tl;dr: Phil at Morello replaced my catalytic converter incorrectly, and I spent almost an entire…read morestressful year trying to get him to resolve this to no avail, and ultimately discovered he had been lying to me on multiple occasions, and his shop does not have a valid California BAR license. Another shop had to completely re-do the work.
I've been going to Morello for small jobs like oil changes for a number of years.
In May 2024 my catalytic converter was stolen from my 2006 Honda Accord. I took it to Morello to replace the converter and O2 sensors. He replaced it with an aftermarket converter.
Soon after it was installed, my check engine light (CEL) came on, which started a long saga trying to resolve it.
Over the course of the following months, I dropped off my car many times. He first replaced the O2 sensors, which did not resolve the problem. Then a few months later, he tried replacing the catalytic converter, which also did not work. Then he spent several months promising that he was working with the BAR to certify my catalytic converter even though the CEL was still on. He was never able to resolve this after several months of asking him for an update.
At this point I took the car to another shop for a second opinion (March 2025). They quickly identified that the catalytic converter that was installed was not the correct one for my engine family.
I went back to Morello, requesting that he remedy the situation since he never installed the correct converter to begin with. I urged him to install a Honda OEM converter that we could be 100% sure to work, since at this point he had been unable to resolve this issue for 11 months. He promised he would do this.
Once he assured me had the Honda catalytic converter in the shop, I dropped off the car on March 20, and picked up the car on March 21. No one was at the shop when I came to pick up the car, I had to get the keys from the gas station owner.
However, the CEL was still lit. I also went under the car and discovered that there was no difference in the catalytic converter, it was still the exact same aftermarket catalytic converter.
This kicked off another month's worth of poor communication and excuses. I eventually finally arranged to be at the shop to do the work on April 18; Phil once again promised me that he had the Honda OEM converter on hand and that it would be finished that day.
Given the poor communication and problems resolving the issue, I decided to stay at the shop to confirm the correct converter was installed, and verify the completion of work.
However, Phil refused to come to the shop and work on it while I was at the shop. He required that I leave the car and return at the end of the day. Over the course of the day, it became clear that he had lied to me - he did not have the Honda OEM part on hand. In fact, he arranged mid-day for another aftermarket converter to be delivered (the *exact same model I had on my car*), which I declined to install. Ultimately, I spent 6 hours at the shop, and Phil never showed up.
He never gave me any paperwork, despite my requests for it. He was never at the shop when I came to pick up the car (he always had me pick up after hours), so I would call him to request the paperwork be left with the car. He always made promises, but never followed through.
In the end, I took the car to another shop for an additional opinion and to re-do the work with a Honda OEM catalytic converter. Their evaluation of the work that was done by Morello was "a butcher job" and that there were multiple problems with the work: "I'll put it this way, I've never seen anyone do it like that before". The welds were done poorly, a flex bracket was missing, and the pipes used were the wrong size. In the end, I needed a new catalytic converter, flex bracket, and entirely new exhaust pipe.
One additional comment about communication: A lot of times Phil does not reply to text messages or answer the phone. I often had to try calling multiple times throughout multiple days to get a hold of him. Oftentimes, he would tell me things like "I need to check with {something/someone}, I'll call you back in 15 minutes", but he would never keep his word to call me back, requiring me to continuously call back to try and reach him. I did not appreciate the feeling of micromanaging the project due to his poor communication.
By contrast the other shop was able to resolve this in a single day, over 3 short phone calls - one call to schedule the work, one to update me on the diagnosis and the work required, and one final call to inform me of completion.
I made a complaint to the Bureau of Automotive Repair, and discovered in the process that his license has been delinquent since 2023. At this point I cannot recommend this shop to anyone. It's clear Phil has not been working in good faith to help me but has lied to me on multiple occasions.
