Beware of this deceptive automotive shop .
Based on an ad on a local magazine advertising lower car repair costs than the dealer, I took one of my European made cars to this shop. It advertised lower labor rates than the dealer and original OEM parts and same diagnostic equipment as the dealer. Not a difficult decision to make on giving it a try. Originally I was content with the repairs performed since it was 20 to 30% lower than the dealer. Based on the latter, I decided to take my second European car there as I had hit a big pothole in the city on the front left side. The driving did not feel right.
European Repairs diagnosed the front right side was bent and needed to be sent out to another party to straighten it up. I was surprised since the left side wheel/rim was the one I hit the pothole with and felt was out of line but felt that the shop personnel were the experts and gave the OK to fix. After a few days passed I picked up the car and the driving was same or worse than before on the left side front wheel. Took it back explaining my concerns to the owner who stated that he would look into it and let me know. Not hearing from them for a few days, I left several telephone messages asking status but no return calls received. Showed up personally and saw my car "abandoned" on the lot completely ignored and covered in snow. Finally the owner stated that the problem was the shifting of the belt inside the tire "possibly due to hitting a pothole or going over a curb" (wasn't that the reason I had taken the car there?) and needed to purchase new tires. He made sure to state that the issue was the tire since the provided front-end alignment chart was fine and left front rim straightening had been necessary. They would not show me evidence of an outside order for a wheel/rim straightening. Curiously, the assistant later told me that on discussing the issue with the owner, the left front rim was the culprit.
Based on above, I questioned the owner as to the reason(s) he had not originally diagnosed the new found issue to which he admitted that he had not test-drive the car after the original repair.
Based on the no return calls from them, and the owner's and assistant's contradictory answers, on which wheel was the one repaired, I grew suspicious of the whole story and their real intentions/deception intentions.
Before leaving I made myself clear to the owner that I had grown hardly suspicious on their service, their poor handling of repairs and the after service process to which I reserved the right to contest their work.
Took the car, which I should have done from the first place, to the tire specialist and they diagnosed the tire, which had been switched to the right front side, was faulty and no signs of any rim straightening having been done on any of the rims. They re-balance all the tires and no more issues. No charge.
I also noticed that the In/Out odometer readings on the invoice were higher than what it read on dashboard. In addition, some of the repairs on my first car are re-surfacing after 9 months, which was told, are typical when no drive testing has been done after the repairs. After what I went through, would not take the car back there.
