Complaint Review: Bill Heard Chevrolet - Scottsdale Arizona

First of all I'd like to say that I am an alternative fuel person (my vehicle runs both propane and gasoline). Me and my husband had decided to go to different dealers looking to by a new truck that we could have converted to being alternative fuel.

We went to all kinds of dealerships and ended up at Bill Heard Chevrolet on October 10, 2000. They did not have any trucks on the lot that we were intersted in, so we ordered our truck from an invoice sheet (a 2001 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab 4 door).

The state was offering a rebate on taxes for these kinds of vehicles. And lets just say the dealership was trying to get anyone (us included) who purchased a vehicle for this program to do add ons as the state would be reimbursing 30% on the vehicle price etc. When we were doing the deal we were told that they were exclusively using a company named National AFV Center out at Scottsdale Airpark for the conversions on their vehicles and that they were a new company. At that time there were around three other companies doing the conversions as well.

We asked about some of the other companies doing the conversion for us but was told no by Loras. We told our salesperson Loras Katz that we wanted the propane tank to be a minimum of 33 gallons and we wanted it placed in the bed of the truck up by the cab NOT under the truck where the spare tire goes. He said fine not a problem.

The deal was that you could not take possesion of the vehicle until the propane system was installed. So we paid for the truck for two months before we ever laid our eyes on the vehicle.

We took posession of our truck on December 26, 2000. When we got there to pick up our new never before seen vehicle my husband flipped out. The tank was a 15 gallon tank (not 33 or more) and it was placed under the truck where the spare tire would be. The governor changed the law to where you had to prove 50% usage of the alternative fuel (kinda hard with a 15 gallon tank in a truck and with propane ypu only get 80% usage of the tank when filled).

My husband cursed and went in the dealership to find Loras, meanwhile the poor lady who was going over the vehicle with us was very confused until I filled her in. My husband found Loras and explained to him that this is not what we wanted. Loras stated he told National AFV what we wanted and thought it was done.

Loras called over to National AFV and explained what was happening at the dealership and was told that for another $900.00 that the company would fix the problem. We refused to pay this amount for their mess up. And Loras said he would see what he could do about it. And he offered to pay half of it.

Sometime had gone by and we had not heard a thing so we called Bill Heard Chevrolet and talked to the fleet manager at that time (he was eventually let go as was a lot of their employees) who stated he would get back with us. When he did he stated that Loras said he was not the salesperson on our vehicle. I then told him that he needed to look at the contract because that is who was listed and that is who we dealt with. So I said then who got the commision on our vehicle sale? We were told it was only $100.00 (yeah right) they were working 18 hour days to get these alternative vehicles sold just to make a $100.00 check (I think NOT!!!)

I left multiple messages for Loras on his voice mail and finally got a hold of Loras and told him what we had been told by the fleet manager as to his not being the salesperson and was told that was never said by him.

I contacted National AFV and was asked to bring the vehicle down and they would talk to me about the problem. I took the vehicle in and they showed me the order that was written up by Bill Heard Chevrolet and how it did not state our preferences on it for placement or size of tank we wanted. They told me that they would install a 60 gallon tank where I wanted it for half of what they originally claimed ($900.00 so $450.00).

I called Loras and he told me if I came to the dealership he would give me a check to pay for it as he did not want the name Bill Heard Chevrolet to put a bad taste in my mouth as I had stated I would never refer anyone to them and would not come back for any future purchases. I went there and he wrote me a personal check for the tank exchange. I thanked him and left. All was good except for the inconvenience of driving time and my truck going to be out of commission again to be converted.

I had the tank switched out to a 60 gallon tank and placed where it was supposed to go originally. At that time I had them remove anything that said Bill Heard Chevrolet on the outside of the vehicle as I do not care to advertise for them. When asked where I got my truck I say Bill Heard CHevrolet and DO NOT go there.

In October of 2001 I was having major trouble with the propane system and contacted National AFV Centers. We had propane coming through our air vents when we switched over to propane. I ended up in the hospital with a severe migraine due to fumes of propane. To make this section of the story short National AFV Centers were no longer in business (they shut their doors down even though I had an appointment with them to get this issue fixed).

I contacted Bill Heard Chevrolet asking what to do as they were the ones who sent us to them (National AFV) and I was supposed to have a warranty on the system for 100,000 miles (I was at 18,000 miles at that time). They stated that they had no idea this had happened. I believed them somewhat as I could not be sure if anyone else had contacted them with the same problem. They were going to look into this.

I called the news media, sent a certified letter to the manufacturer of my kit (to find out they filed banruptcy) etc and never got anywhere. Then one day I saw a story in the newspaper about a company that was fixing the vehicles that had been converted to run on propane or CNG. I contacted them and ended up paying for the work to get done. Still never hearing anything from Bill Heard Chevrolet as to what to do.

One evening in August or September of 2002 my husband used the truck and when he went to leave the place he was at he had no power at all. I ended up having to tow it home that night and had it towed the next day to Brown and Brown Chevrolet to have it worked on. To make a long story short the problem was the computer sensor in the propane system. I was told by Alternative Fleet Service Repair that my system was gone since they could not get any parts for it. And that it would cost $2800.00 to get my system up and going as they would need to convert it to a whole new system.

Because of that problem I could not even run on gasoline unless I had them bypass the main brain of the propane system. So essentially I had a $30,000.00 vehicle that was dead. I paid them to bypass the system at that moment just so I would have a vehicle that was operable. As I had been in a rental now for three days. Paid for by ourselves. I was told by Alternative Fleet Repair that the Ford dealerships were paying for the customers who had the same kit as mine in their vehicles to have it converted and they were paying for the rentals as well.

Darrell at Alt Fuel Fleet Repair also said he had other customers from Bill Heard with the same propane problem as me and that Bill Heard was refusing to help any of them claiming that they (me included) signed a liability waiver that if something should happen with the propane system we could not hold them liable for it.

Since it was worth a shot we called Bill Heard to see if they would do the same as Ford dealerships and they told us the same thing. I asked for a copy of that form and was told that they needed to get our file out of storage and would call us back. This was in September of 2002 and we have yet to hear from any of them. We have left multiple messages for Rick Signs as we were told he would be handling this (by Brenda in financing at Bill Heard). Well it is now April 8, 2003 and can you believe that our file has disappeared basically.

During all of this time I have been looking for an attorney and ran into issues such as most specialize in everything but that. I have found a firm that is trying to help me out but we are not sure what the outcome may or may not be. I need help with my situation as I solely ran propane the whole time I was up and running and prefer propane to gas.

I am having my system redone this Thursday by a company called Parnell USA as the cost is only $1100.00 and is EPA approved. I could not afford this but I do not want to go up against the State of Arizona. I would rather go up against Bill Heard Chevrolet and plan to do so.

A TIP to all vehicle buyers DO NOT GO TO BILL HEARD CHEVROLET unless you like to get screwed!

Synthia

Mesa, Arizona
U.S.A.

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