Here is my story-
3 years ago I had my 94' chevy truck completely rebuilt by brown and brown. I had owned the truck for several years at that point and it was completely paid off. Rather than start a new payment for a new vehicle, I invested about 9,000 dollars into a new engine, transmission, the works. And my mind was made up almost entirely by the fact that everything in my old truck would have a 3 year warranty. A service advisor by the name of Dean Park sold me on this.
It took them several months to complete the truck, spanning from about the middle of July 04 - to the end of October early November. When I finally received the truck, it was far from complete. All the wires, hoses, and lines were from the old engine and fuel injector were still being used, and the engine did not idle right. Underneath the truck, the transmission was slamming gears when shifting and none of the housings for the major parts had been replaced. ALL things that I had paid for already. They didnt even give me a new oil filter.
When I returned the truck and demanded everything to be fixed, I was brushed aside several times by Dean saying that "these were extras we didnt charge you for". Long story short, I went to the service manager Tom Shambau and showed him all the mishaps. He chewed Dean out right in front of me and gave me a rental car and fixed my truck up over the next week. My vehicle was back to me and running smoothly early December.
Months go by, I have problems here and there and every time I bring the truck in, Dean says "well, this isnt covered by your warranty but it will be going forward." I always pay something.
After about 2-1/2 years, the tranny starts acting up. I call up Dean in late July 07, and he says "well, were right at the end of your 3 years, but since it took so long to finish the truck last time, we'll squeeze you in" Ok, they're actually being cool to me, thats great I thought. I had the truck towed into Brown and Brown on August 1st by All City towing. Dean says, "be patient with me, I got a lot on my plate right now." Since it took so long to rebuild originally, I didnt plan on getting my truck back soon. Little did I know I wouldnt ever get it back.
Weeks drop off the calendar, and Dean hasnt told me anything yet. I leave voicemails for him every week or so, but I try not to bother him too much considering he "is doing me a favor". So I assume things are being taken care of. Sometime in November, I finally get a hold of a manager named Mike. I explain the situation, and he says he will look into it. He informs me later that according to the mechanics the transmission is smashed, and needs to be replaced. I tell him, no way. I never damaged it, it simply stopped working. He says he will look at it himself. He then tells me after supposedly looking at it that it has been ruptured, most likely due to the lift and oversize tires causing vibrations. But he will gladly charge me 2,000 bucks and put another one in it with a new warranty. I tried to explain to him that the truck was lifted when they first put it in, and I hadn't altered anything so the warranty should cover it. He says he will have to get an answer from higher up on that one.
So, several more weeks go by, and in December I get a call from Dean finally saying "hey, I'm still sitting on your truck here, what are we doing with it?" I tell him that Mike never got back to me about the warranty and Dean says its not gonna be covered. He then tells me that I would probably be better off working out a trade in deal with the sales dept and getting some trade in on my busted truck. I tell him ok, I will at least consider it. He says he will have a sales guy call me. The sales guy never calls me. A few more weeks go by and I finally get a hold of Dean again. I tell him look, this isnt working out obviously so I just wanna tow my truck home and be done with it. He says ok, but that I still need to pay 90 bucks for the tow in back in August, and pay for the tow out. I give him my visa card over the phone the way I always do, and the address I want my truck sent to. This was about the second week of January.
A few days go by, and my truck never shows up. My account gets charged the 90 dollars a few days later for towing it in, but no other charges show up and neither does my truck. I come to find out later that my truck isnt even at the dealership, nor has it been for several months. Apparently on November 13th, it was towed off the dealership lot as an "abandoned vehicle" by all city towing. I had no idea that they even did this, nobody told me! I would NEVER have allowed that to happen. When I finally track down the lot where they have my truck, I am informed by the snobby girl that they have already claimed title to my vehicle and it no longer belongs to me. I try to explain, but she wont listen. So I hang up and call the dealership. I get a hold of Tom Shambau, the service manager and he says he will look into it and call me back. I then call the tow yard back and get the general manager on the phone, his name is Jeff Dunn. He tells me that he will get in touch with Tom at Brown and Brown and take care of it, and call me back in a day or two. I'm completely relieved for a moment.
A few days later, I get a voicemail from Tom at Brown and Brown that my truck may have been auctioned off or salvaged already, and that he would let me know when he finds out more. I freak out a little bit, so I try to call Jeff and the tow yard, but he is unavailable. I leave several messages for Tom that day, but he never calls me back. Panicked, I call the police to report my truck stolen. They tell me before I do that to try and get in touch with the General Manager of the dealership and see if they can either locate my truck or reimburse me for losing it. So I take a half day off of work and go into the dealership to try and get some answers. I am told to come back in an hour when the GM comes back from lunch. His name is Matt Brown. An hour later when I am getting ready to head back I get a voicemail from Tom saying that the tow company has my truck, and that I just need to call them to get it towed home. He mentioned that there might be some storage fees, but he cant help that. At this point, I dont really care, I just want my truck back even if it costs me a couple hundred bucks.
So I call the tow company again and they say I need to pay them 1500 dollars for them to "sell my truck back to me". They say that since the vehicle has been there long enough, the title has been claimed and my truck now belongs to them. At this point I can no longer get a hold of anyone at brown and brown, or at all city towing. Once they hear my name, they dodge the call. I need help, and I have no one to turn to.
Somebody help me.
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