My husband recently took his 04 Jetta TDI to your shop because of your mechanics error and they tried to rip him off. North Point mechanics worked on our car to fix several recalls after we purchased the car when they called to say they broke what they referred to as an ear and it would have to be left in the shop over night. Thankfully they did furnish a replacement car until they could fix what they accidently damaged.
On December 12th my husband was going Christmas shopping when the oil light came on. He immediately stopped to check the issue and discovered that a clamp was missing from the EGR hose on top of the engine. He simply added more oil so he could drive the car home and felt he could deal with the issue later. It didnt take long for the car to empty of oil again, only this time it died and rolled to a stop. He then had to pay for a wrecker to tow the car to the dealership to be repaired. To his amazement the mechanic at the dealership told him that the lift pump was completely dead, his battery needed to be replaced, and the EGR hose was damaged and it too needed replacing.
We truly feel that the dealership was responsible for the damaged hose since they are the only ones to get under the hood since its initial purchase. North Point has it on record that they worked on it but they said, "If you can't prove that we damaged the part then we aren't responsible for replacing it." That is just bad business. As if anyone video tapes their car repairs or sits there to ensure things are running smoothly, especially since they damaged it further and had to hold it over night. Anyhow, after breaking down on the side of the road and paying for a tow to the dealership we now had to pay for an unnecessary diagnostic test and UNREAL rates for labor. That mechanic barely had to lift a finger and he charged $90 an hour. Then he told us it would cost $1,105 to get the car running again, even though we just bought it and are still paying on the $8,300 car loan. The mechanic had a fabulous story about all that needed to be repaired. Unbelievable!
Now here is the icing on the cake. We recently found out that we are going to be having our first child in May. Because we are in the process of getting prenatal medical coverage I have had to gather a lot of personal paperwork to turn into the state. Since the car broke down so suddenly I left all of this in the passenger side door of the car. As we were approaching our deadline to turn in these documents to the state we went to the dealership to retrieve the following paperwork for our medical case worker: Social Security cards, birth certificates, marriage license, utility bills, pay check stubs, home rental agreement, and a letter from the doctor confirming my babys due date. These horrible, terrible people would not allow us to get the documents from the car until we paid the $110 for the unnecessary diagnostic test. I dont have any sort of law degree but this seems like identity theft to me. I felt so violated. Unbelievable!
In complete disgust of the entire situation, since its a newly purchased vehicle, I took it upon myself to get a second opinion from a master mechanic elsewhere. I happened to have grown up in a shop myself and my father was Frank Fletcher's master mechanic, diagnostic specialist, and student mentor in Jonesboro for years until he opened his own shop and hired his own mechanics in his home town. Once again we paid for a tow only this time it was across the state. When it got there, after little deliberation, diagnostic tests confirmed there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the car, aside from the damaged EGR hose causing the car to lose oil. This was really good news to us considering that its almost Christmas and we are expecting a baby soon, but I cant help but take it personally and I am livid about the whole situation.
Now, I don't know if your mechanics are uneducated or if they are well trained con artists but the thought of them taking advantage of a broke college student and his very pregnant wife during the holiday season just makes me sick. I will be sending a copy of this email to consumer complaints and the Better Business Bureau and anyone else that will listen. There will also be a post on the local Yellowpages.com listing for this car dealership. You all need to learn how to take responsibility for your actions instead of trying to rip off the poor, and possibly look into some business practice classes at your local university.
0 comments