It actually saddens me to have to write this review update, but Jeff Sowell, the owner of this auto shop, has a really bad temper and after years of trusting these guys and their great work, I just can't condone the actions of their leader when I came to their shop today.
To provide some background, I took my Porsche to Jeff's shop exactly one year ago when I first purchased it used and paid them $200 for a thorough inspection. No issues were found at the time. I trusted them because I had taken a previous Porsche and a Lexus for service and part upgrades in the past without any issues. I even wrote them a 5 star review four years ago.
Fast forward one year later and it's time for an oil change and update inspection. Since I only put about 4000 miles on the car in a year, I figured it would be routine. I even thought, maybe I could wait a few more months. Then I saw a promotional email from Precision and I thought, wow, what great timing.
To make it as unbiased as possible, here is the language of the promotion:
$119.95 Oil Change With 55 Point Inspection
Special includes: Oil filter, up to 5 qts 5W40 full synthetic oil, 55 point digital inspection with photos, replace tail light bulbs & turn signal bulbs as needed, rotate tires & top off all fluids as needed. Specialty bulbs not included, not all vehicles qualify. Tax & Hazardous waste not included. Call for restrictions.
I even clicked on the button in the email to book an appointment.
Then today, on the scheduled appointment date, I brought my car in and met Gabe, one of the guys on Jeff's team. Everything seemed routine. He even told me "ok we'll get started and we'll give you a call around 1pm when it's ready." That was literally the extent of our conversation.
Around 3:30pm, I had gotten a text message from the shop, and an email, but I didn't have a chance to respond, so after I finish at work, I give the shop a call to see if the car is ready.
Here is where things went south. Jeff picks up the phone and he already sounds annoyed. I have no idea why. His first comment to me was "did you read the email"? And I told him sorry, I didn't have time. Instead of doing what was agreed in the special above, apparently they only did the inspection and then sent me an email with additional estimates worth $500 to complete the rest of the oil change and to replace my cabin air filters (additional not in the special).
I told Jeff, I didn't understand, because I thought his special was for the oil change only, and that's all I needed, and I felt like it was a bait and switch.
That's when Jeff went off the deep end and basically was shouting at me over the phone and I was the person, as a customer, who was trying to calm him down! I was even trying to reason with him, but he kept mouthing off and I had to hang up on him because he kept on rambling and I knew it was going nowhere. Can you believe that? A customer having to hang up on a business because its owner has a temper problem.
Honestly, if those guys had put out a $200 or $300 or $500 special, and had been honest upfront about the actual cost of their work, I would have paid it happily, as I did the year before shelling out $200 for nothing more than an inspection. But to be told a service is only going to cost me $120, and then turn around and hand me a $500 bill, smells bad to me.
I can't recommend Jeff's behavior with customers. It's unprofessional and I won't be coming back. read more