December 2022 by Corrie D.
My mom was in Easton from the DC area and her check engine light went on. She also felt her car wasn't driving normally. She had it checked at Harrison's. They found no codes, but did find an oil leak from a cylinder head and problems with spark plugs burning through the cylinder. They recommended and performed repairs that cost more than $4,200. On her way back to DC from Easton, her check engine light reappeared. She took it to a Honda dealership, where they determined the oil pressure sensor needed to be replaced. The invoice stated that coolant that spilled in that area and was not cleaned during the recent repair had caused the sensor to fail. She spent another $800. Another relative contacted Harrison's about this issue, and was told by the person he talked to that he would get back after talking to the owner. After a week had passed without hearing anything, I called. I spoke to Brian, who was courteous and said he was aware of the problem, that they do their best to clean things, but that sometimes they cannot get all the coolant. He also indicated that he did not consider Harrison's to be fully at fault as this was a corrosive process that had been ongoing. He did not deny that the coolant could have affected the sensor, but said he still needed to talk to the owner. Rather than calling me back, he called my dad and my mom, who do not speak great English. He basically told my mom that they would not assume any responsibility and that they had nothing to do with the oil pressure sensor failure, even though the dealership clearly attributed blame for the failure on the coolant that was not cleaned. We had hoped that Harrisons would admit partial responsibility, and be willing to refund the cost of the sensor (just the part, not the labor) to my mom, as their work accelerated the process of its failure. I called Brian to express our disappointment that after convincing my mom to do work that probably could have waited until she got home, to the tune of $4,200, they were unwilling to accept that their error contributed to her having to pay for still more work on her car. I cannot complain about his demeanor. He was polite. However, what had seemed to him before to be a grey issue, where it was possible that they played a part in the sensor's ultimate failure due to not having fully cleaned the area affected by the repair, he now expressed as a black and white issue. That they had nothing to do with the sensor's failure. That it was just a result of age of the car and a corrosive process; a huge streak of car-related bad luck for my mom. I asked him whether he thought the dealership had been dishonest in its assessment of the problem, or whether he thought they did not know what they are doing. He did not really answer the question. When he acted like he had had the same attitude toward the issue in our previous conversation, I responded that previously, he was not able to give me a definitive response, because he had to consult with the owner. When I feel certain about issues and decisions in my job, I do not have to consult with my boss. I am not a mechanic. I cannot claim to have technical knowledge here. But I just wanted to share this experience, since we are not convinced that the initial repair was even urgently needed, and then we were hugely disappointed to see Harrison's refusal to take any responsibility for the issue.