I have been a regular and loyal customer of Pit Stop Auto Repair since they opened. No more. I took my Chevy Blazer in there on March 1st for front end work. I was told that it needed inner and outer tie rod ends, four new ball joints and an idler arm replacement. Of all this, the ball joints are the most important and make up the lion's share of the bill. We agreed on a price of $900 cash to perform all of this work. I picked it up the next afternoon after they called me to tell me that it was all done, and took it immediately to Firestone for an alignment, which was another $97. They have a good reputation and they do good alignments. This was the day that Pit Stop changed ownership.
Upon completion of the alignment, the Firestone technician told me that the alignment wouldn't be all that accurate because all of my ball joints were shot!
I immediately called back Pit Stop and talked to the owner and he looked on his computer and said, yes, that he charged me for labor to put in the new ball joints but they were not included on his parts purchase so they were not installed.
A little side comment here...maybe this was an honest oversight. But maybe it was deliberate cheating the customer, whereupon they pad the bill with expensive labor but don't buy parts that they have no intention of installing anyway. I don't know, but I am suspicious.
So Pit Stop told me that I had to go to the auto parts store and pick up the ball joints at my expense! They magnanimously allowed me to purchase the ball joints using their auto repair shop discount at the auto parts store. Another $56 and change. I knew I would need another alignment and Francisco, the Pit Stop owner, assured me that he knew the Firestone people and that he would get them to take care of it. After all, I got my original alignment on the good faith information and belief that all of the originally agreed upon service had been performed, and this was clearly Pit Stop's error. After several subsequent conversations during which they agreed to the accuracy of all the facts, they adamantly refused to cover the alignment. So this will cost me another $97.
So here's what I think. At worst, this is cheating, gouging establishment. At best, they are so lacking in business integrity that they don't have the backbone to stand behind their work and take care of their mistakes, so their problems become the customer's problems. Either way, stay away. read more
