To Whom it May Concern,
I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with the service
that my wife and I have recently received from the Sears Automotive Center
located in Coral Gables Florida (SW 22nd St.). Two weeks ago, my wife had
brought in our GMC Sonoma for an oil change. After waiting for over two
hours, she notified the customer service representative that she would be
late for work if they didn't finish the job soon. Upon leaving the garage,
she noticed that the steering was making a whining noise that it had not
made prior to the oil change. Upon returning home, I checked the power
steering fluid level and found that it had been drained (the reservoir was
bone dry) but not refilled. I closely inspected the hoses, fittings and
pumps that make up the power steering system and did not detect a leak or
any extraneous fluid, so I am positive that the technician failed to refill
the fluid that had been drained. Fortunately, the steering did not fail, as
this could have potentially been a very serious safety issue. I was forced
to buy power steering fluid elsewhere and top it up myself. When we brought
this issue to the attention of Scott, the manager on duty at the time at Sears Auto Center, he offered to refund the cost of the oil change and
offered us a free oil change in addition. We declined the oil change, but
asked if he would be willing to replace a broken hood release cable in our
1998 Jeep Cherokee instead. Scott agreed to this and we made an appointment
to have the work done. On Friday, July 22, we dropped the vehicle off at
Sears in the afternoon, and were told that it would be ready that evening.
We were later informed that the technicians had been unable to get the hood
open and the vehicle would not be ready until Saturday. They assured us
that the vehicle would be parked inside and they would keep us updated on
the progress. On Saturday and Sunday we drove past Sears multiple times and noted
that the Jeep was parked in the same place it had been since we left it. On
Sunday, we called and inquired about the progress being made and were
informed that the technicians had still been unable to open the hood, and
were going to take the vehicle to a different shop.By Sunday night no
furhter progress had been made. Finally, on Monday (yesterday), Scott
called to tell us that they had taken the vehicle to two different shops
and nobody had been able to open the hood.in addition, in his message
explaining that they had not been able to perform the service they had said
they would, Scott mentioned that they would of course give us the part for
free as compensation for not getting the work done. "It's a $130 part, " he
said, "So I think that's pretty good compensation." Prior to even taking
the vehicle in, I had priced out the part online and it cost between $19
and $28. When I arrived home from work, I walked the few miles (a long and
somewhat painful walk after recent ankle surgery) from home to Sears to
inquire as to what had happened and pick up the Jeep if necessary. Upon
arrival at Sears, I noticed that the Jeep was still parked in the exact
same spot that it had been when we saw it on Saturday. I would like to
point out that parking spots under trees come at a premium in Miami, and
the likelihood of finding the same shady spot after taking the vehicle to
different locations on a hot afternoon is very slim. I suspect that no
effort had actually been made to open the hood beyond pulling the cable
release inside. I inquired as to whether the technicians would mind putting the
vehicle on the hoist so that I could try to open the hood using a trick
that I had read on a Cherokee forum website. To make a long story short,
they lifted the vehicle up for me, and I managed too open the hood within
30 minutes. I am not a mechanic and I do not even work on cars as a hobby.
The fact that I did in 30 minutes what they claimed to be unable to do in 4
days makes me think again that there was no attempt made to address the
problem at hand. It seems to me that the information necessary to address
the issue was readily available and easy to apply. I was told by the
manager on duty at the time that they had removed the grille to access the
hood latch, but were still unable to open the hood. When I opened the hood,
I had a quick look at the bolt heads that would have to be turned to remove
the grille, and they had been untouched (still rusted in place, no wrench
marks in the surface rust). After opening the hood for the technicians, I
was informed that they woud be unable to replace the part until the
following morning (Tuesday - the vehicle was originally supposed to be
ready on Friday evening). I expressed my dissatisfaction at having to wait
even longer, but was informed that there were too few technicians on duty
to perform the work at that time.
In our very limited dealings with the Coral Gables Sears Auto Center we
have experienced the following:
1. Poor customer service and unreasonably long wait times.
2. A botched oil change that jeopardized my wife's safety and potentially
compromised the power steering system of our vehicle.
3. An offer of a service that the technicians were either unable or
unwilling to perform.
4. Several days without a vehicle when the repair should have taken about
an hour.
5. Dishonesty about the cost of parts and whether attempts to perform the
specified services were actually made.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough how unacceptable we have found the
level of service provided to us by this establishment. The technical work
has been shoddy at best, and utterly incompetent and dangerous at worst.
The customer service has been dismissive, dishonest, inefficient and
occasionally rude. I can assure you that we will never, ever bring our
vehicle to Sears for any further service, and no offer of free service will
convince us otherwise. We simply will not entrust our safety to people who
cannot perform the simplest of tasks. Unfortunately, this has left us
having spent considerable time and energy on what should have been a
non-issue, and being without our vehicle for an unreasonable length of
time. I'm not sure if there ever was any attempt to perform the services
promised. If there was, then the technicians performing the service were
utterly incompetent, and if there wasn't then the managers were completely
dishonest. Either way, it looks pretty bad and ultimately resulted in me
having to come to the garage and perform their job for them. I will not be
satisfied until we are adequately compensated for our time, inconvenience,
and ultimately our work in your establishment. Please advise me as to how
you propose to rectify this situation.
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