My story can be traced back to early last year when my car won't start. Because its location is close to my place, I called them up and asked whether they will be able to handle the situation. They said they need to run an engine test and should be able to fix the problem. I had my car towed to their place. The service guy (he is gone now) brought up a list of parts that needed to be replaced and said my car needed a major tune-up. I turned down a few things that I think are irrelevant to the problem and let them go. The cost added up to over $400. Given I am still student, I really hoped it will fix the problem. The problem is that the service guy came to me with a little hesitation because the problem remained even lots of parts have been changed. They suggested me to bring my car to Nissan's place and have it checked there. You can imagine how angry I am. Finally, the problem got fixed in Nissan's place. They gave $55 refund for the part I returned because Nissan told me the part wasn't used. I paid about $200 labor for almost nothing and about $150 for parts that didn't cause the problem.
I would not have stopped by that store if it were not the case that I suspected some batter problem caused my car won't start again (They replaced battery for me the first time). They found that my alternator is bad. They charged me for $250 for alternator and $ 45 for belt and told me 20% discount applied already. I didn't know the fair price for a alternator by then but I know it is common for these guys to charge 100% more than the retail price. Since they said they already gave me a big discount. I thought the price won't be too unreasonable. I even give them more business by asking them to change my tires so that they have a better reason to give a better deal.
Because I don't trust these guys that much, I checked the alternator price in a nearby advanced auto part. They told me that the part will only cost $128 if the core is returned. I returned the store immediately and question them why they still charge over $100 more and asked them if they can install customer-supplied part. They said it is against store policy. I have seen people bring their parts here and have the installed last time. Obviously, they are selectively executing their policy if they have one. They just want to make $. When I ask them if they have done anything to the alternator, they said they have taken if off the car. When I insisted on have a look at it, they refused. It is apparent that they were lying to me. They threatened to me that they will charge me $108 labor even if I bring me somewhere else. I kind of gave in because my car won't start it could be more costly. I ended up spending $950 for 4 tires and an alternator and belt replacement. They didn't explain the tires they used. They charged me over $90/each and claimed they gave a big discount and the tire has 70,000 miles. As it turns out, the tire may cost some $60/each.
The interesting thing when I was sitting there waiting. Two ladies were arguing the wrong things they have done to their car. They knew the part is defective but they wanted to cover it up. This place will soon go out of business and people here are for money. I figured I got ripped off about $300 for the work they have done. They didn't even return my past service record. I am going to get it back tomorrow.
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