I really liked South Ave Auto when I started going there. Pragmatic, flexible, generally good natured people. Then something happened in October after a $2K+ repair; their subsequent decisions showed either their true colors or their utter decline in commitment to their customers. I should say first off that a couple of their employees were amazing throughout and deserve to run their own business or at least work for someone better.
The job was to pass inspection and change O2 sensors that were triggering a check engine light. Upon inspecting they also required a water pump, brake booster, link pins and a wheel bearing. The car was otherwise in great shape and 1/2 the miles on it as my previous RAV4 and I trusted the shop so I had them do all of it at once. When I got the car back on a Friday it began misfiring within a few miles. I panicked because it was Saturday and I had to drive to NYC for work. Luckily Jessi was monitoring their FB page and was nice enough to come out and help diagnose what happened. Turns out the mechanic who did the job didn't properly attach the hose back to the brake booster and it sucked in air all through the system. They fixed the hose right there and I was off with the advice that if it misfires again that I should replace the spark plugs. Low and behold it did later that day but it was Saturday night so I spend hours replacing them myself. The car worked but still stalled sometimes when accelerating from stop and felt wobbly at high speeds. I drove back up to South Ave Auto to have them diagnose it and the mechanic there lifted the car up and checked the codes but couldn't tell what was wrong. They sent me over to the Elmwood shop where Jessi (again) took one look and knew it also needed a new ignition coil. I replaced that myself and it seemed better for awhile but not back to how it was before. A month passed. It stopped wobbling at high speeds but my LF tire (of less than 2yrs) was going flat. It looked fine from the outside so I just put more air in. Two weeks ago it went dead flat on the highway. Turns out it was totally misaligned and wearing from the inside out.
Luckily I found a reputable open on Saturday who ended up having to do almost $1K in work and put two new tires on the car just to make it safe and make up for the bad job from South Ave. Another LF wheel bearing, a proper alignment and balance (which they allege South Ave likely neglected), LF brakes and pads (because they said South Ave forgot to put the hardware back on), LF rotor (which they said was likely from the misaligned wheel and pad), and another engine and sensor check to again clear the codes. Even as I write this I'm looking at maybe having to also replace the whole spindle knuckle because of the damage done by pressing the original bearing too hard.
Here's where it gets sad. I approached Wade with these issues and his first response was "well we fired the mechanic, what else can we do?" When I told him that the new shop let me keep the bad wheel bearing and showed him all the pictures I took he then said "Well we'll refund you the wheel bearing but you can't prove all the other problems were our fault" (glossing over the cost and time of me learning how to change spark plugs and ignition coils on my own on the fly) "But if you bring us the bad bearing we'll refund you that". At that point I felt like he was ready to let me sue him. I told him I would never expect to make my car perfect again, but at least respect the thousands of dollars I'd put into his shop over 2 cars and 8 years to ensure that I at least have a safe car to drive. If they had admitted fault and offered to scrutinize all the area involved, I might have let them. But besides Jessi nobody seemed to care too much about their mistakes. So when I finally did go return the bearing, the poor attitude turned indignant rage I got from the owner, simply for confronting him with asking for what he'd agreed to repay ($315) along with my continued dismay over the uncertainty of its safety, would never make me want to let them touch mine or any car again. At that point, out of sheer frustration at his indifference, I called him an asshole as I left. So of course he ran after me in his lot and harassed me, claimed he was going to cancel the check, and briefly blocked me from leaving. Oh and called me on the phone after to repeat himself. It's petty and sad and I'm so glad I at hopefully won't have to hear from him again.
TL;DR: They wouldn't fix or fully reimburse a really bad job and left me with an unsafe car that I'm still paying to fix months later. read more