Maybe their repair work is great, they looked like they knew what they were doing, but my experience is about everything leading up to a repair.
I reached out to this shop after an accident in the early evening when pretty much everywhere was closed. I really appreciated that the owner actually answered my call so I could verify his business location and the option for an after-hours drop off so they could check it out first thing in the morning. I also sent him some photos for an initial assessment, to which he replied and gave me a starting price. I didn't particularly want to ride around with a dragging bumper either so I figured this was the best option.
He said he would call me in the morning with an update as to how much it'll set me back. No word back by midday so I called the shop. "Oh, it's our busy day, sorry haven't gotten an estimate together, I'll get on it now." I borrowed a car and stopped by around 4pm to get the estimate because I still didn't hear back. It was a bit higher than I expected ($700-$1300 higher - I requested it with and without a specific component replaced), so I asked if I could give him a call the following day, as they were set to close soon, to give me a little time to figure some things out. He said that was fine. I mulled it over with my s.o. and we decided to hold off on it for the time being; yes it needs to be fixed, but we can't make it happen right now at the new price. I called him the following day to say we needed to wait before addressing it and that I would come by to pick the car up/store it somewhere else until we're ready. "Okay well there's a daily storage fee of $85/day and a $50 estimate fee." Ooof.
These weren't disclosed when I called. The yelp page and their website both said, and still show, free estimates too. There was definitely an argument about this. He initially said 1 day of storage plus the estimate fee. I asked if he would be willing to knock the estimate fee off because both his site and yelp say they do free estimates. He flat out said "I could be an asshole and charge you for 3 days and the estimate fee." So, he could "be an asshole" and charge me $255 of storage for 3 hours the night before he saw it (remember, I left it overnight so they could hopefully see it first thing in the morning), the entire day it was sitting there waiting to be checked out, and then the third day when I came to pick it up because no one could be arsed to call me. The reality was my car was there less than 48 hours. And had they come back to me with the estimate earlier in the day like he initially said, I would have had the opportunity to get it moved from their lot the same day (which would have been less than 24h on site). I paid $135 + tax to get my car released to me even though I disagreed with the cost. He said the amount would be credited back to me if I got the work done there, but it felt so shady.
He said these costs are posted on his wall and I should have read it. While I was waiting for the owner, I actually asked the employee he had at the desk what the storage fees were and where they were posted on the wall and he said he didn't know and didn't think they were posted. If someone working for you can't find them, how the f am I supposed to? Just an FYI for anyone else - they're all the way in the back, kind of high up, the font is small, and the frame it's in has a glare so you can't read it anyway.
A free estimate here isn't actually free, so their site should have a disclaimer on that or just not mention it at all. I find it's a bit unreasonable to charge for a service they advertise as free and then also charge me a storage fee. I get it, we all need to pay bills, but it was there longer than necessary because it wasn't prioritized by the shop, and I'm left paying storage on it because of that. And the estimate fee. Which, again, is advertised as free. read more
