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<h1>YABS: Yet Another Bad Shop</h1>
<p>
Today I received a text message from a local mechanic/auto shop asking
me to leave them a Google review. It was an automated message from a
shop that I know well and have used many times in the past.
Unfortunately, I have had several poor experiences (at the time they
seemed horrific) with them in the past year and I can honestly say
they'll never receive my business again. Now I could have used this as
an opportunity to leave them an anonymous nasty-gram but instead I'm
going to do the opposite. I'm going to write about everything I don't
like about them without telling you who they are or hiding who I am. Why
would I do that? Well for one, they were an excellent shop for many
years. I believe a recent change in management is to blame and I'm not
going to ruin their chances of making a comeback (because frankly I
would like for them to rebound). And secondly, I don't believe in
hiding. This page and its author are public knowledge. Now, in no
particular order: a sample of awful work from yet another bad shop.
</p>
<h2>Mom's Truck -- Balls Out</h2>
<p>
Mom's truck is a 2007 Chrysler Aspen that she loves very much. Dad does
a whole lot of work on it himself (the both of us do pretty much
everything we can in-house so long as we have the right equipment).
We've been taking her truck into this shop for years because we've found
them to be reliable, efficient, and economical. As I said before, at
some point in their recent history they changed hands -- either
ownership or management, I can't remember which. It was around this time
that Dad decided to overhaul Mom's front suspension. He replaced the
ball joints, tie rod ends, and a few other worn out parts. He then did
his own best-guess front-end alignment, but left everything loose so
that YABS could finish up the alignment and tighten everything. Now read
that again because it's important. Dad did his own alignment in our
driveway (as a cost-saving measure), got it decently close, but then
instructed this shop to finish the job and tighten everything up.
</p>
<p>
Now here's where things fall apart. This shop full of professional
mechanics took one look at the alignment Dad did and decided it was good
enough. Hooray for Dad and supernatural mechanical skills, but the shop
didn't even touch the car. They called Dad back to come pick up the car,
telling him it was already good to go. They never tightened a thing,
even after Dad explicitly told them everything was loose and needed to
be tightened but they didn't to touch a thing. So what happened? Dad
picked up the car assuming everything was A-OK and Mom drove the car for
about a week before the two front tires wore down so badly they had to
be replaced immediately. Everything fell out of alignment as things
loosened further and further and the tires wore unevenly until they
ripped themselves to shreds. The worst part? These weren't tires with 6+
years on them. These were brand new tires. So YABS got to install two
more front tires and then tighten everything. They did not cover the
costs, presumably because it was Dad who had done the alignment. Strike
one.
</p>
<h2>Friend's Minivan -- Crude Necessities</h2>
<p>
A good friend of ours drives a 2005-2006 Chrysler Town and Country. It
was actually Mom's car before upgrading to the Aspen (the minivan was
perfect in every way but it couldn't tow). Our friend has been using
YABS for just a long as we have. Once again, things started getting
kinda strange after several years of good service. She started getting
charged extra for simple repairs she had them doing very consistently.
They also started tacking on extra items for routine jobs. She would go
in for an inspection and they would claim she needed a new Part X. Now
this in and of itself isn't an uncommon or even strange request to make.
As cars age they need things and sometimes you don't know what they need
until you visit a professional mechanic. They remember the things you
forget about.
</p>
<p>
One day they did all the forgetting, and they forgot a pretty important,
nay, crucial engine component: motor oil. Our friend took her minivan
into YABS for a routine oil change. Good diligence on her part. And
she's not the type to do that change on her own. She's too old to get
under a car anyway (no offense!). So she took the van to YABS and they
did a job they've done thousands of times: drain oil, replaced the
filter, and gave her back the car. Easy peasy right? Now I know I'm not
a professional but I'm thinking someone might have wanted to
double-check that several quarts of synthetic had left the shop shelf
and gone into the car they just backed out of the bay door. Now this
part of the story I'm a little fuzzy on so take it with a large, heaping
grain of salt, but I can say for a fact that they failed to
<em>completely</em> refill the engine oil before returning her car.
Supposedly there was enough in there such that the minivan survived long
enough for them to realize it before she drove off.
</p>
<h2>Monty, My 2013 Ford Focus -- Nut Allergy</h2>
<p>
I decided to give YABS another try after a long leave of absence. I
needed new tires all around for my daily driver. I also needed an
inspection and an alignment. A simple set of tasks for any shop (you see
where this is going). I initially tried to go to another local shop but
they were all out of the tires I was looking to get so I caved and went
to YABS. About halfway through the job they gave me a call and told me
they had some bad news. They said that there were some issues getting
the lug nuts off my wheels and that they had all been stripped, warped,
or otherwise destroyed in the process. They told me the only fix was to
get new ones from a supplier in town for about $160. Keep in mind the
entire job (inspection, tires, etc.) was going to cost $650.
Furthermore, dad and I had no problem getting those lug nuts off and
back on again just a few weeks prior when we changed the transmission
fluid.
</p>
<p>
They didn't have an explanation that I could reconcile with. Joe Schmo
over the phone told me this is typical of Fords and Chryslers these days
and that they'd like to keep my lug nuts for a class action lawsuit
they're participating in. Now why on Earth would any sane mechanic, with
full knowledge they are dealing with a defective set of lug nuts, take a
high power impact wrench to those wheels without speaking with the owner
about it first? Smelled fishy to me honestly. But what was I gonna do?
Dad went out and grabbed twenty new lug nuts for cheaper than they
wanted to sell them for.
</p>
<p>
Oh the tires were Cooper GTs by the way and they're amazing. They're
smooth and quiet and came with a very nice warranty. They're also made
in the USA, which is very important to me. 10/10 would recommend.
</p>
<h2>Ol' Blue -- Tunnel Vision</h2>
<p>
This was the real kicker. And this one doesn't really have any trailing
narrative. I got four new tires on Ol' Blue, my 1953 Hudson Hornet. They
were delivered to our house: four brand new Diamond Back wide white wall
radials. Super nice tires, with a super nice road hazard warranty (as a
side note I totally recommend you
<a href="https://dbtires.com/">check out Diamond Back's website</a> if
you're looking for white wall radials). So we brought the car to YABS
with the new tires and asked them to mount them on the car.
</p>
<p>
When we went to pick up the car everything looked great and I drove off.
I made it all the way to the Monitor Merrimack Memorial Bridge Tunnel
before I heard a loud rattling and a bang. I looked in the rear-view
mirror and swore I could see my precious hubcap rolling off to eternity.
When they replaced the hubcaps they didn't fully press one of them on.
And it's not that difficult. These hub caps are very secure when pressed
on the rim, we've never had problems with them. Oh and we're talking
about Hudson hubcaps that came with the car, and aren't super easy to
find. And I couldn't stop to get out and grab it because I was right at
the mouth of the tunnel. We went back later to try and see it but we
couldn't. And it was probably destroyed getting thrown from the car
anyways.
</p>
<p>
The worst part is, the hubcap took a chunk out of my white wall on its
way out from under the wheel skirt. So the day I got the tires I had to
take a picture and redeem my road hazard warranty. Luckily, Diamond Back
were true to their word and sent me a new one no questions asked. The
beat up tire is now my spare.
</p>
<h2>Not All Bad</h2>
<p>
Like I said before, YABS used to be a very nice shop with friendly
people that did good work. And they didn't charge exorbitant prices for
their work. Times have changed, and I believe management has as well.
I've stopped visiting their shop completely. I found a new one that I
trust and will be taking all of my cars to. They've already done a
safety inspection on Ol' Blue and didn't put up a fuss. They're clean
and friendly and don't seem to be out to screw me. But as with
everything else, your mileage may vary.
</p>
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