Sigh... what to say... While Sweet Pea went to some lengths to correct their original mechanical mistakes, their lack of professionalism and protocol made my experience with them so much worse that it would have been. To start, let me say my father contributed to the overall problem, but his mistakes would have been "neither here nor there" if Sweet Pea had any procedure in place.
My car was starting to have transmission problems, but it was about that time for the car. I asked my father if he knew of any Acura mechanics that handled transmissions, that wouldn't try to take advantage of me as a woman. My father, in his typical fashion, took over the process. In an effort to help him feel useful, I let him. He recommended Sweet Pea, and offered to take my car to them himself. I told him to have them contact me with the diagnosis and my options (and their costs). I assumed it would be their policy to reach out, anyway, as I am the owner of the car. I had already researched approximately how much the work SHOULD cost. They discussed with my father, and accepted the car from him. To be clear, my father has no ownership of my car. I am the sole owner of it. As well, I would be paying for the work. I never got a call, I never got a breakdown of the work and the costs, I was never even asked for approval to do the work. They accepted a car from a man who didn't own that car. From when the appointment was made, they didn't have any availability, and it would be a MONTH before I got my car back. The first time. More on that later. As well, the transmission work was outsourced to someone who still hasn't been identified to me. I hammered on my father for documented information on what was to be done to my car, and the costs. He insisted he didn't receive any and held firm to the information he communicated to me from Sweet Pea. THIS IS NOT WHERE HE SHINES. Upon finally receiving notification the car would be finished and ready for pickup, and informed the total was $1000 more than my father told me it would be, I requested an invoice with the information of work done. I got a plain invoice with a line item for "Transmission Rebuild" and the total. Not what I asked for.
2 days after having my car back, the engine light went on. Not the maintenance light, the engine light. I called them, took the car all the way back up to them from Littleton, and they speculated to what it was, re-set the light and sent me on my way. 2 days after that, the light went on again. I brought it back up, they researched the problem and replaced something that apparently hadn't been replaced in the original work, gave it back to me a few days later. ON MY WAY HOME FROM THEM, THE LIGHT WENT ON AGAIN! I had to hand it off to my father to take back, they had it for another few days. Replaced something else that hadn't been done originally. On my father's way home from picking it up, the light went on for the 4TH TIME! He brought it back, and they had it for about a week. Again, replacing things that hadn't been replaced but this illusive transmission person. To their credit, they did all that under the warranty of the original work. As they should. All-in-all, I was without my car for 2 months because of this. AND, while the lead mechanic informed me he would be driving my car for a few days to ensure the light would not go back on, he did not replace the gas he used. This company clearly does not clean the cars it works on, but to not replace the gas if you use for your own driving? While I'm without my car?
I've had it back for a few weeks, and things seem to be okay. That said, I have requested MULTIPLE TIMES documentation for all the work done to my car, and the cost breakdown for everything, because I need the records for my car! Still haven't been given a single thing. They assure me it's all on the way, but have excuses every time I follow up. It almost seems like they don't do this frequently enough to know how to do it. I can't believe they don't do this for other customers.
In the end, I can't recommend this place. I was a wreck the entire time my car was with them. Even if the work done was top notch, they made no effort to communicate the work and the costs with me. They didn't even attempt to get my approval to work on the car. This lack of professionalism leads a person to believe it's prevalent in ALL areas of their business. They had no reason to expect I would or should trust them. And as such, they should have made it their priority to make sure I was well informed, and comfortable with the course of action and associated costs. They don't seem to care. read more
