My wife took her 2001 Tracker in, because she noticed a spot of oil under the car, and there was a rattle coming from the tailpipe. Mind you the spot of oil was about the size of a fist. She also said that every so often she could hear a rattle of some sort from under the car.
I told her (against my better judgement), to make an appointment to have it looked at, since I would be out of town, for an extended period.
BOY, did they see her coming.
A day or two later "Cliff" called her, and started telling her 'all' that was wrong. She had him call me. He told me that the oil and the 'knock' (this will be important later), were because the Rear Main Seal was shot. Once he told me that, I knew that that (if true) was serious, and if not fixed, would eventually destroy the engine. He told me what it would cost to fix 'everything', and I told him to go for it... I just didn't understand "their definition" of "fix everyting".
We had had the car since new, and had not had any problems, so I figured we were due.
Sure enough, my wife gets the car back, and gets it home and parks it... No rattle (s), in the 2-3 mile ride home and no oil spot on the drive way the next day.
BUT, two days later, not only is the rattle under the hood back... But it's louder than ever, and the AC is blowing HOT air.
I'm still out of town, so I tell her to call them back and get it taken care of. Before she can even get it all out they are already in CYA Mode..."It must be something else... Nothing we did could have caused you AC problem, yada, yada."
She calls me all upset, so I tell her not to drive the car, unless absolutely necessary, and take the truck (a Ford, thank goodness) if she had to go anywhere.
I got back in town about 2 months later and I take the car up to the dealer and ask to speak to the manager... Of course, the loud rattling stops just as I pull into the dealers lot. But, as the manager, is trying to explain that the AC going out was a "coincidence (??)", because they had no reason to muck with the AC while replacing the Seal, I ask if that's so, how come BOTH the HI & LO Pressure Lines 'Fill Points' and the areas surrounding them are 'COVERED' with 'greasy' finger/hand prints, even 2 () months later? (I was waiting to hear "Act of God", or something...
Of course since the rattle had stopped, I had no evidence of anything being wrong there, so the manager said to make an appointment to bring it back, and he would "pull all the paperwork", "get with the mechanic (s), and see would they could find" (my mistake #2).
A week later, I took the truck to be inspected, and found out that the 'geniuses' at the dealership had fixed the 'rattle' in the tailpipe, by simply hacking the broken piece off, and not replacing it (although they charged us for 'fixing' it), so now the car won't pass inspection and I have to pay a 3rd party to remedy these 'rocket scientists' "repair".
Well this morning (9/19/06), the dealer calls back and says that the AC is "out of freon" and simply "needs servicing". I SPECIFICALLY ask "Cliff" if he is "SURE" that that is all that it needs (since I had had another mechanic tell me, that the Freon, etc., was fine, so the 'compressor' or 'clutch' might be bad. "Cliff" (I suppose the A#1 Lead Rocket Scientist), says that "that is all that is needed".
So... The MORON (s) Service the System BEFORE Verifying the operation of the Compressor, and THEN calls us to give us the bad news... (still saying that there is nothing they did that could have caused it...)... To be HONEST I believe them... After all, the way they OPERATE, the probably have "No IDEA" what they actually do!!!
So in addition to $1300 for work that I doubt was even done (or done properly) the charge me for "Charging" a 'dead' System that probably didn't need it, and charge me $113 for the privelege of being "Ripped Off" again.
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