Autobahn Garage LLC

I had my 2009 Audi A6 taken to them at the end of January, 2019. The engine needed to be rebuilt. A tech (Michael) with Autobahn had agreed to complete the job for $6,802. He needed an initial deposit which I paid on February 14, 2019. Ultimately I paid the following 2/14 $3100 3/14 $1200 3/22 $1000 3/26 $1000 4/8 $500 4/9 $700 Total: $7,500 I finally received a call from Michael on 4/1 stating that the engine was beyond repair and needed replacing. He assured me that the shop could locate a used engine, he would update the timing components, and that the cost would be comparable. He stated while I would spend more on parts it would save drastically on labor and the quote would not change. The next day I received a quote for nearly $10,000. I quickly voiced my concern and stated that I could not budget or justify spending $10K on the vehicle and that if that were the case I needed the shop to stop all activities, return funds, and return the vehicle. They prepared a new quote which was $8728 which again I rejected. They then prepared a final one of $7745.09 which I agreed to. Weeks later, it was still not done. In May they apologized that the job was still not completed and wrote off the last $245.09 and said it would be done soon. June 7, 2019 I was informed they could not find an engine unless they ordered one directly from Audi and that I could have the vehicle, the bad engine, and that they would be keeping half of the funds. I protested this due to the months of time and inconvenience I had waited through. I urged them to reconsider. Through the past few months, the receptionist (Kaylee) has been nothing short of wonderful, very attentive. The owner, Tab, has thanked me time and time again for patience, apologizing profusely weekly for the time. I assured him June 7th that my patience had run out. I paid $3100 in February, $7500 altogether, and find out in June that they cannot perform the job. Due to the inconvenience, the lack of service, the time involved, I offered the shop $1000 and asked for the return of $6,500. The owner Tab immediately refused and informed me he would be taking half of the funds and returning the vehicle and bad engine. He told me that he understood that 'I was emotional,' to which I informed him that this was not about emotion but was a business matter. After urging him to reconsider my offer he refused again and said he would keep half of the funds. I cannot stress caution enough when dealing with this business. There is a lack of ethics and professionalism strongly evident. For any more information or supporting documentation feel free to contact me. Find another shop. I am going to meet with their shop Monday evening and hope that they do the right thing. EMAILS Good morning, per my conversation with Kaylee this morning, she is looking into engine options at this time and should have an update tomorrow. If I do not have a concrete answer as to a suitable engine by 6/14/2019 I will need to retrieve the vehicle and will need the funds returned. I know there was some labor in pulling the old engine out. To date I have paid $7,500 and can leave $500 for the shop and will settle for the $7,000 returned with the vehicle. If there are any questions please feel free to contact me. Thomas Fitzpatrick On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 8:30 AM Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, would you kindly advise on the status of repairs? Thomas Fitzpatrick On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 10:05 AM Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, would you kindly provide an update on the Audi? Thomas Fitzpatrick On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 10:07 PM Autobahn Garage wrote: Sorry its so late. I just Wanted to let you Know Tab or I will call call you in the morning. I do Have Pictures from this afternoon. I also have pictures from this evening. I will be in the office by 9 and Tab will be in around the same time if not a little bit later. Thank you, K-Leigh On May 13, 2019, at 8:22 AM, Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, it is now 5/13. I supplied the initial payment on this project on 2/14. Please provide an update this morning so I know how to proceed further. Thank you kindly From: Thomas Fitzpatrick Sent: Friday, May 10, 2019 9:32 AM To: Autobahn Garage Subject: Re: Payments on 2009 Audi A6 Good morning, to date I still have not received an ETA to completion, only excuses. Yesterday Mr Tab inferred by text message that I am partially to blame for this as I had no formally binding contract with Michael as to a completion date. If this is the best defense that Autobahn has as to why the job is not completed, I am quite dissatisfied. I messaged Michael and did not receive a response. If the vehicle is not completed this weekend, as I have not yet received an ETA or answer on it being finished, I will need to seek legal representation Monday morning. In all truth and honesty, I have no doubt that Autobahn wants to be finished in their dealings with me. I can assure you that the feeling is mutual and that I want our dealings to be over. To this end, one would think that we would be trying to conclude our business as quickly as possible. Please give this matter some thought and work with me to bring this business to a successful conclusion to avoid any escalation. Thank you, Thomas Fitzpatrick On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 4:55 PM Autobahn Garage wrote: Mr. Fitzpatrick , Tab Would Like you to call him. He Would Like to talked to you about the Audi and where they are at with it. You can call his phone @ 419-957-9694. He asked me to let you know if he does not answer he will call you back as soon as he can, he will be driving for a while this evening. K-Leigh On May 3, 2019, at 6:37 AM, Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good evening, I spoke with someone there yesterday but had to cut the call short because I had an incoming business call. I was in your shop over two weeks ago (the morning of April 17th). The engine that had been received had been rejected and I was assured there would be a replacement within a couple days. It is now May 3rd, and I'm being told that today an engine should be in. I did the initial payment to Autobahn on February 14th. We are going on 3 months. To date I've paid roughly $7,500 towards this and was told by Kaylee that the remaining $300 would be erased due to the length of time this was taking. I have been limping by using a company vehicle for which I may be presented with a bill. For $7,500 I need more progress than what we are seeing. My wife and I prepaid a very substantial sum of funds to have a service provided. Michael has not provided this service and has made it abundantly clear that this is not a priority by apparently only working on the vehicle when he feels like it. Several months is not an acceptable time frame for this project. Michael has promised repeatedly to have the vehicle finished and I told him at the beginning of March that I had been in a car accident and would be needing the Audi back sooner rather than later. It is now May. At this point I need one or two of three things : 1. The vehicle to be finished in the next 96 hours. 2. Reimbursement for part of the funds. 3. If the job cannot be completed then the funds ($7,500.00) need to be returned in its entirety in a timely fashion so I can secure other transportation. If the job cannot be completed in the 96 hours, I need an honest assessment for a deadline which the shop intends to meet. As I stated some funds will need to be returned. We can discuss a mutually agreed upon amount that for each day the job is not completed an amount would be refunded. From what I've been told Michael has another job which he focuses on primarily and does this in his spare time. As far as I am concerned at this point in time, given the length of this project, Mr. Boyce should have no other focus than completion of this job. If he needs to take a vacation day or days from his other place of employment then he needs to do that immediately to rectify this situation. Please provide a written response today towards this email with how you would like to proceed. Thank you kindly, Thomas J. Fitzpatrick From: Thomas Fitzpatrick Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2019 7:30 PM To: Autobahn Garage Subject: Re: Payments on 2009 Audi A6 Good evening, I have not received any updates this weekend. Please advise on the status of the Audi and what time it will be ready for pickup tomorrow. Thank you kindly On Mon, Apr 22, 2019, 18:40 Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good evening, would you kindly advise on the progress that has been made? On Thu, Apr 18, 2019, 15:21 Autobahn Garage wrote: Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I am still waiting on the one yard to call me back. As soon as i hear back from them I will let you know. K-Leigh On Apr 18, 2019, at 7:44 AM, Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, would you kindly provide an update? Thomas Fitzpatrick On Sat, Apr 13, 2019 at 6:27 PM Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good evening, would you kindly advise on when this will be completed? On Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 08:28 Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, would you kindly advise if this might be completed tomorrow or Saturday perhaps? Thomas Fitzpatrick On Tue, Apr 9, 2019 at 11:55 AM Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Thank you very much. I can call shortly and would like to put the remaining balance on another card. Can you tell me if the vehicle could be done by EOD tomorrow? Thomas Fitzpatrick On Tue, Apr 9, 2019 at 11:09 AM Autobahn Garage wrote: Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Brittany Call me this morning and made a payment on the account, in the amount of $700.00. At the time of the call she asked if I could E-Mail a Remaining balance. As of right Now I show a Balance of $259.59. The motor is hare and the Techs are starting tear down (replacing any/all parts that need replaced on this motor and will be transferring all parts from old motor). Payments are as follows: 2/14 $3100.00 Cash 3/14 $1,200.00 C/C Thomas F. 3/22 $1,000.00 C/C Thomas F. 3/26 $1,000.00 C/C Thomas F. 4/8 $500.00 C/C Thomas F. 4/9 $700.00 C/C Brittany F. Total of $7,500.00 Balance of $259.59 Thank You for Your Time and Patience K-Leigh P. Autobahn Garage, LLC. On Tue, Apr 9, 2019 at 11:09 AM Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote: Good morning, I am attaching several estimates to this email. When I spoke with Mike originally in December I gave him the details of the vehicle. He assured me that he would be able to rebuild the engine. We moved it in January and I made the first payment in February to get the process started. The past few weeks I've had trouble reaching him but finally got a call on 4/1 regarding the engine. He informed me that he would not be able to rebuild it and offered an alternative. He said that Autobahn would be able to locate a used engine which he would update the timing components on. He said that this would actually save money substantially on labor and that while I might spend a bit more on parts that the number would be offset by the substantial savings in labor. He asked me to get with the shop the next day which I did. The initial estimate I received in December as a total of $6,820.82. The next estimate on 4/2 was $9,480.65. This is $2,678 higher than the initial estimate. It was then revised to $8,728.06 which is still $1,926 higher than the initial cost of the original estimate. When I spoke with the gal in the office yesterday I acknowledged that European vehicles are a bit more particular. However, when I spoke with Mike the other evening he presented it as being comparable in terms to the original estimate from December in that while I might spend a bit more in parts I would save substantially in labor costs. To date, I have paid the following and have receipts: $3,100 cash on 2/14 $1,200 credit 3/14 $1,000 credit 3/22 $1,000 credit $3/26 Total: $6,300.00 At this time I can legitimately only budget a total of $7,000 for this vehicle. I cannot budget $9,000-$10,000 for this vehicle. If I am going to have to spend $9,000-$10,000 I would have to utilize those funds to purchase another vehicle. Please review the estimates, parts, and labor and let me know if a solution can be found for $7,000.00 whether it's a rebuild or engine swap. If not, can the $6,300.00 please be refunded so that I may go purchase another vehicle? On 3/21 I informed Mike that I had been involved in a car accident and had totaled my Ford Explorer and have been operating with one vehicle between my wife and I. Any expedited solution is very much appreciated, thank you Thomas Fitzpatrick