My son's Jeep broke down in New Hampshire, and he was told by the tow company that he needed a new engine. After calling a few different auto repair businesses in the Manchester area, to compare prices, and getting flat fee rates of $500.00 for labor to install a re-built engine, he called Queen City Used Cars & Repair, and the owner, Kim Collins asked what kind of prices he had gotten at other places. When he told her $500, she said that she would beat the price by including in the $500 flat fee for labor, 2 gallons of antifreeze, oil and filter, and lube, water outlet, water pump and a thermostat, which is stated in the original contract.
She stated that additional parts may be needed if the ones on the old engine were not able to be transferred to the new engine. At this point, I said that the Jeep was a 1990 with 160,000 miles on it and we only paid $1700 for it 1 1/2 years prior, and that if it was going to cost much more than the $1100 for the engine, and $500 for labor, it would not be worth it, because I could buy another vehicle. She then said that the vehicle was going to be almost like new, and that it might not need any new parts, never giving me any indication of the cost of the parts she was referring to.
The business has a mastercard and visa sign on the door, and I was informed that they do not take Discover. I informed her that although I had a visa and mastercard, I did not have enough credit on them for the engine, AND the $500 for labor, and so we would have to go to a business that took Discover, any way, if I decided to go ahead with having a rebuilt engine installed. She asked me for my Discover Card and called Auto Zone and paid for the engine over the phone with my Discover Card.
We were told it would take 3 days after the engine was delivered. The engine was delivered on the following Tuesday, and they started working on it the following Friday. My son got a phone call from Kim Collins saying that a couple parts totalling $237 were needed, and I gave my okay, but when I got another phone call from my son an hour later telling me that some more parts that cost a couple hundred more were needed, I became suspicious and called the owner and asked for the names of the parts, and the prices, and I said that I would get back to her. She informed me that an oil pan and timing cover were needed, and that she called dealers and found that they were backordered and would take 3-4 wks to get and so we would be better off getting them from an auto salvage yard, and we better hope that they we could find them there. I called Auto Zone and when I got the prices, I found that she had added 30 percent to the retail price (and she buys them for 30 percent below retail).
I called her and informed her that I would get all the parts and drop them off. The first day I went to Auto Zone, the sales clerk had to call the repair place to find out what exactly was required, and when he asked me the name of the place, a man behind me said to me, "Is that the place on Elm St. That a husband and Oriental wife, own?" When I said that it was, he told me that he went there for a sticker, and they told him that he needed $200 worth of work on his car to get a sticker.
He said that he went to another sticker station, and passed inspection. Evidently, while the clerk was on the phone with the owner, she overheard our conversation, and when my son brought in the parts, she informed him that she did not want me in her store, because she overheard the conversation.
After that, DAILY, they would say they needed parts, and I would have to drive 200 miles roundtrip from Massachusetts to bring them parts, some of which I was later told by a salesclerk at Autozone, they were trying to return for cash, and Autozone would not take them back because they did not have a receit. They would write parts down, and one time when we were at another autoparts store the clerk, who knew this couple,
called them and said, "What are you doing writing something down like this - being so vague in the description?" which kind of clued me in that Queen City was purposely causing as much problems for us as possible, because I was on to them.
One day when dropping off parts, Kim Collins told my son that I needed to sign the Discover credit card receit from Auto Zone for $1350, $1100 plus $250 core, and after signing it, I realized there was no bottom copy which was supposed to be my receit. When I asked for it, she said, "Oh I must have given it to your son a couple days ago." (? }
They decided that they were going to put synthetic oil in the engine, which is much more expensive, and the manager at Auto Zone later informed me that, that engine did NOT require it, and told my son to get 10 quarts of oil and 2 oil filters.
Remember, now, the contract said that this was included in the $500 flat fee. I asked the clerk at Auto Zone why they would need 10 quarts and 2 filters, and he said "You don't" and sold me a six pack of oil and one filter. When we brought this to them, Kim Collins yelled at my son, saying, "WE TOLD YOU TEN QUARTS OF OIL AND 2 OIL FILTERS, and ranted about how honest they are and how dare we suggest that they are not. She said that they would not work on the engine until we got what she told us to get. So I had to go back and get the rest.
The next day I asked for the warranty, because they said that 10 quarts of SYNTHETIC oil and TWO oil filters was required for the engine to be under warranty. The husband came storming out to my car with the warranty, on which HE scribbled "2 synthetic oil filter and 10 synthetic oil" and I later found out he wrote on the engine in magic marker, "synthetic oil only".
When I went to pick up the Jeep, I was presented a new contract PRE-DATED to the day of the original contract with a charge of $969.26. I presented the original contract for $500 and reminded the husband/mechanic, that I bought all the parts including the oil and 6 cans of brake cleaner @ $2.99 which was supposed to be included in the price also, never mind the fact Auto Zone was puzzled at why they were not using a gallon of engine cleaner which is much cheaper and is what mechanics use to clean engine parts. I was told to pay it or leave, at which point I called the police. When they arrived they told me that all I could do is pay it and then take them to court. So I complied and gave a Mastercard and Visa to split it up because I did not have that much credit on one. The mechanic then demanded cash. He called his wife, Kim Collins, and the officer spoke to her, asking why she would not accept the credit cards since it is not like a check where you can stop payment on it, but when he got off the phone he shook his head and said she insisted on cash.
So we had to leave without the Jeep, and my son called her the next morning begging her to take a credit card because we did not have cash, asking him if he saw the sign in the office that says something like, "We charge according to the customer's attitude", and that the extra amount charged was for the extra labor for the extra parts that we had to purchase, and on the receit she wrote that "oil pan are wop and take lots of extra hour to straight out". When my son brought them the oil pan he asked if it was okay, and they said that it was. The reason he asked was because we had gotten a timing cover at a salvage yard and we were told it was not okay and so got another. I asked Derek to make sure she had a receit for my credit card charge for the engine.
When I gave Kim Collins my credit cards, she told me to sign next to a statement she had put in that I "hereby authorize the above repair work to be done along with necessary material", to which I replied that I would not because I DID NOT authorize anything after the original contract. She told me that if I didn't sign it I would not get the Jeep with a grin on her face,
so I had to.
When I asked for my receit for the engine, she gave me a
copy of the merchant copy (Auto Zone was the merchant, not her) so why did she make a copy? And what do you think she plans on doing with my receit, which doesn't have my name on it, just my credit card.
I reported her to the Attorney General of NH and in her answer, she claimed, in addition to many other lies, that I was trying to use my DISCOVER card when picking up the Jeep, EVEN THOUGH she told the police officer that she would only take cash!
I have a court date this Thursday, February, 19th.
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