Here is the situation with an Auto Repair shop in San Mateo, CA.
The Auto repair facility replaced the axles in my
1999 Sienna van. This caused vibration while driving.
They examined and found the axle on the driver side
was defective and replaced it. After a while the same
problem reoccurred. Though they claimed that they
replaced the axles on either side, the problem was
never resolved. They asked me to change tire rods and
check transmission. By then, I've made five visits to
the same shop for the same problem. They asked me to pay
another $115 as labor in order to examine my vehicle.
Since I no longer trust them and felt that they could
take $115 and leave the vehicle for couple of hours
and later tell me that the problem is somewhere else.
So, I took it to another repair facility and changed
both the axles. Problem got fixed. Now, I am asking
them to reimburse my money. I also logged a compliant
with BAR and sent them all the necessary documents.
BAR tried to talk to the shop manager to get us to a
mutual agreement. However, the manager never agreed.
So, the recommendation from BAR is to go thru' small
claims court and get the settlement.
Couple of points:
1. When they initially replaced the axles they told me
that the warranty is good for 12 months or 12K miles.
However, it was not written. Their invoice has a
warranty information of 90 days.
2. When I first felt the vibration, it was well within
the 90 days, they removed and replaced the axle.
However, my next visit was around 110 days from the
2nd visit. They never talked about this 90 days
warranty and instead, in the statement of work, they
mentioned that the reapir work is being perform under
warranty. This happened 4 times before they started
disagreeing and asked me to pay more.
The entire saga took place over a period of 10 months
starting Feb 2007.
Can I take this to small claims court? What is my best
chance? Can they argue based on the warranty? Please
advice.
Thanks for your advice.
The Auto repair facility replaced the axles in my
1999 Sienna van. This caused vibration while driving.
They examined and found the axle on the driver side
was defective and replaced it. After a while the same
problem reoccurred. Though they claimed that they
replaced the axles on either side, the problem was
never resolved. They asked me to change tire rods and
check transmission. By then, I've made five visits to
the same shop for the same problem. They asked me to pay
another $115 as labor in order to examine my vehicle.
Since I no longer trust them and felt that they could
take $115 and leave the vehicle for couple of hours
and later tell me that the problem is somewhere else.
So, I took it to another repair facility and changed
both the axles. Problem got fixed. Now, I am asking
them to reimburse my money. I also logged a compliant
with BAR and sent them all the necessary documents.
BAR tried to talk to the shop manager to get us to a
mutual agreement. However, the manager never agreed.
So, the recommendation from BAR is to go thru' small
claims court and get the settlement.
Couple of points:
1. When they initially replaced the axles they told me
that the warranty is good for 12 months or 12K miles.
However, it was not written. Their invoice has a
warranty information of 90 days.
2. When I first felt the vibration, it was well within
the 90 days, they removed and replaced the axle.
However, my next visit was around 110 days from the
2nd visit. They never talked about this 90 days
warranty and instead, in the statement of work, they
mentioned that the reapir work is being perform under
warranty. This happened 4 times before they started
disagreeing and asked me to pay more.
The entire saga took place over a period of 10 months
starting Feb 2007.
Can I take this to small claims court? What is my best
chance? Can they argue based on the warranty? Please
advice.
Thanks for your advice.
