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+ <article>
+ <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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