Van Andel-Flikkema Motor Sales

09/26/08

Not only misdiagnosed by thousands, but tried to cover it up too!

by suemosier

I am a 54 year old woman who was visiting my son 500 miles from home when my car suddenly wouldnt shift. At the time I didnt know it is called "limp in mode", a fail safe way to get a car into a garage that has a problem. Van Andel Flikkema Chrysler Jeep was very nice and courteous initially, and diagnosed the problem as a complete transmission failure that would require an entire rebuild costing thousands. The entire cost amounted to over half the worth of the car, so as one could imagine I wanted some time to think about it. For whatever reason, call it female intuition, I didn't feel they were being upfront with me and didn't know what to do.

I asked for my car back, and they gave me the run around. They called me twice warning me of the dangers of even driving the car off the lot. The damage it could do to the car, the $70 diagnostic fee they wouldn't applied to future work. They straight out told me I shouldnt take the car from their service center. I felt the gentleman on the phone was trying to scare me into leaving the car there. I was now fully suspicious. I took the car to an interdependent transmission shop. When the mechanic took the car for a test drive and put it on the computer, he confirmed it was a $17 sensor. I found out why Flikkema was so worried about me getting my car back! The repair was done for a total of $92 and has had over 3000 miles put on it since with no problems.

I feel I was almost a victim of not only criminal intent to commit fraud, but gender discrimination as well. I just cannot believe if my husband had taken the car in they would have tried to pull one over on him. That and the way they attempted to scare me into leaving the car at their garage and not getting a second opinion, avoid this place like the plague! Especially you woman! There's a lot more to this story, but citysearch only allows a limited description. To read the full story, go here vanflikkfraud <dot> com Tell your friends!

• Pros: Clean, well organized
• Cons: Tried to steal money from me, cover it up, used intimidation, maybe gender discrimiation