My 1997 Toyota Landcruiser was using an excessive amount of oil. I delivered it to Martins for inspection. I was informed the PVC system may be the cause. The other possibility was it may need a valve job and this would be worth a try versus spending thousands of dollars. I totally agreed. When i picked up the vehicle i was told of the repairs and told that a quart of oil had been added as it was low. When they said this I thought to myself I had just added 2/3 of a quart immediately before i delivered the vehicle to them. Well it was only $3.95 and I did not want to be petty over such a small thing so I let it go. Over the next several days I kept thinking about it and thought if they will cheat on that what else would they do. I decided to inspect the new PVC valve and see if it was new. Upon inspection it did not look new but I was unsure. I decided to get another opinion and asked a friend who was a Master Mechanic for Honda Motors. He thought the valve was not new. That still did not prove anything so I decided to go to the Toyota Dealership and purchase a new valve from them. The new part could not have been differant. Martins claimed they had purchased the valve from the same dealership. I took digital pictures of both valves so you be the judge. Maybe the valve is new as they claim, no one will ever no for sure but them. One thing I am absolutely sure of is the engine did not need motor oil added. If they will lie and cheat on a small thing as charging for a quart of oil that is not needed what else will they do to increase the revenue brought to there shop?
RESPONSE FROM Martin's Auto Repair:
Rebuttal to customer: Howard C.:
Howard's Land Cruiser was brought in on 1-20-10 for an oil consumption problem and wanted a cost for a valve job.
He was told it could cost approximately $2000.00 dollars to do, but we recommended an inspection first to rule out any other problems that may be causing his oil consumption problem. He agreed to the inspection.
We recommended to replace the PCV (positive crank case ventilation valve) grommet & clean the PCV line for a cost of $125.70 (a lot less then the $2000.00 repair he inquired about).
He agreed and we made the necessary repairs. After the repairs, we did a Quality Control check and saw that the oil was one quart low and we added the oil to the crank case. 1-27-10 Howard called the shop and accused us of not adding the oil or replaced the PCV part. The same day, David, owner of the shop, called Howard back to try and resolve the issue. Howard was advised that the oil was added (witnessed by 2 of our ASE Technicians with 59 years of experience between them), a new part was replaced and that we had his old original part and the receipt and advised for him to come back to the shop so we could show him. Howard came to the shop later that day and we showed him his old part then went to his vehicle and pulled the new replaced part and it looked clean and new. He still did not believe us and accused of us of padding the bill. We asked why we would pad the bill for $3.95 when we advised him NOT to do the $2000.00 repair. We then offered to remove our new PCV part and replace it with his part and refund his money and he refused. David asked Howard if he could have misread the oil level on the dip stick, he said NO. David then asked Howard what we can do to satisfy him. Howard then became verbally abusive to David and his staff.
It disappoints me that we had to respond to our 1st negative review like this and we could not come to a reasonable solution, so Howard and I will have to agree to disagree.
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