On July 26 my son brought his Raptor ATV to this dealer because he was having problems starting it and keeping it running. He had just purchased it from a private sale, only owning it for one week. Turco's said it sounded like the starter but to bring it up.
Two days later Turco's called to say the timing was off. We told them to hold off on repairs until we checked with the original owner because he had just replaced the timing chain when he modified the engine. The orginal owner called Turco's and told them some of the adjustments he felt might be needed because of us living in a higher elevation. Turco's ignored this and adjusted the timing anyway.
The next call from Turco's claimed that the problem wasn't the timing, it had worn rocker arms and bent valves. (Highly unlikely since the machine only had 10 hours after modification on it!) The original owner had warned Turco's that if they adjusted the timing by the 180 degrees they planned to do that it would damage the rocker arms and valves. But Turco's did it anyway.
For the next 9 months we went back and forth as Turco's came up with many excuses about why the machine was not fixed. Finally on March 30, we recieved the call that the machine was fixed. The repair bill was $1141.31. We paid the bill and picked up the machine. When my son went to put it in the back of his truck it wouldn't start, the battery was dead. Turco's jumpstarted it so my son could see it was running.
The next day my son took the machine to the trails. Again it wouldn't start so he jumpstarted it. Twenty minutes into his first real ride and he heard a "pop". Then oil came spewing out of the machine. He immediately turned it off to check and see what had happened.
The timing chain had jumped and cracked a large piece out of the metal case. He immediately returned home and called Turco's. They said to bring the machine up so they could look at it. We told them on the phone and then again in writing in a fax that we would not pay for any further repairs since this was clearly a manufacturing defect or labor defect.
Again we heard nothing from them and no responses until June 17, almost two months later. They claimed that it was my son's fault that this chain blew and not theirs. They refused to offer any warranty on anything that had been done. Told us we either had to pay another $1200 or pick the machine up within 7 days. If we didn't pick it up within 7 days they would begin charging $10 a day for storage fees. (The machine is sitting outside their shop completely unprotected!)
I called the Yamaha Motor Corp. And while they put me on hold they called the dealership. The dealer told them that the damage was caused by jumpstarting the machine, something they claim to have told my son not to do. Clearly a lie because Turco's themselves jumpstarted this machine! Christine at the Yamaha customer service also said that even though Turco's uses the Yamaha name, they are an independent business so there is nothing Yamaha can do.
So now we are faced with filing legal action. The machine is being picked up today and brought to another shop to have an assessment done. Turco's was asked from the very beginning to save all the old parts because if what they were saying about worn parts was true, then we had recourse with the original owner. Needless to say, after having the machine in their possession for almost 9 months, the old parts were "lost". They also failed to return the skid plate that was on the machine originally.
This shop definitely ripped us off! We are now sitting with a completely unusable ATV that my son will be paying on for the next 2 years and in the hole almost $1200. We don't have the money to hire an attorney so are depending on assistance from one to file this lawsuit ourselves. Thankfully I have all emails exchanged with the original owner, the original description, a picture before it went in the shop, and a picture of the most recent damage. I also have witnesses to all of the above and copies of the bills. I also have proof that they were aware of the modifications prior to starting any repairs as I have the original specs that we gave them with their notes on it.
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