Purrfect Auto #7 - Patrick The Manager performed work that my car did not need overcharged me 380% for a junkyard part misrepresented part quality and refused to clearly and specifically list the car parts on the estimate and invoice Las Vegas Nevada

Purrfect Auto also worked on my Volvo last year. They never did give me a receipt for the work done, 2 of the employees used my car during their lunch hour and ripped off my cell phone charger and other items in my glove box, including my proof of insurance, title, and registration of this car as I had just purchased it from a friend.

The manager their said he had fired the two who used my car and stole the items out of my car and they would replace my cell phone and it's components. The assistant manager Terry, quoted me certain price for specific work to be done on my car that wasn't initially done.

After fighting with them for almost a month over the replacement of my cell phone and the completion of the work I was promised after I had already paid them, it took a phone call to the owner and a threat to go to the news media to finally get the work done. I never did get my cell phone or other items replaced as promised, instead the manager offered me his 12 year old daughter's old chewed up cheappie cell phone that she was no longer using cause he got her a better one.

I was not allowed to include a link to additional text about my experience with purrfect auto #7, so I'm including it in this update.

On July 28, I took my car to Purrfect Auto #7, at: 3370 E. Flamingo (702-454-7711). It is located in the Food for Less Strip mall, but is close to the corner of Flamingo and Pecos. My car had been stolen, and the ignition was completely removed. Also, the housing on the steering wheel column had been pried apart. However, once the car was started (by Pep Boys), it worked just fine. I drove it to Purrfect Auto from Pep Boys #683 on 2030 Las Vegas Blvd North, 702-399-0052 (store manager Daniel Horowitz).

When I arrived at Purrfect Auto, Patrick the manager pronounced that not only did it need a new ignition, but it needed a whole new steering column. He merely pulled up on the top piece of housing and announced that when they (thieves) do this, the whole steering column needs to be replaced, and that the gears had been broken. I really don't think so.

He did not check it out mechanically before making this pronouncement, and as I said, once it started, the steering worked just fine. I think that all it needed was a new ignition. He quoted me a price of $475.00 for a used, re-built (it wasn't really re-built) steering column that came from a junkyard. He also mentioned that a brand new steering column from the dealer would have cost me $1,500.00. Then he quoted me $100.00 for the labor to install the used steering column, which was to include the ignition.

Patrick lied to me about the quality of the part he installed. He told me that the whole steering column unit was a rebuilt part that he got from a junkyard. If it came from a junkyard, (and it's clear it did), it is most definitely not re-built. Junk yards don't rebuild parts. At a junkyard, basically you can go and pull a part that you need from a car that has been wrecked. A rebuilt part has to be certified by the manufacturer. Patrick admitted to me that the entire steering column unit came from a car that had been in an accident, and that it came from a junkyard. Ergo, it is not a rebuilt part, and he misrepreseted the quality of the part to me, the customer.
(Misrepresenting the quality of that steering column unit).

I called around to local junkyards to get a quote on an entire steering column unit.
AA-Row Auto Wreckers (125 W. Miller, 1-800-362-4691) has a steering column unit (Saturn S series model), with no steering wheel or air bag, but with all switches intact, everything in working order, for $125.00. That would have been just what I needed, if in fact I had actually needed the steering column unit replaced, because there is aboslutely no question that I did not need a new steering wheel or airbag. That is a profit margin of 380% for Purrfect Auto #7, and I have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with him taking a 20% profit, which he claimed, but I have a big problem with a 380 % profit on a junk part from a junkyard dealer. Green leaf NV (formerly King Auto Parts, at 4995 Copper Sage, 1-800-487-9544) quoted me $150.00 for a steering column unit that does have a steering wheel, but no airbag (Saturn SL2 model). I have since discovered that any Saturn S series parts could be used on my Saturn SW2. The junkyard dealers I talked to knew it. The ordinary customer-type people I talked to on the Saturn newsgroup on Usenet knew it. (overcharging me 380% for a steering column unit that came from a junkyard).

I thought that $1500.00 for a new steering column sounded excessive, so I called Saturn of West Sahara the next day. This is what Shane in the parts department quoted me:

Ignition cylinder: $45
To code the ignition cylinder: $40
Steering Column metal shaft: $154.40
Shrouds ( the covering) $30 each.
one other part which I don't recall the name of: $71.65

For a total of $372.00.

When I mentioned this $1500 to Shane at Saturn of West Sahara parts department, his reaction was stunned silence, then a quick recommendation to get my car out of there.

I confronted Patrick with this figure, and then he started bringing up specific additional parts which he said I was getting as part of this deal, which he said the car needed. He said, after the estimate was already given, that as a result of the damage by the car thieves, I needed:

Steering column (just the metal shaft)
multi-purpose switch
ignition cylinder
solenoid
cruise control unit

in addition to the whole steering column unit. Now, those switches were all fine. The cruise control unit was not broken by the thieves (see link to photos), and none of the others were broken either. The Pep Boys that looked at it first, checked it out, and only found that the ingnition needed to be replaced. They did not take the job because they did not want to work around the air bag.

I drove the car all way across town to Purrfect Auto, and the turn signal switch worked fine. After they put my old steering column unit in the back of my car, and I got it home, I noticed that the turn signal switch on it was broken by that time, but it was fine when I received the car from Ewing Bros. (The impound yard).

The police woman who called me when she found the car also reported that the only thing she could see was a problem was the ignition - not any of the switches. So, either they broke the one on my old unit, or the turn signal switch on the unit they got from the junkyard was broken, and they just took the good one off of my old one. (I'm going to call this one: pretending to perform work that my car did not need).

He informed me, over the phone, that his cost for all of the above, new from the dealer, was $530. So I asked him, on the phone, to make a very specific accounting of what parts were actually needed, and what parts were actually installed, and he refused. (Refusal to clearly and specifically list the parts, which is illegal).

He said that the whole steering column unit was all there was. The cruise control unit on my old steering column unit looks just fine. The thieves did not break it. (See photo link). I also don't believe the metal shaft needed to be replaced either. It is not necessarily true that the whole steering colum unit is all there is. For example, some steering column units come with a steering wheel ,and some don't. If it does come with a steering wheel, it may or may not have an air bag, and the price will reflect all of this. My car absolutely did not need a new steering wheel or airbag, but the steering wheel got replaced. (Performing work that my car did not need).

So he just admitted that he would take a profit close to triple his own cost, if the parts were new. When I brought that up in person, when I picked up the car, he tried to backtrack and claim that when he said $530, he just meant the three most important parts. So, he is waffling between wanting to get specific about individual parts when it suits him, and just saying the whole steering column unit is all there is, when it suits him. (Refusal to clearly and specifically list the parts, which is illegal).


When I arrived to get the car, he had added more parts to his hypothetical list. He said he had called the Saturn dealer and gotten the prices to prove to me that I would indeed have paid close to $1500 new (he [Patrick] tried to backtrack after that and claim that the $1500 he mentioned would include $100.00 labor, while the $475 he quoted on the used part did not).

Deceitfulness about the air bag (Refusal to clearly and specifically list the parts, which is illegal):

By this time he (Patrick) had added in the cost of replacing the air bag. According to him, I would have to pay him $709 for a new one from the dealer. This list of parts I am referring to is a list of new parts, and their prices, which I would have had to get if no used parts were available. We were discussing this because I have huge doubts about his honesty. Well, I kept my old steering column unit (the whole thing) and it looks to me like he just took the air bag off the old one and put it on the new, because the air bag had been removed from the old one. (See link to photos) The thieves did not take it. I can only conclude that the mechanic did. I had just left Pep boys, before I took the car to Purrfect Auto, because that Pep Boys would not take the job because they were afraid of the air bag. So, I certainly would not touch the air bag either. Why is Patrick telling me that he saved me money by my not having to pay him $709 for a new air bag, when he just put my old one on there? (I'm going to call this one: pretending to save me money on something my car did not need, which he did not spend any of his own money on, at all).

When I picked up the car, I again requested the secretary to give me a specific accounting, on the invoice, of exactly what parts were involved. Again I was refused, and told: The whole steering column unit is all there is. (Refusal to clearly and specifically list the parts, which is illegal).

Further evidence of deceitfulness:

Also, Patrick tried to pretend that he knew exactly what I discussed with the parts department at Saturn of West Sahara, because he talked to to the same person. He did not. He claims he talked to somebody named John, not Shane.

Patrick told me that he gets a 20% discount on new parts from dealers. When I arrived to pick up the car, he informed me that his cost, new, for the Steering column (just the metal shaft) was $154. I was quoted the same price, by Shane of Saturn of West Sahara parts department. On the phone, he (Patrick) had informed me that he would have charged me $335 for that part, new. It is clear that he lied. Either he gets a 20% discount, and he would actually pay $123.20 for that steering column shaft, or he does not get a 20% discount, and yes, we would both pay the dealer $154 for that part. So which ever one is true, he lied, because they can't both be true at the same time. His dishonesty is clear.

The Channel 13 Investigation into Purrfect Auto #7 :

Also, please note that this exact Purrfect Auto (#7) was investigated by Channel 13, and it was found wanting.