Moon Valley Auto Repair
Customer BEWARE!! In June of 2013, I took my RV to Moon Valley Auto Repair after it had failed emissions control testing. I drove the vehicle in and towed it out. After $650 dollars worth of tinkering they had replaced a brand new Auto Parts starter I had just installed not more than 30 days previously with a supposedly superior Delco starter. Moon Valley told me they would put the Auto Parts starter in the RV and I could take it back for an exchange. The also replaced a few vacuum hoses but never got the vehicle running. At this point I was told I now needed a new fly wheel on the transmission with the cost of approximately $1000 and a new radiator and hoses for the additional cost of $1000. The estimate to get the additional necessary repairs to the vehicle and get it out of the shop was $2000 to $3000. At this point I knew I had stepped into the auto repair shop scam headquarters ran by a east coast witch named" Dawn", with a screw the suckers attitude to making money and customer service. The Auto parts starter was never placed in the RV so I could make a return. I was told that they returned the new Auto Parts starter for a core charge.
I paid the $650 bill without a comment and called a tow truck ($300) to take the RV to part time mechanic friend who replaced the flywheel for $300. So the fly wheel was a legitimate needed repair ( although he stated he had never seen a fly wheel damage in this manner) but the radiator and hoses were bogus Approximately 4 months later after having started the RV a few dozen times the new superior Delco starter that Moon Valley Auto installed went out while on the road. I had the vehicle towed ($280)to a recommended Glendale mechanic and they replaced the Delco rebuilt starter with a new factory starter that is now working like a champ.
I took the superior Delco rebuilt starter back to Moon Valley and simply asked them to either return this starter for a new starter or return my money. I did not ask for my money back for the installation of a faulty starter, I just asked them to replace the starter. I was told they no longer had a box for the starter and it could not be returned for a refund or a new starter. I was also told by Dawn that she could not verify that this was even the starter that her shop installed. When I suggest that she simply check her records to verify the serial number she told me she could not do that. When I asked for my money back and confronted the owner about the estimates for the radiator and hose work that did not need to be done she threatened to call the police if I did not leave her shop.
I have since spoken to a neighbor who had a similar experience. He took his truck to Moon Valley and he was giving a long list of necessary repairs running into the thousands of dollars. The man then took the truck to his local Chevy dealer for a second estimate. The Chevy dealer found NO NEED for any of the repairs than Moon Valley had deemed necessary. They repaired his truck for a few hundred dollars.
In relating this story to a third auto shop that has just completed the starter repair a mechanic informed me that he once worked for the tow company owned and operated by Moon Valley. He stated that he had quit after discovering how they operated and also stated " Those people are crooks with a rude attitude towards customers".
End of Story!