Me: "My car has been kept there for a month with no repairs done, and I had to do all the research and call the dealership for the right part myself. That's more work and time than I'd ever expect to do with an auto mechanic. I would like a discount."
Mr. Alvarez: "Your car is out front. You can come pick it up." *click*
Yes. He hung up on me, without any explanation. Very unprofessional. So, now I'm gonna pick up my car, take it to another mechanic, and write up an honest review about how I was mistreated by Alvarez Auto Center.
A month ago, I towed my car to the shop. Several days later they called me saying that my car's computer was damaged, and the Nissan dealership no longer makes the computer part that is damaged, and they won't make those parts for a while due to COVID shortages on computer chips. They said we could wait until those parts arrive and they will keep checking for the parts and let me know when they arrive, and they mentioned I could call a Nissan Dealership myself -- which was confusing. Why would I have to call a Nissan dealership when they can do that?
So I waited, and I told all my friends the reason my car was still in the shop was due to a COVID shortage. About once a week, I'd call Alvarez Auto to ask if the parts had arrived, and they kept saying no.
Yesterday-- a month later -- I was becoming convinced that Alvarez Auto had forgotten about my car sitting in there lot, and were no longer looking for a dealership that had the right part. So I called them, and they repeated that they can't find the part my car needs, and they suggested that I call the Nissan Dealership myself.
Today, I did. And Nissan said that the part I was looking for (a PCM -- Power-train Control Module) does not exist in my car. The part I'm likely looking for is an ECM (Engine Control Module).
I asked Alvarez if he had been looking for the wrong part all along. He said, "No. That guy at Nissan must be untrained and doesn't know what he's talking about."
So I called Nissan back to verify if there was a PCM in my car. Nissan said my mechanic was mistaken. I relayed the message to Alvarez.
Alvarez Auto called back 10 minutes later, and admitted that they had confused the name of the part with Nissan, and that they can order the part from Nissan in about a week and repair it for $1,500.
I told them I would like a discount because I had to wait for a month for them to find the right part that needed to be ordered, it wasn't due to a COVID shortage like they originally told me, and I had to do most of the work to find where to order the correct part. I'm convinced that if I hadn't done the work to find this part myself, my car would've sat at their shop for months on end.
The secretary said she would notify the owner and he would get back to me. Mr. Alvarez (Jose, I think), called me and asked what the problem was. I start to explain my story, and he cut me off 30-seconds in, saying he'd heard it all from his employees and asked what do I want. I said I wanted a discount. And as quoted above, he said, "Your car is out front of our shop. You can come pick it up." And hung up.
It's absurd. I can understand how they got misinformation from the Nissan dealership initially about the COVID shortage. But that doesn't excuse for them letting an entire month go by without doing anything to find the right part, and that, in the end, I was the one who found the right part. I find it completely reasonable for them to give me a discount for taking far too long to correctly diagnose my car and order the correct part.
My mother, who has worked with Alvarez Auto for years, was stunned by how they treated me. And we're committed to never even buy their gas again.
