I needed to pass my emissions test. They said I needed a new purge valve and charcoal canister. I had researched these parts and prices afterwards. The charcoal canister goes for $190 - $560. The purge valve goes for $75 to $110. Labor is included in these prices as they are pretty straight forward procedures. Not only was I charged over $1,500 for these parts with labor, they charged me an extra $175 to get it done before the weekend, only to call me after they gave me a price to tell me they weren't finished calibrating and more things could possibly pop up. Never in my life was I given a price point (let alone one that was extremely high) before the testing was done. Anyway, despite paying the extra $175 the car wasn't done before the weekend. & my check engine light popped back on a week after it was in their shop, as they told me it might. I won't be going back here. High prices and they give estimates halfway through their inspection only to warn you that more things may come up. Service: Transmission
John, it sounds like you're very unhappy the vehicle wasn't done when promised and also that the check engine light came back on, and I don't blame you because I'd be upset too. There also seems to have been some terrible miscommunication for which I'm sincerely sorry. As professionals we consider it our responsibility to clearly convey the information you need to make an informed and intelligent decision regarding your vehicle's repair and it appears we failed miserably. I will address each concern in the order you listed it. 1) Online pricing: you can find half-price quotes for anything in this world either online or by phone, this has always been the case and will likely never change. However, the truth is that these are not apples to apples comparisons and if you were to compare the "details" of these quotes with our invoice you'd quickly discover the discrepancies and also the fact that we performed other work on your vehicle that you failed to mention above. 2) Charged an extra $175: we've never charged extra to get work done by the weekend. The $175 was for scientific diagnostic testing. I recommend we listen to the phone call together and figure out how this became so misconstrued. The one thing we may have done right was to let you know the mechanic saw something that could potentially turn the light back on. When we diagnose an electronic or computer control system and find bad parts we can't possibly know with certainly whether everything else in the system is good until we replace the known bad parts and retest, sometimes this involves running through several drive cycles. As a matter of fact, this process is common in all electronic and computer networks and systems. Finally, your decision to not bring the vehicle back because you're upset may not be the best course of action. I would urge you to bring the car back because we're already involved in the diagnosis and repair process and would retest the system for free. Please call me because I believe we can resolve this, thank you! - Richard (Owner) 801-694-7936
- Steve's Automotive Specialists - Orem