I returned home to MN late one night after traveling to/from St. Louis, thru a blizzard/sub-sub zero temperatures without heat. I elected to take the car to Tires Plus, which is a few blocks from home to get an idea what is wrong. The car was not overheating—heat just wasn't blowing out of the vents. I was in luck, their master mechanic was working today!
I receive a call that according to the master mechanic the repairs will cost over $500. After further questioning, I'm told that the anti-freeze was low. They did me a HUGE favor by performing an electrical component, coolant flow & component check... To tell me the antifreeze was low. Albeit they found a "bad" elbow in some line that's behind the alternator—which BTW, "the alternator doesn't appear to have been touched. (Meaning, I should replace this when they take it out to fix the elbow?) Also, the radiator cap needs to be replaced and there are some foreign bodies in the antifreeze. This is SO high tech, as a woman, I am just befuddled. (NOT)
I asked whether the antifreeze wouldn't have been the first thing they'd check and after a few run around responses, I got the answer. Yes—the antifreeze was the problem. That's the answer I was looking for. What I got was a ridiculous work up... I simply wanted to know WHY the heat wasn't working. That should have been the first call I got—"your antifreeze is low & there appears to be a leak... Would you like us to find the leak?"
This just confirms my distrust of this store. On 11/17 I received a quote on a couple of new tires for a car I was selling. GREAT PRICE! Two weeks later when I went to make an appointment to have them put on..."Oh, sorry, these are on backorder and won't be in until next spring." For an extra $100 they could take care of me. Yeah, right.
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