Best Buy Auto Center
Ripoff Faulty work and sold me a lemon

I bought a 1999 Mazda 626 on October 4 from Best Buy Automotive off Blalock in Houston. Before the purchase was made I had the car taken to Pep Boys to have it looked at and the biggest problem were the belts. They needed to be replaced along with some other minor problems. The dealers said they would replace the belts and fix the other problems themselves before I drove the car off the lot. After purchasing the car for 3900.00 and waiting 4 hours for the car to be fixed, I picked it up and it was running fine. The next day, the car started squeaking loudly as I started the car and while I drove the car. I was told the belts needed to be tightened.

On Thursday evening after work I stopped by my friend David Plevers house to show him my car. When I walked out after 5 minutes of the car being parked, there was green liquid leaking from my car all over the ground. David took a look at it and claimed there must have been a leak somewhere in the coolant and water line because all of it had leaked out. My car never showed to be over heating as I watched over it carefully. This is also when I started carrying a jug of water to refill my water after checking it periodically. The squeaking of the car lasted a few days and then stopped squeaking the Friday after purchasing the vehicle.

I was driving from 59 down I-10 and my radio started drowning out and then shutting off and on. Then all of a sudden completely quit on me and then my lights started to dim and the car started sounding weak so I exited Dairy Ashford going south. My car then started slowly dying as I was trying to make it to a parking lot to where I would be able to use a phone. I tried to put my hazard lights on so the cars behind me wouldn't rear end me as my car was slowing down in mid traffic. My hazard lights and headlights also would not work as my car was losing power. I came to the stop light at Briar Forrest in a line of vehicles and my car completely died as the light turned green. I tried to start my car and had no luck and I was scared because I was afraid the cars behind me were going to be going to fast to stop and wouldn't be able to see me because of no lights to the vehicle and the darkness. Some gentlemen noticed I was stranded and stopped to help. They helped me push my car into the corner parking lot and looked under my hood and noticed that my alternator belt was had come off and there was a burnt smell as well.

When the dealers fixed the belts to my car they put on after market belts and I have now found out that my car requires Mazda factory belts. Although I was not told this information until this problem occurred, the dealer told my friend Todd that the after market belts that they put on would not last long. What was the use? I drove the car 3 days before the belts broke. The original belts that were on the car would have lasted longer than that. The whole agreement on the price of the car had to do with the fact that Pep Boys claimed 400.00 worth of work needed to be done, and without taking 400.00 of the sale price, the dealers said they would fix these problems before I drove off the lot and so I agreed to pay the 3900.00 for the car. What was the use?

The alternator belt broke which caused me to be running the car without the battery being charged and without an alternator belt to further mess up the car. The gentlemen who stopped to help me tried to help charge the battery long enough to move the vehicle to a parking lot where the car wouldn't be towed. With four attempts, the battery was completely dead and the car wouldn't last five seconds without an alternator belt on there. So I left the car there over the weekend hoping it wouldn't be towed away. I went back on Sunday to put the correct belts on the car. This took about 2 hours and the car ran fine with no problems or squeaking for 2 days. I left it parked at my house Wednesday and Thursday not being driven until I could afford gas on Friday. Friday morning I was on my way to work and as I came to a light my car unexpectedly died on me. I tried starting it and it puttered and dies again.in a desperate attempt to not be stranded in the middle of morning traffic, I realized that while at a stop I had to put the car in neutral and lightly step on the gas for the car not to die on me. I did this until I got to a gas station to take a look at it and figure out what was wrong because I didn't believe I could make it all the way to work with it running like that

I put gas in the car hoping it might help the problem and when I went to start the car, it wouldn't turn over at all. I called my work and told them I was stranded and that I was going to be late and asked if they could send someone to come give me a jump, thinking it might be the battery. They sent a coworker to give me a jump and the car still wouldn't start. After about 15 minutes the car barely started and my co-worker followed me to work making sure I was to get there with no problems. I still had to put the car in neutral at the stop lights so it would not die on me. I tried to leave my car running to charge the battery some, thinking the battery might need to be charged from the alternator belt breaking, but the car wouldn't stay on long enough to do so.

I then had my car looked at by Bateman's Auto right around the corner from my work and I paid them 40.00 to look and tell me what they think the problem was and their diagnosis was that my gas cap wasn't on tight enough and / or it could be the alternator. I know that if it was the alternator, nothing would work in my car, and things like the lights were working, but my car kept dying on me. I was going to attempt to replace the alternator because the mechanic claimed that was the problem. My brother agreed he would fix it without all the costs for labor, so I was on my way to take it to Katy where he was going to replace the alternator. I asked the mechanic at Bateman's and he told me that my car would make it to Katy, no problem. I headed towards Katy and made it to Hwy 6 and 290, not even 3 blocks away from where I was. When I exited Hwy 6 from 290 my car started acting up at the stop light the same way it had been that morning with a clicking sound when I stepped on the gas as well. Once again my car was puttering and dying on me as I turned into the Shell gas station parking lot and fortunately this gas station had a lube center. With my power going out and losing power steering, I parked my car and asked for assistance from the mechanic there; informing him what the mechanic I just paid for had told me. He asked me to start my car so he could listen to it and he took a guess that my timing belt had broke, but was unsure because you would have to take the car apart to tell. The mechanic says that if this is the case that if I hadn't been driving it like that for long then it could possibly be fixed without buying a whole new motor. My car then wouldn't stay on at all; it was completely dead and wasn't going anywhere. So I made some phone calls and managed a ride to pick me up and also paid 60.00 for a tow truck to tow the car back to the dealer where I bought it.

Todd Nelson, the gentleman who helped me purchase the vehicle, had called up to the dealership and the dealer said that they would fix the problems and charge us for the parts and labor, which was unacceptable considering I hadn't had the car for more than a week with so many problems. The dealer also was speaking with an attitude as if they didn't want to deal with the car and it was out of their hands. When they claimed to have fixed the belts, they didn't do the right job so much that it caused more problems.

I figured if I am going to be paying for work to be done then I would like it to be done right so I paid 50.00 and decided to have the car towed away from the dealer. I had the car towed to another automotive place that Todd Nelson was friends with the owner and I felt I could trust what he says is wrong with the car since I was getting so many different problems from so many different mechanics. Brian Handall, the owner, took a look at the car and diagnosed that the car was over heated and a part with the radiator needed to be replaced and the coil also needed to be replaced. Whatever was wrong with the radiator was causing the water and coolant in the car to be pushed out which was causing the car to over heat. So after 165.00 dollars worth of work done to the car, then the mechanic claimed the head gasket was blown and needed to be replaced. The labor and costs for that was going to be around $400.00. And this is all within 2 weeks of owning my car and only being able to drive it 5 days.

So being unable to afford the work to be done on my car because I lost my job from not being able to get to work because my car was broke down, my car is now sitting and not running with a number of unknown problems because of many different paid for diagnoses that are unsure of.

I would like to take this to higher level because I don't believe this deal was fairly justified at all with the faulty work done on my car. I would like for something to be done about it. I would like for the dealer to give me my money back and take the car or I would like to take the car to the Mazda dealership to be repaired properly on the dealers' expense.

Company: Best Buy Auto Center
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: Houston
Address: 9729 Long Point
Phone: 7139737766

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