So I have a 2013 chevy express 2500 van that is my daily driver and it has 97k miles I am the 2nd owner and have only put 30k miles in 5+ years and service the van regularly.. I live in tx and it gets hot here. My AC one day would not blow threw the front vents only threw the dash which was not enough to keep it cool. So I took it to the dealership to have it repaired and all told they ended up charging me just shy of 2000 dollars and they said mice or something had gotten inside and eaten a few of the lines. So i went and picked up my van and when I turned the van on the ac blew nice and cold threw the front vents and I thought great it is working. On the 2mile drive home however I found that anytime I stepped on the gas the AC would stop blowing so I ended up taking it back to the dealer and long story short I ended up picking it up and dropping it back off at the dealer a total of 5 times! For over 2 weeks I had no transpo because it was at the dealer and at the end of the day I ended up having to make a video to prove to the repair office that the repair was not acceptable .So the last time I took it back they say they added a 2nd pump or some such and that its a old van and thats just how it is going to be meaning when I step on the gas going down the highway I will just half to live with the ac quiting on me. But after they added another pump the problem did go away a little to the point where as long as my rpm are not to high on the highway it will blow at about half. I cant help but feel that I was abit ripped off but they made it clear to me this is all they are willing to do and I had to pay another 300 dollars the last time I brought it in. I took a drive with the mechanic who was working on my van the last time I picked it up and he stated "well there is probably a leak in a hose somewhere but there are to many to check so we added a 2nd pump" .I would have thought for 2grand they could have checked the hoses. He also said something about they did not have the right size pump so that is why they added 2 small ones tbh I did not understand what he meant . I will attach the video I made showing my AC when driving down the highway I uploaded to youtube. I tried to explain to the mechanic that the van never had this problem in the past I could floor it and the ac would still blow just fine but at this point they was not wanting to hear it. If I was not made to pay in advance I probably would have withheld payment until my AC was fixed correctly but since with this dealership you must pay in advance was not much I could do..So was I ripped off ? Did they not do what they was suppose to do to fix this correctly? If you look at the video would you be happy with the repair the way it is now? What should I do now? Thank you in advance I love your videos and feel I can trust your advice
Yes you were. It’s up to you if you want to pay somebody competent to fix it now or just live with it.
YES!
Asking "Did I get ripped off by the dealer?" is like asking "Did I get wet by falling into the lake?"
How do you know who you can take your car to for a competent honest repair?
Character judgement. A vital life skill that can only be learned with real world social experience. No internet or gadgets will help you there.
An a/c system has only so many parts, all of which can be replaced if necessary. It can be a nightmare in terms of labor and expense. Ford built your vehicle or paid someone else to. They have the parts and repair information needed to fix it. They took your money to perform the repair and didn't fix it correctly. You should go up the corporate chain and ask for a refund or correct repair at no further expense to you. Document everything and take them to small claims court if they don't help you.
Ford?
Oops. Thought it was a Transit van. Need more coffee {black}:nonoise:
as a follow up.. based on the comment "Asking "Did I get ripped off by the dealer?" is like asking "Did I get wet by falling into the lake?" ..I will admit I am a complete car repair novice but I took it to the dealership here in my small town in tx because I assumed that would be the best most competent place to take it and because I do not have the knowledge as far as how much various repairs should cost etc I am worried about being ripped off .So I did ask a few people before hand who I could take it to that was trustworthy and most said the dealer. In in hindsight however, the people I talked to are also not car people so kinda was the blind asking the blind . So my follow up is thus . How do you know who you can take your car to for a competent honest repair? Is there a website I can go to? Are there generality's that is known among mechanics that dealerships are a bad place to have work done? I would have asked here before I had the work done but I had yet to find Scotty's channel at the time. Thank you in advance
Best bet is talking to friends, relatives, and co-workers who have good experiences with local repair shops. (I know of some in my area that I refer people to.) Even people who aren't knowledgeable about cars can frequently tell when they've been ripped off and can usually tell when they're being given a dog an pony show by some smiling jackass. As @mmj says it basically boils down to life experience and character judgement.
You can always go online, type in the name of the facility and read customer reviews, check their rating with the BBB and ask knowledgeable car people. People who know about cars love to help others who don't.
Do not trust online reviews. You can buy good reviews in bulk from India very easily.
