****UPDATED 8/12/26****
It's all about how you treat the customer, and after getting a call from Jon Duncan, the owner himself, things started to turn around.
The morning after returning my car for the AC issue, I got a call from the owner of Duncan's, his first words were accountable, apologetic, and genuine.
He told me he was going to come pick up my car, leaving me a loaner (with functioning AC) because HE was going to make this right!
After full diagnostics Jon had figured out what the cause was, I needed to replace my AC Compressor since the clutch was bad. He charged me ONLy for parts. He also threw in an oil change, replaced my cabin filter at no cost.
He treated me like a priority and, like my business was important to him.
I went from swearing I'd never go back to a business and in less than 24 hours I proclaimed I'll be a customer for life at Duncan's Automotive in Lincoln.
Jon, you 100% reclaimed my business by offering me grace and empathy. You went above and beyond by coming to my home to pickup my car and stay with it from start to finish, assuring standards were followed and top service was delivered.
Thanks to the team at Duncan that made this right, it changed EVERYTHING!
Original Post: Called Duncan's and said my AC stopped working. I told them I also need a new drivers side door handle.
I was quoted $800+ to diagnose AC and replace the door handle. I then received their call quoting an additional 1200 to repair blower and other parts for the AC, I agreed.
AC worked on the way home, success!! But, then I loaded up my family the next day to get to the Reptile Expo, just ten miles away when the AC stopped working halfway there. My daughter, with a severe seizure disorder cannot handle temps over 80, started to have seizures. A nightmare.
Monday morning I called and told them it stopped working and that I could not afford to not have my car for another day but would bring it in if they could get it fixed and prioritize my situation (already had my scheduled appointment and paid!)
I heard "standing appointments" are already scheduled, clearly I would not be a priority. I was told they'd be able to get it back but would need me to leave it, again. I said I couldn't afford another Lyft and they said "we'll have someone take you home".
I enter the shop and service writer Mike asks me if he can help me, only to seem flustered the moment he realized I was frustrated, as I was sharing the simple facts with him: I brought it in, I picked it up, my daughter was impacted by seizures and he said "you've made your point"! No, "I'm really sorry about that" or any concern/compassion/customer service) then he pointed to the work order from the previous week, and said I "didn't say the aC wasn't blowing cold air".
I told him I'm not a technician nor would I know what words to convey beyond "my AC isn't working". He asked "what does that mean to you?"
It means my system I use to cool down the interior of the car wasn't functioning and I paid close to $800 for a diagnosis to correct that issue.
He said they'd get the car looked at but I may incur further charges, i told him I shouldn't have to pay for anything else since they told me the car was fixed and it wasn't (plus parts totaled $650 and labor was over $1200-they want more labor fees to do correct what they messed up the first time)! That's a great business practice to assure money keeps flowing in but terrible for the customer who paid to get her AC fixed only to be asked to pay more to actually get it done? Ridiculous.
They charge premium labor at $210 as if they have master technicians servicing the vehicles. When I mentioned this to Mike he said, "we should've charged you the $260 rate for AC repairs". read more
