Complaint Review: PURRFECT AUTO SERVICE

I'm going to start off by apologizing for the length of this email, but rather than retype and condense, I am giving the verbatim statement that I am providing my bank with in my chargeback statement, so that what happened to me, will not happen to anyone else. I am however obscuring the links to the actual recorded conversations. The mechanic (his name may be Dave, but I could be wrong, as he intentionally left his name OFF of the work statement) told me to 'do what you gotta do' in regards to leaving a negative review, so I am doing just that.

this is one of the most dishonest and crooked mechanic shops I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with and what I say is with full heart and honesty and I refuse to further edit even a single word of this statement. On December 18, my wife and I brought our 1998 Ford Contour to Purrfect Auto location #006 at 2055 S. Rainbow Blvd in Las Vegas. I explained to Nina, who was working reception that my vehicle was occasionally experiencing a loss of rpms when I would take my foot off of the accelerator and then reapply it. The problem most commonly presents itself when the vehicle is fully warmed up.

I had previously taken this same vehicle to Purrfect Auto and they had performed a shoddy oil change-- Purrfect Auto installed the wrong oil filter, causing all of the oil in our engine to leak out all over the underside of the car and nearly damaging our engine. At the same time, Purrfect Auto had cleaned the mass air flow sensor, as the vehicle was running rough. Shortly after that last visit, the rpm loss occurred and grew progressively worse and, based on some online research, I was suspecting that the immense amounts of oil that was spilled had fouled the throttle position sensor.

After explaining all this verbally to Nina, she brought in two mechanics into the waiting area one was a Caucasian male in his mid 40s and the other was an older Asian gentleman and I was assured that the poor workmanship we had experienced previously would not be repeated. Shortly after they began inspecting the car, the first mechanic walked into the waiting room and was on the phone, calling around for prices on a mass airflow sensor, which made me think of the previous cleaning; when the mass airflow sensor was cleaned by Purrfect Auto, there was no indication that it had failed.

The first mechanic brought us into the garage and had claimed that the mass airflow sensor was bad. I had asked if the previous Purrfect Auto mechanic had broken it while cleaning and he said "I don't think so" but I was skeptical at the time. My wife and I asked him very specifically if this would fix the rpm loss problem and he said "Yeah, it's going to run a hell of a lot better. You'll be able to feel it."

We agreed to the repair and he told us that we also had a failed etc sensor that detects engine temperature. He told us that this was the reason our temperature gauge did not work. I also agreed to this repair as it was not very expensive and I wanted the temperature gauge to work. He also stated that this engine temperature sensor may also have contributed to the symptoms. He said that he was not sure if the thermostat was bad also and told us to keep an eye on the temperature gauge in the weeks to come.

The second mechanic drove us home in the car and picked us up around 2 hours later. Immediately we noticed that the car was running very loud, to the point where we could hear it while inside our apartment with the patio closed. We also noticed that the temperature gauge still did not work! Immediately after I started driving, the car stalled completely, something it had not done since before Purrfect Auto had cleaned the mass airflow sensor during our first visit.

While in the car, I asked the second mechanic what could have caused that and he replied "I think it's the way you're driving". When we asked him again, he fell silent. My wife was extremely suspicious at this point, but I wanted to give them a chance to explain themselves. During the trip back to Purrfect Auto, the car did not experience an rpm loss, but it was likely that this was because it wasnt fully warmed up.

When we arrived at Purrfect Auto, I had asked the first mechanic and he immediately dodged the question by talking about a supposed oil leak. I mentioned to him that this was spilled oil from the oil change they had done for us before and tried to steer the conversation back to the stalling problem. He was very evasive, but since the car did not experience an rpm loss, I paid for the repair.

We paid 544.20 for a replacement Mass airflow sensor, engine temperature sensor and labor, despite the temperature gauge still not working.Within a mile of leaving Purrfect Auto, the car began experiencing the same rpm loss as before and actually seemed worse than ever, so we brought it back to Purrfect Auto. The first mechanic offered to ride along with us to experience the problem firsthand. Within a couple of miles, the rpm loss presented itself VERY badly. While in the car, I explained to him that this was the only symptom that we presented to him and that it was not fixed. I told him that I wanted our old mass airflow sensor back, as I doubted it was defective at all.

I told him we do not want to pay for the same repair twice and that the car was experiencing the same symptoms that we brought it in for. He agreed with me and said that he would call Napa to get the old part back. Of note is the fact that Purrfect Auto did not offer to give us our old part back! They claimed there was a core charge(?) and that they had to give it to Napa.

We dropped him off at Purrfect Auto and he said that he would install the original Mass airflow sensor the next day and find out the real problem. I expressed again that we will not pay for the same repair twice and he just said--bring it back in the morning-- and we left.

My wife and I were extremely suspicious, so that night I called Wells Fargo and explained the situation to a representative named Sonny. Sonny told me that nothing could be done until the charge posted, but I expressed my concern that Purrfect Auto was going to try to charge us again to fix the same problem, or that they would refuse to refund us for the mass airflow sensor, which I now believed was not defective at all.

Very suspicious of his evasiveness the day before, the next day we returned to Purrfect Auto and I brought a microcassette recorder and recorded the conversation. I would like to make this entire conversation available to Wells Fargo so that there is no confusion about what we said or what he said. If you can provide me with an address, I will send the original, unedited microcassette to you. Both subsequent recordings were made directly onto my PC and are uploaded in digital format onto my employer's server.

The first mechanic stated "Now that I've had 24 -- 12 [sic] hours to think it over and sleep on it, I think the problem is with your transmission. "Cause when I was in the car with you--when I was in the car, I could feel it, I could feel something shifting, like when it goes 'woomph'[sic]." He then said "I talked to Napa and they won't take the part back because it's a sensored [sic] part and nobody will take those back, so I'm not taking that off your bill at all whatsoever, but I will apply part of the labor to your bill."

I calmly stated "yeah okay, but we're not going to pay for a part that we didn't need. You're telling us now that it's the transmission, but yesterday you told us it was the mass airflow sensor." He repeated "It's a sensored[sic] part and I can't get my money back for it, so I'm not refunding you." I told him that I was not going to eat the cost for a repair that we didn't need and he replied "then go. Goodbye."

Before leaving I told him "Let's be reasonable. You do not want me to walk out that door; I've already spoken to Well Fargo about this. I'm a business owner and chargebacks and better business bureau complaints are very damaging. We brought the car to you with only one symptom and you did a repair that fixed nothing." His response was "goodbye." Again I stated my intent that I would file a chargeback if our old part was not returned and they did not either fix the vehicle or refund the money we paid for the unnecessary repair. His reply was "I got your signature on the work order, so it won't be charged back."

As we were driving home, we realized that Purrfect Auto also broke our engine cooling fan. It no longer comes on at all, no matter how much we drive it. I realized then that the extremely loud noise we heard when the second mechanic pulled up to our home was, in fact, the cooling fan blowing in overdrive and that it failed shortly thereafter.

I called Wells Fargo when we arrived back home and spoke to Dan. Dan also stated that we would have to wait until the charge posted, but was very helpful and shocked at what happened. I called Purrfect Auto, hoping that cooler heads had prevailed. This conversation was recorded directly onto my PC and I will link to the conversation at the end of this statement.In a calm voice, I told him that I wanted to appeal to his sense of reason and began explaining that the repair that Purrfect Auto performed did nothing to fix the problem we had brought it in for. His reply was "you're right, I don't disagree with you."

When I continued, he immediately switched tracks and claimed that we didn't bring it in for the low rpm problem at all, but brought it in for a"high idle" and "check engine light." Shocked, I told him that was not true at all and he said "I don't know what kind of drugs you two are taking, but you need a dose of reality." He said that we walked in asking for a mass airflow sensor replacement and I reminded him that nobody mentioned anything about a mass airflow sensor until he walked into the waiting room to call about prices.

He also told me that I was trying to get a free repair, which is ridiculous because I asked for our old part back! I don't believe that the original mass airflow sensor was bad at all, as it made no difference in the operation of the car whatsoever and did nothing to fix the loss of rpms, as he claimed it would. When I pressed the issue, again explaining in a reasonable voice that he knows that we never said anything like that, he claimed that Nina, the receptionist, had written all that down.

I asked to speak to Nina and he told me that she was on a call with a customer. In truth, Nina wrote absolutely nothing down. When we explained our symptoms to her verbally, she immediately called in both mechanics and we explained our problem and how to reproduce it very detailed. At that time, he had asked if our check engine light was on and we said "yes," but our only concern was the loss of rpm.

The mechanic then said something to the effect of "I'm done with this conversation." I called back shortly thereafter and spoke to Nina (this is the second digitally recorded phone conversation) and told her that she knows that we brought the car in for the rpm loss. I could hear the mechanic in the background and Nina stammered, afraid to admit the truth.

I told her that he is trying to implicate her (flustered, I incorrectly used the word "implement") and to admit the truth. She stammered a bit more, afraid to admit that the mechanic was lying, and I told her that her hesitation speaks volumes. Nina promised to put me in touch with the general manager, but I highly doubt that this will happen and feel it is absolutely necessary to file this chargeback.

Purrfect Auto performed two unnecessary repairs to my vehicle, broke my engine cooling fan, installed the wrong oil filter and nearly ruined the engine in my car. I still desperately need to get my car fixed and cannot afford to lose 544 on an unnecessary repair and then have to pay again for a real repair.

As I've since discovered, Purrfect Auto has a long history of performing unnecessary repairs and at one point, even had their business license revoked by the attorney general for unnecessary repairs and poor business practices....This particular location has several complaints on Google, Yahoo and ripoffreport as well. My employer has uploaded both digitally recorded calls to their server, which I have here as proof and I would also like to mail in the microcassette recording from my visit to Purrfect Auto, to clear up any doubts or misconceptions about exactly what was said. My micro recorder is very primitive and I do not have a way to transfer these into digital format.

I know very little about cars and now feel very foolish that I was scammed this easily. I am asking for a provisional credit so that I will be able to afford to have my car fixed properly. I am a [profession] that absolutely needs my vehicle, or I cannot work and after bringing my vehicle to Purrfect Auto, the problem was not fixed and actually feels much worse since they worked on it, I paid for two unnecessary repairs and cannot even get my original parts back, and they broke my cooling fan, which I now also have to get fixed. I am left 544.20 poorer, with a vehicle I can barely drive. If the vehicle dies, I cannot work.