WOW where do i start here?
I took my Brother in laws truck down here to be smogged on a Saturday. The owner was there, a manager and a smog tech.
After a little over an hour of the truck being on the machine the tech comes over and asks me if the motor has been swapped. I said I don't know for certain it's my brother in laws truck and he just bought it. He took another twenty minutes on the smog then comes over and tells me the truck fails because it's got the wrong distributor on the motor and as a result he thinks it's the wrong motor. Appalled I asked for the casting number on the motor so that he may prove to me that it is the wrong motor. He then states that the motor may not be different but he is going to assume that it is because the "DATA" says that the distributor SHOULD have a vacuum line on it per the book, and WITHOUT this line he cannot time the truck. SO FAIL.
Still mesmerized by this random reason for fail I ask to see the "DATA."
I am shown a book listing the 4Runner as a Van and only one motor style
After twenty MORE minutes of arguing that the distributor is NOT the way to determine if a motor has been swapped and expressing my frustration that "ALL THE DATA" is just one book and doesn't even show the different motor types, I admit defeat and set the APPOINTMENT with the REFEREE as the Owner, Manager and tech insisted.
About twenty minutes later I am hit with a stroke of genius and call Kragen O'Reilleys and ask if they carry the Distributor. The sales rep informed me that they did, so I asked him to check and see if there was a vacuum line on the part. He kindly did as I asked and found NO vacuum line.
I repeated this process several more times and received the same answer from all the parts stores!
I then called SMOGS UNLIMITED back and notified them of what I had learned; I was met with indifference and what seemed to me, anger.
OK.....??
So I call my brother in law, whom might I add is now in a panic thinking he bought a dirty car and is pondering calling up the P.O and giving him a good verbal tongue lashing, and inform him that his car has failed.
After we get the truck to the REF he takes a look at it and says that it looks to be in shape.
He puts the car on the machine smog's it and is kind enough to print out the "DATA" saying that the truck does have the correct smog equipment and that the info was available online.
WOW EASY, NO?
I then go back to Smogs Unlimited and do what any consumer would do, I ask for a refund. I explain the situation, provide the paperwork and was told that a refund was out of the question. That regardless of how I FEEL the service was performed.
Still not happy with the answer I try again to explain why I do not feel right having to pay for a smog that was left NULL due to the REF passing the truck as "SMOGS UNLIMITED" recommended, the "Manager" then states that refunds are the "Owners" decision.
Fine I can do that.
He tells me that the owner would be there on a Tuesday.
I show up on Tuesday (Today)
I Walk up and see her, so I say "one moment I'm going to get the paperwork."
"GOOD" she says
When I return with the paperwork she hands me a COMPLAINT FORM for the Bureau of Automotive Repair. DOESN'T SAY ONE WORD!!!
"So that's it?" I asked.
"If they say to issue a refund, I will." she says.
SOooooo you need the Bureau to tell you how to run your business with customers?" I ask.
To make a VEEEERY LOOONG and drawn out story short we agreed to disagree they DID NOT issue a refund for the piddly 49.00$ and some change and let's be honest it's not going to kill them. But pride stood in the way of customer service today.
I'll play devil's advocate here, if I took the truck to the REF and it was wrong id have fixed it, took it back to Smogs Unlimited and happily had my retest. But that's not what happened they failed me because their book was bad or their info was "incomplete." They failed me because it's easier to fail me then to perform due diligence.
But for everyone out there that works 8 hours a day and is struggling to make ends meet isn't $50.00 of your hard earned money worth spending correctly? If YOU work more days than you have off and AN EXTRA day wasted down at the REFEREE is one day too much, if you can't handle the extra pressure and stress of your car FAILING SMOG when it should have PASSED then id AVOID SMOGS UNLIMITED. For those that have a similar experience with this location let your voice be heard!
Ill be the GUY outside this location with a picket sign and a megaphone
(someone can donate that to me if you see me)
SMOGS UNLIMITED FAILED ME BECAUSE THEY "THOUGHT" I HAD THE WRONG DISTRIBUTOR.
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