I'll try keeping this as short as I can. My family and I was on a road trip for the Christmas…read moreholiday. We started having some loss of power issues (no check engine light) in Southern Utah and with no shops open, we limped it to our destination in Gilbert, AZ. Took our rig (2000 Ford Excursion w/ V-10) to Sunland Auto and Randy was who took my information and such. They diagnosed the issue to being a bad catalytic converter. They called, informed me of the problem and the cost of repair, I gulped (those suckers are expensive, I know, but still hurts) and said do what needs to be done.
Super quick version - That catalytic converter went bad while in California, was told it would be covered under warranty, it wasn't due to sublet being used for initial repair, Sunland Auto (Scott) reimbursed me still. Thank you, Randy and Scott, for working with me and taking care of my family the way you did.
Not so quick version - Sunland Auto got it replaced (and checked and recharged my A/C system per my request) and I got the rig back. All went well; we then went to Southern California for leg two of our trip and the rig ran well all the way there. While in CA, I was leaving to go to church and noticed something was off and limped the rig back around the block. Got it into a shop the next day. Long story short there, the catalytic converter was bad. Seems unlikely to get a defective one, but the rig was running well, had different shops look at it and none noticed anything mechanical going on to think the rig was destroying the catalytic converter that quickly.
I called Randy at Sunland Auto and explained the situation, prior to taking it to another shop. He was sorry to hear I was having car troubles and let me know if it is in fact the catalytic converter, that Sunland Auto is part of a nationwide warranty program and it would be covered, so to take it to a shop, get it diagnosed, and circle back. So, once it was diagnosed to be the catalytic converter, I worked with Randy on next steps. He told me there were some shops in network with the warranty provider, but that ended up not working out as one was backed up a couple of days and the other seemed uncertain about the warranty claims system (person behind the desk said the owner deals with that). So, I end up calling the nationwide warranty provider for some insight, they give me a couple more shops (most won't be of help, jiffy lube, body shops, etc.) and also tell me I can go out of network, I would just need to submit the claim myself. I decided to go that route as we needed to get back on the road to head home to Montana.
We get a new catalytic converter and make it home. I work on the warranty claim. I get informed that because a sublet was used to do the repair, there is no warranty. I at first understood this to be that I used a shop that was disqualified and was disappointed. I call Randy, explain the situation to him and he collects information from me, who I spoke with, etc., and get clarification for himself. He gets back to me and says he also must have been misinformed about the use of sublets. He asks me to send him the invoices of the shops I had do the work in CA and he would send the situation to the owner (Scott I believe is the owner). While I wait a few days, I reread the email from the nationwide warranty and realize the reason they will not honor it is because Sunland Auto used a sublet to do the catalytic converter replacement, therefore the was no warranty. Now I understood that situation better.
I reach out to Randy via email, forwarding him my conversation with the nationwide warranty rep and share my new realized understanding and ask if this is the situation. Randy forwarded my email to Scott, and Scott reached out asking me to call him so we can work out me getting reimbursed. We got it worked out and I was reimbursed for the charge of having the catalytic converter replaced by Sunland Auto.
It wasn't as smooth as one would hope, but I am grateful that Sunland Auto cared enough about me, someone that was an out-of-state visitor, to still be willing to honor their work and reputation and reimburse me for the charged amount since it could not be done via warranty. I appreciate that Randy took time to work with me, because I know the shop is a very busy shop, and for good reason.
Thank you again Randy for being available to answer my questions and concerns, and working on making sure I was taken care of, and to Scott for getting me taken care of.