Let me preface this by saying that I think Bruce (the owner) is very knowledgable and probably a very competent mechanic. That said, he has hired some people that really are not helping his business. It begins when you walk in the door and try to get some help from the completely uninterested and unhelpful girl that works the front counter. She has never, in my three or four trips to the garage actually called me to tell me that my car was ready. I have always had to call her, and if I want, or need, some help finding something out about the status of my car, I have to prompt her (basically force her to go check). This woman needs to find a job of interest to her, and leave the customer service to more qualified individuals. Who cares about the customer service, though, along as the mechanics are outstanding, right? I'm sure some of them are, but its hit or miss. The one that worked on my vanagon did $2,500 worth of work, including replacing rotors, breaks, engine belts, plugs, wires, and a laundry list of other needed maintenance. Most of it ended up fine, but when I drove off the oil sensor light and alarm went off immedietly upon leaving the parking lot. Obviously, no one had test-driven the car after all of this work. I drove it right back, and they said that it was not anything they did. OK, I'll give them that, but please fix it. I show up the next afternoon (after calling since the girl who assured me that she would call to tell me my car was ready never called), and the girl at the counter tells me they "spaced it". Van is not ready. OK, lets fix it for tomorrow. Jump forward to the weekend, and I, with wife, two kids, two dogs, and a van-load of camping gear are unloading camping equipment into the rain to get to an engine that is spewing coolant everywhere. The mechanic had changed the belts, and one of them was rubbing the entire time on the coolant hose. It did not part until about 150 miles from home. Luckily, I was able to rob a hose from another area of the engine to get us back to Anchorage. I take it back to Bruce, and of course, they fix it. Off we go again. This time two weeks later, and up on the Denali Highway - only about 300 miles from home. The back rear tire area starts making all kinds of clunky, grinding noise. Once again we scrap the trip and return to Anchorage with a broken van. This time though, I'm not taking it back to Arctic Import, but to another mechanic who finds that the axle in the back has been recently replaced, but did not have one spec of grease on it. This on a CV joint. My God. Who forgets to grease a CV assembly. Luckily, that assembly was only another $200 for parts and labor, bringing the entire total for the original brake job to around $3,000. The thing that really sucks is I question whether or not the van will hold up on an extended trip now. I feel that I must reiterate that I think Bruce is a good guy and a good mechanic, but you are only as good as the monkey in your garage no matter what business you are in. Thanks, but I'm not letting monkeys work on my cars anymore. I'm going to take them to mechanics that understand quality assurance and pride of work.
Months later my van is still not running right. I guess I should not have let Arctic Import Repair do the full "Tune Up" read more