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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
12/03/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Ken's replaced my power steering rack between 11/5/2021 and 11/10/2021. After getting my car back the rack began leaking large amounts of power steering fluid. Due to work and where I live I brought my car back to them two weeks later on 11/25/2021. Ken's looked at the rack and made it leak less but said it was still leaking quite a bit. I made another appointment with Ken's for my car to go back in two more weeks, but in the mean time my power steering fluid is creating literal puddles everywhere I go. Ken's told me to just keep the power steering fluid reservoir topped off while I drive it. The reservoir is empty within an hour. I am a pizza delivery driver and need my car to deliver and I cannot pull over ever hour to fill my reservoir, I risk getting fired for taking too long on a delivery. I've asked Ken's if they would compensate for the cost of the fluid until they get it fixed and they refused. I believe I shouldn't have to pay for all this power steering fluid that will cost me nearly $100 in fluid until they can fix it. Last year they also replaced my original power steering rack for a NAPA rack in order to pass inspection. I payed out of pocket to have that done, along with the labor and the rack I also had replaced this year. The rack that I had replaced this year was also a NAPA rack. The appointment I have with them in two weeks is to replace it again but this time they gave me the option to go with an OEM rack that is nearly $500 more than the NAPA one. I would have to pay the difference out of pocket. Overall, I'm not happy with having to spend more money to have problems that are supposed to be fixed by them get worse.
Business response
12/22/2021
The background of the repair: We originally replaced the customer’s steering rack with an aftermarket remanufactured one on 12/01/2020. The customer contacted us on 11/01/2021 to inform us of a leak in this steering rack. We inspected the steering rack on 11/05/2021 and determined that at some point after we replaced the steering rack the tie-rod boots on this steering rack were damaged by another facility while doing an alignment on the vehicle (they failed to loosen the tie-rod boot clamps prior to adjusting the toe-in setting on the alignment and tore both the right and left boots, causing the leak). The customer acknowledged that other work was performed on the vehicle causing this damage. Contrary to the customer’s Statement of the Problem and as a courtesy to the owner, between 11/05/2021 and 11/10/2021 we replaced this damaged steering rack and re-aligned the vehicle at no charge while also replacing a left front wheel bearing and power steering pump for the customer. The customer then called us the week of 11/15/2021 to let us know the replacement steering rack had a leak. He brought the vehicle in on 11/26/2021 for us to inspect the steering rack. We found the rack to have a leak and offered the owner the option of having the aftermarket remanufactured steering rack replaced at no charge or pay the difference to install a new OEM steering rack. We recommended that the customer not drive the vehicle until repairs were made but were told that was not an option. We then made an adjustment to reduce the severity of the defective rack’s leak as a customer courtesy. The owner called us on 12/06/2021 to let us know he had elected to pay the difference in price between the aftermarket remanufactured and new OEM steering rack, and replace the rack with a new OEM. We try to offer our customers more cost-effective part and repair options when they are available so they have a choice depending on their budget. Offer of resolution: The issue this customer has experienced is due exclusively to a defective part and not a workmanship issue in any way. We are happy to contact the part supplier on the customer’s behalf to see if they would be willing reimburse the customer for the power steering fluid and rental car costs incurred. Jeffrey J**** Ken's Body Shop, Inc. 5753 State Rte 104 Oswego, NY 13126 ###-###-####
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Get a QuoteCustomer Complaints Summary
1 total complaints in the last 3 years.
0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.