I initially went to RT Clapp because they are AAA certified. I took my car there for about 4 years, and each time the experience was worse and worse. I kept going because their prices are always within my budget, and they offer a taxi service when you drop off your car so you can still go to work and they'll call and come pick you up with it's done.
Overall the customer service has always been sub-par. The receipts they give you when the car is completed is extremely sparse and do not offer any specific recommendations for your car, or anything specific that they found wrong with your car. It only ever has exactly what I've brought the car in for. As an aside, due to the neighborhood the shop is located in, you cannot tow any cars to this lot after hours and leave it there overnight.
The last straw for me, though, was when I took my car in to get my transmission fluid checked. I had tried to do it myself, and had taken it to Valvoline for them to check it, but neither of us could open the valve to take a look. This has been the #1 problem with my specific make/model car (2007 Suzuki Forenza), so I wanted to at the very least get the level checked, and if needed, top off the transmission fluid. I drop my car off, explain to them to please check my transmission fluid and run a diagnositc on my range sensors. They call me 45 mins later, say the car is ready for pick up. I come by pick it up, look at the receipt, and they've only charged me for labor. They then informed me that at first I need to completely replace the transmission. I asked them what was wrong specifically with the transmission, and they said that they don't do any transmission work and that my car was "too new" (it's a 2007) and they couldn't run a diagnostic test with their equipment. I asked them why I wasn't notified of this when I made the appointment to bring my car in 2 days before, or when I handed over the keys to the front desk earlier that morning. They then proceeded to tell me the name of a shop down the street that does do "really good" transmission work, although if RT Clapp has no way of inspecting said inspection work, I'm not sure how they can vouch for a transmission store's work. read more