CarScope Repair & Diagnosis

Service Provider Response

We started supporting Angie's List and recently became a business sponsor/member, whatever they call it. Angie's List used a free service they offered to search all of our customers, find the ones that use Angie's List and send a request for them to make a review. It looks like so far we have had two disgruntled customers that responded. Disgruntled customers happen, but we do our best to take care of our customers. This one is no exception. We looked back at this customer's repair order in question, and found that he needed a heater core. We didn't have notes about any time frame issues, so I can't speak to that. My suspicion and vague recollection is that we could not get a hold of him for days. There would have been no other normal circumstance that would have caused us to delay returning his car to him. But I don't remember those details. We do replace heater cores, so I doubt we told him we could not do it. Sometimes we will price a heater core from the dealership because for some reason their book times are sometimes less than ours and other aftermarket shops' labor guide times and we can save the customer money by sending them to the dealer. MAYBE this is what we did, I do not remember. But we definitely replace heater cores. Heater core replacements are usually expensive because the dash has to be taken apart, and this one is no exception. Maybe he did not want to spend that much money on it, maybe we referred him to the dealer as a courtesy to save him some money, I honestly don't remember, it was a while back. But typically we do replace heater cores and it would be very odd if we told him we could not. Yes we did not charge him, but what he did not mention is that we also bypassed his heater core for free so he could continue to drive without leaking water (though there would be no heat). This bypass was not some desperate effort on our part due to incompetence but a kind gesture to help him be able to keep driving without having to do the repair immediately (with us or anyone). I hope Mr. Perry sees this review and it helps him understand our side of this issue. I do not recall if he ever voiced concerns about this to us. But we are always ready to explain our actions to those that mention a concern. We make mistakes too but we generally try to make it right.

Service Provider Response

Angie's List sent a request to all of our customers that also happened to be Angie's List members and asked them to post a review. [member name removed] had already posted a review on "Review Date: July 20, 2012" ; I guess when they asked him to, he did another review. We responded thoroughly to the first review (which is still on the site) but his review was more negative this time than the first, so I guess our response was not adequate to make him satisfied. We responded in detail about each concern. You can check that page of reviews and see the details and decide for yourself if you think we did him wrong. I think at the root of the problem is that [member name removed] is a do-it-yourselfer and as such it is difficult to get used to what a shop has to charge to stay in business. If you read our response on "Review Date: July 20, 2012" you will find we actually bent over backwards to do a thorough job, and the transmission fluid level checking issue that he is most upset about was never charged to him and it was done to protect his transmission from failure. I have no idea if he specifically told us not check it, that was a long time ago. More likely we just did it without asking, couldn't get a hold of him, thought it was important enough to do without asking, or some such reasoning. [member name removed] paid a total of $213 over 2 visits, for the repair, cleaning and diagnosis. As you'll see if you check our response to his first review, he got quite a bit of diagnostic work for $83. It is sad that after the thorough explanation he is still unhappy, but you can't please everyone. CarScope

Service Provider Response

Thank you so much for the review. It makes our job downright enjoyable to have customers that are grateful for the work and effort we put into "doing it right". We greatly appreciate you as well.

Service Provider Response

It's been a while, but we just started checking Angie's List. We pulled up our notes and here is what I found. This was a lot more involved than pulling codes. There were several issues looked at for the price. Best I can tell from the notes we have (it was done in a different software management system than we are currently using so the notes are sketchy, and it has been a while) 1. There was a squeal from the belts, the harmonic balancer was wobbling and the tensioner was determined to be bad, more time was needed to confirm if any accessories or belt alignment issues were behind the squeal in addition to the balancer and tensioner. 2. Checking codes (like the parts stores do for free) does not usually confirm which component to replace. There are a multitude of tools and techniques employed to be sure of which part to replace and it is different for each code one has to run down. A. We pinpoint tested the catalyst efficiency and determined he did indeed need a converter. B. Also tested the Evaporative emissions system and determined a vent canister solenoid was bad C. Apparently the o2 sensor was bad too because we recommended that 3. The transmission fluid that needed to be checked cannot be checked from the top, this model has no dipstick. Usually we ask for authorization to check it because it requires a procedure to check fluid temperature to be sure it is at the right level, and then lift it in the air and remove a plug from the side of the transmission. I do not recall, but if we checked it without authorization, I suspect there was a leak and we thought it urgent to protect his transmission. That was apparently a mistake on our part, we misjudged the customer's desire to protect his transmission. We should not have assumed such a small but critical item would be ok to do. For many customer's it would not have been a problem. 4. If there were delays and it took longer to check all this out, it looks like we did not charge for that extra time because this was a multi-symptom diagnosis, which would normally be a separate charge for each system, so this is not a bad price for all of the conclusions we made. We are sorry he was not satisfied, but it was definitely not like "pulling codes" at the parts store. Here are the notes we have, apparently we also gave him estimates for everything he needed. NEEDS: DIAGNOSE SQUEALING COMPLETELY- $150 HARMONIC BALANCER WOBBLING $268 SERPENTINE BELT TENSIONER $181 CAT CONV $484 O2 $173 TIRE ROTATION CANISTER VENT SOLENOID $119

Service Provider Response

Thank you for the great review. It's our pleasure to serve do-it-yourselfers as well.