After taking our cars to Scottsdale European for number of years and trusting the owner Ron Zarate for everything he told me over the years, Ron and his new service advisor Eddie breached my trust for attempting to cheat me twice in four week period.
First, I took my wife's Land Rover to get the battery replaced as the battery failed to hold charge. It is usual in hot Arizona climate. Batteries usually last no more than two or three years. When I arrived to Scottsdale European I told Eddie that I need a new battery installed. He said he would test the battery first before replacing it and proceeded to hook up the car on his scanner. After testing he told me that there was nothing wrong with the battery but I needed to replace the alternator. He quoted $705 for parts and labor. Since the Land Rover was just out of warranty I felt that I should take it to the dealer and perhaps get them to pay at least part of the repair. I drove the car straight to local Land Rover dealership and told them that I needed to get the alternator checked. After testing the alternator the dealership's technician told me that there was nothing wrong with the alternator and I only needed a new battery as I originally thought. Dealership charged me a total of $103 including taxes; and ever since than the car runs perfectly. If I stayed at Scottsdale European I would have Paid over $700 for a bogus repair. I felt this was a very poor way to treat a regular customer.
About four weeks after the above incident I needed a oil change service done on my 2008 Mercedes E350 as the service light was on for several days. I called Ron and asked him if he can do the oil change and reset the service light sensor. He said no problem and asked me to come right over. I drove my car to Scottsdale European and waited while they completed the oil change. However, they weren't able to reset the service light sensor. After playing with it for more than 30 minutes Ron said that his Mercedes software for the scanner only updated up to 2007 and didn't recognize 2008 model, but he had a friend in Phoenix with the proper software and if I took my car he could fix it in few moments. Since I didn't have time I told him I would call him back on that. The next day I called for Ron but Eddie answered the phone and told me to bring back my car and leave it there for three or four hours so they could run it to Phoenix to have the sensor reset. I agreed and called my wife to pick me up. A couple of hours later Eddie called me back and told me that he would charge me $60 to get the sensor reset. I felt that since I already paid for the service I shouldn't pay for this service again. I told Eddie that I wasn't prepared to pay. He than told me to come back and take my car without the reset of the sensor. I thought about it for a moment and told him to go ahead and do it, I'll pay for it but I wouldn't go back to their shop again. He than told me that if I wasn't going to be a continued customer they wouldn't bother to get the sensor reset even if I was to pay the $60.
I had my wife drive me back again to pick up my car, while I was picking up my keys I told Ron that I wouldn't be back. He just laughed and said "It's alright" as he was dismissing me as I wasn't so important to him or his business. Very arrogant!
Repair facilities like this are predators, looking to take advantage of unsuspecting public, especially if you are a woman and don't know much about cars.
Please be careful and think before taking your car to Scottsdale European, they'll take you to cleaners and will charge you for repairs without even performing them.
0 comments