I truly don't understand all the amazing reviews, we literally chose Holden's based on all the…read moregreat reviews, unfortunately my aunt did not have a great experience. She made an appointment for 8:30am to have them to check a bumping noise and service her air conditioning. They did offer her use of the shuttle, but after more than an hour they ended up having to call her an Uber, which I do think is very nice, but quite honestly with what was done to her car that really shouldn't have been necessary. They determined what the noise was and changed the cabin air filter, this took until about 11:30 am. Now I'm not a mechanic, but I have changed a cabin air filter, takes no more than five minutes....tops. They charged her $43.51 for the filter, which is ridiculous, they also charged $49.75 for labor, I can chalk the labor up to all the other things they checked, but that price for the filter is an absolute rip off. My aunt said there was a rattling noise coming from the passenger side after she picked up her car, I said it may be something from the filter replacement, she's 73 years old and didn't realize that the filter was accessed through the glove box. I opened the glove box, mainly because I wanted to see this gold plated $43 dollar filter, first thing I see is that the damper is not attached to the inside compartment. I can't say that they broke it, but considering the plethora of pages they gave her with suggested repairs, you'd think they would have mentioned it...just sayin. I pulled the $43 filter, it's totally generic, made in China, no brand name listed on it at all, Motorcraft and STP average $25-$30, clearly they were just taking advantage of an older lady.
My aunt has trouble standing as well as sitting in certain types of chairs, she asked several times about when her car would be ready, even after she had paid, she waited another 30 minutes, it was only after walking outside and seeing her car with the hood down and the keys in the ignition did she ask again for her car that they finally made an effort to bring it around for her.
They determined the bumping noise to be the struts, she does also need tires, they wrote her up an estimate of $1099.97 for tires, installation, and all the other new tire crap. They also gave her an estimate for the struts and an alignment, the strut assembly and sway bar link with labor came to $1515.68, the alignment was $194.66. Thankfully she didn't have the time or the money to have those services completed today. After hearing about her experience and seeing all the estimates, I made her call Stockton Hill Tire, she now has an appointment with them next week to have struts, alignment, and tires for $1200. I understand that they may have been giving their estimate with "better" tires, but they gave her no options in their estimate, making her believe that was the best they could do. They may be nice and friendly, but it seems to me that its just the ole slight of hand, watch the right one so you don't see the left one in your wallet. Seniors beware.
