I have a 2011 MINI Cooper Countryman S. Not realizing that when I got ... read more I have a 2011 MINI Cooper Countryman S. Not realizing that when I got the car, that there are very few mechanics that know how to work on a MINI and when my car began to have issues, finding a mechanic was hard. I was referred by another mechanic to go to Auto-Motion. I have gone there in the past and had my car worked on and never had any issue. Went there this last time to have a variable valve timing solenoid replaced because my car was not idling correctly, and I also had an oil change. Dropped my car off and the next day it was ready. I go to pick up my car and when I first started my car, I could tell that the car was still running the same as before, if not a little worse. First initial thoughts were maybe once I start driving it will work itself out. Second thought, maybe what I paid to have fix was not the actual cause why my car was running bad and therefore did not help. Third thought maybe I should popped the hood and look under, but I gave them the better judgement because I just paid $200 to have my car fixed by professionals and as the stereotype that men love to put women in, I am a 25 year old female, that doesn’t know that much about cars, especially when it comes to the engine, so I gave them the better judgment to assume that it was fixed and drove my car off the lot. My car was drivable, however I noticed that the car was driving a little different and sporadically I would feel the slightest tug on the gas pedal, as if it were barely revving it up. Once I got off the interstate and was stopped at the light, I had my foot on the brake and when I released my foot to slowly ease up, it revved up just the slightest and I saw the RPM dial jump up past 1 really fast and went back down. I kept watching the dashboard for a light to turn on in hopes that if something were majorly wrong, I would know to pull over and check. The light never came on, made it home, open the hood and there is a piece of the valve cover missing. I am thinking, maybe they forgot to put it back on, who knows? Called up there but they were closed, and a gentleman answered and said to call the next day, when the mechanic’s there. My mom called the next day to try to figure it out what happened and what needs to be done. Tried explaining to them what the situation was, and they asked for a picture of the engine so they could better understand what we were talking about. The guy is saying to put a piece of duct tape over the hole, drive it back up there and they will fix it. We asked about having it towed up there instead because we did not want to take the chance of causing any more mechanical problems. They guy says they do not pay for tows, (even though they were at fault) and suggested that if I have full coverage insurance, my insurance should offer roadside assistance to have it towed there. Having it towed was the least of my concerns. Once they received the picture and was able to fully understand what we were talking about, the man proceeds to tell us that that had nothing to do with what they worked on, they had no reason to mess with that part nor did they take it off, and therefore they were NOT RESPONSIBLE for the piece to be missing. He explains the reasoning behind it (might I add, the man had a reason for everything). He said they see this kind of thing happen all the time and that it eroded to the point where it fell off (referring to the plastic cover that goes over the PCV membrane on the valve cover). We tried to make our points, but nothing we said seemed to convince him otherwise, and there was no way that it could have been their fault and that it was just a coincidence that the piece fell off after being worked on. What are the odds? We were on and off the phone with them throughout the morning trying to figure out what we should do. We tried one last time to figure out what happened and see if they were able to understand that they were at fault. It resulted in me arguing with the guy, which was talking over me several times and would not let me get my point across and the moment I did, he had a counter argument for everything I mentioned. I mentioned that they could have broken the clips of the cover by leaning on the piece to get to the back of the engine and therefore causing it to fall off, the guy argued and said that they were not working on that part or near it. He said, “we were working on the back of the engine and that’s located on the top of the engine, there is no way we caused to fall off”. As you can tell in the picture provided, it clearly shows that they were working around that part but what do I know. Also proceeded to inform me, if the cover was not on there when I left, that it would be extremely noticeable, the car would not be drivable and that when it did start it would instantly die. However, I drove 32 miles home, without the cover and it never died, how odd? Then when were trying to figure what piece I needed to get, the guy said I would have to buy a whole new valve cover because it all connected to each other. That is an extra $160 at the minimal, judging from the prices on google, plus labor and he said they would help on the price. Finally, I give up on the situation and take the loss. After looking up the piece I needed for my car, I discovered that I do not need the whole valve cover but a PCV valve cover, which is only $40 at the most. After finding out this information clearly shows the guy I talked to had no idea what he was talking about. He was not the mechanic that even worked on my car, so I do not understand why he even tried to plea the case of this situation. They should have had us call back when the mechanic that worked on my car was there, instead of immediately claiming it was not their fault. I am not upset at the fact that I have to replace a part due to someone else’s negligence. It is the fact that I had to plead a case for something that was clearly the fault of whoever worked on the car. Which should have never happened. I could have gone to any mechanic and they would have taken the fault for this situation because they would have realized they were at fault. Plus, it would have been $60 loss, if that, depending how much they charge for labor, to fix the part. The whole situation was ridiculous and very unprofessional.
Stein charges $150 for a diagnostic and a "27 point inspection", a hig... read more Stein charges $150 for a diagnostic and a "27 point inspection", a higher cost through the door than Tafel Motors. I took my Audi A4 to Stein to inspect a hidden coolant leak and an ignition issue. They quoted the job at $1200 (I later got this job quoted at Audi Louisville for $550). I declined to have the work done at Stein and went to retrieve my car and the presumedly thorough diagnostic analysis which consisted of a few statements: Plastic housing that couples multiple coolant hoses is leaking. Several coolant hoses need replacing. Technician checked the battery. Battery tested marginal and the terminals need cleaning. There was no breakdown of the cost of parts and labor of the quote, no mention of the check engine light, rear differential seal leaking, or oil filter housing leaking––all of which I know are problems that need addressing. When I asked the technician about the leak in the quattro system he replied "No, we didn't see anything wrong with it and we're very thorough." When I asked about the check engine light he replied "You didn't ask us to look at the check engine light; it automatically costs $150 to run the computer." You would think this would be mentioned in the pitch of the "extremely thorough diagnostic and 27 point inspection" –– except we can't take 10 minutes to get a computer reading on your check engine light. I voiced my disappointment in paying $120 (they knocked $30 off since the technician didn't take a full hour) for a service invoice with literally no valuable information on it and was able to coax some part numbers out of them. Of the six part numbers I was given, one was for the wrong engine and one was for a Porsche Cayenne. These guys are laughable.
My wife took our 2005 Toyota Camry here for a routine oil change, and ... read more My wife took our 2005 Toyota Camry here for a routine oil change, and was surprised when the tech said we had an oil leak. We just bought the car about 5 months ago so this was our second oil change. It has been a good car and we haven't had any problems with it. We never noticed any oil leaking, never smelled burning oil, and the oil light has never come on. In fact, less than a week earlier, we had taken the car from Louisville to Nashville and back. There were absolutely no indicators of an oil leak. The tech took her back to show her the oil that was all over the engine. It was covered in oil -- splattered up on the underside of the hood (right above the oil cap) and all over the manifold. She didn't think about it at the time, but the oil was fresh -- definitely not oil that had been running through an engine for three months. The engine looked fairly clean except for the fresh oil -- There was no dirt and grime that would have certainly accumulated and attached itself to the oil if there had been an oil leak happening for a period of time. Since it was fresh, the oil had to have already been changed at this point. Furthermore, the car was in the garage for about 10-15 minutes before the tech came to speak with her -- sufficient time to change the oil, but too much time to not have already noticed the mess of oil that was all over. The tech explained that the car was going to need about $500 worth of repairs. My wife immediately called me worried about the cost. I asked her to have them finish the oil change, but hold off on the repairs while I called my automotive friend at the car lot where we bought the car. My friend asked if we would bring the car by so he could look at it. My wife drove the 15 miles from Meineke to the car lot. After looking at the car, he immediately told her that with as much oil as it was losing, that she would end up on the side of the road if she tried to take it home. He said that there is no way anyone could drive the car much more than a day without ending up on the side of the road. But that wasn't all he said. Because of the pattern of oil on the top of the car above the oil cap and all over the top of the manifold, our automotive friend said, "I'm 100% certain that the car was started with the oil cap off." He explained that if it was just the manifold leaking, there is no way the oil would seep "up" to the top of the manifold and to the hood of the car. The next day, after he replaced the valve cover set, he explained that he didn't like to accuse people of shoddy work, but this looked very suspicious. The valve cover gasket was split in half in a way that does not happen from normal usage. It almost looked as if someone had taken a screwdriver and wedged it up against it. He suggested that a possible scenario was that a rookie technician mistakenly left the cap off, started the car, and, in an effort to cover his mistake, wedged a screwdriver into the valve cover gasket. That last bit is quite speculative. But what is not speculative is that my car was working fine before I took it to Meineke, and it was not after I left. There is no way we could have been driving around with that bad of a leak, and for three months up to that point, no one has been under the hood of that car except for Meineke. Ironically, if the Meineke technician had come to my wife and told her, "I'm sorry. We made a mistake and we need to keep your car for a bit longer to fix it. Don't worry about the cost -- we made the mistake, it's on us..." I would probably be a Meineke customer for life. But don't expect to see me at Meineke after this. I reported this to the management of the company and had someone call me back. Over the course of several phone calls, the gentleman and I spoke, but he didn't seem to be concerned about my car or the circumstances. The conclusion was that he supposedly reviewed the tapes of the incident and didn't notice anything unusual. So he wasn't going to give me my money back. Other than off-the-wall speculation, he couldn't explain why my car came to the shop without an oil leak and left with an oil leak. Nor could he explain how I was to trust his word that nothing happened against all of the evidence.
