Virginia Automotive Services, Inc.

Review: I am not certain I selected the proper category above. This is my first complaint ever filed with Revdex.com and I am 60 years old. My son was visiting his grandmother in Virginia where he grew up over the holidays this year and his car was not working properly so he had it towed to Virginia Automotive Service on Jeff Davis Highway in Richmond for repairs. The quote for the work was outrageous and even higher than the dealer. VAS explained there was a lifetime warranty and with a 3 year warranty on the part it would be several hundred dollars cheaper. We went with the lower cost option. Because the towing charges to the dealer would have evened out the cost we decided to opt to allow this shop to make the repairs. The repairs were made for over $780 and immediately my son noticed the issue was not entirely resolved. He returned the car to the shop and instead of standing behind the quality of their work and testing the part they had installed they made excuses. He was able to drive the car home to Georgia and took it to the [redacted] dealer. [redacted] confirmed the part that had been installed was defective. I notified VAS and asked if they would refund my money because the car had not been fixed and a defective part was used. They argued and made more excuses, stating [redacted] didn't know what they were doing. They offered to replace the part after they found out we had [redacted] take care of it. They suggested we could sell the part! In my opinion that is not normal business and not what someone would expect when they take their car in for repairs. We returned the defective part. That was over a month ago and still no replacement part. I just called on 3/23 and the manager stated it was sitting behind the bookkeeper's desk.Desired Settlement: Because I paid a large amount for repairs and the car was indeed not repaired and they did not repair it when my son returned to the shop to give them an opportunity to make it right, I feel that the entire amount of $781.22 should be refunded.

Business

Response:

First of all I would like to apologize for the delay in replying to this complaint. I have been out of the office since the 26th and was under the impression that someone else was going to respond to this. Our Service Adviser ([redacted]) did drop the ball on this job by not informing anyone that the part needed to be sent out to the customer. As soon as I found out, I mailed the package out myself on 3/24/2015. It was mailed by priority mail with tracking. I checked this morning and it shows that the package has been delivered. When the customer came in stating that the vehicle was not fixed; we were booked for the whole day. [redacted] informed him that we would look at it but he would have to work it in as soon as we could. The customer said he could not wait and would come back. He never came back to the shop. If he would have waited or came back, we would have found that the part was defective and replaced it at no charge to the customer. We have to trust our suppliers too and did not know that it was defective. We have been in business since 1978 and do stand behind the work that we do. It was not our fault that the customer could not allow us the time to check the vehicle out and repair it as needed. We do take responsibility in the lack of communication of Mr. [redacted] part in mailing off the new part. If you would like to, you can contact [redacted] (Service Writer) or [redacted] ([redacted]) concerning this matter.Thank You,[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer and/or response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

Hi,

Review: I took my [redacted] for repair on 6/15/15. It was cutting off,the brake light coming on and the A/C was blowing hot AIR. I was told I could pick up the vehicle on 6/19/15.. I was told everything was fixed at a cost of $1600.00. I was unable to pick up the vehicle until Monday 6/22/15. I paid for the services and drove the vehicle several miles,the a/c never got cold. I returned the vehicle and told them it was not fixed. I got a call several hours later saying it would cost another $1,100. to fix it because it was now the evaporator .I gave Mike permission to do the work if he was sure that was the problem and it would work after spending this last money. He assured me it would. I picked the vehicle up on 6/23/15 and 0n 6/24/15. It was carried back again. it is currently in the shop now on 6/25/15. our vacation was canceled because we needed this truck working with full a/c. I feel like I am being charged excessive labor because they are not taking time to find wall the issues.These bills are outrageuos. I still do not have a functioning a/c after three times and almost $3000Desired Settlement: I expect a partial refund totaling at least the labor cost and I want them to finish the job without any extra charge.

Business

Response:

Mr. Ed S[redacted], the owner of Virginia Automotive called Ms. [redacted] concerning her complaint. Ms. [redacted] stated that she just wanted her A/C fixed at not more cost to her. We have put on a brand new compress at no charge to her. Mr. S[redacted] drove the vehicle for several days and it was parked here at the shop for another 3 days and the A/C worked fine in the vehicle. We called and they came and picked up the vehicle. She returned it back to us the same day she picked it up and it was not cooling again. We are going to take the vehicle to our other shop and have our Master Tech check out the vehicle to see if he can determine what is going on with the A/C. We apologize for the delay in getting it back to her but there will not be further cost to her and we will fix the A/C. We are doing everything in our power to get the vehicle fixed and returned to the customer with the A/C working properly. Please feel free to contact me at [redacted] if you have any questions or concerns on this matter.Thank You,[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted].

Regards,

Review: I had purchased a vehicle at Virginia Automotive, as a result of the vehicle I had motor blow out. The [redacted] said verbally that even if the sale was as is, he would take care of any issues with the vehicle. I only had the vehicle for about 2 weeks when the transmission went out on it. ** send it to a transmission shop he deals with ([redacted]), they had it for about 2 weeks, when I got the vehicle back it was still not running correctly, the transmission went out about 3 weeks after I got it back, ** again send it to the same place for repairs/replacement of the transmission. ** and I had an agreement that he would give me blue book value on the vehicle I had since the motor was not good ( I think he said that just to get my vehicle), (I'm not a mechanic, but I did know that the vehicle I did have was not running good). ** added the price of the vehicle he sold me to the balance I owe for the repairs he had done in the past, he was suppose to add a credit on the account in the amount of [redacted] value for the [redacted] I has, he has not done this ($1,500), in fact he claim to have sold the vehicle for only $500, and this is not what we had agreed on. The 2nd time the [redacted] was worked on by the transmission repair shop, I had requested a full brake down of what was done, and I have not been given this, also the shop left oily rags under the hood of the vehicle (that could have caused it to catch on fire) and removed a cover that went on top of the fan belt, they have lost the part, and I have requested several times to have it replace by [redacted] since he was the one that had the vehicle send to the transmission shop for repairs. As of today 12/31/13, this had not been replace, the vehicle is still not running correctly, I feel I have been sold a vehicle that was not good at all, just to rid of it. I'm afraid that I'm going to be left stranded alone side of the road. I had at been given a loner vehicle at one time but it that vehicle also ran ruff, and I was afraid that it also would brake down in the road, so I borrowed a vehicle from a friendDesired Settlement: I would like to the agreed amount of the vehicle he took to be put on the account ($1,500), and for a new warranty to be written on the transmission, also for the price of the vehicle (the [redacted]) to be reduced since I was actually knowingly sold a defective vehicle. This has cause me great inconvenience in having to borrow a vehicle to get back and forth to work. I don't feel that the vehicle was repaired property, I actually would like to return the vehicle to Virginia Automotive and get credit for what I have paid on it.

Business

Response:

We have been in touch with [redacted] and have picked up the [redacted]. We are going to review her records to determine where the money stands in the account. We have issued credit to her account for the amount that we charged her for the [redacted]. We have always tried to accomdate [redacted] whenever she came into the shop. We have been doing open account work for [redacted] since 2012 and allowed her to make payments on the account. We have never charged her interest for an open account for her and always tried to privide her with a Loaner Car at no charge when she was broken down.

When the [redacted] was sold to her, it was sold "As Is' but when she had trouble with the transmission, we had the transmission rebuilt and never charged her anything for that work. If we were not trying to work with her, we could have told her that you purchased "As Is' and done nothing to try and help her.

We sold her old vehicle for $575.00 at auction. They charged a $75.00 processing fee for running the vehicle in auction. Her [redacted] that she had towed into us in July of 2013; had a burnt valve and bad cylinder in it. She would have had to have the motor replaced. With the mileage she had on the vehicle, she decided to purchase the [redacted].

[redacted] (our [redacted]) is going to do in in depth review of her account prior to final settlement and let [redacted] know if she is due a refund or in she still owes us money fro the previous work done.

We feel that we have done everything that we can do to resolve this issue with [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

To answer some of their statements about loaner vehicles yes I was loan a vehicle that had no heat nor defrost when it was 17 degrees and another time a vehicle that did not run properly, I did not want any of his loaner cars because they are not in good running condition, I had a friend loan me one of his vehicle when the transmission on the [redacted] went out for the 3rd time. I am not satisfied with the results, because this is not what Virginia Automotive had verbally said about the vehicle he sold/or auction off, I was told he would give me book value or closed to that, the only amount they gave me back was $172.40, they did give my account credit for the [redacted] of $7400, and credit of $500 for the sale of [redacted] that used to be my vehicle. I will never be doing any kind of business with this company and looking into taking legal actions against them, for the remainder of the money I am owed for the vehicle Virginia Automotive sold.

Regards,

Review: [redacted] gave a quote for a repair saying that car needed distributor assembly the total cost 750.00 included taxes. I oked over the phone 11/26. On 11/28, when I went to retrieve the car he replaced distributor cap and rotor that had been replaced 7/19/12. He said he had to replace distributor assembly and ignition coil. The ignition coil was not authorized repair. When I went to pick up te car the total repair came to total 869.87. I was charged labor for distributor and rotor that had been replaced previously by VA Automotive. On 7/19/12, on order number[redacted] they replaced rightside valve cover gasket, spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. They removed and replaced fuel filter, ride side exhaust manifold gasket, and installed cylinder head on cylinder number 3. Total paid on 7/19/12 $ 1281.75.

When I took car for repair on 11/26/14, I asked for the return of all replaced parts and I did not receive the distributor assembly parts(which only thing I agreed to be repaired) which was not returned to me.Desired Settlement: 389.95 - 300.00 labor + 89.95 for rotor.

Business

Response:

When [redacted] brought his vehicle to us, it would crank but not start. We ran a diagnostic on it and found that the Distributor needed to be replaced. [redacted] got approval from [redacted] to replace the Distributor which we did. When we replaced the distributor (this included the distributor cap and rotor and not added cost to [redacted]); the vehicle would run but the ignition coil was arching out, spark was jumping from housing to coil to metal brackets. We replaced the ignition coil to correct this problem and the vehicle ran properly. [redacted] was informed before he picked up the vehicle that we had replaced the ignition coil in order to make vehicle run properly. He did not ask us to take the ignition coil off when he picked up the vehicle. [redacted] also gave [redacted] he distributor that was replaced along with the distributor cap. They were in the box that the new distributor came in The distributor cap was replaced on 7/19/2012 as [redacted] states, but what he did fail to inform you was that he provided his own parts which we cannot guarantee because we did not purchase them. The distributor cap& rotor was replaced with HIS Spark Plug Wires; Plugs and has nothing to do with the Distributor that was replaced on his 11/28/2014. We do not know where he got the labor price of $300.00 or the $89.95 for the Rotor. The $300.00 was for replacing the Distributor and the $89.95 was for the Ignition Coil that we had to replace in order to stop it from arching. We feel that we did not do anything wrong in this repair.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,