Mr. Lee is probably the most accommodating and nicest auto-mechanic you know. That's why I gave this shop a star because he deserved it. However, my own car would probably rate this shop a negative 5 star. I came in for a regular tune up (recommended by a friend) and he originally told me the price for my car tune up was around $150. I dropped off my car in the morning and left the shop. He called me about an hour later saying that it's now $330 because he said my car uses a different "tune up." That was the first flag. I thought it was shady to just change the price right then and there. But unfortunately, I agreed with the price. He finished my car's tune up before 4:00 pm which was pretty prompt. However, on the ride home, two things I immediately noticed: 1.) my car was LOUD as hell. It sounded like I was sitting in the back seat of a sports car 2.) my car stalls right before I made a left turn into my house. I thought cars were supposed to sound better after a tune up?!
I brought my car back to the shop the next morning (missing a few hours of work) to let him know that my car stalled and it was dangerous. He did a diagnostic on it and the computer said nothing was wrong with it. I left the shop to go to work and it stalled again another 4 times in the past two days. I came back to the shop and told Mr. Lee the same thing keeps happening. I received a call from him saying that he drove around for 30 minutes and the car didn't stall. He also mentioned that a new muffler needs to be installed. I declined to fix my muffler because I was already having doubts about the shop. I picked it up from the shop AGAIN, and yep, you guess it, it stalled another time. I drove it up to Baltimore and the car just sounded awful that I didn't drive my car for three days.
Finally I decided to bring it back to the shop for the third time since my tune up. On the way there, I heard a huge rattling noise aside from the loudness of the car, and the piping on my muffler was vibrating. When I got there, Mr. Lee took the time to lift the car and show me where the rattling noise was coming from. The ENTIRE pipe was rusted AND broke in half. I didn't really check if the pipe was snapped in half or it just corroded. But I really had no choice but to fix the muffler. That's another $366 that I didn't plan on spending. I called other shops to compare prices and they were relatively in the same price range as Mr. Lee. However, one of the shops did say "It's a relatively new car, why would you need to change your muffler?" Hhmm...suspicious.
It may be coincidence, but ever since I brought my car to his shop for just a regular tune up, everything just went south. My car was in the worst shape it's ever been since I bought it. AND they still haven't fixed my STALLING problem. I'm definitely never coming back there again. I feel bad for Mr. Lee because even though he's a nice guy, his shop is awful. Take your car to a shop that won't try to steal money from you. read more