I don't doubt that these guys are good at what they do. Their yelp review proves that. However, the experience I had with them today was just terrible.
Unfortunately, the RPM garage in Monrovia, my go-to place for my Overlanding journey, is so booked up that their next available spot is in mid-May. So one of my good friends referred SSA HAUS to me.
I decided to give them a ring on Tuesday to make an appointment. Everything went smoothly. I explained what kind of services I needed and made an appointment for Friday at 9:00 AM. The service I requested was:
1) An oil change.
2) A front differential fluid change.
3) Swapping the 600lb king springs to 650lb springs I recently bought.
4) Changing the factory battery to an Odyssey 34R battery.
5) The alignment.
They told me that they don't stock the Odyssey batteries in stock, but they could get it in a day or two and required that I put a deposit over the phone to order it. I did just that. Before hanging up, I asked them how long this would take, and they said it would take a full day to finish. Based on my experience with RPM Garage, I thought it would take no longer than 4 hours to finish all that, but I didn't think much of it.
I dropped off the rig at the shop at exactly 9:00 AM today. When I got there, I was not sure what his name was, but the only mechanic who was there at the time came and helped me check-in. He told me they ordered the Odyssey battery yesterday (Thursday), and he wasn't sure if it would be delivered by today (Friday). I was thinking to myself; I thought I put a deposit to order this on Tuesday. So why would they order it on Thursday? But again, I didn't think much of it. I told him that if it doesn't get delivered by the end of the day, let's do the battery at some other time.
I took the Uber to Norwalk Enterprise (the nearest rental car that has a car available). Then, I rented a car and drove back to Koreatown to my work.
I still had to take the Uber from Norwalk Enterprise to SSA HAUS after dropping off the rental car, so at 3:00 PM, I was getting ready to pack up.
I got a call from SSA HAUS around 3ish, saying they can't finish the work today and the battery will not be delivered any time soon because the Odyssey batteries are back-ordered. I was okay with the battery because I knew that it would most likely not be delivered today based on my earlier conversation. However, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The guys said this is too much work, and he needs more than a day to finish all that.
1) An oil change. (30~45mins)
2) A front differential fluid change. (20mins)
3) Swapping the 600lb king springs to 650lb springs. (1~2hours)
4) The alignment. (1hour)
Really? 2 days for that?
I asked the guy, what have you completed as of now? (3:00 PM), he said, "the oils." At this point, I didn't want to deal with these guys any longer. So I told them if they can't finish the work by today, let's just leave it at "the oils," and I will pick up my truck today. And then he says, "oh, I have to tell my guys to reassemble everything because we took the coils out already." I thought I would get charged for the hours they put in to remove the coils, so I had no choice but to tell them that I would wait until tomorrow to pick up the truck. Then we hung up.
I realized that my apartment gate opener was in the truck, so I drove to SSA HAUS and got there around 4:30 PM. As soon as I get there, I see my truck at the exact location, in the same manner as I'd dropped off at 9:00 AM. I walked up to the guy who checked me in at 9:00 AM and asked him what was going on? Was nothing done to my truck? He points at the jeep he is working on and tells me, "this is taking longer than expected, so we couldn't do anything to your truck." My truck was untouched. Nothing was done. All that story he was telling me an hour ago was straight bullshit.
I was so frustrated, but I just told him that I'd be back to pick up my truck after I drop off the rental car.
Again, I drove to Norwalk Enterprise, dropped off the rental car, called Uber, and went back to SSA HAUS a little after 5:15 PM.
This is when another bullshit happens. As I was walking in to get my key, another guy approached me with my key and tells me, "sorry, we thought this was your truck (points at a cement gray Tacoma), so we've been working on this one. instead of yours." What kind of bullshit story is this? That cement Tacoma was not even there when I got there at 9:00 AM and when I got there at 4:30 PM. That cement Tacoma you guys were supposedly working on all day just arrived between the time when I went to drop off the rental car.
All they do is lie after lie after lie. One guy tells me one story, another guy tells me an even more absurd story. So I guess the cement tacoma was there for the same exact service as I was huh?
Because of this nonsense, I lost about $250 (Uber, rental car, gas) and half of my day driving back and forth. For fucking nothing! read more