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-permalink: "/posts/{{categories}}/{{slug}}"
-title: YABS - Yet Another Bad Shop
-categories:
-  - automotive
-tags:
-  - yabs
-  - sucky
-  - auto
-  - repair
-  - shops
-published_date: "2019-07-04 22:12:46 +0000"
-layout: post.liquid
-is_draft: false
-excerpt_separator: "\n\n\n"
----
-
-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.
-
-# Mom's Truck -- Balls Out
-
-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.
-
-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.
-
-# Friend's Minivan -- Crude Necessities
-
-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.
-
-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 *completely* 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. 
-
-# Monty, My 2013 Ford Focus -- Nut Allergy
-
-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.
-
-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. 
-
-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.
-
-# Ole Blue -- Tunnel Vision
-
-This was the real kicker. And this one doesn't really have any trailing
-narrative. I got four new tires on Ole 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 [check out Diamond Back's website]() 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. 
-
-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. 
-
-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.
-
-# Not All Bad
-
-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 Ole 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.
-
-
-