A couple of months ago I took my truck to the Precision Tune at Western/Buck Jones to get some brake pads replaced. It was Friday, I was leaving town that afternoon on a 200 mile trip, and it was 90+ degrees so I said fuck it and decided to eat the shop costs instead of doing it myself. I dropped the truck off and came back about 6 hours later to pick it up.

I ended up arguing with the guy behind the counter because he tacked on $25 for "shop fees" which is some fucking bullshit. Their parts prices were already higher than if I got OEM Toyota parts, so I already felt like I was paying for far more than just the labor; but the $25 for "shop fees" takes the cake. Anyway, I'm filing away all my receipts tonight and I find the diagnostic report that they gave me at the shop.

First thing that I notice...
The transmission fluid looks bad and needs to be replaced at a cost of $109.90. That's pretty fucking funny since Jeepman and zxappeal swapped it less than a year prior (less than 10k miles ago) and I had done one "drain and fill" since. That tranny is full of pristine red synthetic fluid. Lying faggots.

Then I notice their estimate for the leaking axle seal...
For some reason it includes $60.00 for machine shop services.
I was aware that it was leaking and had already made plans for Jeepman or zxappeal to replace it. Jeepman did the work a few weeks ago, so maybe he can answer to what kind of machine shop services might be required, but all I know is that he swapped the axle seal, it isn't leaking now, and he didn't take my truck to a machine shop while he had it. I'm willing to concede if there is a good reason for machine shop services, but it really has me wondering.

Of course there is the customary "fuel injection cleaning" and "intake cleaning" at $109.90 as well. Another service I opted out of.

This is the same shop that replaced the spark plugs on my girlfriend's car and put the new ones in less than hand tight. It was losing compression around the plugs, throwing a CEL, and would barely idle when she got to my house. Thanks guys, for fucking up my Saturday afternoon.

The last time I had been there myself was about four years ago. I had borrowed my dad's Ram to move into my house and the rear pads started grinding. Since I was busy with the move and not trying to do the work I took it up there. They broke a lug stud. No biggie...I could see that it broke on the way off by the way the metal was twisted. Still pretty lame that they didn't replace it while they were doing the work. Anyway, I go in, pay for the rotors/pads, and they hand me the keys and tell me to have a nice day. No mention whatsoever that they broke a stud. What reputable shop would send you on your way with 4 out of 5 lug nuts and no mention of the problem?

Fuckin' shops! It's a shame. You try to support these guys. You think you're doing yourself a favor by choosing not to get dirty, and they try to take advantage of you. This is the closest shop to my house, the one that I can easily jog or bike home from, and there is no way I'm giving them another chance.

In any case...Post good and bad shop stories in this thread. If they're local call them out or throw them some praise.

btw...Good shop story...I was very impressed with Shade Tree Garage the time I took my car to them. If you need BMW work and can deal with the haul to North Raleigh it is worth your while to take your car to them. Swedish Imports on 15-501 in Durham always treated me right when I owned a Saab. I was much less impressed by David O'Neal here in Raleigh. They're good for any Saab/Volvo work you might need. Jeepman and zxappeal have both done good work for me and I'd recommend them to anyone as well.

[Edited on September 14, 2009 at 10:56 PM. Reason : ;l]

9/14/2009 10:48:14 PM

exactly why i try and do my own work now.

9/14/2009 10:56:47 PM

is it just me or are jeepman and zxappeal getting a lot of cock jockage?

9/14/2009 11:08:07 PM

I really don't want to do anything other than fluids, pads, and filters anymore. Ever since I bought a house there are always at least 50 things that need to be done...It's just that the vehicle issues jump to the front of the list since they tend to be pretty crucial (you're either broke, or you're going to do major damage if you keep driving it as is). I really thought I was treating myself by letting someone else slap a set of rotors and pads on there; but I was wrong. I'd rather lose money from missing work and do it myself than deal with that kind of crap again.

[Edited on September 14, 2009 at 11:10 PM. Reason : ll]

9/14/2009 11:08:45 PM

jeepman and zxappeal did nothing to your rig and took your money!

9/14/2009 11:14:17 PM

Nah...Because when I did that drain & fill on the tranny fluid that shit looked primo. I thought about just pouring it back in. If my timing belt breaks or my water pump shits the bed they got some explaining to do though.

9/14/2009 11:22:20 PM

Quote :

"A couple of months ago I took my truck to the Precision Tune at Western/Buck Jones to get some brake pads replaced. It was Friday, I was leaving town that afternoon on a 200 mile trip, and it was 90+ degrees so I said fuck it and decided to eat the shop costs instead of doing it myself. I dropped the truck off and came back about 6 hours later to pick it up. "

i dont need to read any further. thanks for the cliffs . youre an idiot

9/14/2009 11:32:13 PM

^^lol. tr00 tr00. O yea fuck kanye west.

[Edited on September 14, 2009 at 11:34 PM. Reason : ;]

9/14/2009 11:33:32 PM

Quote :

"If my timing belt breaks or my water pump shits the bed they got some explaining to do though. "

actually no they dont

9/15/2009 1:40:55 AM

Joel, don't be hatin' on Skack...he's good folks. hey, if his shit shits the bed, and it's something I did, I'd want to know about it.

I don't know how many shops I've dealt with who regularly take folks' moneys...and the general public is none the wiser. Hell, how do you think half the shops around make their money. It's all the shit they tack onto your basic diagnostic, or oil change, or other such stuff. The funny thing is, they've given a lot of us a bad name because now an unbelievable number of people think that we're all trying to pull something on them when we strongly recommend that they have their timing belt replaced...or have the fluid regularly changed in their piece of shit Chrysler car.

I have an unbelievably hard time letting somebody else touch any of my cars...because I don't trust them. There are a select few...but they're damn few. bad thing is, my time is money, and there are a lot of other things I'd rather be doing now. Luckily, I drive a boring Accord, and I don't have to do much to it.

9/15/2009 2:44:04 AM

I was just joking on the idea that they might not have put on the new timing belt or water pump. Dan actually showed me the old parts after he swapped em though...The old belt was starting to show some wear and the the old pump was starting to leak around the weep hole iirc. And if it comes apart because of a defective part I'd pay them to swap it again...Not their fault if the part is defective.

[Edited on September 15, 2009 at 9:34 AM. Reason : s]

9/15/2009 9:30:07 AM

You do recall correctly. LOL

9/15/2009 10:01:07 AM

yeah a friend of mine drives a V6 Altima (VQ35) and it threw a code for one of the camshaft position sensors. He took it to a Firestone and they wanted to change both sensors and the crank angle sensors. I mean I can understand covering your ass to an extent (making sure the car doesn't come back) but that just seemed like profit taking. The TSB I found for it did not call for replacing all three sensors.

9/15/2009 10:49:21 AM

I ran by firestone in archdale(outside High Point) to get a new tire put on. I only went there because my donut looked like a fucking scooter tire and this place was closest. It's only a tire, right? How bad can they fuck it up?

Well, first off, the dude tacks a bunch of shit on the cost of the tire(warranties and what not) without asking me, even though I told him this was just going to be on long enough for me to get a matching tire on a yet to be aquired spare 14" 10 spoke 99 sentra wheel (holla anyone?) and throw the one he was giving me in the back as a spare. Thus, spending 20 bucks on insurance and shit was retarded and unnecessary.

However, that isn't even the main thing. I brought them the wheel with the blown tire, so all they had to do was put their tire on and mount the fucker, then throw my spare back in the trunk. It took them about 30-45 minutes to accomplish this, though no one else was there. Finally the dude comes out and calls me over. "Well, most everything looks good. You battery is solid and all your lights work. I didn't see an oil change sticker, but the fluid looks like it's due. Also, your car is throwing a code. If you want to pay $X dollars, we'll check that out for you and give you a quote today. "

I mean, I guess they are just trying to whore all their services, but I was obviously a guy that came in there know what was up ad asking for a simple service. If they could give me what I asked, I would happily pay them their 50-60 bucks and go on my way. It's just irritating that they were poking around under my hood when they had no business being there. Like most of you here, I feel very untrusting of others working on my shit, so for all I know, they could create problems rummaging around in there just to get a couple hundred buck out of me. I most certainly won't be back.

9/15/2009 12:29:51 PM

These were all 4+ years ago...
87? Ford thunderbird came in with a blown motor. The hoods on these cars are hinged so the hood will open to completely vertical. The tech opened the hood all the way, then lifted the car.
Ran the hood into the ceiling, bent it downt he middle, and broke the windshield.
The shop covered all the expenses to repair the car. Then they covered all the labor costs assocciated with the motor replacement. They only asked the customer to cover parts cost.
He refused, and through mechanic lein, they took possession of the car. (there may be a few innaccuracies, but that is pretty much how it went down)

Same tech was doing an AC repair. It had a leak somewhere. He put dye in the system and charged it. He came back the next day and forgot that he charged the system. Pulled the shrader valve, and blasted himself with dye, as well as the ceiling. For two weeks he was two face, with half of his face a greenish color.

Same tech didn't tighten the bolts on a wheel. Family was driving down the road when the wheel came off. They were fine, but the wheel was damaged, as well as front suspension and fender.
He was let go after that.

9/15/2009 12:33:28 PM

I was just thinking about one of your coworkers at AAA. Bill DiFranco. Wonder whatever happened to him? That fucker was off the chain.

9/15/2009 12:35:55 PM

BillDo. He opened his own shop with another one of the techs last I heard.
It was catering to the hispanic croud.

9/15/2009 4:45:41 PM

About a month ago i went to the Jiffy Lube on Western to get an inspection. The fucker starts changing my oil, so i get pissed (oil was fresh Mobil) and end up getting a free full synthetic oil change....

I made out good though, the guy in the bay next to me had his windshield gouged by his wiper blade arms. Apparently the "tech" was replacing the blades and just put the arms against the windshield while he did an inspection. Well, he ended up turning on the wipers and fucked up the windshield. The owner was livid

Another guy came in while we were both being dis-serviced, i told him he may want to take his car somewhere else....

[Edited on September 16, 2009 at 1:38 PM. Reason : ]

9/16/2009 1:38:11 PM

Jiffy Lube will never ever get any of my money.

9/16/2009 2:22:51 PM

^^ How sure are you that they actually put in the synthetic?

9/16/2009 2:23:58 PM

oh i watched that fucker grab the bottles and pour them into my motor, all 6 of them.........fuckers

9/16/2009 2:31:52 PM

Jiffy Lube (Western blvd) was real anal about my Porsche passing inspection. I took it across the street (Meineke), and the guys there just chuckled and passed me with no problems. I really like those guys at the Meineke shop there on western. They do good work, very resonable pricing, and honest guys. The manager there is a real hoot to chat with

So if you need a quick oil change, some minor exhaust work, etc., take it to Meineke off Western Blvd, you won't be disappointed.

9/16/2009 2:54:17 PM

They beat the shit out of Midas, too.

9/16/2009 2:59:27 PM

Midas used to be awesome. That's the only place my parents used to take their cars. But they went downhill. I used to like the guys in the Midas shop because they would let me stand there and watch (I made sure to be out of their way and not talk to them ) them work. I was always fascinated by that kind of stuff for some reason...

I used to trust precision tune too... Not anymore. Especially since they started hiring punk kid 18 year olds that have no respect or courtesy for other people's vehicles I walked in to the PT at the end of Western near Jones Franklin, saw all the kids working in the garage bay and immediately left to take my businessness elsewhere. So dissappointing

[Edited on September 16, 2009 at 3:12 PM. Reason : .]

9/16/2009 3:11:54 PM

When are you shit-for-brains car noobs gonna learn?? STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH CHAIN SHOPS!! That goes for tire stores, quick lubes, body shops, everything. Every time you will get better, cheaper service from local independant businesses.

9/16/2009 6:53:46 PM

So... I shouldn't go to discount tires?

9/16/2009 9:09:53 PM

For A/C, cooling and even brakes, I have had very good luck with they guys at North Raleigh Radiator repair. Professional, honest mechanics

9/16/2009 9:10:46 PM

Quote :

"Every time you will get better, cheaper service from local independant businesses."

Dude...I'll agree with this...MOST of the time. Every now and then, the big tire chains will have better deals on rubber. But the small shops usually don't charge exhorbitant fees for mounting and balancing and all that horseshit.

9/16/2009 10:35:48 PM

Never, ever, ever go to any Just Tires.
$40 PER TIRE to mount any low profire tire, and an additional $8 PER TiRE to balance them.
That is what they told me when I asked.

9/16/2009 10:43:57 PM

That's Just Retarded.

9/16/2009 10:51:43 PM

Quote :

"Every now and then, the big tire chains will have better deals on rubber."

They buy their tires from the same distributors as the independants, and in my experience indy shops are happy to match pricing. The only places I can think of who buy direct from the manufacturer are warehouse clubs and discount stores like walmart and kmart.

9/16/2009 10:59:22 PM

Yeah I went in Just Tires one time to get a single tire mounted. He quoted me $45 I think. I said, no I don't want all four done, just the one. He said "that is just for one" and furrowed his eyebrows. True story.

------------------------------------------
So did you see this...did you hear about this....There's a 35% tariff on chinese tires now. Cheng Shit said "fuck it" and stopped selling in America altogether earlier this year.

[Edited on September 16, 2009 at 11:21 PM. Reason : .]

9/16/2009 11:18:50 PM

There is a Merchants 1 mile from my house and I figured for an inspection they were good enough.

When I show up to pick it up, he claims the shocks are leaking in the front and the power steering pump is leaking and the total charge to fix all that would be $1200 and he could have me out by the end of the day.

I wiped the pump and lines down and took it to whatever that places is on Tryon near Kildaire (beside the Chic Fil A) and passed no problem.

It turns out one of the lines coming out of the pump was leaking a little, but not the entire pump as had been claimed by Merchants.

I should have known, when I had my S4 I took it to the Merchants on Maynard in Cary for some new tires and watched one of their dumbasses completely fail with the clutch and let the front end roll over a parking block (car was sitting on an incline) gouging the piss out of the underside of the front fascia. I also found a nice scratch in the trunk area which I know they did as I had them swap the spare for one on the car. I got the manager to pay cut something off the tires for the scratch on the back and insurance covered the fascia damage. Fuckers.

9/16/2009 11:32:14 PM

Plenty of independents will fuck you over just as well as anyone else. Hence the need for recommendations on good shops. Optmus, I know you have about as much experience as anyone on this website, so if there is probably a lot you could add to this thread if there is anyone you'd like to recommend.

For inspections I always go to the Chatham St. location of http://www.ncstateinspection.com/. They seem to do a full inspection, but they have never come up with any b.s. either. It's usually in and out in 20 minutes as long as there aren't more than a few cars waiting outside the bay doors to be inspected. I'd say I've done about 7-10 inspections there.

[Edited on September 16, 2009 at 11:39 PM. Reason : l]

9/16/2009 11:34:04 PM

The only thing I ever go to Jiffy Lube for is for inspection, I frickkin love them. The NAPA on Walnut failed my Lincoln on 14 counts including "Loose Rear-View Mirror" and "Incorrectly Routed PCV" LOL!!! I took it immediately across the street to Jiffy and they passed it in less than 10mins Also they passed the 300ZX I bought for 300 dollars that should have been scrapped years ago and very obviously someone had tried to murder with some off roading... but yea for oil changes they can go to hell

9/17/2009 1:03:28 AM

Welsh...that you?

9/17/2009 1:08:35 AM

Arr, ye found me!

9/18/2009 10:36:07 AM

Yeah I love Jiffy Lube. Had one fail inspection there for a laundry list of reason. I took it home, washed it, brought it back to the same store and it passed. Haha.

9/18/2009 1:32:54 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=390464

Looking back, it's not that big of a deal and 95% of the scratch buffed out. I still hate those assholes. Offered to clean my battery cables for $30.00.

9/18/2009 5:14:47 PM

Well I figured a good shop everyone has had good experience with in the raleigh area would have been stated by now:

Gower's Brake & Alignment on S Saunders St, behind 'The Truck Store' or something like that heading south of the beltline and past all the gas stations. Cheap prices on standard and common stuff, alignment, mount/balance, etc. Prices on replacement parts are ok, but the guys there are good and willing to work with you. They aren't spit and polished so if you're looking for one of those nice dealership lounges or TV's to watch while you wait you'd probably want to go somewhere else. These guys are the best bang for the buck, I couldn't care less about the extravagant shit.

Merchant's charges out the ass for some stuff, but I know a few (if not all) will price match on some services. One manager said he would price match for services and parts to anyone I could find in town (Burlington, NC). The ONLY reasons I ever try to go there is for inspection or a tire patch now. The biggest thing they had/have going for them is their hours, open on weekends is a pretty big thing for me. I've had no issue standing outside the garage bays making sure they don't fuck up or forget things on past services. Luckily I've found a few good local shops near Charlotte that are open on weekends.

Watch your tire pressure wherever you go when you get new tires mounted or a tire worked on, I've seen various places pump them up to some random pressure a lot and then balance them. Tire Center in burlington used to be extremely cheap, fast, and good. Last time I went, they had literally over half a dozen guys all over 3-4 cars at a time for basic brake or oil service. Each tire was mounted and balanced by a different guy, which sucks as far as consistency goes but the price was cheap and they were knocking it out fairly quickly. Before I even got out the parking I noticed a tire was really low and then saw another that had a weight that was loose. Checked them all, something like 16, 25, 56, 60psi. Showed the manager; he went ahead and fixed the pressures and rebalanced them, all of them were waaay off the original weight size and placement after putting them at the correct tire pressure. Balancing a wheel at 16psi and balancing a wheel at 35psi makes a whole hell of a lot of difference, especially larger sizes. One thing I hate is to get tires balanced, and still have the same damn vibration in the wheel.

9/19/2009 12:35:20 AM

Took my Cherokee to Jiffy Lube on Greenville Blvd. on the Evans St. side after changing oil, filter, rotors, and pads. Reiterated to them to make sure they didn't dump that fresh Mobil One. Took about a half hour for the inspection and they were going to fail it on the wiper blades. They said they could change them and pass my inspection, but I told them that I would do it and be right back to be inspected again. They passed the inspection then.

Greenville is weird though, there's two Jiffy Lubes and a P-T all within a block on the same street.

9/19/2009 1:27:27 AM

Quote :

"I have an unbelievably hard time letting somebody else touch any of my cars...because I don't trust them. There are a select few...but they're damn few. bad thing is, my time is money, and there are a lot of other things I'd rather be doing now."

I agree. Although I've done everything to my truck up to this point when the time comes Mike Ellis will be doing the work. Few on here know him and will understand.

9/20/2009 9:24:30 PM

I just took my car to Tireplus for an alignment, and the service guy there told me I need an oil change because my oil is black.

10/5/2009 12:58:48 PM

Johnson Lexus for State Inspection.

They washed the car and performed the inspection for $30 all in an hour. Yay. I like their service dept.

10/5/2009 2:03:09 PM

lmao at black oil,

took my new gmc back a few months ago to the dealership to have the passenger door lock solenoid replaced under warranty (they wouldn't just order the part for me), and the guy comes out two minutes after pulling my truck in and says: you need an oil change bad, its black as tar

i told him i had changed the oil two days ago, he shows me the dipstick, and i tell him its a fuckin diesel, he was still confused, so i just grabbed my keys, took the new door lock solenoid, and told the service manager that dipshit wasn't going to touch my truck and left

bump for tommy at mission valley 66, worked for him for years, does damn good work at reasonable prices there, and has let me and Jeepman use his tire machine and balancer religiously over the years since i left there

10/5/2009 10:00:55 PM

My family has used Noble Automotive on Guess Rd. in north Durham for 10+ years, we've always been very happy with the work they've done for our vehicles.

10/6/2009 5:59:11 PM

and what was it called ten years ago? cause it wasnt noble automotive then IIRC

10/8/2009 8:29:02 PM

oh yeah noble is that shithole place attached to the BP station? the place that left the c-clip out of the differential on the vista cruiser and on the way home the entire axle decided to wander out 3 feet from where it was supposed to be.

10/8/2009 8:31:10 PM

I think 3/4 of the people in this thread might be queer. Then again if you are consulting TWW for automotive advice, that says alot in itself.

Jiffy Lube, Precision Tune........any of those 'fast food' repair shops are going to try and up sale services. If you don't have any history there, they are probably going to throw every service at you they offer. Hopefully they at least give some kind of check to what service they are offering.....if possible. They don't know anything about your car though, if you've never been there.......so of course they are going to try and bring your car up to date by their standards (not knowing what has been done recently). If you HAVE to take it to one of these places for whatever reason, you just need to be prepared to get offered all of these services.......it is GOING to happen, thats how they stay in business. Its actually the name of the game for every repair shop, dealership or not........by the up sale. Honesty is the actual question though......but if some of these shops offer you something, how the hell are they supposed to know you just had something done? (if it can't be determined easily by visual).

All that is about as dumb as the post above about the oil change. Sure, diesel oil is nasty........and synthetic oil turns black in about 100 miles. How the hell is that dealer supposed to know you just had an oil change? Even if I had one an hour before, at least I knew they were looking my car/truck over.......checking fluids. You don't have to buy shit......guess you dumbasses can't comprehend that either.....

10/9/2009 2:38:08 PM

Quote :

"All that is about as dumb as the post above about the oil change. Sure, diesel oil is nasty........and synthetic oil turns black in about 100 miles. How the hell is that dealer supposed to know you just had an oil change? Even if I had one an hour before, at least I knew they were looking my car/truck over.......checking fluids. You don't have to buy shit......guess you dumbasses can't comprehend that either....."

We do comprehend that.
Which is why it's so comical when a shop tries to take our money and gets called out on it.
It's one thing to "offer a service."
It's completely different when you tell a customer that their car is in need of a service when you either can't tell or know damn well that the car doesn't need that service.

People should be less accepting of those who take advantage of others. We can't all know everything; hence the need to trust in others. It's sad that this kind of crap is so common that it seems acceptable to some of you.

10/9/2009 2:54:12 PM