rev:text
| - I've been putting off some maintenance on my car as of late because I would rather spend money on food than car repairs? Amirite? I called Conrad's at 9:00 AM and they said to bring the car in that day. I was really excited that they could get me in the same day.
I took my Malibu to their repair center and when I saw it, I thought it was an auto parts store! The front looks like an auto parts store, but the building has at least six car repair bays around the side. It's in a shopping plaza too. When I dropped my car off, the friendly staff said that I would receive a phone call with an estimate for the repairs to my front end. My car needed a new tie rod, some new steering components, and an alignment. I also asked to have the tire pressure set and new wiper blades installed.
I left with my wife and waited for their call. Hours went by and no call. I began to wonder what was going on because they were due to close at 5:00 PM on Saturday and it was 2:00 o'clock already. My wife called to check on the status of the car and was told it was on the lift for inspection. It was 3 o'clock and still no call from Conrad's. So I called them at 3:30 PM and spoke to the shop manager. He said they had an issue with a car and didn't get my car on the lift until 3:30 PM. He called me back at 4:00 PM and said my car needed a left outer tie rod, some steering bushings and components, and an alignment. Added to the wiper blades, the total would be $550. I agreed to have the work done. I said, don't you close in an hour? This is when Conrad's true colors shined through. He said, yes, but we're not leaving until your car is done, even if that means 7:00 PM! That made me happy.
At 4:45 PM he called back and said the major work is done and they're finishing up the alignment and to head on over to pick it up. When I arrived around 5:05 PM, my car was still on the lift and they were finishing up the alignment. He said they needed a few more minutes. It ended up being about 40 more minutes, but I was in no hurry. I started chatting with the two office managers, who were super friendly about Conrad's history, etc. It turns out this is the original Conrad's location opened in 1969! I had no idea. And to think that no one has ever written a yelp review on this location. Shocking!
Interestingly, there was a young, female mechanic working on my car. This is honestly the first time I've ever seen a girl work on a car for a repair shop. How courageous of her, I thought. While I was waiting the shop manager walked me over to my car, which was still on the lift, and showed me how the rear ties, which I thought were fixed, could get out of alignment. It turns out my car badly needed an alignment, so these repairs were very timely.
Although it took all day and they were super busy, Conrad's had excellent, friendly service. They could have just told me to go somewhere else, but they didn't. They went above and beyond, keeping their mechanic an hour past closing time to finish my car. I gotta hand it to them for customer service. I also got an estimate for new suspension components and I will certainly return to this Conrad's to have that done.
|