To say that this experience was challenging was an understatement. I dropped my car off on TH 4/28 1st thing under the premise that they would have it up on lifts in a few hours. After them not calling me back ever, after I called them TUES 5/3, they finally told me that my PTU needed a new seal. I paid the deposit immediately assuming that would expedite the process and asked them to keep me updated throughout the process. 3 weeks later, my wife and I both called b/c I had heard nothing back. Apparently, they only got part of the order of parts, and 3 weeks later the entire order still wasn't there. I stressed that I could get the parts on eBay right then and was told it would be there any day. They told me that they would have it up right when they got the part. I asked them to PLEASE keep me updated...which they never did.
Well, here we are 6/7 (1.5 months after the car was dropped off and 2x as long as I was told it would be). I finally called them again b/c I had heard nothing back in weeks. Supposedly my car was ready at least the day before and no one had called me. I immediately drove up, paid the remainder, and drove my car off. There was a pre-existing noise that I was told the main guy and mechanics couldn't figure out (this will become important later).
Well, the first thing I noticed was that my interior was crawling with ants everywhere. This has NEVER happened with any of my cars before, and I do not keep food in the car. I was ready to live with it just to finally have my car back. Then, my gas tank was literally empty when it had to have a 1/4 of a tank when I dropped it off, so every ounce of gas was driven out of the car to the point I wasn't sure I could make the gas station. Upon driving off, the left front tire/wheel was making a noise that it was NOT making when it was dropped off. It ended up being a brake cover rubbing, but nevertheless, it was fine and secure when I dropped it off. Finally, there was an existing noise that I had been trying to troubleshoot that was 3x worse when I drove off.
After getting gas, I drove back. First, I received no real apology for my car interior crawling with ants,...only excuses about how it was probably the rain, even though that has never happened to my car before. Second, after test driving the car for almost 30 minutes again, they fixed the brake rubbing. However, now after giving them $1100 to fix a seal on the transfer case, the fluid being filled back up, and them not being able to diagnose the noise, 1 person tells me I need a new transfer case to the tune of almost $1900...the same part they had on, serviced, and reinstalled without apparently noticing any major other problems with it; at least 2 workers said they couldn't figure out the problem; and 1 other very reputable shop told me directly when I asked him prior to dropping it off at A &A that it was NOT the transfer case. I took my car home to consider my options.
Here is the summary:
- zero communication that was not initiated by me for 1.5 months when the job should've taken 1/2 that
- my interior crawling with ants w/ no real apology or offer to clean my interior
- existing problems unrelated to the job at hand were considerably worse after picking up the car
- being told I need to now replace a part that they had off the car and serviced when a set of eyeballs could've figured out if there was anything wrong w/ it
- 1 person telling me that I need to spend another $1900 even though their own people said they couldn't figure out the noise and other shop(s) told me it wasn't that read more
