Dont waste your time here. There are plenty of other places to bring your vehicle in SLC. I brought my 2006 sprinter in because the AC was blowing hot air. They charged me $300 to diagnose the issue. Ok. They told me I needed a new compressor. Now $1300. Ok. I picked up my vehicle and an hour down the highway the battery light comes on, the coolant light comes on and I lost power steering. I pulled over and called the shop. They paid for the tow back to the shop. (rightfully so). My serpentine belt was completely shredded. They put a new one on the next day and couldnt tell me why it happened. Keep in mind my van was running totally fine for thousands of miles before this. I travel and live full time in my van. They said were not sure it could be the tensioner and wanted to charge me $700 for a new one!! That part is $75. Why did I pay $300 to diagnose the issue and that was not brought up from the beginning?? So I drive away with the new belt and bam it happens again. After $500 tow and taking it to another shop to actually repair the issue, it was fixed. My experience was an absolute nightmare here. They are friendly but I don't think they know what they are doing. At least on sprinters. Go somewhere else unless you want a headache.
We're truly sorry your van broke down after we fixed the air conditioning system and it's because we sincerely cared that we were willing to pay for both the tow and the belt even though the failure was not related to a part we had replaced and it was not under any warranty. Furthermore, our team did explain to you that the tensioner was the most likely cause, otherwise they wouldn't have recommended it, and then you made the choice not to replace it. Now, the $300 you paid to have your A/C problem diagnosed included a lot more than just a diagnosis, as you already know it included repairing an electrical wiring problem that was preventing power from reaching the compressor. Once we had repaired the electrical issue and restored power we did indeed find the compressor had failed. If there had been any evidence at that time to suggest that the belt tensionser was bad we most certainly would have recommended that you replace it. However, without any evidence of a problem how could we have asked you to spend another $700? As a side note, due to the nature of some parts, such as a belt tensioner, they can intermittently fail and appear to be fine when they're working. Regarding the $75 part you found online, because parts are available in many different levels of quality, price alone isn't enough information to have an honest conversation about the value of what you're getting for your $75. Our goal is for each of our clients to have a 5-star experience and sometimes we do make mistakes, and when that happens we do whatever it takes to make it right. If you feel there is truly something we could have done better please call me directly at 801-694-7936, I would appreciate the chance to discuss it, thank you! - Richard (Owner)
- Steve's Automotive Specialists