Beware of texas direct auto — read my experience with them before you meet the reserve
Subject: 2000 Chevrolet Silverado
Date: 6/3 4:28: 49 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: xx
To: [email protected]
I bought this truck from you folks via an Ebay auction.
I received it on Friday May 29th at 6 PM and immediately noticed a whine in first gear.
Since the garages were all closed at that time, and it was Memorial day weekend, it was not until Tuesday, that I could get it checked. At the recommendation of my local Chevy dealer's service manager (who listened to the noise), I took the truck the SafeGuard Transmissions in New Bedford, Mass. (508-993-1733) where it is now.
The manager, Albert, took the truck for a ride and concurred with the Chevy service manager that something was wrong with the transmission. The truck was scheduled for Thursday to be examined for recommended repairs. Albert called me later in the morning to advise that there were metal shavings in the base pan of the transmission and that it would have to be removed and opened up on the bench to ascertain just how much damage had been done to the unit.
Let me say first, that I know that I bought the truck "as is" and I know that I declined to purchase a warranty, mostly because of the low mileage I didn't think I'd need one.
But this noise was so obvious to anyone who drove the truck or heard it go forward in first gear, that there's no way you folks could have tested this truck before your bought it and not heard the noise.
In addition, your description of the truck in the Ebay auction said, " vehicle needs nothing mechanical to drive today. This Chevrolet is in Excellent condition and ready for its next owner." and your statement that " Bottom line, we hand pick and inspect our vehicles, buy with confidence, if it isn't everything we've represented, you have no obligation to finish the transaction, we are confident this Silverado will give you many years of good service."
Both of these statements, as far as I am concerned, were bullsh*. This truck is going to cost me about $ 1500 bucks to fix and I haven't had it a week.
I want you to know that although I gave you folks positive feedback on this transaction (which was written about 4 hours before the truck arrived) I doubt that I will do business with you in the future and if anyone asks me about you for a reference, I will have no problem expressing my dissatisfaction with this transaction.
I invite you to contact Al at SafeGuard Transmissions if you have any doubt about what I am telling you regarding the transmission. (508-993-1733)
Rick Williams of Texas Direct Auto Responded:
Gilbert,
We are not perfect and neither are the used vehicles that we sell, we do our best to make sure that nothing leaves our dealership with a known problem, my tech drives all of the vehicles and he did not notice any whine from the tranny, I guarantee if he had noticed it, it would have been repaired. That is why we sell as-is and offer warranties, no used vehicle is perfect, we try hard to deliver good quality vehicles at decent prices, but again we are not perfect and may miss something in the 200 trucks and cars we ship every month.
I appriciate your feedback, I will pass it along to our service writer.
Rick Williams
Texas Direct Auto / www.TexasDirectAuto.com
713-545-1906 Cell (This is the best way to reach me, please leave a message if you get my voice mail)
281-499-8200 Office
281-499-6749 Fax
Texas Direct Auto
1915 Highway 90 A
Missouri City, Texas 77489
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday from 9am - 6pm CST
Saturday from 9am - Noon CST for vehicle delivery only.
Closed Sunday
To which I responded:
Your tech is an asshole and you can tell him I said so.
On Thursday, June 9th, I stopped off to find out if they had taken my transmission apart and to what extent it had been damaged. Al got the status report and told me that the planetary gear assembly had to be replaced. According to the Chevrolet tech information they had, the parts alone were going to cost over $ 2800.00.
Al told me that because of the mark-up on factory parts, he could rebuild the entire transmission for the same price-with labor, including new seals, new clutches, torque converter and bands. With tax it would be about $ 3,000.00 and he would have my truck tied up for another 7-10 days.in addition, because he felt sorry for me, he said that he'd give me a 2-year/24,000 mile warranty instead of the usual 12mo/12,000 mile one.
Is a dealer allowed to represent the vehicle as "excellent shape and condition" or "needs nothing mechanical to drive today" or "excellent condition and ready for its next owner" or even "if it isn't everything we've represented, you have no obligation to finish the transaction" or "no disappointments, we guarantee your satisfaction" and at the same time sell the vehicle "as is"? This dealer used ALL of these terms in that Ebay auction. Can a dealer use the term "guarantee your satisfaction" in selling a vehicle "as is"? Is it reasonable for a consumer to believe that "needs nothing mechanical" means that mechanically the vehicle is sound?
How far can a dealer go in his description of the condition and at what point has he crossed the line and misrepresented the vehicle? Although " we are not perfect and may miss something " may ultimately result in misrepresenting the vehicle, the fact is that this particular vehicle WAS misrepresented.
By describing the vehicle as "excellent shape and condition", "needs nothing mechanical", "no disappointments" and "we guarantee your satisfaction", the dealer specifically GUARANTEED SATISFACTION and represented the vehicle in specific terms.in doing so, he was obligated to ensure that the vehicle was in said condition BEFORE it left his premises and was released to the transport company for delivery.
When the vehicle was delivered it had a noise in first gear. I find it hard to believe that that happened riding on the back of some car transporter. I took delivery on Friday 5/27/05 about 6-6:15PM. The shops were closed and it was a long holiday weekend, (Memorial Day) so I took it to the local Chevy Dealer (Ralph's Chevrolet, Dartmouth, Mass.) on Tuesday 5/31/05 to see if the noise was normal.
The Service Manager (Ken) heard it as soon as I moved the truck forward. He pulled the dipstick, smelled the fluid and diagnosed an internal problem. He recommended I take it to a transmission shop (SAFE-GUARD, with over 30 yrs experience) which I did. The foreman road tested the truck and heard the noise immediately. Now I've got two EXPERTS who heard the noise besides myself.
The transmission shop pulled the base pan on the transmission and found metal shavings in the pan. This is not normal and evidence of internal damage. When Rick Williams said, " my tech drives all of the vehicles and he did not notice any whine from the tranny, I guarantee if he had noticed it, it would have been repaired", it sounded like he was calling me a liar.
THAT pissed me off even more.
I spent 15,000.00 (Buy it Now) for a truck that "needs nothing mechanical" but is sitting in the shop right now awaiting a $3,000.00 rebuild. I didn't dare drive it the way it was for fear that I would further damage it. Unfortunately, I gave these a*holes positive feedback before I got the problem checked out.
I have since rectified that problem by leaving some follow-up feedback noting my dissatisfaction. They, in turn, said that I "damaged the transmission working the truck", which is not true.in fact, if I had damaged the transmission myself, they would have had no way of knowing HOW it was damaged, since all the correspondence I've had with them is posted here via e-mail in this report. I've spoken to NO ONE on the phone from that dealership.
And I hope Mr." we are not perfect and may miss something" doesn't miss this: since my SATISFACTION is GUARANTEED, and until I am satisfied, I will continue to e-mail everyone who bids on auctions placed by Texas Direct Auto and tell them of my experience with these clowns. Hopefully, I can prevent another poor soul from getting burned by unscrupulous characters such as these.
Gilbert
No. Dartmouth, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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