Lemon Squad
Reviews and Complaints

ref order #462685

I spoke to an agent on Jan 26,2022 and was told I could get an inspection within two days - maybe even even the same day! So I worked it our with the dealer who had several great references and purchased the inspection. I got a noce that the Inspection was scheduled for Friday Jan 28. Friday afternoon I called the dealer and he had no contact. Later in the evening I got a notice from Lemonsquad that the inspector was "delayed" and rescheduled for Saturday morning. Problem is the dealer is only open by appointment on Saturday and Lemonsquad say they don't schedule inspections for weekends. Saturday morning the inspector shows up at the dealer without an appointment and can't stick around to meet with the dealer and say they will be back on Monday but can't guarantee it. Sunday evening I get a notice that the inspection is scheduled for Monday AM claiming that dealer is normally open on Saturday (untrue) and the dealer was responsible for the failure to inspect (also untrue). By this time I have lost confidence in the inspector and Lemonsquad. Car is sold by Monday morning. I contacted customer service and tried to explain my side of the story but they fully backed their poorly performing inspector and didn't want to listen to me and essentially hung up on me with zero effort to listen to me or rectify the problem. Once you pay them the agreement indemnifies them from any responsibility to carry through with business. They don't seem to care about satisfying their customers, just creating expectations and getting paid.

Look at all the 1-star reviews for Lemonsquad! I am not surprised.

I've used Lemonsquad for two car inspections. The first one was in Oklahoma and went well with a prompt, knowledgable inspector and a thorough report. So I decided to use them again. MISTAKE !

The second time was in Ohio. As background, I was buying a classic car from a nice seller who was willing to work with me while I arranged an inspection. So I signed up for Lemonsquad again. The inspector set a date. He didn't show up and he didn't communicate why. Two days later he finally contacted the seller and said his phone broke (seriously? and you couldnt borrow a phone to call and apologize for whatever your problem was?)
He set a new date. Then he cancelled that appointment and rescheduled. On the thrid appointment he was 90 minutes late. When he finally inspected the car I was in close touch with the seller. We were PMing back and forth and she suddenly said "He just left". It was 20 minutes after he arrived. There is no way he did a thorough inspection and road test in 20 minutes. I escalated this to Lemonsquad management. They called me and told me about the report that he had filed. So I decided to dispute the credit card payment until I received the car and could see for myself.

My car arrived and I checked it out. I found 4 obvious things that even a rudimentary inspection would flag: The radio was not working (I discovered it was not hooked to power at all). The wipers did not work. The horn did not work. And finally, when you pushed the brake pedal the brake lights came on but so did the parking lights / signal lights at all four corners.

So I went to log back into Lemonsquad to discuss all of this with someone in 'service'. But I could not log in. So I clicked to reset the password and got a message that my account was disabled. The only thing I could do was initiate a chat. So I did and explained the situation as I have written above. The agent told me that Lemonsquad has a policy that if you dispute a charge, they will freeze your account and not do business with you in the future.

Credit card disputes are a very good service of the credit card networks. They let the cardholder and merchant resolve any issues in a structured, time-bound manner. So, while Lemonsquad says I violated their terms of service by disputing the charge, it's clear they violate their credit card merchant agreement on every dispute, and violate their customers' good will and good faith efforts without concern.

It's easy enough for me to get a car inspector when I buy a car. But Lemonsquad has made my choice simple - I'll use a local mechanic with integrity.

And I will let all my car friends and associates know that I do not trust Lemonsquad and they should steer clear!

Items he missed. One headlight was out. The dome lights were on while driving (a wiring problem) The alarm system did not work. The radio did not work. He told the seller that the truck was a Diablo...when Amarillo was plainly written on the tailgate. He said there was no spare tire...when there was. The mufflers were so loud that you couldn't hear the radio if it did work.

Be very careful. I requested an inspection on Thursday, they didn't go until Monday, and the truck was sold over the weekend. NO REFUNDS. This is not not something they are forthcoming about BEFORE you pay. The chances of me finding another truck like the one I want are slim and will probably take a very long time. I just threw away $300.

Horrible experience. I live in Arizona and I had been trying to find a work van for several months down here. I started look in other parts of the country and found a van in NJ. I hired Lemon squad to do a full inspection before I moved forward. The report came back all good with a note to add some oil. I brought the car and it was shipped down to Phoenix. When the guy started it on the trailer a massive cloud of white smoke came out. Over the next few days I kept seeing the white smoke every time I started the van. I took it to the mechanic and I also got a second opinion and they both said the engine needs to be replaced. They said if the inspector saw it was low on oil and saw no visible leaks it would be pretty clear it has an internal leak.
Both the car yard and lemon square said something must of changed as it didn't smoke at the car lot. Not sure what couldn't changed as it was loaded onto a trailer and shipped to my driveway. So now I'm looking at 14k to replace the engine with a new one. Lemon squad really messed this up for me as this van was for a business I just started. They offered no refund, no apology and just kept repeating the same thing.

inspection never took place at 6 days later I need refund they don't give refund I will get refund

My wife purchased a 2009 Audi A4 & we used lemon squad for the pre-purchase inspection. The inspection was mostly pictures of the paint & outside of the car. They mentioned that the car was leaking oil - but were never specific about where the oil leak originated from or what was causing it. Turns out that: 1. The rear main seal was leaking & cost $1600 to replace, & 2.). This year make & model had common problems with piston rings that caused the car to burn oil excessively.

The cost of the repair for the the piston rings was estimated to be around $8000 — as the piston & ring update from Audi includes a different crankshaft

Lemon squad never identified either of these issues/potential issues.

Makes me wonder what, exactly, one pays for?

They are an extremely poor example of what a professional pre-purchase inspector should do. It appears that a majority of their inspectors are contracted persons & don't actually work for the lemon squad.

This is straight off of their website:

"ASE CERTIFIED INSPECTORS
Our network of Expert Inspectors is chock-full of highly qualified, ASE certified technicians!"

I would think that a certified ASE inspector would be able to identify where an oil leak comes from & a potential engineering defect on almost any given automobile.

I got an inspection on my 2003 Honda Element and Lemon Squad reported "Belt is showing wear and cracking from age." I took my car into a Firestone and they said my serpentine belt was fine and was not cracking. The standard inspection is not worth the price and they did not tell me anything that a local mechanic couldn't for FREE or at least significantly cheaper. I attached a picture of my serpentine belt that Lemon Squad took, which is clearly fine.

Called and was told inspection could be done following day as I was purchasing vehicle the next day. Was told to submit online. Did submission snd was set for the day before I was purchasing the vehicle, day later and notes to be given to me after the time of purchase. Worthless to me at that point. Was told they could call and ask to move up. Would show up online. Looked at was never updated. Asked to cancel snd wax told I can't. I can only receive a credit from a company I want nothing to do it. Said I agreed to it by checking a box I can't even see on my phone. They refused refund even though I cancelled.

bought an RV unseen over eBay - before wiring the purchase price and getting a Bill of sale - I requested an inspection with Lemon Squad to make sure that the unit was in a good condition. The Lemon Squad Inspector out of Nebraska didn't expose any of the significant problems
The Slide out didn't work ... he check it as working. an awning was missing ...
All in all he worked more the the seller than with the one who is paying him (me)
This was a fraudulent behavior and I suffered a loss of several 1000 US$. On contact with Lemon Squad wired me the inspection fee back and inactivated my account.
I added comments to the lemon squad report to show the issues.

I have a significant loss due to this - in my opinion the inspector was working for the seller not for me
I got my money back from Lemon Squad but I am sitting on the RV which has more damage than was disclosed.

Paid lemon Squad for a pre purchase inspection of our rv. Since the inspection we've had to get the slide repaired non working house batteries non working rear camera. When I reached out to them I've not gotten a reply. Luckily the dealer worked with us on the slide but we are on the hook for the batteries and back up camera
Save your money and go elsewhere lemon Squad are just like their name lemons.

Rick

Ordered a luxury car inspection for an Audi A8L. Made a pre call to see exactly what this company did and how they did it. Was told by Christin they would have an "Audi specialist" look at the vehicle and that "he would touch every button" . I was very concerned as this vehicle has so much extras on them and even brought that up to her. She said CLEARLY relax he will check everything you are in good hands. WRONG, horrible missed 5 electronic issues with car from taking a closeup pic of the dash as to not show the one warning light on, to missing a huge add in this vehicle had with night vision and never checked it. And then said in one followup email "didnt know these cars had electric adjustment seat belts".
How does a SPECIALIST not no this easily over 3k in repair this car needs and would never had bought it would he had inspected it as their employee instructed he would.
Complete horrible company do NOT waste ur money.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - The Lemon Squad inspector was scheduled to meet the owner/seller of the RV at 11am. He showed at 2:40pm without a courtesy call.

He seemed to not know anything, but followed a checklist. The checklist did not include things like if the refrigerator was cold, just that it turned on. He did not test the basement freezer or indicate it "works." He said A/C "works," but did not indicate "cold," big difference. Dash A/C similarly.

The INSPECTOR OMITTED many items: (Lemon Squad say they don't inspect)
1. Do the power driver and passenger seats work and adjust as they should?
2. Does the Radio, speakers, sound system work?
3. Do the TV's work or sound system? (Inspector never turned on TV's) In addition, didn't check the In-motion satellite?
4. Does the Solar panel charge? No mention of this.
5. Is the Inverter working? No mention of this.
6. He did not check sleep number bed or pull-out sofa. Does the jack knife bed function?
7. Do the windows open and shut? Shades open and shut? No mention of these or pictures to verify.
8. Does the water heater "heat" the water? Vanity water flow hot? Shower flow hot?
9. Does the washer/dryer turn on and go through cycles? No mention of this.
10. Did the power cord & reel work?
11. I made a special request that the inspector "look" at the roof (without going on it). Lemon Squad said they'd do it. I see no mention of this happening.

There are a thousand more items that could have been inspected. But there are six different items as "need to know" before purchase of an RV since these are big dollar items:
1. Year, Make & Model (I gave this info to Lemon Squad)
2. Age of tires, since RV tires usually age out before wearing out. None of the pictures indicate manufacturing date. He was careful about taking pictures of the size of the tires, but seemed ignorant of the date code location. This alone tells me the inexperience of the inspector. Omitted.
3. Date/age of batteries Omitted.
4. If the refrigerator is "cold," since this often is a problem. Omitted.
5. If the A/C's blow "cold," same as above. Omitted.
6. Hours on the generator. Omitted.

Based on the above omissions it is glaringly apparent that this inspector did not know RV's. The basic "need to know" items were not covered. Lemon Squad advertises with words like, "experienced" and "certified" inspectors, but neither of these apply to RV inspections. Automobiles are very different. They sent the equivalent to a Jet Ski inspector to inspect a million dollar yacht (as if all boats are the same)! I shouldn't have to pay for this.

Lemonsquad.com broke my car and do not feel liable to help me fix it.
Jim, lemonsquad.com contractor did not shut my 30 year old antique car down after running on spot idling with radiator fan on for way too long until it overheated. I want lemon squad to fix what they broke. Their manager said no way - we only collect money, we do not spend money, damage is all mine. So sorry to let them close to me - will share my experience with as many people possible.

Do not order from these people. Very bad customer service. A pure capitalistic company that will take your money anyway they can. I absolutely HATE companies like this. You know how Big companies like AT&T, Sprint, Comcast, GanderRV, etc. They do what they want because they feel like their product is unique and they will always make money. I am tired of companies treating the customer like we are doing them a favor.

I am going to make this as short as possible. What I feel should be their policy is customers should be allowed to go to the inspections. They should also give a different date as to when the inspection is going to be. Be transparent. They should give the dealership at least 24hr notice as to when they are coming, NOT 1 - 1.5 hrs notice. They should provide the dealership with a requirements list of what they need to inspect the RV. What happened with us is when the inspector got there, he saw the RV was winterized and asked the dealership about the pipes. The dealership said they were BVI water tested. So the inspector said well that should be good enough… Wait a minute didn't I pay for a private inspection because I didn't trust the dealership?! After looking up BVI testing that has nothing to do with the pipes, or the furnace. When you pay over $300 for an inspection it's to inspect major appliances and things a novice wouldn't know. What I got for a huge bill was, see our report below. They do send pictures and a check list of what they check along with this summary.

Front jacks on camper are electric and are operating. They are not an electronic jack system that self levels. Lighting in camper is incandescent, not LED's. There is a thin piece of aluminum next to the bed in master bedroom. It is glued to the floor. Looks like something was covering it at one time, maybe an end table. The floor under is solid, no signs of water damage. All slide out seals are in good condition. Camper shows average wear for it's age. All appliances are working. Slide outs go
in and out smoothly. Power awning is operational, needs cleaned. Bench seat at table has tape holding the top together. I noted some wear on the vinyl wall paper. Camper has been winterized so I was unable to check water heater, faucets or toilet. The under body panel below the front storage compartment has surface rust.

We saw all this stuff when we went to view the RV. They also said there were no issues with the condition of the tires. That was a lie. We had 2 blowouts on the way home. Actually blowouts. Not flats, but the tires blew. Good thing we were only doing 50. We had to buy all new tires. Why you ask? Because all the tires were cracked all the way around which is a clear sign of tire rot. We did not inspect the tires because. We paid for an inspection! We could have negotiated with the dealer about the tires. We have disputed payment with bank due to services not rendered. We did try and solve this with LemonSquad. I told the manager we hired you to represent us. If you could not fulfill that duty you should have called us to tell us what's going on, because the dealership was willing to de-winterize the RV. She told me is it not their responsibility to call us and let us know… She said we can pay another 300 and something dollars and they will go back and check the water system. Then she said we can pay $150 and they would go back out. Anyway, we would have had to pay the dealership to de-winterize, which we were willing because we were motivated buyers. They already had a $500 deposit to hold. We might have been able to do it without paying because we have a good relationship with them. Point being we hired them to represent us and check the major things we know nothing about, slide, electric, furnace, etc. and they did the least amount of work in the fastest amount of time. There are tons of videos out there on how to check an RV before buying. Save yourself some money and do that instead. We know going in it was a crap shot because it could depend on how good the inspector was. We were willing to risk that, but after talking to the manager and dealing with her lies, and her attempt at manipulation, I would say run from this company. Like I said I tried to make this as short as possible, a lot more was said and done.

I was out of State and the RV was out of my hometown as well

Needed a specific date and time to do an inspection on an rv. Called and let the person know that, and made appointment by phone. I specifically told the csr person I needed that day and this time. She said she would put that in the notes for the inspector and took my money. 3 minutes later I got a confirmation the money was charged and 30 minutes later I got a confirmation that it was scheduled for a day earlier. I called with no answer, I also sent an email letting them know that they needed to refund me and I was going to have to immediately find someone else that could perform on the date and time I scheduled for (and they did not accommodate as I expressed when I made payment to them)

My husband called them after the weekend and they said (to bad-basically) they said that they told us if we did not go through with inspection they would give us a credit for the future (which they did) but they also said they could accommodate our date and time. I would never ever recommend them to anyone ever! After working with a reputable company who takes 4-5 hrs to inspect a motor home and they take 2?

Other reviews also show that they are just bad business. I have notified my credit card company as they did not provide the services promised and therefore misrepresented the services for which I paid.

I ordered an inspection and got the report back that the truck I was buying was fine. The truck was out of state. When I got it delivered it would not start and would not charge even though their inspection said it was good. There was a screw holding down the battery terminal. They did not tell me that. Ridiculous. The truck is dead and I bought two new batteries and its still dead. When I called Lemon Squad to complain I got nowhere with them. Stay away.

By far one of the worst customer service experience I have ever experienced. They refuse to coordinate the timing of an inspection with the seller I plan on buying an RV with. To save us the time and effort, the seller and I hired a Broker, the largest in the US, to facilitate the sale of the RV. Lemon Squad refused to work with our broker and refused to give an exact time or date for the inspection. They actually expect the Seller just to be on stand by at the Rv for 7 days. Then to make it worse, the inspector they used, spent the entire time being rude and not very courteous. Constant complaining about everything and the quality of work he performed was subprime at the most. Do your self a favor. Go somewhere else. not worth the time, effort and headache.

Do no use these scumbag scammers called Lemon Squad. They cancelled my inspection due to a technician having personal issues. Then they refuse to refund the amount. Only give a credit. They also make no guarantees as to when the inspection will take place. So they can take a month to inspect your car if they want to. Its all buried in their terms and conditions. I even tried to dispute the charge with my credit card company and no luck since Lemon Squad buries this in there terms and conditions. A totally dishonest company. These cowards don't even have a real address. They use a PO Box. Avoid these scammers at all cost!

Don't waste your money. Lemon Squad checked out a car for me and after bringing it home I found I had 2, 800 dollars of work required.

I purchased a car out of state so I could not see it personally. So, I decided to use Lemon Squad. The car looked great but there was a note in the CARFAX about vibration being checked. I had driven a few of the cars before and all had some level of vibration during acceleration. So, I was not overly concerned but asked specifically that the technician check this out. I also asked that any cosmetic defects be photographed.

The tech drove the car and did not find any vibration according to his report. He also noted that there were some scratches consistent with age specifically that there were some scratches under the front bumper that you needed to bend down to see.

Based on the report I drove down to see the car (7 hours). When I got there the car looked good, but, there were a number of visible scratches on the front bumper and you didn't need to bend down to see them. I was ok with that but it would have been nice to have the pictures of this so that I could have made the decision before driving down.

Driving the car I found that there was vibration during acceleration. It was a bit worse than what I had seen but given the clean bill of health I got from Lemon Squad I decided to take the car.

When I brought it home I had a nagging feeling that something was not quite right. So, I brought the car into a local mechanic. He found the following:

1. The top engine mount was leaking hydraulic fluid and needed to be replaced.
2. A control arm bushing was torn and a ball joint needed to be replaced (you replace them in pairs - right and left typically).
3. The CV joints had been replaced with aftermarket units and they were out of balance causing the vibration - this is a manufacturing issue.
4. The timing belt needed to be replaced along with the serpentine belt. The timing belt on the purchased needs to be replaced at 105K or after 10 years (car is 13 years old).

The response from Lemon Squad was less than helpful. You have 2 weeks to refute the report and it did take some time to get the car over to the local mechanic (about 3 weeks for me - didn't do it right away because I had just paid 200 dollars to Lemon Squad so I was hesitant to spend more money.

The summary of their response was:

1. They can only report what they find at the time of the report (all of these things were issues at that time).
2. I waited too long to contact them - again, I spent 200 dollars so I was hesitant to spend more money on an additional inspection.
3. They can't lift the car so they can't find some things - but, they are supposed to get around the fact that they can't lift the car by using mirrors to inspect the underside of the car. Control arm bushing was torn and visible, engine mount was on top of the engine and visible - should have found these things.
4. Said no vibration when driven - not possible. The issue is a manufacturing defect (CVs were out of balance - too long or short). It is not something that comes and goes. A skilled mechanic would be able to identify/diagnose the issue. The local mechanic called this out immediately.
5. It would have been nice to know that the timing belt replacement was due. This is a common replacement item on many cars but the schedule differs (so at 90k, some at 100K+ some have a time component as well).

In any event, they give themselves plenty of wiggle room to take absolutely no responsibility. If you need assistance with a car I couldn't recommend them any less...