This past March I purchased a 2005 Ford Mustang GT from Triple Crown Auto Sales in Roseville, CA. I agreed to purchase the vehicle only if you could fix the A/C. Key word, fix. Not recharge. The salesman, Tony, agreed and sent the car to the dealer's repair shop to fix the A/C. When I arrived to pick up the car about 2 days later (car was ready almost immediately) I was informed "it was just low on refrigerant". I knew right then and there something was amiss but I trusted the employee's. But having been attending school to be an Automotive Technician, I know any Tech worth their salt with a 609 certification will know that a system doesn't just "get low". It is a sealed system. The work order speaks of some "Leak Check Machine" where it supposedly passed where no specifics are mentioned. Even if this was true, and/or accurate, it is very standard practice for someone who has achieved the 609 certification to perform a dye test on the system and perform a visual inspection to verify there are in fact no leaks, and not trusting some machine. This can be cause to lose said certification. This is also cause to be investigated by the Bureau of Automotive Repair and the Better Business Bureau.
Recently, the A/C issue has reappeared, in 100F heat no less. Which proves without a doubt there is a leak. Clearly there was no effort to fix the leak or even diagnose it, which is especially clear as the car was ready almost immediately. There's no specific readings or details for this "Leak Check" on the work order and in turn, no proof it was performed. Just vague comments that it was "serviced". This breaches the initial "due bill" deal in purchasing the car that is in writing and signed from the dealership on the paperwork and work order that I have in my possession. It is very evident that the A/C was simply recharged just to get the car out the door and in turn, lie to the customer about fixing it, when in reality it was just a temporary band-aid to suppress the issue until another time presenting it as "fixed/repaired". This is a breach of contract.
Not only this, upon further inspection, it is apparent that it has been in an accident that was not disclosed. When performing the first oil change under my ownership, the front and rear metal bumpers are crushed (only visible from underneath) from an accident and there's evidence of shoddy bodywork to cover it up. Had this been disclosed I would have cut the deal right there. This had to have been known as I was told you inspect your vehicles before even purchasing them, in this case I was told from Carmax. This was asked before purchase. Either way, this was a lie and despite being an "as-is" sale, is illegal as it was misrepresented to me. After this discovery I attempted to call Triple Crown Auto Sales and left a voicemail and my calls were never returned.
Then the icing on the cake was not even 4 months later on 7/18/22, where this vehicle purchased to help me in my experience of going to school in Sacramento, blew its transmission. Losing all gears and effectively making the car immobile. A $3500 fix if I were to have it rebuilt at a shop. That's $3500 I don't have to spend on food, rent, or school.
Once I finally got ahold of Tony and he kept blowing off the concern and saying it was fine and talking over me. Finally I had enough and told him every way he screwed me and he kept going "are you finished" and "we're done". How immature. Be wary of who's paycheck you're padding.
"As-Is" is one thing, I understand that. But you did not fix the A/C as part of your side of the agreement. You filled it up and said "all done". This is not a repair and this was a breach of contract. The mistake i made was trusting your technicians and salesman. The fact that you repeatedly hide behind the "as-is" sale tells me you dont give 2 cents and this is why the BBB is investigating. The fact this was your best response is depressing. They never address any of my actual concerns and in their response to the BBB was basically a paragraph about how i hurt his feewings after being ignored, talked over, and talked down to in front of 20 people on speaker phone. He tried his best to make me look like the bad guy and not address a single allegation but the fact is, there was a class full of people that heard BOTH OF US. Im not some clueless customer. I know the strings you pull which is why I prepared for that.
You guys are the reason people in the car sales, and repair industry are looked down on, which sucks for people that actually care about their customers. read more