On April 13, I took my car to Precision Auto on East Washington St. To have it tuned up and checked out since I had had a (very) few minor problems with it. The person running the shop (Larry) assured me they were capable of handling any repairs it might need. I dropped the car off and went home, and after they pulled it in to look at it, he called and told me it needed new plugs, rotor and wires, and a new timing belt and water pump. Total cost would be $660. (He threw in an oil change!) Since I had taken a day off work specifically to get my car roadworthy before summer, I told him to go ahead with the work and asked about when it would be done. He told me about 2 or 3 PM. At 4, I called and wanted to know if the car was ready, and he said it wasn't yet, to call back at 5:30 and if it wasn't done THEN, it would be done at 8:30 the next morning (Saturday).
At 8:30 on Saturday, I went to pick the car up, and he said it would be another hour to 45 minutes. After that time had elapsed, he said it would be ANOTHER hour. Meanwhile, whenever they started the car, I could hear a belt squealing, and they would spray it with something to get it to stop. Finally, at 10:30, I got in the car and drove off to find that it was running TOTALLY differently than when I had taken it in!!! It had a muffled rumble directly under the driver's seat and would worsen (grow louder) in different gears. I took it right back and the person who worked on it (Sheldon) and another person from the shop (Tim) drove it and said they couldn't figure out what I was talking about. Then Tim & I drove it and I pointed out the noise to him. He agreed that it was there, but since I needed the car that afternoon, he told me to bring it back Monday and he would work on it to get it fixed. He ASSURED me that they would get it running right.
I dropped the car off on Monday and sat at work all day without hearing anything about the car. When I called at 4, they told me it was ready. Tim and I again drove in it (in the neighborhood) and he said they seemed to have fixed it by adjusting the timing belt. When I asked about the belt squealing, he said it hadn't done that and they didn't check it out. He also told me that the person who had originally worked on my car (Sheldon) came from an oil change place and didn't have a whole lot of experience with more complicated repairs and this was the person they had do all the work on my car!!! As soon as I got in the car to drive home, I noticed the EXACT same vibration/rumble under the driver's seat that was the most noticeable in 3rd and high gear. When I took it out on the interstate, it seemed to be straining to even get up to 65 and higher.
Took the car BACK in on Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 am, and the owner, DON, assured me they would get it running right. I took Larry out for a drive and pointed out the noise, vibration and the fact that it didn't seem to have too much power on the interstate. I also pointed out that I had spent a considerable amount of $ and thought they would be able to work on my car, it would be nice if it were at least running the way it had before (with NO belt squealing, NO vibration/noise under the driver's seat and some PICKUP on the interstate.) Once again, he told me they would make it right for me, he understood how I felt, yadda yadda yadda. He ADMITTED it was a mistake having Sheldon work on the car, as he (Larry) had had to help him several times during the day and if he (Larry) would have worked on the car, it would have been done when he told me it would. Larry had had to run the shop in Don's absence, and this is why Sheldon, not Larry had worked on the car.
At 2 PM, I called and asked about my car, and Larry told me he hadn't pulled it in to look at it yet but would in an hour. At 4, he called and said it was ready. I went to get the car, and asked if he had found what was wrong with it. He said he had adjusted the timing belt. I asked about the squealing belt, and he said I needed a new alternator belt. When I got in the car, nothing really had changed. They didn't even have the courtesy to get to it first thing in the morning and no matter what they say I don't think they have tried very hard to make anything right, since they've already been paid and the check has cleared (regrettably).
Needless to say, I don't WANT to take the car back there, as they've had it 3 times and can't figure out what the problem (that wasn't there BEFORE I took the car in) seems to be. Two people (Tim and Larry) ADMITTED that the person who did the work on my car (Sheldon) probably shouldn't have!!! (they both told me they were ASCE certified, which leads me to deduce that Sheldon isn't. They keep giving me the runaround about wanting to make it right but no one seems to have the capability of doing so. They had a very patronizing attitude towards me, which leads me to believe a) I'm just a woman and that I don't know what I'm talking about when I tell them the car (which I've been driving for 4 years now) isn't running as well as when I dropped it off to get it worked on and b) since I am aforementioned woman that I will just accept that the fact that car isn't running the same way!!! I'll probably end up taking it to a dealership just to see if they can at least pinpoint WHAT the problem it and WHAT caused it, since everything was FINE before that.
My feeling is that any work that needs to be done to the car now by any other mechanic should be paid for by Precision Auto, if the problem that is found is due to their incompetence in having someone work on my car who was not qualified to do so. Either that or a a full/partial refund of the money I paid them in good faith to work on my car, to be applied to any further needed repairs.
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