A trusted mechanic is worth going out of your way for. Or so I thought. In the interest of Yelp review credibility, I need to provide an honest update of Precision because I don't want anyone else to go here based on my original review without hearing, as Paul Harvey used to say, "The rest of the story".
Due to the many positive alignment experiences at Precision listed in my previous review, I gave John a chance at a significant repair, a four corner strut replacement with commodity Monroe- and NAPA-branded parts--one that the dealership had quoted over $1,280 using OEM factory parts.
The Precision repair was quoted as $750. What wasn't stated clearly up front was that, due to the age of the vehicle, there were other parts that would definitely need to be replaced, although the actual word used was "may". Once the repair was underway and the car was on the lift, well, you know the old story: the $750 "bargain" escalated into $1,100 at 5 PM. Each $30 part became a $100 add-on to the total bill. Note that labor was already included since these parts came out with the strut. On a big job, it's customary not to price gouge for incidental parts, but, instead, Precision chose to.
When I went to pick up the vehicle, I was told that one of the parts--a strut bearing plate--was "noisy" and might just need to "break in". Noisy my arse--it was freaking LOUD. I gave it the weekend as requested, and it only got worse. Then I invested another 100 mile round trip and a morning of my vacation week so they could replace the bearing plate that I should never have left with in the first place. When they took it all apart, the defective part disintegrated into a shower of ball bearings and plastic.
Although I wasn't pleased, at this point, I would have left this update as a 3-star review with points off for frustration, wasted time, and inconvenience. However, within a year, the driver's side front strut clearly failed; it was actually worse than before I had the original struts replaced. Crossing expansion strips on the interstate was painful. Knowing the struts had a lifetime warranty, I called Precision and asked about having it checked, and John cheerfully told me to "just come on down" (as if I were only 5 minutes away).
When I got there, John expected that I leave the vehicle with them all day. Instead, I insisted that Precision check it out while I waited. I was told by John after a test drive that it definitely wasn't the lifetime warranted struts. Instead of admitting to the faulty strut, he attempted to blame the motor mounts and/or the cradle mounts. Little did he know that the cradle, transmission, and motor mounts had recently been replaced by the dealership.
Another wasted trip with no resolution. Moreover, I was expected to come back a fourth time when I could leave the car for the day so they could do a "more thorough" inspection. I threw in the towel at this point, because it was clear I was being given the run around and being sized up for unnecessary repairs to cover the cost of the warranty work. I suspect that Precision would eventually have found the bad strut, but only after I pair for enough unnecessary repairs to make it worth their while to find the real problem.
Sure enough, a few months later, I was at the dealership again for unrelated work, and asked them to check all sets of mounts, without providing a reason. I have documented proof these parts were fine, as I always suspected.
I hate giving a bad review to a local business, especially when every single prior experience had been positive. However, there were several things wrong with this situation:
1) Hefty (nearly 50%) price escalation from initial estimate
2) Pawning off defective parts hoping I'd just live with it and not come back
3) Avoiding warranty work claims while at the same time soliciting extra work later verified as unnecessary
If you'll check the filtered reviews, you'll see I'm not the only customer who has been in this predicament. Parts will fail. That's understood. When half of the parts used on one job fail, you need to find a new place to buy your parts.
I can only surmise that John just doesn't want to stand behind his labor and faulty materials. So much for giving the little guy behind the local business a chance. I saved $180 on parts that failed left and right with a shop that wouldn't stand behind them, and I spent most of that savings on mileage for two return trips on problems that shouldn't have left their shop in the first place. That, and my car's suspension is in far worse shape than before they touched it. A lot I saved going with an independent shop, lemme tell ya.
[Footnote: I checked into Monroe's lifetime warranty, and it would have paid the shop something for their labor ($50 as I recall). While it wouldn't have been their retail hourly rate, no warranty work pays full tilt. Small price to pay to keep a happy customer happy, don't you think?] read more
