I have a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta GLI and, as I'm reaching the end of most of my warranty periods, had started looking to migrate away from the dealership to a local shop. When my car started acting up, I decided to visit this shop because it was close and the reviews were pretty awesome. I absolutely concur with most of the other reviews about Hammond's honesty and the time and care they take explaining the issues. In short, I will definitely be returning to Hammond for all my VW services. If you want the full detail, read on.
I started having issues with my car the Monday of Thanksgiving week (perfect!) so I called them up, explained the symptoms and that my check engine line was on. The guy on the phone explained that, while they likely wouldn't have time to service my car until after Thanksgiving, I should come in and they'll check to make sure it's not a major issue.
I brought my car in and they plugged-in and started diagnosing. About 15-minutes later the tech returned (I think he was the owner actually) and explained that this is a known issue with this model/year of Volkswagen/Audi and that while I needed to be careful and drive as little as possible, my engine wasn't going to explode in the next week (my words, not his :D).
One of the reasons why I was leaving the dealership is I always feel like I'm being screwed (that feeling persists today)... what happened next totally blew me away. They did some checking, called Volkswagen and figured out that this repair was likely still under warranty. They then generated an estimate to fix it will all the proper part numbers (in case I came back), didn't charge me at all for the diagnostic, and suggested I try and get the dealership to warranty repair the problem before coming back to them.
So first they had the knowledge to know this was a known issue, then they give me everything I need including a competitive quote and send me to the dealership because it's the best thing for me, not them. Incredible!!!
From there it took nearly 2 weeks to resolve this with the dealership but the end of the story is that the dealership did end up covering *most* of the repair costs under warranty and this honest interaction with Hammond saved me at least $2,000. I said it in the beginning but I'll say it again, I will definitely be returning to Hammond for all my VW services. read more