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| - I've been taking my BMW and Nissan here for about 3 years. In the past year, business seems to have gone up to the point that they CANNOT MAINTAIN PREVIOUS LEVELS OF GOOD OLD FASHIONED "MOM AND POP" CUSTOMER SERVICE. Maybe the perfect 5 star rating here has something to do with that, causing business to explode. However, when this happens a business either expands, or customer service declines. Precision imports does not seem to desire expansion, and their customer service has become inconsistent and disorganized.
Trust is vital with your mechanic, and Frank/Al broke trust with me in a few areas. I trusted them up until the past year. Earlier this year Al diagnosed my Nissan with a "pinhole oil lead causing oil to pool in the back of my engine, replacement required around $500. It's a very common problem in this model." I have not seen any oil leaking from the Nissan, but they assured me "just wait it's going to leak."
Later this year, the service engine light came on in my BMW. I trusted that Precision Imports would run appropriate diagnostics. They did not. Instead, they insisted that I had "run my car too low on gas, which caused the light to come on" and rebuked me not do let the gas run too low in the future. (I had not recently let my tank get too low, and it had been low in the past but never caused problems with the service engine light). They got the service engine light off, and charged me $45.
A few days later, the service engine light came back on. I thought, ok, the problem must be more serious or a new problem. I brought my car in. After several days of waiting, I called to a rude response that they were "extremely busy and just hold on we'll call you when it's ready!" I let it go, and let a few more days go by. I called back again, and was returned "It's been ready come and get your car!" When I pointed out the poor customer service politely, I was returned with "Sorry we've been swamped."
When I came to pick my car up, the reason given as to why the light was on astonished me: "pinhole oil lead causing oil to pool in the back of my engine, replacement required around $500. It's a very common problem in this model." SAME SUPPOSED "COMMON" PROBLEM AS MY NISSAN WORD FOR WORD! AND, they were unable to switch off my service engine light. I just stared at him. My read: FULL OF BS. I said nothing regarding this diagnosis, paid, and left.
I have googled this problem in both cars, and asked around a little. Neither is a common problem in either car from what I"ve found. I was even told they have patch kits for the problem, which was never offered to me as an option.
I should add that I also have had 2 "underquotes" on mechanical problems here. I mean, quoted by phone at one cost, then when I go to pay it was higher. When I've asked about the higher cost, i feel I was given lines of BS.
WHY DOES A SECOND OPINION MATTER?
The next day I was driving my BMW. Now call me a jackass for not opening my engine and checking the coolant, but the car was JUST serviced (including oil change, etc) at Precision Imports! My car started smoking like crazy, and died on busy Bell road. I was able to get the car into another auto shop. They found out THE COOLANT WAS EMPTY. THIS IS WHY THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. The charge was $10. PROBLEM SOLVED, smooth sailing since.
I have now taken both cars to 2 different mechanics. Nothing has been discovered in the area of "pinhole oil leak" on either car.
It used to be that Frank always overstated the price a little, went above and beyond with communication, and took care of me. He came across as an honest old school guy to me. It's different now. Frank's more detached. I get the feeling Frank is eying retirement, and would prefer working on a much much lower volume of cars. No comment on the younger guy Al. Earlier this year when I brought my car in Frank said "make sure you deal with me." I didn't make much of it, but this could have indicated some other issue going on at the shop. I did attempt to deal only with Frank this year, but his availability has been very low and he had to route me to Al and others.
I saw a few guys in the shop with a lot of signs pointing to "previously convicted felon." I'm all about turning it around and 2nd chances, and I realize this can be a staple of many mechanic shops. But, business is business and I didn't get a good feeling about a few of the newer mechanics in the shop.
I gave them several second chances, and communicated my concerns honestly and appropriately. But that's it for me. They lost me as a customer. I'm hoping that they can turn it around, but for starters they are going to need to lose more customers and reduce the extreme volume or expand to a new location.
If you're going to use Precision Imports, MAKE SURE THE COST IS DEFINED BEFORE REPAIRS ARE MADE. ON MAJOR ISSUES GET A SECOND OPINION.
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