I spoke with Ricks Auto about giving my car a valve job, setting the timing and welding the collectors from my headers to my exhaust on my restored 1968 Ford Mustang. Rick discovered that there were a couple of lifters that had came apart and needed to be replaced and I agreed I wanted them to fully inspect and make sure everything was good. So I ordered everything. After the repair and inspection he reassured me that everything was fine and there was no damage. Then on 14Jun10 I called Ricks Auto to find out what was going on and he said that the motor was to tight, so I went up there to find out what was going on and we determined that the motor was seizing up. He called me on 15Jun10 and said that the oil pump drive shaft had came out and they had been running the motor with no oil pumping to it. I had discussed with Ricks Auto that this was no fault of mine and that his shop had forgot to check it when they put the distributor in, Ricks Auto did not except the fault and put the blame on me. So I decided to swallow the money and just get it fixed he quoted me $1,700.00 to fix everything. On 21Jun10 I received a call from Ricks Auto and they told me that the crank and block were fine it just needed to be honed. Ricks Auto told me what size of bearings and pistons to order. So I ordered everything (total= $ 403.36). Then on 23Jun10 Ricks Auto told me I needed to pay the Machine shop bill $ 220.00. On 24Jun10 Ricks Auto said that the Crank would not spin freely in the engine so they was going to take it back to the machine shop. On 25Jun10 I called the machine shop to find out what was going on, they asked me what Ricks Auto was doing for me and I told them the whole story and they said that they told Ricks Auto that the block did not pass standards and the only way to properly fix it was to bore it and grind the crank. Ricks Auto's response was it's fine they were just going to put it together. the machine shop told me that they had never even received a crank to inspect and the reason it wouldn't spin freely is because Ricks Auto had installed the thrust bearing in the wrong spot, the problem was in the assembly and that they were just going to throw it together to get me down the road and that the block was not going to make it very far before it seized up again. They also told me that the machine work I had just paid for was for no reason because the bearing sizes and piston sizes were going to be different if I had it fixed properly. I called Ricks Auto and told them I had decided to just store the car and I wanted all of my stuff back. Ricks Auto charged me $ 900.00 in labor, and I had to pay another $45.00 to have the car towed back to my house. The machine shop offered to do me a favor and work over the weekend and fix my engine the right way. It turned out That Ricks Auto had lost a couple of my Head Bolts, Stripped out some nuts on my torque converter, put several scratches, chips in the paint job of my car, and lost some more various bolts to put the car back together. I had to pay Randy $ 1,786.00 to fix the engine properly. Then I Paid $ 701.87 to another Auto Service to put the engine back in my car and put the car back together. Then I acquired an estimate from a Body Shop of $ 3,022.68 to repair the damages that RICKS AUTO did to the Paint and Body of my car. So currently I am out of pocket $ 4,056.23 plus the $ 3,022. 68 for the paint and body repair. so all together I am out of pocket $ 7,078.91 just to get my car back it the state it was in when I dropped it off at Ricks Auto. The BBB was not much help and Ricks Auto agreed to pay me back for all damages. Here it is a year later and I have not received a single penny or even herd from Ricks Auto.
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