April Letter - #9

**As long as I'm on a roll here, let's just keep tossing out the bitchy letters I've sent to people that pissed me off. To answer questions, I never had to call animal control on the neighbors b/c we never had a problem after the letter was sent.

And now, the next installment:

June 11, 2006

Dear Neighborhood Automotive Repair Place

This letter is in reference to the bill dated 4/6/06, sale #1183 and bill dated 4/1/06, sale #1162.

For clarification, below there is a recap of what has transpired with the repairs of this van.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006, the van was brought to (Neighborhood Repair Place) because it had backfired, decelerated and had no heat. On dropping the van, (Husband) stated to “call and let us know if it is anything major” so we could decide how to proceed.

Thursday, March 30, 2006, Angie called the garage to check on status of van. (Neighborhood Repair Man) stated, “it wasn’t much, we changed the plugs, gave it a tune up and fixed a hose to back heater.” (Husband) went to pick the van up expecting the repairs to be minimal, only to find out it was $450.00 in repairs. To us, this would qualify as “major” and would have liked to been notified. We felt the charges were exorbitant considering the repairs, such as $50.00 in spark plugs, 3 hours to do a tune-up for $148.50 and 1 ½ hours to change a hose for $75.00. Although we felt this was high, we paid it and took the van home.

Friday, March 31, 2006, (Husband) took the van to work at 5:30 a.m. and called Angie from (local gas station) stating that “the van was running like crap, misfiring, losing power and had no heat”. He stated he was going to leave the van at (local gas station) and get a ride to work from there. After work, Angie met (husband) at (local gas station) to follow him home with the van in case it broke down. The van was dropped off at (Neighborhood Repair Place) and (Husband) told (local repair man) what the problem was and stated he would need the car back by Monday to be able to get to work. (Local Repair Man) told (Husband) he would come in over the weekend to get the van fixed.

Sunday, April 2, 2006 – (Husband) picked up the van Sunday evening and found a bill in the seat dated 4/1/06, sale #1162 for $81.64. Copy of this bill is attached. (Husband) had a conversation with (local repair man) about this bill. (Husband) inquired at to why he would be billed for the coil on top of being billed originally for the spark plugs, tune up and wires, when it was the coil all along. (Husband) felt the original problem had been misdiagnosed. (Local repair man) stated to (Husband) that he would check with (local repair man #2) about the bill. On Monday morning when (Husband) drove the van to work, he discovered that the van was running better, but still had no heat.

Monday, April 3, 2006, (Husband) was on the way to (Town near where we live) with our kids for soccer and play practice when just outside of (Town we live in), the van lost power and the temperature gauge tapped out. He turned around, barely making it back to (Neighborhood Repair Place). (Local guy from town) was in the garage and gave (Husband) and the kids a ride home. (Husband) stated what happened and (local repair man #2) looked under the hood and stated “the serpentine belt was busted. We must have nicked it when we were putting in the spark plugs.” (Husband) also mentioned at this time that there was still no heat in the van.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006, (Husband) and Angie picked up the van. The belt was fixed, but there is still no heat in the van – which was the original problem that we brought the van to (Neighborhood Repair Place) for repair.

Thursday, April 6, 2006, Angie received a bill in the mail dated 4/6/06, sale #1183 for $107.75. This was the same bill referred to above for $81.64 that (Husband) had discussed with (local repair man #2) and never heard a response. However, for some reason, now the labor changed from $24.75 to $49.50 making the total $107.75 instead of $81.64.

After all the above, the original problem of no heat in the van has still not been repaired. To receive a bill for $107.75 is an insult considering what we have been through with this van and on top of it all, to not have the original problem even repaired. We would like to know how the bill mysteriously went from $81.64 to $107.75.

We are obviously hesitant to bring the van back into this garage for the heat to be fixed due to all the problems we have encountered.

If we were to pay the $107.75 bill, we will have paid $557.69 for repairs and still would not have repaired the original problem. Does this seem fair?

Considering the trouble and inconvenience all the above has caused and the fact that we still have a van that has no heat, the $107.75 bill (and the mysterious extra ½ hour added on for labor) seem ridiculous.

Since moving to (Small town), we have always attempted to keep as much of our business in town to support the local economy instead of taking our business to (small town next to us) or the Twin Cities. We obviously would like to continue to do that but also would like to be treated fairly in return.

We will wait to hear from you on how you would like to proceed and bring this to a fair conclusion.

Sincerely,

The Bitchy People with the crappy van