Tourists beware. This business preys on people in desperate situations, and I will be sharing this story in hopes no one else falls victim to their fraudulent practices. I can’t even begin to express how completely dishonest and infuriating our family's experience was with Pals Ocala Auto Repair. My family was stranded 1,000 miles from home in January, with 3 small kids. We slept overnight in 38 degree weather in our broken down van until a AAA tow driver arrived the next morning. That tow driver said the place we asked to take our van to was booked and he could take us to Pals up the road instead, as he said they would be able to troubleshoot it that day. Little did we know, this would turn into a nightmare. After assessing our van, the owner, Charles Perry, claimed it needed a new engine and a new transmission. They gave us an astronomical quote for both ($10,000-$11,000). And if we didn't want to go this route, we could mail them our title when we got back home and they would help us by selling our van across the street to Carmax and then mail us a check for $500 - $1,000. Feeling uneasy about their "diagnosis", we called our mechanic back home for his trusted opinion. He did not agree with this assessment and said we should rent a vehicle and get back home and figure out the next steps then. I'm so grateful for people we can trust because once we got back home, we had our van shipped up and our mechanic looked at it. That's when we learned all the things Pals said was a lie! All our van needed was a $55 coil pack (an engine tune up) and it has run beautifully ever since. Not to mention, our van did not show any of the stored codes Pals claimed came up when they allegedly "diagnosed" the problem. But the dishonesty didn’t stop there. I did not sign any paperwork with Pals and I disputed charges on my credit card from their misdiagnosis "and repair" charges. That's when Mr. Perry uploaded documents to fight my dispute. I was shocked when he forged my signature on multiple documents, one of which I never even saw, let alone signed!!! Furious, I filed a police report with Ocala PD, as I believe the "practices" at Pals is beyond unethical and illegal. Today we learned we won the dispute with the credit card charges, and got our money back, after our mechanic wrote a letter explaining all that Pals was wrong about and how disgraceful it is that they lied and tried to take advantage of a family in distress. I have never been so disgusted by a business in my life. It’s one thing to lie about repairs; it’s another to falsify signatures and steal money from customers. I strongly encourage anyone who considers this place to think twice. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from Pals Ocala Auto Repair unless you want to be scammed and treated with complete disrespect. Oh, and they called us "bitter grapes" in our dispute...the same place they uploaded forged documents to. How are those grapes tasting now? You thought you had us fooled but you were oh so wrong. Lucky for Pals, we believe in karma. (The letter from our mechanic below sums up everything and helped us win against this awful place).
Hi Tina, we are sorry you had difficulties with your vehicle while travelling through. It saddens me to see these untrue claims. Just know business don't work for free which seemed to be your expectation. Options were offered outside of a new engine but you didn't want to spend the money for us to do the work. I'm glad you got things worked out when you got home. We wish you the best.
- PALS Ocala Auto Repair