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author53hornet <atc@53hor.net>2021-07-28 10:58:58 -0400
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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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