Went to Knowles Exhaust as a walk-in at 8am on a Monday morning. My vehicle had developed an exhaust leak at the flex pipe over the weekend. Told Andy the service writer that I was confident it was a flex pipe leak, and if they could take a quick look at it to see if they could repair it. Andy said they could not look at my vehicle as they were already booked for that morning. This is fine. I booked an appointment for Tuesday morning at 8am. I stressed to Andy that my vehicle is a delivery vehicle and that I would need to be out of the shop by 10am or I would not be able to work. He said that was not a problem.
On Tuesday, I went to Knowles Exhaust. They took my vehicle and put it up on a hoist. Inspected the exhaust system but the tech could not locate the leak, saying it was either the manifold or the flex pipe. The owner/manager told him to leave it for the moment. Another customer had come into the shop with a complaint regarding a hitch install completed by Knowles Exhaust a few weeks prior. The tech went and worked on this customers car, leaving my vehicle on the hoist, unattended to for more than an hour.
Once the owner/manager went and looked at my vehicle, he immediately said it was the flex pipe that was cracked (I had already told them this the day prior, not sure why it took two hours and three different techs to come to the same conclusion).
Andy quoted me a price for repair exceeding $550. He said that they could not just cut out or repair the flex pipe portion, that the entire length of pipe would need to be replaced including the catalytic converter. I made and appointment for Wednesday morning as it was already close to 10am and had to leave for work.
I called around to a few competing muffler shops. I had the repair conducted by another shop, where they cut the flex portion of the pipe out and replaced it, without having to replace the entire length of exhaust pipe including the catalytic converter. Total price for repair including labour and taxes $220.
Not only had Knowles Exhaust disregarded my knowledge of my vehicle, they also disrespected my time. They attempted to sell me an unwarranted repair as well. I drive 120,000 kilometers annually and spend a fair bit of money on vehicle upkeep and repairs, none of which will ever go to Knowles Exhaust. read more
