I just had an outstanding experience with Steve's, but it wasn't my first. A couple years ago my Lincoln was hit while parked in front of the house. It had a fair bit of front-end damage and was towed to Steve's. Less than 2 weeks later I had it back, looking and driving like new. I was really impressed with the turnaround time and the quality.
About a month ago, my wife's Lexus was backed into and suffered front-end damage. It looked horrible, but was drivable and I stopped in to Steve's about a week later to schedule a drop-off date. I was greeted warmly and by name, no less. "How's things? Still got that Lincoln?" Unbelievable. With all the business they do, remembering me 2 years later was impressive. They paged Mike to come up from the shop to take a look at the Lexus while I was there. I'd think being interrupted all the time from working on a car would get tiring, but there was Mike a minute later - I swear I will remember his name for at least the next 2 years if it's the only thing I do - with a friendly smile, asking if I traded the Lincoln for a Lexus. Do you remember that commercial a few years back - probably a car commercial - with the guy (Bob?) who's going through his day like he's the only guy on earth? Gets his own toll booth lane and everything. It's kinda like that at Steve's. They really do make you feel like you're their most important customer.
Okay, so they're good with the customer service thing. And 2 years ago they did a nice job making my Lincoln look new again. But did I just luck out back then? The Lexus looked pretty bad even though it could still be driven. Fingers crossed...
I had dropped it off Monday morning. That Thursday afternoon, Mike left a voice message for me to call him back. I didn't see it until late, didn't actually listen to it, and decided to just stop in Friday morning on my way to work. Probably wanted to show me that the damage was more extensive than first thought; talk about getting the adjuster back in for supplemental work, etc. Mike gets paged from the shop. Again, all friendly and happy to see me. He starts asking me some questions about returning the rental car and if I'll need to be picked up and such. I'm thinking, nice to be concerned about such things, but that's still probably 2 weeks out. "So, what have you found with the car?", I finally ask. "It's done", he says. "You walked right past it on the way in here."
"Sure it is... Good one."
"No, seriously, it's right there." He points out the window. "Let's go take a look."
I was floored. There had been several thousand in damages and this was 4 days after I dropped it off. I asked him where he hides his magic wand. No wand. I asked him if he could prove that he didn't just swap out the car with a new one. That almost tripped him up, but then he said we could verify the VIN. Same car then, and apparently no magic. How would the quality be? Would it look like a "rush job"? Nope. I assure you, it does not. It looks brand new, and all the parts, especially where fit and finish matter, are genuine Lexus, which was an unexpected surprise after seeing what the insurance company was initially willing to pay for. We talked about it for a bit, after I regained my composure and could talk coherently. I mean it - I was shocked, like someone had just told me I won the lottery. Things typically just don't go this well.
I met my wife for dinner that night at a restaurant out in Westborough that's on her way home from work. When I had called to suggest eating out, she said that would be great; it had been an especially grueling day at work, nothing going right. I didn't mention the car. We had figured it would be a couple more weeks and this was a great opportunity for a nice surprise. She was waiting in the parking lot as I drove in and I saw her do a pronounced double-take. She later said seeing a car coming in that looked so much like hers made her miss it all the more.
There were tears of joy, my friends. Tears of joy. Part of it was the contrast of the hard day at work to getting the car back so fast, looking like new. But just *part* of it. Mostly, it was because of Steve's. I cannot possibly say enough about what an outstanding experience this was. And in my case lightning struck twice.
This is the first Yelp review I have ever done. I read them all the time, and have promised myself over and over again that I would write one after a really good experience somewhere so that others could benefit. I could never forgive myself if I didn't share this experience, so thanks for bearing with my long-winded review, assuming you made it this far.
Will your experience with Steve's be as good as mine both have been? Or one that you'd want to write a glowing Yelp review for? I can't say, obviously. Frankly, it's hard to believe that Steve's can always be this good. On the other hand, it's a fair bet that a place that hits a Grand Slam like this one probably hits a lot of home runs also. read more
