They do not stand behind their work, and will rip you off if you are from out of town and in a jam…read more
On June 29th, in the middle of a four thousand mile, cross country road trip with my family, my car started acting up. it began to sputter and surge, and felt like it had a cylinder that was not firing. I limped into this dealership, and explained the symptoms to the service adviser.
I was informed that their best, and most senior mechanic would be assigned to repair the vehicle.
After several hours of troubleshooting, I was advised that I needed a set of spark plugs, a rotor, and possibly a coil to remedy the problem. I agreed to the repair and advised them that since the coil was
suspected and old,they should replace that too.
I paid this dealership $386.00 for spark plugs, a rotor, coil and labor, and went hapilly on my way.
I hit it off with the guys at the dealership, and we talked alot about camping in the area.
After approximately 260 miles (4 hours of driving) the problem returned. it was 11 pm, and I was forced to pull over and rent a room in Needles, Ca. Tate Auto Center was closed (understandibly, due to late hours.)
The next day I called and spoke with the service advisor at this dealership, Sastamo, and advised him of the problem. He stated that he would relay the information to the Service Manager, Jack.
I was then advised that there was "really nothing we can do, if you want to bring it back, we can look at it again." I was 260 miles away, and to tow it back to their dealership would have cost me approximately $600.
I was stranded. I had to call a family member In Fontana to pick us up and had the car towed 80 miles to his house
I would have settled for the following fair resoloutions:
1. a partial refund, pay for parts only, not labor, since they didnt fix the problem.
2. tow it back to their dealership, at their expense, for further troubleshooting.
3. have me take it to a dealership close to where I was stranded, and have Tate pay for the repair, if they suspected that I was just trying to scam them and get free repair.
I am a proud Veteran, I dont make alot of money and am a hard working productive member of my community. I am an honest Yelper, and do many reviews. Tate Auto Center scammed me out of nearly $400.
UPDATE-the problem turned out to be a seized distributer cap center electrode. Its the one a spring loaded center. the engine would heat up, the electrode would seize, and the rotor would loose electrical contact with the distributer cap, causing a misfire. The master mechanic should have caught this when he replaced the rotor, looking as to why the rotor was chewed up.