The bearing in my alternator seized up and snapped the water pump belt on my car, so I get a tow to the nearest garage, which turned out to be this place. So I leave the car there and go home. I get a call later that I'll need a new alternator, water pump belt, and power steering belt (because apparently when the other belt snapped, it snapped this one too) and that'll all cost a grand total of over $700. I tell them to let me think about it and call up my parents, who own a repair shop back East. They immediately became suspicious. They asked me if my power steering worked once the car started running poorly, which it did. That was the first red flag. They also said that that kind of work was a $400 job, at the very most. That was the second red flag. I call Accelerated Auto again and bring up the power steering belt to confirm that it snapped, which they said yes to ("It's completely off the car"). When I said that I still had power steering when I was driving it, they changed the story to "well, it's not snapped, but it's about to snap because it was hit by the other belt and it's badly damaged". This was extremely suspicious to me so I told them to not touch that belt. I believed them about the other belt because the car was, indeed, overheating (By the way, when I got the car back, I checked the power steering belt and it still looked perfect and has yet to cause any problems even today, a year and a half later). I also brought up the price and they were firm on it. I offered to buy my own alternator and bring it in, but they refused (when I asked how much they're charging for the alternator itself, it was double what Autozone near my house charged). So I call up my parents again to gather our thoughts together and they insisted on calling Accelerated (with me on the line). After grilling Accelerated and telling them that they're in the same business and know what less-than-reputable mechanics do, they agreed to lower the price to $530, adding in "come on, you know how the game goes, we all try to make a little extra" (on the contrary, my family's business is very successful because they do NOT pull these stunts and have very loyal repeat customers), and continuing to be extremely rude. I simply could not believe it... Rather than tow the car elsewhere, we said forget it, paid the $530, and went on our way. That's when the advertising started. To this day, I still receive card after card and envelope after envelope of junk mail from them, advertising, at obscene prices again by the way, and have even been called by them to tell me about their "specials". Worse yet, since this encounter, my telemarketer calls have skyrocketed, making me suspect they sell information to those agencies. I obviously cannot confirm this and it is not an accusation, merely a suspicion. This was the absolute worst auto shop I've ever been to and I would rather sell my car and buy another than have it repaired here again. Should you choose to go here and not take my word for it, please, at the very least, question everything they tell you, ask to see the parts they want to replace before they replace them, and take note that their replies to these reviews are just as honest as they are, so do not expect much. And for the love of god, do not give them your address, nor your personal number if you can avoid it in any way (which, of course, is difficult to do). read more
