Mechanic ripoff?

[lize00]

This may be a little long but I need some advice.

My boyfriend has a 2005 Chrysler 300. A while back, I was driving it home and it stopped on me. Literally, everything just started shutting off. After looking under the hood, I saw there was oil everywhere and it was undrivable. We had a mechanic pick it up. The next day he told us that the pistons had gotten stuck and cause the engine to crack as well as something about the head gasket. Don't remember all of it. Well, basically, we needed a new engine. STUPIDLY my boyfriend paid 5k for a rebuilt engine to be put in. No comment on that.

Anyways, during the last 9 months, we have taken it back to this mechanic a numerous amount of times basically because hes a good talker - "i'm taking care of y'all. i'm not charging you for this and that" blah blah. We have taken it back around 5 or 6 times each time maybe paying $300 or $500 each time to do things such as leaks or replace parts here and there. Since the engine only had 90 day warranty or so it didn't cover anything so we pay each time. A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend went to get an oil change and they said his oil was milky and had water and coolant in it. He took it back to the mechanic and they supposedly stopped some leaks. Paid again. We drove the car the next day to a town an hour away and was coming back home and it overheated on us. He tried driving it fast - you know thought it may be the thermostat or fan or something and no - still overheated. We then realized he could drive it with the heater on so he drove it home that way.

We had a new friend who is a mechanic take a look just to see what he thought. He told us that there was water in the engine and also asked us if we were sure we paid for a rebuilt engine because he said it did not appear like a rebuilt engine. He said it looked like only a few top bolts had been removed and the others on the engine block looked like they hadn't been touched. He pointed out several things having me doubt this was a rebuilt engine. I took it to another mechanic and asked him his opinion and he said the same thing about the bolts. He also mentioned most salvage shops that have these engines write on the engine block or something or other and he found no markings and agreed that the bolts had not been touched as they should have been.

We took my car to this "mechanic" after the other two looked at it and he said it was the head gaskets I believe and he was only going to charge us for him taking it apart. We have given this man over $10,000 along with my transmission that went out, the chrysler's engine, the chrysler's transmission as well as well as the "heres and theres", the leaks. It's just a MESS. At the moment, my transmission (I'm the gf and have a grand prix) that he fixed is also leaking 6 months later, I am also still dealing with transmission leaks, "tweaks", lights turning on having to do with my transmission and so on although they dont charge me because I have been able to drive my car for a full month without an issue. ALSO, the Chrysler's transmission is also leaking which they did not even mention when I took it to him after it overheated. They are a joke! We are not giving him another penny. I honestly believe we were ripped off. I just don't know how to prove it or what to do. Is there a way to prove they never replaced my engine? I saw there's a VIN, is there any other ways? I'm desperate. I've put WAY too much money into this and there has to be a way to prove how crooked and corrupt this shop is. Please, any advice will help.

[mechanicscout]

Ouch - that sounds like a real pain. Untrustworthy mechanics are a real bugbear of mine.
Sorry I can;t offer any Mechanical advice - I'm not familiar with Chrysler but I hope you get justice.

[CivicSpoon]

Taking legal action is likely going to be difficult. What you need is for other professional shops to put in writing, what they have observed to be wrong with the vehicles. If the documents they provide show issues with what the other place has claimed to have fixed, then you could have a case. Honestly, I'd do a search online for a lot more information on the issue. Follow that up with contacting an Attorney. You'll need all the information you can get to provide for them. Receipts and work orders for the work previous done by this mechanic, quotes and paper work of what is wrong with the vehicles from other shops, stuff like that. I'd specifically recommend getting something in writing, of what is wrong, from the local dealerships, rather than only small local garages. A legit dealership may very well hold more weight in court. Depending on your area, or State, there may be a limit you can sue for, in small claims court. So you're likely not going to get all, or most, of your money back, even if you win.

Beyond that, I can't really recommend anything else. Unfortunately there are many garages that do this kind of thing, and put a negative stigma on all garages. Really spreading the work via word of mouth, and online review sites, so others don't get ripped off.

[lize00]

Yeah, at the moment, I really don't have much hope. I called my local city to ask what I could do and basically the only advice they gave me was to take them to small claims court. The mechanic friend I have just opened a very small shop so I can see where his word would not be you very strong. The other mechanic shop, is a pretty large shop here in the area. They have around 5 shops in the area where 3 do repairs and the other 2 are more of lube shops but they're pretty well known here. We're around an hour south of Houston so we really don't have too many options.
When I asked them to put it in writing. they were reluctant. They basically said they have no real proof other than their observations. I told them it was fine, I'm not asking them to write "I know this engine was not replaced", I am asking them to write their observations - "based on this and this and this, this engine does not appear to have been replaced". Apparently that is too difficult a concept to understand.

I called the Chrysler dealership here that is local and that the vehicle was purchase from and they said that engine serial numbers are not stored in some large database but in my reading around and understanding, there is a number on the engine. It is either a VIN or some piece of it - like the last 8 numbers will match the VIN. I need to find that on the engine block but I'm stuck on where it's located. I felt around the back and I found a star, some other number and it's supposed to be right under but can't get to it. I'm thinking I'm just going to start taking things apart since it doesn't work anyway.

I am taking pictures of the work they did. Honest to God, these people put black caulking on my engine along with zip ties. I'm not a mechanic nor do I know much about cars but really?

[lize00]

WOW, so today I just decided to try a little something. I had honestly given up and was just taking pictures of the caulking and the caulking mess they made, zip ties, etc when I decided to just stick my camera down through the back of the engine again and just record video. I'd done this but kept getting NOTHING.

Did it today, and GUESS WHAT! Actually found MY VIN. So, ENGINE WAS NOT REPLACED. This is on the engine block in tiny, tiny numbers. I am freaking out right now. LOWLIFE SCUMBAGS! Looks like I'm going to talk to a lawyer now that I have something pretty solid. Also just noticed 3 of the workers of the shop did 3 of the 10 reviews the shop had. Didn't even bother to use a different name/picture. I'm going to sue the living crap out of them for FRAUD.