I wish I could give this business a lower rating, they dont even deserve that 1 star. Im a young girl, and I went to them to buy my very first car. I read some reviews online, some were good, some were bad, (as per usual as reviews go,) so I figured Id take a shot. I had a friend who bought a truck from them and only had minor issues with it, so I went with a specific car in mind that I saw on their website. Once me and my friend got to the lot, we were greeted by Ron and started browsing. I saw the car I had been looking at, and he suggested we take it for a test drive. Everything looked fine with it from the outside minus a few rust spots on the body, but no big deal, everything on the inside was in perfect working condition & super clean. So I take the keys and drive out of the lot and down the street. Immediately I notice a burning oil-type smell, but it was very faint. Otherwise there were no issues that I noticed. I drove it for only a few minutes and brought it back to the lot and brought up the smell, Ron told me it was nothing to worry about, its just the cleaner that we use under the hood burning off. Ok, I dont know much about cars and that sounded realistic to me. Long story short, I put a down payment on this vehicle and set up a finance plan with them because it was an affordable option for me. A few days later I came to the lot ready to drive my car away and so excited to finally have a car of my own. I grab the keys and hop on the highway to go home. About halfway there, my check engine light popped on. My mood was instantly ruined, and could already foresee all the hassles that were in my future. I gave them a call as soon as I parked it, and they said things like, Oh it did?! and Oh no problem drop the car off anytime well take care of it. So I took matters into my own hands at that point, really knowing nothing about cars or how they work, and took it to an auto shop and got the light diagnosed at the P420 catalytic converter code. The mechanics there told me I should return the car after they looked at it on a lift, everything was rusty, falling off and covered in thick oil sludge. (In fact one of the mechanics touched one of the plugs and it just fell right off, so he replaced it for me free of charge.) The car also had a pretty bad oil leak that I noticed after one day of parking it in my driveway-my landlord was not happy with me. Another long story short, I trusted that they would make good on their word and fix the issues for me, so I took the car back to them to be worked on as I was well within the 30 day limit and I had already gone through all the paperwork headaches so why not give it a shot. Now Ducharmes guarantees that all their vehicles will pass a safety inspection, right? While they had my car to be worked on I was worried that I wouldnt be able to get it back from Ducharmes in the 7 days allotted to get the car inspected before my registration was cancelled. So I called and voiced my concerns with them, and I heard this, Oh dont worry, because of the trouble we paid the $30 fee and got it inspected for you. Well I thought ok, that was nice of them I guess? Everyone I told that to said that it didnt sound right, I should really get it inspected myself, but they had the paperwork for me in my glove box when I went to pick up my *fixed vehicle from them, stating that my car was *safety inspected. I discussed with them what they did to the car, they told me the code was showing up due to the O2 sensor, so they replaced it with a new one AND fixed my oil leak. So I grab the keys again and hoped for the best as I drive it home again. (Keep in mind that I do NOT live close to Lowell.) Surprise, as Im driving home AGAIN, my check engine light popped on, and still had the horrible burning smell. Now I was pretty aggravated, so I pulled over into the nearest parking lot and said Ok, my check engine light just popped on again, can you guys really fix the problem here? or something along those lines, I was always very cordial and composed even when I was angry because I truly believed they would help me. At this point, it was a few days before Thanksgiving. So the answer I got was something like, Sigh, well its going to have to be after the holiday, call me next Monday. Now I took it to a different mechanic to get the light diagnosed, another surprise, it was the same P420 code. After the holiday I brought it back to them, no words were exchanged, just handed over the keys. Get a call back after a couple of days to come pick it up for a third time. Driving home again, no lights are coming on! Finally they actually fixed it for me, I really wasnt asking for much, just their guarentee, A car that will pass a legitimate inspection. Now its winter and its snowing, and I am still noticing a significant amount of oil every time I pull out of the driveway, (now Id learned to stop parking in the driveway and was only parking in the street out of respect for my landlords property) but that wasnt even the worst part. Now that I actually have to start using the heat and defrost settings on the car, I CANT. Not because they didnt work, they did, but the smell of burning oil was ten times as horrible and just blew through the vents right into your face as soon as you turned it on. I was driving to and from work, and to and from my classes in Bedford and back with my defrost on and the windows down in degrees in the single digits. I didnt have a choice really, I had to get where I needed to go and I had to do it safely so I just doubled up on my layers when I knew it was going to be a long cold ride. I knew something was wrong but my check engine light was still off, so I needed to look into it a little more. My best friends father is a master auto technician and owns his own repair shop. So who better to bring it to? He agreed to check out the car for me, and put it on a lift. He showed me that Ducharmes installed a spacer between the O2 sensor and the catalytic converter, still not sure about the details of it, but basically it stops the check engine light from going on when it absolutely should have been. So they didnt fix anything for me, they just fixed the situation of the light being on without actually solving a problem. I was told that this was illegal and I should bring it higher, so I did. I had a friend who had some sort of in with the people who inspect the inspectors so I gave her my info from the inspection sheet they gave me and she reported them for passing a vehicle that shouldnt have passed, really dont know what happened to that business/employee. Then I contacted the Attorney Generals office, who referred me to a law center close to me who helped me mediate with Ducharmes because I was just past the point of even wanting to contact them any further. I felt like I was more than fair with everything they put me through and to still be treated the way I was, like an idiot, like I would never notice they hadnt fixed anything, I needed help and I got it. My mediator, well call her Laura, contacted the business directly and told them the 3 options they had from me. To return the car and give me my money back, to let me trade it in for something that wasnt so broken and unsafe and let me pay the difference, or to actually fix it. He flat out refused the first two options and said that he would either give me $500 or he would actually fix the car. Brought the car to them one last time, and gave the keys to some random person working in the back. Got a call a couple days later to come pick it up, none of the employees Id been dealing with were there, got the keys back from the same random guy who took them from me, no one was even returning my calls, the owner Dave would only communicate with me through text messages which I thought was unprofessional. Regardless, this agreement was that they would fix my 2 major problems (because there were numerous smaller ones) the converter and the oil leak. So, they left me a note on my passengers seat listing the things they did. Replaced my catalytic converter, removed the spacer, fixed my oil leak. Next day check engine light comes back on again. Im so fed up, about to give up so my boyfriend took my car to his friend to look at who also works in a repair shop. He confirmed that the oil leak was not fixed, they just filled the oil pan with epoxy, that has already worn off and my leak is still present to this day. Also, that my new catalytic converter had been sliced open, the platinum removed and sodered back together. It might have really been a new catalytic converter, but with no catalytic pieces inside it doesnt really do me much good. My mediator called me, I explained to her what happened and another long story short we got a settlement of $500 out of them for me to basically disappear and to stop bothering them. Not even close to worth it for all the trouble I went through. Ducharmes didnt fix ANY of my problems, they sold me a lemon and did NOTHING to try and make it right. If you are thinking of purchasing something from these people PLEASE reconsider. Spend the extra money if you have to its worth it, or even just go to one of the other dealers on the same street. These employees were very nice & friendly people until a problem arose. They were cold, unhelpful, and downright rude. I was without a vehicle for all the times they were working on it. Im paying way more than I should be paying for gas because of the fuel maintenace problems caused by the catalytic converter. I really regret buying from them but am really grateful for all the help I got from the law center and the Attorney General. I hope this review is helpful, I just wish I saw one like this before I bought anything from Ducharmes.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 01:09:04 +0000
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