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Community Motors of Price, Utah

The following is the story of my dealings with Community Motors in Price, Utah. Their service department is the absolute worst I have ever had the displeasure of working with, and I will never take any vehicle of mine back there. Hopefully, I can dissuade at least a few other people from going there as well, in the hopes that I can save them the grief I went through.

On March 14, 2002, I brought my truck to Community Motors in Price, Utah, for a scheduled appointment to have some repair work done. My truck, a 1979 Ford F-150 4X4, had a u-joint give out and my rear driveshaft became disconnected, causing damage to the driveshaft itself and the transmission. The transmission began leaking oil, and after I replaced the u-joint, the driveshaft had a very bad vibration. There was also a bad electrical draw on the battery, which would result in a dead battery about 2 or 3 days after I fully charged it. And the front-end needed a new ball-joint and tie-rod end in order to pass a safety inspection.

On March 20, the only thing they had found out so far was that the driveshaft was bent, and the extension housing on the transmission was cracked and needed to be replaced. They hadn't yet determined what was putting the draw on the battery.

By April 5, they hadn't gotten back to me with any news, so I went down there to see what was going on. They had found a crack in the transmission housing that they hadn't seen before, so the entire transmission needed to be replaced.

On April 10, I was told that they had a used transmission on the way, and my truck should be ready to go in about a week. This was, of course, after I contacted them--never once had they contacted me to keep me informed. They also had tracked down the electrical draw and fixed the problem.

On April 15, I called yet again to see how things were going. Owen Fillmore, the guy in the service department who was overseeing the work, was "busy with another customer." The receptionist said she'd leave a message for him to call me back, but he never did.

On May 3, I found out that they got the transmission they'd been waiting for, and it bolted right up to the engine, but it wouldn't bolt up to the transfer case--apparently the bolt pattern wasn't right. So they started looking for a new extension housing (the piece between the transmission and the transfer case) for the transmission.

On June 4, after driving to Community Motors, I finally got some good news--they found a transmission and extension housing that worked in my truck. So the transmission was installed, and the rear driveshaft was fixed. Now all that was left to do was replace the ball-joint and tie-rod end, which Owen assured me would be done the next day.

June 5 rolled around, and they still hadn't even started doing the front-end work. I talked to Owen again, and this time I got a little pissed off. He told me flat out that he'd get it started that afternoon, but it probably wouldn't be finished until the next day. I asked him to do a safety inspection as well, since I intended to get the truck registered as soon as it was fixed.

On the morning of June 6, I drove back down to make sure they had at least started the work. No luck--my truck was still parked in the back lot where it had been for the past several days. Since I now knew it was pointless talking to Owen, who is apparently a compulsive liar, I went directly home and called Community Motors, asking to speak to a manager or even the owner. I was put in contact with Earl, the service manager. I explained to him that my truck had been there for almost 3 months, and now that the bulk of the work is finished, it's just sitting in the back lot while countless other peoples' vehicles were being serviced. Earl told me he would find out what was going on and call me back. Big surprise, he didn't call me back. More than two hours later, I drove back down there with the intent of leaving with my truck, whether or not it was fixed. I talked to Owen again, and he told me that one of the mechanics was just finishing up an alignment, and my truck was next in line to get fixed. So I agreed to leave the truck there, but an hour and a half later, I went back to make sure my truck was being worked on. It wasn't, so I went inside and talked to Owen again. He said that the mechanic was finished with the alignment, and that he had the vehicle out for a road test before he got started on mine. I told him that I would just wait there until they got my truck in, then I drove to the back lot and waited next to my truck. After about 10 minutes, somebody finally came and drove my truck into the garage and started doing the safety inspection, but I didn't wait around long enough to make sure they started on the front-end. Around 4:30 pm, I called to inquire as to the status of the work being done, and alas, it was finished. But there was a problem--there was still a vibration somewhere in the drivetrain, and they didn't know where it was coming from. Owen wanted me to drive the truck and tell him whether or not I wanted them to tear into it and try to find the vibration. After driving it, I told him I definitely don't want it back in that condition--it would probably have thrown another u-joint with as bad as the vibration was. So I left the truck there, after having my hopes up that I'd be able to take it home that day.

June 13, 2002: It had been a week since I last checked up on Owen. Well, actually, I had driven down there earlier in the week to see if they had tracked down that vibration, but Owen was out sick for a couple of days, and apparently none of the mechanics work when Owen's not in. Anyhow, I drove down to talk to him in person, but first I went to the back lot and took a good look under my truck, and it didn't look like they'd done anything. I went inside and talked to Owen, who informed me that the vibration was in the driveshaft, and that they'd removed it and sent it to a driveshaft shop to be repaired. First of all, he had told me earlier that the driveshaft had already been fixed, so I was surprised to learn that it hadn't actually been fixed. Secondly, Owen had just flat-out lied to me. When I checked the truck two minutes prior, it still had a driveshaft, but he was telling me it was at the driveshaft shop being fixed. I told him I had just checked the truck and the driveshaft was still on it, and he feigned surprise, telling me that there must have been a miscommunication between him and one of the mechanics. So he waddled back into the garage and supposedly talked to the mechanic again. He returned, telling me that they'd remove it today and hopefully have it repaired and installed by tomorrow. Here's the big surprise, though: Owen actually called me less than an hour later to tell me that the driveshaft was out and on its way to be repaired. This was the first time anybody had called me to let me know what was going on with my truck. Maybe he felt guilty about lying to me.

On June 21, I drove down to Community Motors to find out what was going once again. Owen told me they had taken a closer look at the truck, and found that the vibration wasn't caused by the driveshaft, but that the front yoke was loose and simply needed to be tightened. The only problem now was that the driveshaft was at the driveshaft shop still. He told me they would get it back that day and install it and check for any further vibration. I checked with him later in the day, and he said they still hadn't received the driveshaft back, so it would have to wait until the next day.

On June 22, I drove back down and talked to Owen, and he said he had personally picked up the driveshaft and brought it with him on his way to work, but they hadn't installed it yet. This was more than four hours after they had opened for the day, and the truck and driveshaft had just been sitting there the whole time. Finally, not long before they closed for the weekend, I called back again, and Owen told me they had finally installed the driveshaft, but they hadn't driven the truck to check for vibrations. So I drove back down there and drove it myself, along with one of the Service Advisors. There was still a slight vibration at highway speeds, but anything between 30-45 MPH was ok. Owen said he was almost certain that the vibration was caused by a bend of .018" in the driveshaft. I decided at that point that I would pay for all the work that had been done, so I could take my truck home and move my camper and haul some stuff to the landfill, things that I'd been waiting to do for more than three months. I told him that I'd bring it back in on Monday to have the driveshaft repaired, which he told me would cost an additional $200 or so.

June 25, 2002: After bringing my truck back the previous day, Owen gave me a call to inform me that they had to order additional parts to rebuild the driveshaft, which would end up driving the cost up to around $325. I told him to go ahead and do whatever he needed to get it finished. The following day, Owen called me again to let me know they had gotten the driveshaft back from the shop, and it was being installed right then. He told me to come down in about 45 minutes to pick the truck up. I was pretty impressed that not only were they working on my truck without me having to call and badger them every day, but Owen was actually calling me to let me know what was going on in a timely manner. I went to Community Motors for the last time on June 26, 2002, and picked up my truck. I took it for a drive on Airport Road, got it up to 90 MPH, and it was a really smooth drive--everything finally seemed to be fixed.

The Bottom Line: Even though they fixed my problem, it took them 14 weeks to do it. Almost the entire time, I was forced to call and inquire about my truck--rarely did somebody call me to let me know of any new developments. There were times when my truck sat days or weeks without any work being done, usually because they claimed there weren't any lifts available. I'm certain that my truck had been there longer than any of the vehicles being worked on at the time, so it should have been a priority, but they didn't seem to think so. Not only will I never bring a vehicle back to Community Motors for service, I hope others will consider my experience when deciding where to take their vehicle for repairs.