My sons car was brought here by towing company. I mentioned to the manager that the car doesnt start and that I believed it was either the starter, ignition or a bad fuse. 2009 Ford Focus. Erics immediately called me and told me that the car needed a new starter. Then called me to authorize taking out the oil filter and housing to get to the starter later as the work began. This cost an additional $50. ( but didnt need to be done). Starter put in but the car wont start so they call my 19 year old son to authorize the tech to find the problem. My son never said " Yes go ahead" but instead said ok...but call my Dad. They said that they were already working on it anyway so we will continue. No call to me. Bill now? $472. I called and spoke to Mike who sits at the front desk. he said that starter was "bad and needed to be replaced." I questioned him on this and the cost. Then we got into the cost and he called me "ignorant" because I questioned the ability of his mechanics. This is where things fell apart. I never authorized the work to find the real issue, the mechanic clearly mis-diagnosed the problem with the car, the starter was functional but I was told that it would "go eventually", and the issue they "think" is in the ignition. The place where I suggested they look first. Spoke to Jen who runs the shop and she said that we had to pay for the car in full because they had hours of work done on it. When I went to pick up the car I spoke to the tech-mechanic. A smart mouthed person by the name of Austyn. He told me what he did on the car and I disagreed that it was the starter from the get go. I felt he did things backwards and was not happy that he should just admit he misdiagnosed the problem. Then he got lippy with me telling me he is smarter than I am, makes more money than me and has a masters degree. He is 26 years old and very lippy. Another mechanic intervened and showed me the old starter. He said it still works but it would "eventually" need to be changed. I said so it didn't need to be changed? He said it had some corrosion on it and that it was still functional. So I said you changed out a starter that didn't need to be changed? yes, but he did but testing it isn't easy and dangerous. In front of three people and myself the other mechanic took out a working starter? Yes but again it would need to eventually come out. I wasn't going to pay for the repair and Mike said the total is 472 or I cant get the keys to the car. I reluctantly paid it but told him in front of his people that I wasn't happy paying for a car that a new starter was put in when it didn't need a new starter and that the tech Austyn misdiagnosed the car, put in the starter and the reason he makes more money that me is that he does unneeded work and is ripping people off. I would never use this place again and the owners only concern was that she was going to lose money if we didnt pay the bill. Not that the starter didn't need to be replaced but that she would lose money if she cut the bill as the mechanic needed to be paid for his time. Time I feel was entirely un-necessary and just a way for him to fill his pockets. I would not recommend this place and my 19 year old non mechanic son was taken advantage of by a Wiley mechanic and a bad business. So what did we get? a new starter that didnt need to be replaced and a car that doesnt run. Unless we paid an additional $500 for a ignition switch. The same switch I mentioned to the front desk to check before any work was done.... read more
