Emerald Coast Autowerks Ray Reynolds Paid to have my VW engine rebuilt and he never did it. They stole my money. Panama City Beach, Florida

I'm the second customer and I have a refund check for said company in question.
Only after having the company's refund check come back NSF twice. Did I seek legal console.
I chose not to continue legal recourse because it would only cost me more money.
If I can't get the 1812.52 this company agreed they owed me. What chance would I have to get court costs and attorney fees. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and just right some people off. 
I wish them the best of luck in their business but I would never recommend to everyone.

It seems very funny that you could specifically find our company name and comment on this situation if you have no dog in the fight. 

Allow me to clarify, as one of the owners of this company. When this complaint was filed, we told our legitimate, good customers about the situation and asked them to share any positive experiences that they have had with us. As a small, family owned company, word of mouth has been our best marketing and we have received a lot of positive feedback over the past few years. Unfortunately, not every customer is as honest as we would like, and you cannot always please everyone all of the time.

When we asked a certain customer that was in our office if they would mind giving feedback on our company, they of course had no issue. They actually did it right then in our office on our computer. When they did the report of good standing with us online it showed that it was PCBEachcomber, which was their login they created. A while later I had come back to the website to provide the details of our encounter with this particular customer, it pulled the same account information from the web history. I didn't even notice this until it was pointed out by the previous person that commented. 

My husband's honesty and reliability has never been questioned by anyone other than the two dishonest, crooked people who have made BOGUS complaints on this website. The one involving the motor being rebuilt and "washed with magical water" was investigated by the state and we fully cooperated. And the man who claims we did not do work that he paid for but had no proof that he made the payment he claimed he did, he got a lawyer involved and the lawyer couldn't even help him because he HAD NO PROOF OF PAYMENT because HE DIDNT MAKE THE PAYMENT HE SAID HE DID. I spoke with the lawyer and he personally told me he also thought his claim was fraudulent and dismissed any of his further involvement. 

So, if there is any further clarification that is needed on the honesty of my husband as a mechanic or human being in general, please indicate as needed. We will still be asking our long-time customers to give their statement of experiences now and into the future. But for the same username being used to post two comments, I am to blame for that. I didn't make sure that the proper account was logged into before posting my rebuttal. I'll take that as a lesson learned. But I am glad that this website exists and that we as a very small business have a chance to keep a good name and not just having bad people out there making false claims with no way to disprove them. 

It seems very funny that you could specifically find our company name and comment on this situation if you have no dog in the fight. 

Allow me to clarify, as one of the owners of this company. When this complaint was filed, we told our legitimate, good customers about the situation and asked them to share any positive experiences that they have had with us. As a small, family owned company, word of mouth has been our best marketing and we have received a lot of positive feedback over the past few years. Unfortunately, not every customer is as honest as we would like, and you cannot always please everyone all of the time.

When we asked a certain customer that was in our office if they would mind giving feedback on our company, they of course had no issue. They actually did it right then in our office on our computer. When they did the report of good standing with us online it showed that it was PCBEachcomber, which was their login they created. A while later I had come back to the website to provide the details of our encounter with this particular customer, it pulled the same account information from the web history. I didn't even notice this until it was pointed out by the previous person that commented. 

My husband's honesty and reliability has never been questioned by anyone other than the two dishonest, crooked people who have made BOGUS complaints on this website. The one involving the motor being rebuilt and "washed with magical water" was investigated by the state and we fully cooperated. And the man who claims we did not do work that he paid for but had no proof that he made the payment he claimed he did, he got a lawyer involved and the lawyer couldn't even help him because he HAD NO PROOF OF PAYMENT because HE DIDNT MAKE THE PAYMENT HE SAID HE DID. I spoke with the lawyer and he personally told me he also thought his claim was fraudulent and dismissed any of his further involvement. 

So, if there is any further clarification that is needed on the honesty of my husband as a mechanic or human being in general, please indicate as needed. We will still be asking our long-time customers to give their statement of experiences now and into the future. But for the same username being used to post two comments, I am to blame for that. I didn't make sure that the proper account was logged into before posting my rebuttal. I'll take that as a lesson learned. But I am glad that this website exists and that we as a very small business have a chance to keep a good name and not just having bad people out there making false claims with no way to disprove them. 

I have no dog in this fight but if anyone is paying attention to the posts concerning Emerald Coast Autowerks there have been two reports filed and both may have recieved questionable rebuttals by the same person. The first report, #826025, has a response from someone going by the name "pcbeachcomber" and states they are a customer and that "Ray Reynolds" is is the most honest mechanic they have ever done buisness with. The second report, #834140, has a rather lengthy rebuttal posted by "pcbeachcomber", this time claiming to be part owner and is clearly upset over the report.

Seems shady, but it's probably just a coincidence and there's no reason to question this mechanics "honesty".

I am the part-owner of Emerald Coast Autowerks in Panama City Beach, FL. This customer, Diane Ferrell of Panama City Beach, FL, is committing defamation and WILL BE PROSECUTED!

In May of 2011, Diane Ferrell, contacted us while she was out on the road on a trip to Orlando when she encountered some problems with her vehicle. She had her vehicle towed to a roadside service station that serviced her 1974 VW Westfalia bus. The mechanic that serviced her motor set her timing off 33 degrees from where it was supposed to be and SUGGESTED THAT SHE PUT STP MOTOR HONEY IN HER AIRCOOLED VW MOTOR!!!!! So doing as he suggested, SHE DID IT! Thus, resulting in her piston heads melting and her engine going out. Her vehicle would not crank nor would it run. It was inoperable.

She had this bus towed to us after she called us day and night, acting hysterical and blaming us for letting her get on the road with her bus when all we did was replace an interior cabin light bulb and installed her new pump for her sink. We never serviced anything else on her vehicle.

Once the vehicle was towed to us, it was broken down to assess the damage that she, being ignorant to how air-cooled motors are to be maintained, herself caused. She had melted her piston heads and caused damage to the main bearing, connecting rods, piston jugs and crank seal. These are all of the parts that we replaced and that we have receipts for. We purchased them from a local wholesaler who supplies vintage VW parts. WE HAVE RECEIPTS FROM THEM FOR THE PARTS ORDERED AND RECEIVED!

Once the repairs were complete, she picked up her vehicle. Everything was running great and no leaks were detected. She signed her invoice and wrote us a check for roughly $820.00 for all of the parts and the repairs. Most shops won't even touch or rebuild a motor for less than $1500, so we had done our best to help her out for less than half of what other local repair shops would've charged her.  We also informed her that the first 500 miles is considered a break-in period for her motor and we needed her to return within those 500 miles so we can perform a service check and an oil change. This was mid-June 2011. So, if we just washed her motor with a water hose, taking into account that it had melted piston heads and would not even crank, how could she wave driven away with her bus if we had only washed her motor with water?

The next day we went to her bank to cash the check and they told us that she had cancelled it the same day she picked up her vehicle!!! I called her and she said that her horn wasn't working so she cancelled the check! She didn't even call us to say that her horn wasn't working, WHICH WE NEVER EVEN TOUCHED! When I discussed the situation with her, I told her she had two choices; 1: She could come to the shop, even though we didn't service her horn, and we would see what we could do to help her, or 2: I would take the check she wrote, and then cancelled, to the state attorney's office and prosecute her for fraud and theft. She ended up bringing her van back the same day- and canceled her dr's appointment that afternoon. Upon her arrival she screamed at me and said, "I don't want that China boy working on my car! That Chinese boy isn't going to touch my car!" Which, was in reference to a person that was performing electrical work at our shop was trying to help her. So my husband, Ray, fixed her horn within 2 minutes of her being there. Her horn wasn't operating because she had painted the center cap of her horn with paint, and the paint dripped down inside the steering column and seized the button from operating. It was a simple fix, yet not our problem that we created. She ended up paying that same day before leaving with a credit card and she went on her way.

On August 25th, 2011 she called me and told me that there was a small oil leak from the motor. We immediately scheduled for her to bring it into the shop since she had already neglected to service her vehicle within the first 500 miles of the motor refresh completed in June 2011. Again, when she brought her vehicle to our shop, she said to "make sure that Chinese boy doesn't work on my bus." I informed her that he wasn't even there that day and had no reason to work on her vehicle, but that we would no longer tolerate her racist remarks. She took offense to my statement, but her behavior was uncalled for
The crank seal was serviced and an oil change was performed. She picked up her bus on September 1st, 2011, and when she came in I explained to her that we were choosing to sever our business relationship due to her abusive and racist behavior, and also due to the fact that she refused to follow our instructions and neglected caring for her vehicle after we performed the motor refresh. She signed her invoice and agreed that the decision to go our separate ways was mutual. I still have this signed document.

Late 2011, her vehicle ended up being taken to Ronnie's Automotive on the beach here in PCB. She was told that her motor was beyond repair and needed to be replaced. She wanted a second opinion, so she contacted Michael Boatwright, the GM of Honda-VW of Panama City. Per my conversation with him that took place today, February 16th, 2012, he went to Ronnie's garage to give his opinion after she called him. The engine had no compression and had not been serviced properly. Mr. Boatwright then, personally, drove her bus to Honda VW of PC and had one of his technicians look at the motor. The motor had no compression and was leaking oil. Another air-cooled owner who works at the dealership ended up selling her another used motor and swapped the engines.

Diane has taken this same bus to several different places in many occasions. Her troubles started when she first purchased this vehicle and HAD NO IDEA HOW TO MAINTAIN IT. She has neglected her vehicle's engine and thus has resulted in all of her problems. She doesn't want to listen to those who know what they're talking about and she didn't want to read the very clear and easy manual to her vehicle on how to maintain it. So that is why she was in the position she was in. She didn't properly service her vehicle or service it when she was supposed to and ruined her motor.

Bottom line here is WE DID NOT STEAL THIS WOMAN'S MONEY! WE DID THE WORK WE BILLED HER SO LITTLE FOR AND WE DID NOT JUST WASH HER MOTOR OFF WITH WATER. We never threatened to repossess her vehicle, which we don't even have the ability to do and we have all the records or parts that were replaced in her motor. What she neglected to do to maintain her vehicle after we severed our relationship with her is no longer our problem, but we will not tolerate lies from this woman when we did all we could to help her. She makes you try to feel sorry for her and her situation because of her ignorance and then pulls a lawyer card on you when you stand up to her abuse and irrational behavior!