Seriously the WORST car repair experience I have ever had. I came in just to get my breaks looked at because they had previously replaced my brake master cylinder and after about two hours of sitting in the lobby I ask how much longer it would be and they tell me "We don't know, we will have to order parts, you can't drive your truck because we have taken apart your brakes." At no point did they come out and have the conversation of "Hi, sir we found the issue sorry we missed it the first time you came in, but we will have to take your truck apart again. Would you like to do it now or a make an appointment?" I regret that I did't tell them hell no and to put it back together on the spot because I'm leaving, but unfortunately I made the mistake of trusting them to touch my truck already, so I was willing to let them finish the job since supposedly it wouldn't cost much since the part was under warranty still. Man was I wrong.
Next they couldn't even give me quote of what it would cost, just said "it will take about an hour, no two hours is that alright?" When I asked about a dollar amount the bald white guy who I suspect is the service manager but he never introduced himself said "I will call you tomorrow when I look up what the part will cost." No call from him all week, mind you this was Tuesday as well. Next they couldn't even tell me what was wrong with the vehicle (and they still haven't even after I asked for them to call me with an answer) they said just "something" was wrong in the brake booster. However when your brake booster goes out your brakes become stiff and very difficult to press not soft and spongy and press down with the weight of a feather like what I was coming in for, symptoms directly related to losing pressure in the brake master cylinder, not the brake booster.
During all this my wife and kids are waiting for me to pick them up because this was only suppose to take an hour, so I had to somehow now go get them across town and they gave me their P.O.S. shop car which turned out to be a DEATH TRAP! After I went through the pain in the ass of switching my two kids' car seats (and yes their guy Andy did help me, the only positive thing I have to say) while I was driving away down Villard I noticed I was having a hard time with the gas pedal but then when it came to the brakes I had to SLAM the pedal and when I say slam I literally mean come off my ass and press as hard as I can with my leg while smashing my back into the seat as I clench my teeth and death grip the steering wheel because I'm about to crash into the car stopped in front of me and the car STILL didn't even stop, luckily I ran out of momentum and the car in front of me had already moved forward. The cheap after market garbage ass floor mat they put in there was balled up under the pedals! So I had to rip that crap out and throw it in the back before it killed someone. I'm lucky I took the back way and didn't hop on the interstate to find that out.
HOWEVER, after I picked up my wife and kids and did get on the highway, no BS I literally did a 180 degree spin on the freeway across from Menards! I'm sure any married man can imagine how irate his wife would be to turn in a nice new full sized truck with brand new snow tires on it that we bought the week before and to be given a 1998 P.O.S. Toyota Carolla that reeks of cigarette smoke after a North Dakota blizzard when there is over 2 feet of snow on the ground. So if you can imagine that, imagine now what I had to listen to after her and her kids just did a 180 on I-94 and not just for the hour ride home in the snow, but the entire rest of the week when she refused to leave the house in that death trap as well. I just can't believe that in Western North Dakota during the snowiest Winter in the last decade, that anyone could be so inconsiderate to not realize that if someone needs a truck to drive 40 minutes into another county to visit your shop, that it is not acceptable to give them a POS sedan with bald tires and less than 5 inches of clearance to drive back home.
So three full days later on Friday afternoon I call to find out what is up with my truck because they still haven't called me even once to tell me what exactly was wrong with the brake booster or more importantly what it was going to cost me and when I could pick it up. Can you believe it, THEY STILL DIDN'T KNOW! Three days later they still can't give me a quote, can't tell me what went wrong, and can't tell me when I can pick it up! The guy said "parts will be getting dropped off tomorrow call on Monday to see if its done." That's it, that's what I got. So finally I find out a full week later that it is going to cost $362 for a brake booster I never needed! And how the guy on the phone worded it too made it sound like ransom. "It will cost you $362 IF you want to pick it up". Screw these guys, don't ever go to Dan Porter for anything! read more
