Attention potential patrons of this business; please read this. It will give you insight that is not common knowledge.
I am a former employee of this shop. I was not fired, terminated, asked to leave, compromised with, or made obsolete. I resigned of my own accord 9/11/2019. I do have a copy of my resignation to guarantee this is not a vengeful act by a jilted employee. I gave 3 weeks' notice and took my paid vacation time before leaving.
I moved to a different shop; but I will not mention it by name to avoid a conflict of interest. Please. As expensive as vehicular repair is, this is highly important. My personal cell phone number is (Memphis area code), 486 followed by 2693. (I'm not sure if Yelp allows me to post private contact information.) I offer my information to guarantee I will stand by what I say. The ONLY reason I have delayed from September 2019 to February 2020 is because I did not want my w-2 to become "lost" in a petty attempt at revenge. These people are capable of that. As of 2/10/2020 I still do not have a physical w-2 and it took three email chains and a threat of legal action just to get a photo of it from HR.
This business has a reputation for honesty; earned decades ago. This business is very different from it was then.
If you have money or appear financially well-off, your estimate will increase. If you need parts A and B, the owner of the shop will often add parts C and D while charging you for the high quality parts but installing the budget parts, simply to gamble it will not fail within the warranty date.
You cannot supply your own parts and have a warranty. Please note; all new parts used for repairs have a warranty from the store selling them. Craigen's offers no warranty implied in their labor. You must buy the parts through them. They get the parts at cost; them sell them with a massive markup BEYOND list price. Most shops sell at list.
The service manager, Tim, is by far the most incompetent service manager I have encountered.
Generally a service manager is a retired/former tech or an experienced service advisor. Largely because that gives them a basic knowledge of what parts are necessary to add (fuel filter with every fuel pump, things like that.) And they should know when parts can be budget quality/price or HAVE to come from the dealership. He does not. He has asked me:
"What's the difference in a drive belt and serpentine belt?" (Nothing, they are different terms. The belt on your engine is the drive belt, they are usually serpentine or v-belt design.)
"Would you suggest synthetic oil? The computer doesn't say it has to be." (A good mechanic will always suggest synthetic. You can mix it, you can change from conventional to synthetic and back again with zero damage. Mixing oils has not been an issue for decades.. The danger of mixing oils is a myth, has been for a long time.)
"What's the difference in drum and disc brakes?" (This is too banal for me to clarify, just google it. It's impossible to not know this.)
He sold a job to replace a flexplate for 0.3 hours. "That's what the computer said!" Yes, you can remove and replace a flexplate in 20 minutes. AFTER five or six hours to remove the exhaust, transmission, transfer case, and front driveshaft and THEN replace the flexplate. This was a large 4x4 railroad utility truck. He just didn't know that basic fact.
When he was hired, I was told he was experienced. I knew this man before he was hired. He has 0 experience. I informed management of this because he obvIously lied on his application; and I was subtly retaliated against by management.
AAA gave management either $1,000 or $2,000 (I can't recall which perfectly) to award theIr top driver.
It did not go to the top driver.
It did not go to the senior driver.
It went to a man that management (Kesha) liked. He promptly bought massive amounts of drugs and passed out behind the tow truck's wheel and ran it off the road. This AAA award winning driver was too high to stay awake behind the wheel of a tow truck.
A tech while I was there was smoking meth and taking drugs ON THE JOB. He left a woman's hood latch unbolted so her hood slammed into her windshield at 45mph.
He DROPPED an FTS Ambulance service ambulance off of a vehicle lift. His drug use was known by management. No punishment. He didn't get fired until MONTHS later when he just didn't show up for a few days. Again.
Welcome to Craigen's. If you people read this...I CHALLENGE you to disprove a single word or accusation. I keep good records. Try me. read more
