On 3/17/07 we picked up our 1994 Nissan Altima from Willie's Auto Repair for work we, in fact, authorized him to perform. He replaced the front brake pad, rotor & driver's sideview mirror. He replaced the valve cover gasket and oil sending unit and repaired the transmission line to fix possible sources of a leak. I was billed $466.42 for this work.
On 4/14/07, my wife visited a local grocery store and could not get the car to start upon leaving. After the car sat for a few minutes, she tried again, and it ran long enough to get her to within a block of home before it stalled. On 4/15/07 she had the vehicle towed to Willie's Auto Repair to have them determine the problem.
On 4/25/07, Willie's Auto contacted us and informed us the vehicle had been repaired and was ready to pick up. Prior to calling us to pick it up, he had only speculated as to the problem and did not receive authorization to proceed with repairs. He billed me $242.67 to remove & replace ignition pick-up.
On 4/26/07 the vehicle failed to start again. My wife contacted Willie's Auto Repair, who came to our house and attempted to get the car started—to no avail. Willie informed my wife that he would have to tow the car to his garage to see if he could get it started there. He did not say anything to her about having to replace the starter.
Willie's Auto called us that afternoon to inform us that the car was ready to be picked up. When we arrived my wife was presented with a bill for $296.51 for replacement of a starter assembly which, again, was not authorized.
My expectation was that he was going to fix the problem he said he corrected when he replaced the ignition pick-up, not pay for additional work that was not authorized. Willie said that the starter problem was different from the ignition pick-up problem; however, I am highly suspicious as the car ran fine before the initial brake and leakage work were performed.
I argued with Willie on the phone about whether or not his practices were fair with respect to performing work without authorization and billing me for it. He intimated that he replaced parts to troubleshoot the problem and left the parts in to justify accomplishing repair.
So all-in-all I paid Willie's Auto Repair $1005.60 in a little over a month's time for repair work that I may or may not have needed and certainly not all of it was authorized by me before it was accomplished. I feel that the inital work by their technicians somehow led to the subsequent problems. Also, I feel like a victim to a rip-off simply because I desparately needed my car.
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