Sun Blockers Southend Car Store Full of Bologna! Charlotte, North Carolina

Around February 6 2012, I took my car to Sun Blockers to have the head gasket repaired. I called several places and this one had the best price to clean and rebuild the head gasket. The initial quote was $350. The repair time was supposed to take about 48 hours.

Lamont (owner) was not at the shop when I dropped the car off and he did not answer his phone so I left it with the store employees. Lamont was called several times during and after the two day period to check the status of the vehicle. NEVER did he answer the shop phone, his personal phone or return the calls. Finally, Lamont was reached. He stated that the car needed new cylinder heads since the old ones were cracked. These cost $450 (a receipt was promised, but never given).

The parts were ordered and Lamont said the repair would be complete in about two or three days. Saturday comes and Lamont finally answers the phone after several attempts to call and check the status. I even had to block my number and call from different numbers before getting an answer. He mostly beat around the bush saying, "It's almost perfect, we're just running a few more tests on it and you'll have the car back today."

Lamont never called back and the car was never picked up. On Thursday February 16, I was finally able to get in touch with Lamont and pick up the car. It was running fine from the shop until almost downtown. One of Lamonts employees rode in the car as I went to the bank to get the cash payment for the repair.

The car cut off in transit. I started it up again and it cut off several more times and eventually, it wouldn't stay running even when parked and sitting still. Lamont came downtown and towed the car back to his shop to sauder a connection that was loosed by the labor. The car was returned to me the same night. The car ran fine for about a week then it started smoking again showing tell tale signs of a blown head gasket. The car also had a slow leak (Lamont told me he repaired ALL leaks).

I called Lamont to explain the problem and he explained that the car would need several oil changes to clean out the system
and possibly a tune up. The car was dropped off at the shop on Wednesday February 29. Again, Lamont was not present and did not answer his phone. The tune up should not have taken more than a few hours according to what Lamont had previously stated. Thursday, Lamont would not answer either the shop phone or his personal cell phone so I stopped by the shop to see if he was there. Of course, he was not there and did not pick up phone calls from me or his employees. Friday again, Lamont would not answer the phone all day so I just went by, told his employees to give me the car key and left with my car. The car had not been touched at all by a mechanic.

The car continually had the issue of smoking and overheating. I took the car to another auto shop to run a complete diagnostic and determine the problem. Thediagnostic found that one of the heads was bad in the engine. I took the car back to Lamont to repair because he supposedly bought brand new heads to properly repair the car. At this point, he determined that I needed a new engine. Another mechanic also told me that I may have needed a new engine so I believed him. I left the car there and Lamont said he would call me when he found a good engine for me. About a week later on April 18, he called me (blew
up my phone) to get me to buy an engine from an online parts store that he works with. I went to the shop to pay for and order the engine.  The engine cost about $795. The engine delivery and placement should have taken about two days.

The same no call, no answer story ensues again. About 2 weeks later, I finally was able to contact Lamont. He stated that the original engine purchased had a knock in it so he sent it back and was waiting on another one. Several weeks and no calls, no
answers later I received a text message update. What professional sends text messages about the status of a repair?

About two weeks ago, I sent a message to Lamont informing him that my car needs to be ready by July 13th or I am coming to collect my car and the money to have it repaired elsewhere. Again, I received no response. I called Lamont the next day from my work phone and (surprise!) he answered. He told me that the care would be completed by Friday and fed me a fabricated story about why its taking so long. According to Lamont, the original company that was sending him engines kept sending bad engines so he stopped dealing with them and found a good engine at a junk yard in Rock Hill the week before. He had not yet gone to get the engine because it was too hot outside.

Here we are, July 24, 2012 and the car STILL has not been fixed, Lamont is STILL not answering calls. Please help me out and any possible future customers by exposing this fraud.