Dean Shell Dean Shell - Atlanta, worst service I ever encountered Atlanta Georgia

Dean Shell 16 September, 2004
1184 Spring Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-897-1600
Mr. Dean,

On 11 June 2004 I brought in my Jeep Wrangler to have your mechanics install a rebuilt engine I bought from C&L Auto Parts. Blandon did a good job getting the engine in, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a dud, and he even said he doubted it was even rebuilt. I told Blandon to pull the thing so I could return it to C&L and ordered a better, rebuilt engine from "ATK Engines".

The new engine was delivered on 8 July 2004, and I was assured by one of the mechanics that they would pull the bad engine right away. At first, Blandon said I needed to settle my bill for the work done to the old engine before he could proceed with installing the new one, so I came by and paid $816.

I expected work to begin soon after, but the Jeep sat in your shop day after day with little or no work being done to it. I came by every other day to ask about it, but I could still see it sitting in the parking lot.

Near the 26 th of July I started to get worried because on the 30th I would need the Jeep for work, and NO work had been done on it yet. I started thinking of having it towed to another shop. Finally, after days of calling and complaining, they finally started working on it. I guess one of the biggest complaints is that the mechanic would keep promising me that the engine would be pulled, or the new one would be put in, and not one of those promises was kept.

They told me that they would start pulling out the old engine on Saturday, 10 July, but they didn't touch it until 26 July, over two weeks later. I understand that one of the mechanics was sent back to prison for violating his parole, but Blandon seemed very hesitant to want to work on it, saying he didn't want to "get dirty".

I did notice that your shop was very busy at the time, the bays always seemed filled with cars, and I always wondered how they seemed to be working on new cars but ignoring the Jeep.

Finally, on the 28 th they seriously started working on it, and it wasn't done until later in the day of the 30th when I settled the bill. Before I took off I noticed my clock in my dash wasn't working, so I told Blandon about it. He took the control panel off the dash and we could see a thin, plastic circuit card, and one of the circuits in it, the one going to the clock, had been fried and melted.

I asked him what he thought had happened, but he made no excuse and just screwed the panel back on and said he would fix it or something. Anyway, I needed to leave as I was already late, and as I drove away my music stopped. The radio was on, but no sound coming out of the speakers.

Back at your shop, we had some problems with the engine overheating, and after a few days of it getting worse and worse, I finally took it to Buckhead Jeep to have them look at it. I was very hesitant to bring it back to your shop due to the length of time it took for your guys to get the engine in, all the promises they couldn't keep, and the damage to the clock and amp. Also, the entire time my Jeep was in the shop, whenever I called and left a message, I only had one call back. I had to repeatedly call to find out the status of the Jeep. So you can see why I was hesitant to return to your shop.

At Buckhead Jeep, they notified me that I had a bad ground that fried my $200 Sony 4-channel amplifier and also the circuit card for my dashboard clock. They also found the reason for the engine overheating, but that was an internal engine issue and was quickly repaired.

Buckhead Jeep charged me $237 to find and repair the bad ground, a new amplifier cost me $150, and the new circuit card for the dash cost me $52.86. Enclosed is a copy of the Buckhead Jeep bill, a copy of the receipt for the amp from Best Buy, and a copy of the receipt for the new circuit card.

In summary, due to the work performed by your mechanics, it cost me almost $440 to correct the errors and damage done. I can swear on a bible and even have witnesses swear that both my clock and amplifier were fine before your mechanics worked on it, and Blandon can vouch for the circuit card in the dash, as he opened it up and he saw it.

I would hate to have to scratch your shop off my list of businesses in the neighborhood I like to bring my business to, and hope this matter can be resolved without any problems. I am a good customer, having quickly paid the $870.27 for installing the first engine (#3355), $386.94 to repair the timing chain on it, and the $516.21 for installing the second engine.

I apologize for the length of time it took me to get back to you on all this, but the Jeep was at Buckhead Jeep for a month, then I had to go out on a training exercise at Fort Bragg, otherwise I would have gotten back to you right away.

Thank You,

Dylan

James
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.