Latkowski's Auto Service

Review: A mechanic who is the boyfriend of a long time friend of mine offered to change my spark plugs and coil packs on my 2005 F150 truck after work one night.I dropped my truck off at Latkowski's garage on 9/10 and went to dinner.A few hours later I got the call that one of the plugs broke off and could not be removed, would need to work on after work the next day.Long story short,new tool was purchased to try to remove,didn't work. I was called and told that this was going to be a much larger truck and would have to be run through Latkowski's garage.I didn't have a choice bc at this point truck was not driveable.I was told on Friday,9/13 that they would start to work on it Monday, 9/16 bc they needed to take part of engine apart.Gary from Latkowski's was supposed to call me with an estimate that he never did.I had to secure a rental car on Sat.9/14 to get back and forth to work; an additional $200 expense.When I picked up my truck on Wednesday, 9/18/2013 I was presented both the estimate and bill for $1,778.74 which I paid in full that day with a personal check.When I picked up my truck the check engine light was on and I asked why.They said that they did not know. Only after I had the truck back did the mechanic say something like well, they knew the cam phasers needed to be changed, but they didn't want to cause you more money; which was about $800. Now it will be $1500 to $1800 because they have to rip the engine apart again. THEY NEVER CALLED ME DURING THE REPAIR PROCESS TO ASK PERMISSION TO DO MORE WORK OR TO TELL ME WHAT WAS WRONG OR GIVE ME AN ESTIMATE BEFORE BEGINNING WORK TO GIVE ME THE OPTION TO SAY PROCEED AND FIX IT RIGHT. Maybe because I'm a woman they thought they could do this to me. $1,778.74 was a huge bill to pay and now I have a truck that is still not fixed and worse yet is it is due for inspection next month and I can't even get the check engine codes because of what they did to my truck. I'm sick and so mad over this.Desired Settlement: I want my money back for this bill.They gave me back a truck with a check engine light on;didn't know what the codes were nor did they offer to fix what was wrong.I never received a call on the estimate the other things that needed to be fixed.NOTHING.Now I have a check engine light on and I can't even figure out codes because now the codes are unreadable. I talked with other mechanic shops; they said they ripped me off;should have changed right side head gasket.I asked employee why they didn't

Business

Response:

As stated by Ms. [redacted], the boyfriend of her long time friend was asked by Ms

[redacted] and her friend to work on her truck after hours and on his own time to

replace the spark plugs and coil packs on her truck We, (Latkowskj’s Auto

Service,) were not notified of this until after the truck was dropped off and the

mechanic, whose name is [redacted] infonned us be was staying after work The truck

was dropped off at closing on 9-10-2013 and Ms. [redacted] went to dinner. As? (

Latkowskj) was leaving that evening [redacted] told me that he really didn’t want to do

this job because he knew that the plugs for this motor have been known to break off.

The next day when be came in he told me several plugs did break Re used the shop

tool that is designed to extract this style of broken spark plugs and was able to get

all but one of them out The one on the drivers’ side at the rear of the motor would

not come out. [redacted] stayed the next evening on his own time and tried to get the

plug out but without success. The next day, on 9/12/2013 Ms [redacted] called the

shop and talked to [redacted] and asked if Latkowskj’s Auto could try to

remove the plug. I ([redacted]) also tried to remove the plug but did not have

success either. The plug was broken off too far into the bead and the tool couldn’t

get a good enough grip on the broken piece to remove it. [redacted] then purchased

himself a brand new extraction tool in hopes that it would grip better and get the

plug out It would not I called Ms. [redacted] and explained to her that the cylinder

head would have to be removed in order to get the plug out at a cost of

approximately 1800.00 dollars as long as the head didn’t have to be sent to a

machine shop. She called back and decided to add replacing the serpentine belt to

the repair too. Ms. [redacted] did have a choice at this time to have her truck towed

to a garage of her choice or have it repaired here.

When the truck was done, we noticed the check engine light was on. I called

Ms. [redacted] and asked about the light and why she was changing the plugs and coil

packs in the first place. She toLd me the light was not on but that the truck was not

running right, that is why she wanted to replace the spark plugs. J asked her to

come down to the shop and go for a ride with me, which she did and said the truck

was running the way it always did. On the ride she asked about a burning smell we

noticed and I told her that it smelled like brakes. She said it couldn’t be her brakes

because she just had them checked at another shop. While sitting in her truck she

told me about a mechanic from Davies Ford who told her she needed cam phasers.

This information was not given to us before we worked on the truck. She then left

to return the car she rented. She returned later and paid for the repairs to her

truck and picked it up. She returned a few days later and stated that there was

something wrong with her brakes. We bad [redacted] go for a Ride with her and

noticed that the brakes were making a grinding noise. She said she had no brake

problems prior to us working on the vehicle, At no tbne did we do anything that

could disturb her brake system. She then stated that she was going to take it back

to the shop that checked her brakes a few weeks prior. At no time before this was

Ms[redacted] a customer, nor did we have any prior knowledge as to her vehicles

history or how her vehicle ran. When this truck was officially scheduled by

Latkowski’s Auto Service to be repaired it already wasn’t drivable because the plug

was broken off. Also if the truck ran badly before it came here and replacing the

plugs and coil packs fixed the problem, a misfire should have turned on the check

engine light Ms. [redacted] is apparently frustrated with us which is understandable.

But the fact is we did not design this motor, the broken spark plug problems and

cam phaser problem are common with these motors.

At no time did we treat Ms. [redacted] unfairly. We were up front with her

about all repairs and what they would cost We have been in busIness 28 years and

have always treated our customers with respect and honesty. ft should also be noted

that Ms [redacted] came back to our shop on Nov 5 and made an appointment for

11/18/2013 to have us recheck the camshaft tinang inside the engine, because

somebody told her that is why her check engine light is on, which we agreed to do in

hopes that this issue can all be resolved.

[redacted]j

President, Latkowski’s

Consumer

Response: