This is the only time I have ever left a review on a business' yelp, let alone a small family owned business'. I'm simply writing this review to give others a heads up and to think twice before taking your vehicle to South Side Auto Body Shop.
I took my 2016 toyota corolla to Gary at South Side Auto back in March 2026 to have my AC compressor changed out. I told him exactly what was wrong with the AC unit because a trusted mechanic had already diagnosed the issue for me before. Unfortunately, I did not have enough $$ to pay for the repair at that time. So fast forward to bringing it to South Side Auto. It was shady from the jump to say the VERY LEAST. I asked Gary if it would be okay to purchase the part on my own and bring it in for them to install considering I already knew it was a bad compressor. He responded with an attitude trying to explain to me that the site I was buying from (where I get all of my car parts from) is not reliable and said "Don't be surprised if you get a bad compressor. Listen, I'll put in whatever part you give me, but if it doesn't work, I'll still have to charge you for the whole service. But hey, you never know, you might hit a homerun and get a good one". It seemed as if he was foreshadowing for the disaster to come. But right from there I knew something wasn't right. Also, he said that he would have to diagnose the issue himself to see if it really was the compressor; I had no issue with that part. I left the car with them and received a call after they had confirmed it was the compressor that had gone bad.
I told Gary that I was going to buy an A/C Compressor & Component Kit (expansion valve & condenser) along with an A/C Receiver Drier Desiccant Element. He responded by telling me that "you only need a new AC compressor" which yes, I know. But the other parts involving the AC unit should be changed along with the compressor because all three components directly affect the survival of the new compressor and the overall reliability of the system. Instead of explaining this info to me he said "What're you gonna buy a condenser just to have it sit in your closet???" Uhmmmm...nahh man....I'm gonna buy it so you can replace it??? And it wasn't like he was trying to save me money by saying that. It was said with an attitude and seemed as if it would be ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS to purchase the whole kit.
I purchased the parts and scheduled another appointment with Gary. I brought everything to him and hoped for the best. I end up getting a call back from him saying "bad news, you got a bad compressor." He basically tried explaining to me that the low and high pressure were not hitting the levels they were supposed to be hitting at. Gary told me that he could buy the compressor for me and it would've been around $500-$600 for the part alone. I told him no and that I will return that "bad compressor" and get my money back from the manufacturer. Well...that's what I told him at least. I didn't actually plan on doing that. My actual plan was to take that same compressor to another mechanic and see what they say because again, this entire thing felt SHADY.
I show up to pick up my car and compressor and turns out he never removed it from the vehicle. He left the "bad part" in the car. I asked him what time later in the day could I come back to get the car? He said "Oh I can't remove that today, you'll have to pick it up tomorrow." So my car had to sit there an additional day. Before leaving, I asked him if he could give me a rough estimate of how much the service was going to be considering everything was complete. He immediately shot that down saying "I have no idea, I have to plug everything into the computer" You have NO IDEA on how much this service would ROUGHLY be? I said to him "no problem I can wait while you check the computer", I kid you not, he looked at me and said "Oh well ya know, the guys are in there right now eating lunch and watching videos on the computer" OKAY GARY NO PROBLEM. After that comment, I heard enough. I left and came back the next day to pay and pickup. He charged me a little under $600 (install and remove "bad compressor", install condenser, install exp. valve, install receiver drier desiccant element).
Fast forward to last week. I noticed my new neighbor outside working on his car. I asked if he could look at my AC system and see if it truly was a bad compressor or not. Within 30 minutes, without even installing the compressor, he ran some tests and told me I needed a new AC Pressure Switch. I ordered one from the same site I ordered the compressor from. The part came in, he installed the switch along with the "bad compressor", added two 12 oz freon canisters, and guess what everybody....COLD AIR!
Gary, if you're reading this, thanks for wasting my time & money and for being unpleasant every step of the way. Never EVER again will I bring my vehicle to you. Everyone in Vineland will be warned if they ask me about SSAB. read more
