Beware of Ten Ton Forklift & Truck Repair

On October 16, 2009, Richard Bautista owner of Ten Ton Forklift & Truck Repair picked up my 2000 Ford F-350 truck to diagnose a problem with the transfer case that Bautista had replaced two years prior. I told him I was having difficulty shifting into 4 wheel drive. Bautista first indicated that it could be from "lack of use that it is not going into gear." Than he said, that "the transfer case uses oil and it could be my fault for not checking the level of the oil in the transfer case." I spoke to Ford about these statements and both of them are not true. Lack of use will not cause the transfer case to lock up nor does the transfer case use oil as Bautista indicated. The service interval is 60,000 miles to change the transfer case oil. It does not say to inspect the level of it since it does not burn oil as Bautista falsely stated.

Bautista called me and told me that the transfer case was burned up and had to be replaced again and gave me a verbal quote of $1300 on the phone + labor. I agreed to this price. I was never given an invoice to sign prior to the work being commenced nor was I called about his inflated invoice of $3956.00 until My wife called him and he told her the truck was ready to be dropped off. I called him and reminded Bautista Via voicemail on his cell the phone the conversation we had where he quoted $1300 for the transfer case.

I never agreed to $3956. He is in violation of several NV laws. I will pay $1300+ labor charges as previously agreed via phone.

Bautista called me back and left a nasty message insisting that he be paid in cash or he will not release my truck! Another violation of the law!

On Nov 18, he faxed us a letter telling us if the balance is not paid in full he will charge us $45 per day for storage (not on invoice) Another violation of the law!

I am going to file a complaint with the BBB and State Attorney General for automobile repair fraud. Meanwhile, Bautista is holding our truck hostage!

Beware of this guy! I live two houses down from this guy also! If he does this to neighbors I cant imagine what he does to strangers!

This is not the first time Bautista has had complaints against him. He has numerous judgments and consumer affairs complaints on him and Ten Ton Forklift & Repair!

Caveat Emptor!

Comment On This

The following is our written response to the Better Business Bureau complaint, some parts do not pertain to the complaint here, but they were part of the original complaint. It was filed with BBB on Nov. 23, 2009.

This letter is in response to the complaint filed by Mr Paul Hazell against our company, Ten Ton Forklift and Truck Service. In his complaint, Mr Hazell recognized Mr Richard Bautista as owner of Ten Ton Forklift and Truck Service. This statement is false, as we are part of Silver State Automotive, Inc. Mr Bautista is, however, President and CEO of the corporation.

As Mr Hazell stated, our company replaced the transfer case in his vehicle over two years ago. The original work was completed on 07/08/2007. The damaged at that time was caused by the transfer case falling off the vehicle while it was in motion. At the time, the odometer read 185,283 miles.

As requested by Mr Hazell, we picked up his vehicle from his residence on 10/23/2009, the odometer reading was 199,217 miles, and it was brought to our shop for an inspection and probable repairs. Upon inspection it was determined that the transfer case would need to be rebuilt. The customer was informed of this and a preliminary verbal quote was given based on our ability to receive a prorated warranty since the mileage on the case was under 14,000 miles.

We drained the transfer case and noted that the fluid had a burnt smell to it, we then sent the case out to be rebuilt. Upon disassembly of the transfer case it was brought to our attention that no warranty would be available, as the cause of the damage was from overheating. The rebuilder stated that based on his experience, it appeared to be from lack of lubrication that cause the transfer case to overheat and ultimately fail.

Mr Bautista contacted Mr Hazell at this point to inform him of the damage and the apparent cause of damage as well. Mr Hazell informed Mr Bautista that he had recently had the transfer case serviced at Terrible Herbst. He also asked that, upon delivery of the vehicle, could we provide photographs of the damaged parts as well as a written description stating the cause of failure. He then told Mr Bautista that he would attempt to litigate Terrible Herbst for the cost of repairs due to incompetence of their company. At this tme we contacted the rebuilder and told him to repair the transfer case, but that we would need them to return all bad/worn out parts with pictures and a written description.

Upon completion of the repairs, we attempted to contact Mr Hazell, but we were unable to reach him. We then sent a copy of his invoice via fax to his residence. Later that day Mr Bautista recieved a voicemail from Mr Hazell containing explicative language stating that our company was using a "bait and switch" and that we were breaking the law and he would sue us.

Mr Hazell never once contacted our office to dispute the invoice after Mr Bautista received the voicemail. We sent a secondary invoice with a roughly 10% reduction and a letter requestion that Mr Hazell contact our office with any questions or complaints. As of the date of this letter we have yet to be contacted by Mr Hazell.

Upon reading the complaint recieved by your offices (BBB), we notice that Mr Hazell states that we sent him an invoice with a total of $3956.00. This information is also incorrect. The first invoice we sent to Mr Hazell was for a total of $3009.56, the second (discounted) invoice had a total of $2707.91. It wasn't until after requesting correspondance with Mr Hazell that we received letter fo complaint from your offices (BBB), which we recieved on 11/17/2009.

On 11/20/2009 we were contacted by a representative from the Department of Motor Vehicles Compliance Enforcement Division. The investigator informed us that Mr Hazell hd filed a complaint with the DMV as well. The investigator then stated that we were not licensed with them and that information is correct. We are not licensed with the DMV based on the fact that the work our company performs does not require one. After being contacted by the DMV we have decided to reduce the cost of repairs to the original estimate of $1300 for the transfer case and $570 for the labor for a total of $1870 and we will be faxing a copy of the new invoice to Mr Hazell along with a statement of warranty which is the same as was given to us by teh rebuilder. That warranty is for 90 days on the parts only, no warranty is given on the labor. We are also going to inform Mr Hazell that once the invoice is received by him via fax, he will have 24 hours to pay for repairs and pick up the vehicle before a daily storage fee will be assessed (per NRS 597.540.3). The fee will be $25 per day for every day his vehicle remains on our property, and will need to be paid in addition to the total of the invoice prior to him removing his vehicle.

By no means do we admit fault in this situation, we are just trying to handle it amicably and as quickly as possible to avoid further complaints against our company. We hope that this letter is informative to you, and we thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

David Paulsen

Service Manager

Ten Ton Forklift and Truck Service

In short, Mr Hazell agreed to repairs being done, informed us he would be filing suit against Terrible Herbst then decided he'd rather sue us. He complained about not being informed but never once contacted the company, but rather contacted the President of the company on his personal cellular. And he only had to pay the original estimate amount in the end, forcing our company to lose money. We never once stated we were holding his vehicle hostage, we only required payment before the vehicle left our property, as any other company would do. We never once violated any laws, Nevada or otherwise. Our company has been in business since 1958 and we do our best to provide a great service to all our customers.