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8Aug/10Off

Chuck Albert, Rob Jeffries, Michelle Jeffries, Accurate Auto

Did that get your attention people? Think you can flag a Craig's Listing post and have it simply "disappear"? Think again! Once on the web, it's there forever. And here, for the rest of you who might have missed out:

chico craigslist > community > general community

Accurate Auto - beware (Chico)

Date: 2010-08-07, 10:18PM PDT
Reply to: comm-bw3tp-1886874066@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]

This is a warning for everyone in the Chico area. Accurate Auto at 2246 Esplanade, Suite A, Chico, CA 95926 (the old Big O tire store) is not the customer oriented auto repair shop they advertise and jeopardized my sons' and my life due to their negligence. Don't risk your life by entrusting the care of your car to them.
On March 19, 2010 I took my 2005 Hyundai Sonata in for the manufacturer's recommended 60K mile service. They were fast and efficient - or so I thought.
Fast forward to Saturday, June 19, 2010 when I was on a road trip with my sons down in Death Valley. We were due back late that evening, but as we came up over the pass, 5000 feet above sea level, the check engine light came on and the car stalled. Knowing that being stranded in temps exceeding 116° that day, our lives were at risk. Coasting several miles down to sea level at speeds that exceeded 80 mph at points, I coasted into the Stovepipe Wells General Store and Fueling station parking lot. We spent several hours on the pay phone outside the lodge across the street before we could make arrangements for a tow the following morning.
On Sunday (Father's Day, which we missed out on celebrating with my husband, sadly), my sons and I were towed down to Harbor Hyundai in Long Beach, the only location I could find where the service shop would be able to get us in first thing Monday morning.
Shortly after 9 am Monday, July 21, I spoke to the Harbor Hyundai service advisor who said that the crank shaft motor sensor had gone out. Thankfully it was covered by the extended warranty I had the foresight to purchase and they would have the car fixed by early afternoon. Shortly after lunch, the service advisor called back saying that the timing belt assembly needed to be replaced. That was what should have been done when the car was serviced back in March when Accurate Auto serviced the car. He went on to say that the balance shaft belt (shown below), one with rubber teeth on it, had deteriorated, some of the teeth falling off, which caused the sensor to malfunction. While the sensor was covered, the timing belt replacement was not. He felt that I might be able to make it back, but it would have to be replaced soon. Since it was labor intensive job, it would cost even more to do it later than if they were to do it while the area was open for the sensor replacement. I authorized the repairs and picked the car up at the close of business.
Since it was rush hour, I waited it out until the roads weren't gridlocked with commute traffic and several hours after dawn Tuesday morning, arrived home.
On Thursday, July 8, 2010 armed with my owner's manual, the invoices from when Accurate Auto serviced the car in March and Harbor's invoice from a few weeks prior, the towing invoice (over $1300 as the tow was over 280 miles - the towing company was kind enough not to charge me for both ways), and the parts that were replaced by Harbor Hyundai, I went in to Accurate Auto and talked to the service manager, Chuck Albert. I didn't have to introduce myself, he remembered me from when they serviced my car back in March. I showed him their (Accurate Auto's) invoice where it said that the timing belt assembly was checked and that the belts were listed separately beneath as "ok", then pointed to the page in my manual under the 60K mile service section and showed him where it showed the belts were to have been replaced. He excused himself and went to check with the shop's All Data database which he explained most mechanics refer to. Sure enough, All Data showed the belts should have been replaced at that time, too. I then showed him the cracked v-rib belt (shown below) that was checked off as "ok" and he admitted that even if the belt was "ok" back in March, the cracks seen in the belt (see below) could not have been as numerous in the period between March and when Harbor replaced them in June. I also showed him the deteriorated balance shaft belt with some of the teeth still intact, others frayed and at the bottom of the bag Harbor put the parts into. I relayed what the service advisor at Harbor Hyundai told me, that if the timing assembly belts had been replaced, that balance belt would have been replaced, too, and the breakdown I experienced in the desert would have never happened. Mr. Albert agreed, admitting that they were responsible for the problems I experienced and additional expenses.
I had provided him with an itemized invoice for all additional expenses I incurred as a direct result of the breakdown. They were not unreasonable, I did not include loss of wages or emotional distress, simply the towing bill, lodging, and the additional expense of dining out over what I normally spend for groceries, as well as the additional miles I had to drive because of the repairs. He took copies of the paperwork and said that he would give everything to the owner, Rob Jeffries, within the next day. The following afternoon, Friday, June 9, 2010, Mr. Albert called to inform me that he had taken the paperwork and information to Mr. Jeffries who also expressed concern Thursday evening and that Mr. Jeffries would be in contact with me anywhere from within the hour to a week.
On Friday, July 16, 2010 I had not heard anything and called the shop. Mr. Albert was surprised to hear Mr. Jeffries had not contacted me and stated he would again relay my message to have Mr. Jeffries contact me immediately.
The following Friday, June 23, 2010 I called the shop and asked for Mr. Jeffries. The service employee that answered the phone asked for my name and then put me on hold. A few minutes later he came back on the line and said that Mr. Jeffries was no longer there. I then asked to speak with Mr. Albert. When Mr. Albert came to the phone, he claimed he had not seen Mr. Jeffries for "a few days". I happen to know for a fact that on both counts, this information was a fat lie. Regardless, I informed Mr. Albert that since Mr. Jeffries had failed to make any attempt to resolve this issue, that I would have no choice but to pursue legal action.
Immediately after the call, I sent a formal letter of demand and a second copy of the initial invoice requesting reimbursement for expenses. In the letter, I gave Mr. Jeffries until the close of business Friday, July 30, 2010 to contact me and make arrangements to settle this matter or would be filing a law suit.
On Friday, August 6, 2010 the USPS website showed that the certified letter had been refused by the addressee at 12:10 pm that day and was being returned to the sender. As a result, the Bureau of Automotive Repairs (BAR, the California licensing agency), NAPA Auto Parts and AutoCare of which Accurate Auto is an affiliate, and numerous online websites of similar nature have been contacted and formal complaints filed.
Side note: On July 23 after 3 in the afternoon, I posted a negative review on the Accurate Auto Facebook page. As of August 6, the feedback section of their business page on Facebook was hidden. However, the page is still on the internet, copies of it are posted in a number of areas, including my blog located at http://ejourn.net/journal under the entry for August 7, 2010 where further updates on this matter will be posted until it is settled.
I was referred to Mr. Jeffries years ago when I was having problems with an imploding gas tank on my Camry which has since been donated to an automotive repair program. He was referred by a former mechanic for a very large auto dealership in the area who said that Mr. Jeffries was the "last honest mechanic in town." Sadly this no longer seems to be the case. Whether this is because Mr. Jeffries has since taken a step back from the day-to-day operations which are now handled by his brother-in-law, Mr. Chuck Albert, or he has turned the ownership over to his wife, Michelle Jeffries (who is shown as the current owner), I don't know. What I can tell you though is that this negligence is potentially dangerous to you, fellow motorists, and your family. If Mr. Jeffries and his staff are sincere about their commitment to customer service as they state on their website and listing on the Napa AutoCare Center's site, then why have they not taken the steps to settle this matter satisfactorily?

Location: Chico
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1886874066

Filed under: 2010, Article, Discussion, Family, Here's Your Sign, Important, Information, Just Wrong, Rants, Review, Reviews, Slam, Tech Problems, Twisted, Warning, money, services
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22Aug/09Off

Back In Town

Remember that song with lyrics that went "the boys are back in town"? Thin Lizzy sang it in the seventies. Well, that's the song that's been playing through my head the past few days, except I use "stupids" in place of "boys."

Yes, folks, school is back in session and that means the university students have rolled in, put up their beer pong tables, dragged out the kegs and cranked up the music. Around here, the firefighters call them stupids because, frankly, their behavior is just that. And those fine men and women in the turnouts should know because they're pulling the stupids out of the crumpled cars, the pools of vomit, down from the trees and out of the freezing cold river or the swimming holes.

You want to know why we didn't let the kids walk and then ride their bikes to school? Because they would have to go through college row. I can't tell you how many times I've been down that road and have had close calls as a still drunken stupid roars across the street towards campus or could be stone cold sober and still drove like, well, a stupid. I couldn't make it through the day knowing that a stupid could potentially flatten my kid out.

Yesterday I was over at Target with the kids grabbing a couple "this-will-do-ya" items until we went out and officially shopped for back-to-school stuff. I almost got mowed down by a hot blond chick driving a freaking SUV (watch the MAD TV skit below) like she was going for the gold cup in the Indie 500. Except it was right out front of Target with men, women and children moving about.

And that reminds me of the Kathy Bates' line from Fried Green Tomatoes that goes: "Face it girls, I'm older and I have more insurance." Because had I been three steps closer and in the hubby's truck, I would have been doing something like this:

So hey stupi-- I mean students! Welcome to our fair town, now get the hell out!

We'll file this under "things that piss me off."

Filed under: 2009, Education, Family, Harsh, Journals, Just Wrong, Kathie, Parenting, Rants, School, Slam, Summer, Thoughts, Twisted, Video No Comments

21Aug/09Off

Homeowners Beware

American Home Shield offers a warranty that homeowners are probably most familiar with when purchasing a home. It's a nice little bonus realtors like to throw in to sweeten the deal. But for those of us who renewed when the year's end rolled around, we know that the human body can only handle so much sweetness before it gets violently ill.

You might rationalize that the cost of service alone is well worth the policy. You may even look at the reduced coverage on large appliances and other big-money items is worth the annual fees even when the premiums are increased. But if you look closely and carefully, you'll start to notice that the restrictions have doubled, then tripled and even quadrupled. Got a leak on the exterior faucet? Too bad. Not covered. Air conditioning conked out? Tough luck, you didn't perform the recommended prevention maintenance as we recommend. Got a repair service provider out that is a lazy bum and claims the two dollar soldering job done on your thermostat will solve the problem and a week later, your furnace dies? Not their problem, they'll tell you. "We're just going off of what the service repair person reported, who is the authority in this matter."

I really wish I could tell you that I got these examples from places like Consumer Affairs, but no, these are actual examples after talking with family, friends and our own experiences when using their "service" since 1995. In the years, we've even see the contractors that have been sent out, change. Spend any time waiting for an AHS representative to answer your call while listening to their recorded message loop around, and you'll understand they've become, more or less, a monopoly. They use Cleanmasters, Servicemasters, and have an umbrella of other services that include Terminex (and that in and of itself is scary if you spend any time looking into them for pest control services, gives me the eebie jeebies just thinking about it) among others. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but these aren't the people I want anywhere near my home, let alone tromping around to fix and service this or that.

A few years ago, when our policy came up for renewal, we decided to let it expire. Shortly after I received a call from an AHS representative. I explained that the lump sum they required was no longer affordable and we weren't so sure we needed the since watered down services they still offered. He was a damned good salesman. By the end of the call, we renegotiated the terms and he had my credit card information along with an arrangement to bill me monthly for a more affordable amount, no added fees tacked on and, as he explained, able to be terminated any given month.

As you probably know, when things roll over to a credit card, you tend to forget about the charges. Until the card is about to expire, they send you a "friendly email" and then you're back to reconsidering - do we really need this service? When's the last time we even used it? Is this an expense we can cut when things are as tight as they are? Can we make a claim against our homeowners policy if something big happened and exceeded our hefty deductible? That was us and we came to the conclusion, let it ride.

A couple of months passed and -wham- in comes a letter from a collections agency. It says that on behalf of AHS, their client, they're reminding us we still owe AHS several hundred dollars. They were even nice enough to include their client's billing address and phone number. Of course, it wasn't toll free.

As a homeowner, you're probably well aware of the importance of protecting your credit history. It's almost as precious as a baby. I phoned the number provided, waited a painful seventy-seven minutes to their messages that repeated so much I heard them in my sleep for days after, and finally was connected to a representative. I politely explained the situation, got the typical run-around that went along the lines of still owing money up until the policy was set to expire, which according to their records wasn't until November. I knew my rights, I knew their own limitations, and I made it clear that once we rolled over into the monthly billed amount, that these supposed "life of the policy" rules were no longer effective. That's when the representative said I had to call to another department and they would make a final decision. I stood firm. No, I fulfilled my end of the bargain, I chose not to renew my credit card information, they had no legal grounds to come after me, they were to immediately cease and desist with their attempts to collect and that if they continued, if there were any bad reports made against my credit history, I would sue them to the full extent of the law.

The representative said she would share this with the other department and that they'd have to call me to confirm the cancellation, so on and so forth. Good luck, I told her. I won't be around to take the call, I was heading out of town in the morning and could make it just as difficult for them as they'd made it for me. Regardless, the demand still stood, they were, I repeated firmly and made her repeat back to me, to cease and desist. She said she understood and would "relay the information."

Dated a week after my phone call that took an entire ninety-two minutes of my time (billable at $100/hour for a 3-hour minimum), another letter was sent from the same collection agency. I was informed that the clock started ticking when I received the first correspondence and had a mere thirty days to respond to their communication. It seemed vague about anything further than that, but the intent was loud and clear. That's when I began digging into AHS online and found hundreds of complaints filed against the company for a wide variety of things including this type of tactical (or maybe, tactless) maneuver in attempting to collect on debts that they really don't have a right to do.

I followed the advice on many of those complaint boards, went straight to the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) and filed a complaint according to their form driven website. Earlier today I received an email from the office that handles complaints about AHS and was told I would be hearing back from them soon.

A word to the wise, avoid American Home Shield. I can't suggest another warranty service that might be a better choice because I'm still dealing with this and haven't researched any, but given the headaches and the frustrations of dealing with this particular company, American Home Shield, which I've heard complaints have also come from many of the legitimate service companies AHS used to send out to service the policy, you're better off putting that money in a money market account and using that to make your repairs.

Filed under: 2009, Article, Discussion, Education, General, Harsh, Information, Journals, Just Wrong, Kathie, Rants, Review, Reviews, Slam, Thoughts, Twisted, Warning, money, services, websites No Comments

21Aug/09Off

Boys Don’t Let Your Momma Grow Up To Be A Sluggo

I sent a water sample into the local health department today.

I'm pretty sure they'll report back that, indeed, something was slipped into the water somewhere after eight p.m. and midnight. A sleep agent of some sort. And then the reports will come back that someone who works for the school district, listed as a bus driver, was the culprit.

That would, after all, explain why I was still dead to the world at 6:15 a.m., didn't budge when a kidlet came in to wake me twenty minutes later (or so he claims, I still think he and the bus driver might have a conspiracy going here), and didn't wake until almost 8:00 a.m., right?

Filed under: 2009, Family, General, Harsh, Journals, Kathie, Parenting, Rants, School, Thoughts, Twisted, Warning, funny No Comments

20Aug/09Off

Scheduled Failure

May as well have been the bus that picked the kids up! It started when no one woke to their alarms, save the husband who waited too long before waking the Witched Witch of the West from her slumber of exile on the couch. Frantically the children scrambled to wash themselves into a presentable, girl attracting version of their former camp-ready selves, debated why their mother, who was commanding her team of flying monkeys, hadn't completed packing their lunches and backpacks. No one thought to call her on pretending to be a fellow eighth grader when she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, snorting that they should have taken the time the night before to complete those tasks.

Magically, the Wicked Witch transformed into the Bat out of Hell Lady as she navigated the black batmobile out of the quiet neighborhood and rammed it down towards the bus stop. She slurped the hot coffee then cursed when the telltale yellow bus lumbered onto the road several cars and feet ahead. The bus was early - very, very early.

Yes, she knew she told the children the night before they were to have their cell phones off until after they boarded the bus on the way home, but she needed the number to the school which was in their address books, not hers.

Ignoring the punishment for breaking California's laws when using a cell phone without a hands-free set (she'd put it on speaker if she saw any signs of law enforcement officers on the prowl), she left her first terse message of the day and of the school year. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but if you note the time, which is ten after seven in the morning, you'll note that the bus was not supposed to even arrive at the stop my children were supposed to board for another nine minutes. Currently I'm chasing it down the road several stops beyond. Please contact the transportation person and have him get in touch with me. Thank you."

Finally, the bus turned and she swung in front of it, blocking it from exiting the turn-about before her children could board and she could go share her venom with the driver. Ten minutes later (the rest of the families can thank her at Back to School night seeing she managed to put them all back on schedule), she finished her conversation with the driver, then hurried home, her own personal needs schedule pressing down on her relentlessly.

Oh hey! She had the district phone number because, for some silly reason, the interim superintendent was calling her cell phone to pass along - what? monthly? - highlighted recaps of the board meetings starting a week ago while she was on vacation, dancing about the Rocky Mountains overlooking the Mile High City. She broke the law a second time and called in, leaving another message along with her home phone number.

The children will either be carried by the yellow monster or the black batmobile, but rest assured, the district employees will be pushing themselves home in the little red wagons she'll be fixing by day's end.