The Mechanic went by the name of Omar, which I now question if that is in fact his real name. My old father that barely makes enough to get by, had the car towed to the McR because it seemed like a small, local shop, that would understand a defenseless, foreign, old man and would try to help in a difficult situation. My father asked for me to call the mechanic and find out exactly what the issue is with the car in detail, since he would most likely misunderstand. When I called and asked if they had found the problem, the mechanic said (2 days later) it would cost over $400 for a dealer only part, plus it would take 5-5.5 hours to install; therefore, the total would come to around $860. I said my father can't afford that big of a repair and that I would try to find the part else where... After only a 5 minute search online, I found the part ranging anywhere from $58-$115 WITH express/next day shipping, plus I saw that there were people who were looking into replacing the part as well and found that it was tied to the alarm, which can be bypassed all together.
In excitement, that this would take a very big part off the cost of repair, I called the mechanic and told him what I had found. He said, great, bring the part and I will replace it. But when I asked if it could be bypassed, he said: "I don't know, bring me the bypass kit and I will try to install it." I was confused... I asked again, is it EVEN Possible to bypass the alarm module, he only replied..."Well, I don't know, just bring me the kit or the part and I will try to install it." This made me feel uneasy about having him under the hood of the car. I called around, mechanic friends said when replacing the part on other cars, they were usually able to do it within 1-2 hours... No way should an install take 5.5 hours. More confusion... I turned to the VW dealership to ask for elaboration on that since they've replaced the fuse that made the car not start last time... They advised me against the install of that particular part all together... They had said that the fuse was for a fuel pump and most likely had NOTHING to do with that and if I would bring the car back they will determine the problem accurately at no additional cost. I was extatic, I called AAA in order to get the car towed to the dealer, since the mechanic seems to have misdiagnosed the problem.
When AAA tow truck was pulling up, I called the mechanic and told him I would pay him the diagnostic fee in order to have the car towed at which point he got upset and said that since he spent 3.5 hours trying to figure out the problem, he would charge me the $95/hr rate for that time. I was in shock... Since he wasn't going to be getting the $860 from my father, he wanted to scam him out of $333 and perform no actual productive work on the car. I said that seemed unreasonable to say the least. The mechanic then said, Okay, I'll cut you a deal and I will charge you fr 1.5 hours of my time, so, just pay me $156 and I will release the car to the tow truck driver. I said, again, that's unreasonable, but I would be willing to pay that nonetheless. When I called him back with a card number, he said, no, you need to come in person and he will take cash only.
Again, I'm in shock! I'm out of town and my father is an older person who cannot just simply walk over 2 miles to pay him cash. I asked if he takes cards, and he said yes, but only if he can verify the signature on the back of the card, so, again, he told us to come down, then hung up. The AAA driver ended up leaving all together, because he refused to give up possession of the vehicle. I tried calling again and again and he just kept hanging up on me becoming more and more aggressive and rude every time I called pleading with him to just take the card or to allow the car to get towed today and my father, who lives only 2 miles away, would drop off cash the next day. I became so frustrated and distraught that I couldn't handle any more calls, when my fiance got on the phone and asked for him to please take the card number and stop being rude, he said that someone needs to just bring him cash, otherwise he won't release the car! Period! And once again, hung up! Upon calling back, he said he was tired of this and would just release the car and just to bring him cash tomorrow.
Upon contacting AAA, they called to verify and he once again told them he wouldn't release it! Was this guy serious?! Why was he jerking me around?! At this point, I got upset, I was ready to call the authorities because he was unlawfully keeping my property and refused to even take payment unless in person! My father finally got scarred of him tampering with the car further, and begged a neighbor to drive him to the shop. Upon getting there and paying with THE SAME CARD we had given him the number to earlier, the mechanic finally released the car! I will never again take my car there! He was trying to rip off my old, poor, defenseless father!!! I would strongly advise an investigation of this business and for other consumers to take their car else where! This omar character is a fraud and so is his business - mcr, in triangle, va!!!
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