Midas Aurora

The customer came into the shop and wanted the vehicle inspected for a noise under hood and the reason why it would not start. Customer stated that since his mechanic did a water pump for him last week, he could hear this noise. Customer also stated that the battery light was on. The service writer went out to the vehicle to road test the vehicle but it would not start. He used the booster pack to jump start the vehicle and along with the customer took it for a drive. The vehicle was brought into the bay so the technician could test it and diagnose the issue. The battery was so dead that we could not do any further electrical test to it. I, at that point told the customer that we would have to start by installing a battery so we could continue our diagnostic to determine if any further repairs would be necessary. The customer authorized that repair. the technician installed the battery and then tested the alternator. The alternator tested low voltage (requires replacement). I generated a quote for the battery, alternator and alignment (as the customer requested an alignment) and sat with the customer to review it. He asked about the noise under the hood and I explained to him that it simply could be that when the water pump was installed the technician spilled coolant on the belt causing it to make noise. We could verify that because we would be removing it to replace the alternator. The customer authorized the repairs and went for a walk. The technician replaced the alternator and performed the alignment and the customer returned from his walk. I showed him the belt and suggested that it be replaced as well. Given the fact that it was noisy, had some wear damage, and no labour cost would be levied at this time, my experience and recommendation would be to replace it at this time. the customer asked why we didn't see it earlier and I explained that given the fact that his mechanic had it off last week and assumingly inspected it, we would not have expected it to be wear damaged. The customer explained he was on a budget and could not afford the battery and belt and requested we put his old battery back in. I explained that he could still have starting issues but would do that at his request. The following day the customer filled a complaint with Midas head office. I received a call from our district manager and discussed the process and testing with him and he agreed we did what we were suppose to do. I called the customer and left him a message. the customer came into the shop accusing us of selling him an alternator when it simply needed a belt. I reviewed the testing and process again with him at which point he asked for his old alternator back. I said I would be glad to give it to him but there is a core charge and he would be invoiced for that. The customer left. I sent the battery back to our supplier and asked that they test it and send me a report. I have attached the email.