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Report: #119963

Complaint Review: Russ's Tire And Auto - Beaver Dam Wisconsin

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  • Reported By: Beaver Dam Wisconsin
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  • Russ's Tire And Auto 1247 Madison Street Beaver Dam, Wisconsin U.S.A.

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I took my 5 year old car here to have it looked at for a possible serious engine problem. He charged $500 to tell you what is wrong with the vehicle and if you have it repaired there, he deducts this from the repair bill.

He quoted me a repair price that I thought was steep, but it had to be done and he already had the car apart. As the repair progessed, additional things were found "wrong" and the bill continued to grow and grow. He also doubles the price of what he pays for most parts. For example, if a radiator costs $150 at the dealership, he charges $300. The final bill was close to what I paid for the car. When the car was being repaired, I was given conflicting information from both the owner, Russ, and his sidekick mechanic, Dean, about the status of the repair. When I picked the car up and questioned some of the excessive charges he had for shipping charges for the parts, I was told those were UPS charges and there was nothing he could do about them. The truth is that his mechanic told me several days before I picked the car up, that they picked up the parts in person, at a local dealership. They were not shipped in.

A few months later I was having some other work done on that car at a dealership. I told them what was wrong with the car and what was done at Russ's. They laughed and thought I was kidding when I told them what I paid. I also discovered I could have bought a rebuilt ENGINE, yes, the whole ENGINE, and had it installed for 1/2 of the price of what Russ bilked me for, for a moderate repair.

Tim
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/27/2004 12:54 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/russs-tire-and-auto/beaver-dam-wisconsin-53916/russs-tire-and-auto-ripoff-overcharge-dishonest-beaver-dam-wisconsin-119963. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
3Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#3 Consumer Comment

You Scammer - Thanks everyone for this site!! Power to the people!

AUTHOR: Brent - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 01, 2004

First off, I just want to say this site is great, I can't believe how much is on here. I can't believe all of the responses for this shop, I hope this site puts both of these clowns out of business!

I have a rare sports car that I trusted both Russ and Dean to perform maintenance on. My car's oil filter costs about $30, with Russ charging me about $75 for an oil change, which I thought was fair (it's a somewhat difficult job). The second to last time I took my car in Russ even commented how hard it was to get a filter, and that he really tried hard and got me one, a factory one at that! (telling me he wanted me as a "lifelong" customer). When he said this I saw his mechanic Dean make a funny look to Russ, this caught my eye (as if he was saying that he knew something I didn't).

Well, the next time I took my car in I wanted to see if they were playing games. And guess what, they were!!!!!!!!!!! Little did they know that before I took the car in I put a small mark with a permanent marker on the topside of my oil filter. As usual, when I picked up my car Russ was his usual "professional" self, always making suggestions of other maintenance I could do on my car, and how much Dean "enjoyed" working on it. Dean had conveniently driven my car out front for me before I had arrived, and told me the work went well while he was working on it. I asked him if the oil filter was a problem, he said no, that he's pretty good at challenging jobs. Before I paid Russ, I suggested to Dean that we go take a look at the motor together. Before that Russ had told me that he has a good supplier who can get real tough parts for him, including the filter they just used on my car. Geez I thought, these guys are pretty good, or just digging themselves a huge hole. Well, Dean and I walked out to my car, popped the hood to look at the engine, and low and behold, it was my old oil filter, but all the dirt and grime had been wiped off to make it look like a new one. I asked Dean if he could look at my filter real close, he gave me a funny look (like oh crap, now what), I asked him if he could see the small mark at the top of the OLD filter. He started stammering and said he had a helper with this job, and that the guy must of forgot to change it. I said okay, let me see the box the new one came in, Russ just told me he got one from his supplier. Dean got beet red and said I should take it up with Russ.

I went in and told Russ all about it, he asked Dean what happened, Dean gave him the line about the helper. I said to Russ, let me see the box for my filter or the invoice from your supplier, he said the filter came loose, and that he didn't have any paperwork available right now.

I gave Russ an earfull, and laughed when he tried to backpedal and talk his way out of it. He offered me no charge for this oil change (whopee, 7 qts of oil), and the next one on him too.
I laughed and told him how much of scammer he is, and that I will be telling everyone to "NEVER TAKE ANYTHING TO RUSS'S TIRE AND AUTO IN BEAVER DAM!!!!!!!!!

I contacted the State of Wisconsin Dept of Consumer Affairs, but I swore they were sticking up for him, lots of help some overpaid goverment paper pusher is!!! They said it could of been an honest mistake - yeah, Right!!!!

Thanks everyone for this site!! Power to the people!

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#2 Consumer Comment

They got me too. Don't let them to it to you!!!!!!!

AUTHOR: Peter - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, November 29, 2004

I was stunned to see 2 other people had similar experiences to mine. I had an identical problem here.
They took my car apart, quoted me a price for the repair, and then as soon as they started the repair, they "discovered" additional problems. My final bill was almost 3X what the original quote was. You dont have much of a choice when you car is in pieces. The first posting is also accurate. They double, and sometimes triple, the price of what the parts cost from the dealership. I called the dealership and confirmed what they paid and saw what Russ charged me on my invoice. When I asked Russ about this, I was told it was an "Industry Standard." Gee, not only do they charge you the labor to fix something, but they double the price of what they pay for a part. They are making out like bandits, literally, on both ends. Someone needs to report them to WI Consumer Protection People SOON!!!!!!!

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#1 Consumer Comment

Slick talking con artist

AUTHOR: Bill - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, November 28, 2004

Yeah I agree with you Tim. Both Russ and Dean are a bunch of shysters - they work in cahootz with one another. Their favorite game is when you bring your car in for a problem, they take it apart, then find more stuff wrong - and that crook Russ gives you a high price to just put it back together, or a price to fix everything. What choice do you have? He's already soaking you and then the final bill piles more stuff on. I'm disabled and on a fixed income and can't afford a crackpot operation like that. I'll tell ya though - I will get even with those two, they soaked me once, but never again.

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