Fred's Auto & Body Repair

I still can't believe this happened to me. I have taken my car to fred's for scheduled maintanenace several times in the past because it is close to my house and they have picked up my car and dropped it off to me. During the first week of September I requested Fred's to flush my radiator to prepare it for the cold months coming up. The shop agreed to pick up my car, perform the service and keep it at their location until I returned from vacation 5-days later. (We rented a car to travel out of state)



When I returned from vacation I called the same day to inform them that I was back from vacation. Later that evening they returned my car in extremely poor shape. When I got in it to go somewhere it began overheating shortly after. I pulled over and let it cool down only to discover that my radiator was almost completely empty. I also checked my mileage and discovered that my car had an additional 100 miles on it from the time I left it with Fred's and the time they dropped it back off to me. When I called to inform them what was going on, they denied that it would have anything to do with the scheduled maintenance they performed and could not give me an answer as to why the mileage increased by 100 miles. I took my car to another shop to find out what was going on, they informed me that the radiator was just about empty again, that it had a leak and now had a problem with the waterpump.



After several calls to Fred's I did not get anywhere as speaking directly to the owner. As I performed additional investigations with friends who happen to know the mechanic that was suppose to work on my car, they informed me that the mechanic was using my car for personal transportation while I was out of town. They informed me that they saw him personally driving the car and saw it parked outside of his home. Not only was he using my car, he was driving it overheating it! Thank goodness my engine is still in tact - as far as I know at this point.



There wasn't anything wrong with my car when I dropped it off, it was going in for scheduled preventative maintenance. I am very disappointed and upset by how I was treated.