Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Friday 8/5, I bought a car from ************** in ******, **, and the woman who sold me the car told me to go to KLM Auto Center. The purpose was to get control arms done since the mechanic was not able to do so at the dealership. The following Tuesday, I went to the auto center at 8 am because that was the time the owner told me to come the previous. Well, I did not the establishment until 4 pm due to the auto center doing the control arms and then taking the car to another shop to do the alignment. It was free, so I was fine with it. When I got the car back, it was running fine, and I was able to go home. The next day, I was on my way to work when the car had the brake light and battery light on. On top of that, the car was jerking, and I had to pull off to the side on the highway. I called the shop to let them know what happened, and they were going to bring a tow truck. It took them three and a half hours to come around, and at that point, I decided to go with someone else. I went to the ****** dealership in ********, **. They were able to tell me that the alternator was installed incorrectly, which caused the serpentine belt to shred. There was also a crack in the engine mount, and this costed me almost $1,000. All of this was somehow looked over by KLM. Because they did not give me receipt or a car fax when I got the car, I do not know what they did to the car or if the parts were messed up due to a car accident. Either way, if I hadn't been able to pull over when I did, I could've been in an accident because of their negligence.

  

  Business response

  08/17/2022

  Good morning, to whom it may concern about this claim, *** ******* arrived at our facility referred to us by the ****************** located in ********* to Install 2 Front Lower Control Arms for the suspension, the Parts Were ordered  by the Auto Sales but they did not have the technician on site at the time of the transaction when the vehicle was purchased to install them or before, so they called us to see if we can to install lower control arms and that ***************** will call us to make an appointment with us, so we can install the parts, ***************** called and we made an appointment for Tuesday august 9 at 8am, on that day we install just the Lower control arms after installation the alignment was off and drove vehicle to another facility get the alignment done with MS ******** permission and she agreed, after the alignment was done we drove vehicle to make sure our job and the alignment was good, and it was we than released the vehicle to MS ********* The following day ***************** called to informed us that she was on the side of the road and that her brake light came on and the vehicle was jerking and not able to drive, we automatically call ****** towing to pick up the vehicle, to be brought to us so we can confirm the issue or concern, I informed ***************** that a tow truck driver should be calling her shortly to get address where the vehicle and her is located so they can pick up the vehicle and brought to us, and she said ok, hours when by, the tow truck company called us to let us know that they were there picking up vehicle and she decline pick up, she informed the driver that she was not towing the vehicle back to us. the driver from the ****** Towing did not get a cancellation call to decline the pickup from her and we did not get a call back for cancellation from her. we never heard from her again. WE did not install or touch the alternator or THE belt or THE mount, by us installing control arms underneath the vehicle, the alternator is located on top of the engine on this vehicle, hood wasn't even open in the process of installing the control arms. or the alignment

  ************** Called us this week to verify what we did at the time of service, and we informed them we install the lower control arms.

  Customer response

  08/17/2022

   
  Complaint: 17726796
  
  I am rejecting this response because: none of this makes sense. I went from having a car on Friday to taking to two shops on Tuesday to being broke down on the side of the road on Wednesday. I understand that I got this car "as is", but that doesn't mean this should be ignored, so yes, I rejected to not going to the same shop since it seems that someone did not anything correctly. These are pictures of the receipts from the ****** dealership, and it states that the tensioner wasn't put in correctly. I haven't been to anywhere else except the dealership and car shop, so if they didn't do it, who did? I want answers to why I had to pay for something that was clearly overlooked. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business response

  08/18/2022

  we understand your concern, yes, we were the last shop to touch your vehicle and you assumed we did something to the belt tensioner or to the mount, but you should ask ******* if the work we did, installing the control arm had anything to do with the belt breaking. I wish you would of gave us the opportunity to look at the vehicle when we send a tow truck to you, at this point I'm not sure what ae you are asking us to do for you or what is the reason for all this, when all we did was suspension work and not engine work. hope to hear from you as soon as possible so we can go in peace

  Customer response

  08/24/2022

   
  Complaint: 17726796
  
  I am rejecting this response because: you are not acknowledging the whole issue. I believe you and the dealership were aware of the pre-existing issues that came with the belt and engine. It was clear to me that you didn't do a full inspection on the vehicle before I left the premises, which caused me to break down the next day. Once again, there is a reason why I didn't go back to you because it seems like you didn't do your part in the first place. Because of that, I went to the ****** dealership and had to pay for your mistake. That was $960.92 out of my pocket, and I would like for you to pay for half of that at least.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

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