him not to drive the truck and potentially damage it by overheating it on the road.  Two days later he returned to our facility with the unit out of coolant, with only a small amount of water he had filled it with (water does not supply thermal protection like coolant does and can cause severe overheating issues and engine damage).  Our shop drained the water, replaced the coolant to manufacturer's specifications, and test drove the truck for two hours without issue.  ************** drove the truck off of our lot once again and later called and said the truck was leaking coolant again.  Again we offered him the ability to return to our shop for additional diagnostics at no charge, again with no warranty present on the unit.  Our shop once again found the truck's cooling system extremely low of coolant, which had been refilled with tap water at some point.  Our shop once again pressure tested the cooling system and found no leaks, they flushed out the water and refilled the truck with coolant to manufacturer's spec.  They allowed the truck to run for four hours on our yard, test drove the truck for two hours, and once again pressure tested the cooling system and found no leaks.  Our shop was unable to duplicate the low coolant issue he had been experiencing and recommended a preventative course of action that the client declined.  Being that the truck had been driven for several hours in overheated conditions, our shop not being able to locate a leak or recreate a low coolant issue, and the truck being sold as an AS IS sale, we were unable to allow him to return the truck and cancel the sale.  We spoke to his outside lender about the unit, we were told that he had a contract with them that was totally separate from the sale and could not be discussed.  As of now the truck is still sitting abandoned on our yard in Pompano.

  We refused the return of the unit for the following reasons.

  1. The truck was fully inspected by the customer prior to purchasing the unit and leaving our facility, and sold as an AS IS sale on contract.

  2.  After purchasing the AS IS truck the client knowingly drove the truck for several hours after developing an overheating condition which likely caused permanent engine damage.

  3. In good faith we allowed the customer the ability to not only return with an AS IS sale truck, but performed hours of diagnosis, repairs, and quotation time at no charge.  He declined the recommended course of action at his expense once all other issues were exhausted and no leaks were found.

  4. We had not sold him the truck in a cash sale, he had used lender funds and had a separate contract with a bank. That issue is between he and his lender and has no effect on an AS IS sale.

  5. The client abandoned the truck at our main facility and never returned to pick it up.  The truck technically is accruing storage charges as of today, 5/17/2022.  The truck is currently running on our yard at this very moment, and has been for over an hour without issue.  The coolant temperature is normal.  We have started and ran the truck every few days to keep the battery charged and have not had an issue once.

   

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