When my recently acquired 10-year old Kia POS decided that "starting" was passe, I found myself in need of a local auto shop. I asked around and eventually opted for A-Z Auto based on (1) a friend's rec, (2) their good Yelp reviews, and (3) their relative proximity to where I live. The TL;DR version is that I went through a somewhat protracted process with my car there, but despite some bumps on the road, overall I consider it a positive experience, and I will likely go back in the future.
Long version: One day, my car died when I parked it. I turned off the ignition, and BAM -- totally dead. No clicks, no lights, key fob stopped working. The car slowly came back to life over the next two days (seemed like power issues), but I still wanted to have it checked out. I called A-Z and described the problem, and the man I spoke to (Darren, I believe his name was) was professional and upfront. He said it would be a $95.00 diagnostic charge for them to assess the car, and they would remove that charge if I decided to have the work done there. That all sounded good, so I dropped the car off on my way to work the next day (Wednesday). Palmer, who was working the desk when I dropped the car off, was very friendly and upfront as well; I wanted to have my oil changed while the car was there, and when I asked him the difference between the kinds of oils they offer, he told me which one -- the cheaper one -- was better for me based on the year of my car.
I heard back from A-Z the next afternoon via text and e-mail: they had determined that I needed to have a belt and the serpentine tensioner replaced (they were not keeping tension on the alternator, so the alternator was not charging). The cost was very reasonable for the parts based on research I did for averages, and they sent me a breakdown of the parts/labor/recommendations via e-mail, which was really handy to have and be able to consider (again, their communication and honesty was really great). I had them go ahead with the work, and I got a voicemail later that day that the car was ready to be picked up. They offer 24-hour drop-offs and pickups (you can pay the gas station attendant if you pick up after hours), but I decided to just stop by on the way to work the next day.
I stopped in the office early the next morning (Friday) and saw that A-Z had not only removed the diagnostic charge, but they also threw in the oil change for free, which was wonderful. The car started right up, and I drove home, which is about a 7-minute trip. I pulled into a parking space on the street, adjusted my position, turned the car off...
... and it immediately died, same as before I took it in. SIGH.
I wound up having to get the car towed back to A-Z about a week and a half later, which was not great, Bob (however, if you need a towing service in the Allston/Brighton area, call O'Shea's Towing -- Brendan is awesome). I called A-Z ahead of time and told them that I'd brought the car in recently and it was having the same problem as before, except worse, and they were very apologetic and put a note in my customer file that the same problem was happening. The car was towed there late on Tuesday morning, the shop was closed Wednesday for the Fourth of July, and then I called them back early Thursday afternoon to check in. The guy on the phone (whose name I did not get this time, alas) said he was about to call me -- turned out that the new belt on the tensioner "appeared to have come loose," so the car was running off of the battery alone, which had promptly died after being run for a bit. So A-Z had reattached the belt and charged up my battery, and the car was ready to be picked up. I asked if there would be a charge, and the man said, "Oh, no, no charge -- you already paid for the labor, and this was our mistake." I was VERY glad they said that, as this review would have had an entirely different tone if they'd tried to charge me again.
All of that said, the car has run fine since I took it back in. It was annoying having to pay for a tow, but overall, I still consider this a net positive experience. Again, all the people I spoke with at A-Z were courteous and honest throughout the process, which goes a lonnng way with me: they owned their mistake, their prices are reasonable, and they did not talk down to me, which is worth a lot (especially for women with Boston auto shops... I have heard some horror stories). And no one bats 1000, so I'll chalk this experience up to someone having a bad day when I first took my car in -- not ideal, but understandable. And when I take my car back to A-Z in the future, I'll update this review based on additional experiences. read more