After reading the good reviews online, my Husband and I chose to take our car to First Class Auto to have a left wheel bearing replaced. We believed at the time a wheel bearing was not covered under warranty, so did not initially take it to the dealership. We dropped the car off to Ray with no concerns and picked it up a few hours later after being told the bearing was replaced and we were all set. While driving away, the bearing noise was quieter, but I still felt something was off. A week or so went by and the noise got louder again, similar to how it originally sounded before the bearing was "replaced." We believed this was a different issue, so we brought it to the car dealership because if it is power train, it would be covered under warranty. We did not tell the dealership about the wheel bearing, and they came back with the left wheel bearing & right oil boot as being defective.
I called Ray and explained it still sounds like the bearing is bad & that the dealership came to the same conclusion; he said to bring it back in, which we immediately did. We brought the car to Ray on a Friday, but received a phone call from Ray Saturday that he has driven the car all around and cannot hear any noise and does not think anything is wrong with the car. My Husband and I drove with both Ray and his mechanic Paul who still denied anything is wrong. We insisted he replace it, especially after the dealership mechanic also believing the bearing is bad.
Ray said he would wait until 3pm that day for the part to arrive (which I do not know why he didn't already order the part since we scheduled to bring the car in on Friday) and if it does not arrive before he leaves, he will call us to let us know so we can either pick the car up or leave it until Monday at his shop. Ray never called, so now we are left without a car until Monday morning unexpectedly.
We pick up the car Monday evening and Ray says he replaced it, but now believes it is not the left bearing, but the right bearing. He said he has thought it was the right bearing all along. By this point, Ray said he has replaced the left bearing 2 times. My Husband and I decided at this point, we would just take it back to the dealership and see what they find.
The dealership now finds both the left & right oil boots to be busted, the left hub now bent and the left bearing still bad. We decided to just have them fix everything and be done with it. The next day, we received a phone call from the dealership saying they proceeded to replace the left wheel bearing and found the "Original manufacturers bearing," meaning, Ray never replaced the left bearing with his after market part- TWICE.
We brought this information, paperwork and pictures directly back to Ray to show him the evidence and request a refund for the work he never did. After much arguing and denial, he refunded us for the wheel bearing we initially paid for. As for the 2 busted oil boots and bent hub, he denies having anything to do with that and would not pay for the damages.
In the end, we felt we were not treated right, lied to and taken advantage of. Never at anytime did we act out of line or melodramatic with Ray, considering the circumstances of our situation. But I cannot say that Ray handled it well, it was very difficult to converse with him without Ray becoming defensive and upset with us, the CUSTOMERS. read more
