VIP Parts Tires and Service Will Not Take Responsibility For Negligent Work and a Lack of Manager at Location Brunswick, ME Nationwide

    I took my car to the VIP location in Brunswick, ME for servicing in May, 2015. Specifically, I wanted a 90K manfacturer reccomended service, and for an estimate on fixing my air conditioning system. The employee I spoke to insured me that he would look at the car, and check "all fluids and systems". I ended up only getting an inspection sticker, oil change, and engine belt replacement from the location(per the employee's reccomendation).

   Soon after having the work done by VIP, and after I finished my college final exams, I drove home. After only being on the highway for about 1 hour, my engine started to severely overheat, which caused the engine to stop working. I had to have the car towed by AAA to a mechanic. When the mechanic examined the car's engine, he saw that my radiator cap was not screwed in, and asked me if I had recently had work done on the car. He concluded that the engine overheated most likely due to the mechanic at VIP not screwing my radiator cap on after the oil change at VIP in Brunswick, ME. This error by VIP was estimated to have caused almost 1,900.00 in damage to my car's engine(which no longer works). The 1,900.00 estimate is for a new engine and labor.

    One week after the incident, my family member and I called up the VIP location in Brunswick, and spoke to a man who said he was the general manager(who will remain unnamed for privacy purposes) and explained what had happened. He said he would relay the information to the regional manager. I never heard from a regional manager.

    After two weeks, my family member called their corperate headquarters in Lewiston, ME ,and spoke to a man(who I believe is the COO of the whole company) who profusely apologized for what had happened. He called me directly, and admitted to me that the man I had spoken to was not the general manager(despite identifying himself as the manager).He further admitted to me that the Brunswick location has been without a manager for over two months, and stated that he believed there were "leadership problems" at the Brunswick location due to a lack of management at the location. He promised me he would fix the problem with my car. Thus, he had my car flatbedded to the Topsham, ME location for a diagnostic evaluation.

   VIP is now claiming that my car's engine overheated due a corroding radiator, and are refusing to componsate me(despite offering to "fix the problem"). This is despite reports from two other mechanics who stated that my radiator was not corroded, but in "good" condition. One report is from work I had done on the car two months earlier, the other is from another mechanic the car was flatbedded to in the area. In addition, the mechanic who saw that my cap was not screwed noted that the radiator was not corroded.

  I believe that that the lack of a general manager at the Brunswick location is leading to poor work oversight. Instead of making up excuses for administrative problems, VIP needs to accept responsibility for their faults. Their statement about the radiator contradicts two other independent evaluations about the state of the car's engine. Their actions regarding this clear lack of proper quality control, and their managment admitting that this branch has no general manager have been inapropriate. In many ways, I believe(but I am not certain) the company is engaging in clear fraud.