Like the previous review, I had an AWFUL experience at this place.
We live in Tsawwassen and needed to get a nail pulled out of our right rear tire. My wife took it in and got the tire fixed. $20 and 15 minutes.
But that's when the problems started.
We drove out to Coquitlam that evening and noticed the car drifting sideways on the highway. We also noticed the steering wheel was out of whack. How could we have an alignment problem all of a sudden? My wife and I both discussed how weird it was especially since Shortstop Auto had fixed the Right Rear tire, not either of the front tires.
After returning home, I inspected the tire they had changed and noticed it did not quite line up. I inspected the other side to compare and it became quite obvious to me that the tire they had changed was not on properly. My initial thought was it wasn't fastened on properly and could be an easy fix.
So, I brought it back to Shortstop Auto the next day they were open and Ken (the polite salesman) took a look around the car not even checking the right rear wheel tire. He test drove the car and said: "Oh this is an alignment issue". Unfortunately he still ignored my request to look at the rear tire that was jutting out. Instead he quoted me on an alignment fix for $100 and booked me in for the next day. I called later on and canceled saying I'd rather get someone else to fix it, I was disappointed with how they handled this.
They called the next day to persuade me to come in. It was Jay this time I spoke with, I think he's the owner, and he said, "we want to find out what happened and fix this problem". That raised my hopes that maybe these guys do care about their reputation and their customers. So again I brought it in.
I explained to Jay everything I had to Ken the day before, and that I think there's something wrong with the tire that they fixed. "I don't know what but something has disrupted its alignment" I offered.
After a test drive Jay put it up on the lift and looked under the car. He pointed out to me that a suspension bar, attached to the same wheel they had fixed a few days earlier, was bent. "That's the problem right there, your suspension is bent". He also pointed to some mud under the car and deduced that the cause of the damage was a large rock that we drove over. I said we did not hit any rock that would cause this much damage. Furthermore, I challenged, where are the scratches to the parts of the car that were lower to the ground then the suspension? It was clean of any scratches. And the suspension bar was pushed upwards, not in any other direction like forwards of backwards. As if this Rock had jumped out of the road at the precise moment we drove over it. And the bend is smooth, no scratches, as if the rock was wearing a towel to cover its tracks. (Clever Rock). At this point I became very suspect that Ray was taking a big fat bullshit on me, right there, under my own car.
He got defensive and thought I was insinuating that it was the jack they used to jack up the car that had the caused the damage. Ironically, that had not yet crossed my mind until he insisted that the jack was used in FRONT of the tire, not behind it.
Oh.
That's when I started piecing it all together. I texted my wife at her office asking if she remembered "where the guy fixing the tire had placed the jack: In front or behind the tire?" My wife, who did not know why I was asking remembered because our 5 year old wanted to watch the old man fix the tire. So my wife noticed and remembered that detail.
She replied: Behind.
I told Ray this, that the Jack was used behind the tire instead of in front, and he got even more defensive and spouted that he has 30 years experience and he's seen this type of damage all the time. I told him i have 20 years driving experience and I would know if I ran over a boulder big enough to damage my suspension. By the way, this is a Volvo Station wagon, V70, with two car seats in the back seat for our 5 and 2 year old - would you assume that we go off-roading in this vehicle?
From this point on, Ray was pretty unprofessional, in fact he became quite rude and insinuated that I'm trying to bilk free work out of them. Yeah, because it's a scam that us consumers try on mechanics all the time.
The damage is over $300.00 and Shortstop Auto refused to pay because they stand by their claim that I ran over a rock.
I have submitted a complaint to BBB, will be contacting ICBC with a claim of vandalism to my car against this shop, and have even considered talking to Lynda Steele, a consumer advocate on BCTV. I don't expect to recover any compensation for their wrong doing, but I do hope that Ray and Ken get a little bad Karma for wasting two days out of my work week.
They claim to fix cars, but they wrecked mine. read more
