Complaint Review: America's Service Station

A Snap-On Modis runs $8K. I have two scanners. One is an OTC TechMate that cost about $1000. The other is a Snap-On Heritage that cost about $2500 with all the updates. Your buddy has a $200 nothing scanner. Good ones do more than read a generic code. A Modis can do everything except cook dinner for you.

The Zone uses one of those $200 nothings. Maybe that's why more likely than not, when they scan for FREE, they sell the customer the wrong part. When I get paid to scan a car, the car is fixed.

A $8000 machine and one hour to read a code.My car was not running right so I stop at my friends shop,a little hole in the wall junk pile, he comes out with a $200 code reader and takes less than five min. to tell me what two things were wrong. He fix one in that time and then I had to go get a plug wire for the other one.

"Ok Nuri, I will respond to your rebuttal the best I can with my obvious lacking of mechanicl knowledge. First off, lets get a few things stright. I too am an ASE master tech with 30 yrs experiance, am the owner of the shop,certified by all the big three, all japanese except KIA, BMW".

The only real lack of knowledge I see is your lack of knowledge when dealing with spelling, and geographical locations. KIA is Indonesian, not Japanese, and BMW is German...not even in the same hemisphere.

Fun stuff. I see no reason for the woman to get her money back either. The shop did right by paying for the tow. Thermostats go bad. I've gotten bad ones right out of the box. Old cars that are not taken care of have bad things happen to them.

You call them "parts changers". That's a good one. How exactly did you expect them to repair the car without changing the bad parts for good ones?

Do you have a secret for repairing the spring on a thermostat? How about pad relining? Planning on making a warped or thin rotor all better by adding metal to it? Plastic and aluminum radiator cracked? No problem...Tim can just wave a wand and viola!...the crack is gone. Either that or an assload of stopleak. That water pump can be repaired...it just needs a new bearing and seal. That timing belt? Easy one. Some sail thread, super glue, and silicone will suffice in a pinch. Great stuff there Tim.

I worked for a guy like you once. It was a nightmare that lasted 6 months. Why replace a bad starter in 20 minutes and profit $100 on the job. He'd replace one contact in it and make $75. It only took him 2 hours to do it...that's LOSING money. The customer also had no warranty and would usually break down again in a few weeks. Now, the customer is mad becaue he/she doesn't understand why anyone with a brain would tinker with it for 2 hours instead of just putting a good one on. But, by gummy, he wasn't into "parts changing". He also wasn't into paying bills, or employees.

Here's the facts people. It is nearly always more cost effective and efficient to simply replace the parts that need replacing. Very few items can be rebuilt at the local level. If the shop had handed the woman a bill for several thousand dollars, she'd have balked("my car is fine...it doesn't need all that") and went somewhere else. No shop that wants to stay open is going to hit the customer up for 100% of what the car needs at one time. They will take care of the major stuff first, then deal with the smaller issues as they occur.

Pay for the tow, and the other shops' diagnosis. That's it, nothing else.

Ok Nuri, I will respond to your rebuttal the best I can with my obvious lacking of mechanicl knowledge. First off, lets get a few things stright. I too am an ASE master tech with 30 yrs experiance, am the owner of the shop,certified by all the big three, all japanese except KIA, BMW

Ok Nuri, I will respond to your rebuttal the best I can with my obvious lacking of mechanicl knowledge. First off, lets get a few things stright. I too am an ASE master tech with 30 yrs experiance, am the owner of the shop,certified by all the big three, all japanese except KIA, BMW

Ok Nuri, I will respond to your rebuttal the best I can with my obvious lacking of mechanicl knowledge. First off, lets get a few things stright. I too am an ASE master tech with 30 yrs experiance, am the owner of the shop,certified by all the big three, all japanese except KIA, BMW

Ok Nuri, I will respond to your rebuttal the best I can with my obvious lacking of mechanicl knowledge. First off, lets get a few things stright. I too am an ASE master tech with 30 yrs experiance, am the owner of the shop,certified by all the big three, all japanese except KIA, BMW

Why to give the money back?
After 148k miles of cooling system parts being in use....what do you think what's going to happen when you install a new water pump? Higher pressure. Now did the customer change coolant as she was required by the manufacturer?

I doubt since the timing belt was original at 148k. It tells us ( mechanics ) how much the vehilce was maintained. Of course the radiator will be clogged and will crack, and so on with other colling parts. Also I doubt that the dealer said she doesnt need a brake job. Did they provide her the specs , min reqs. and current?

The only fault by the shop, as I see it, is, they didn't explain in writing on the bill ( ticket, invoice...).I do it this way; the water pump was found to be worn out, replaced, tested now the engine runs ok. due to the age/condition of of the vehicle, other cooling system parts might fail.
You guys cant imagine how little the people know about the cars. In most cases, no trouble would happen if the owners have read the owners manual ( to start with). Honestly, the instruction book on how to use your cell phone is much ticker that the vehicle owners manual, so it wouldnt take much time.

My most frustraiting part....is check engine light on newer vehicles. More than often the trouble code is about loose gas cap. there are pressure sensors measuring the evap. pressure in the gas tank. Many people leave the engine running with the heat/AC on while filling up the car. The check engine comes on.Why? B/C with the ignition in on position, the computer is checking the pressure, but it doesnt know that the owner is filling up. it thinks there is a leak in the system.

Then they bring it in. We charge about 1 hour of labor just to scan the computer and let you know what the problem is. Why? B/C it takes that much to set up the scaner and retrieve the info from the comp. Also mechanics own the scaner which is about $8000.00 ( eight thous) plus about $600.00 every few monts for upgrades, we need to pay. There are over 200 trouble codes. If you bring your car to me and I scan it and every time you got loose gas cap code...you will pay for it, each time. Even on the gas cap it itself clearly says, tighten until you hear 3 clicks...

My recomendation to vehicle owners....please read the owners manual before you take your car to the shop. Please tell us what your concern is, in details ( not something like oh there is noise coming from the engine..).When it happenes. What speed. How soon after taking off.... You dont go to the doctor and say ...oh Im in pain... and let him figure out what bothers you.

Like in every single ripoff report, it is consumers limited knowledge about the subjet and being paranoic, that makes them feel like they are ripped off. Open up, ask, ask and ask again until you understand. Do not feel like you know everything and dont be shy to ask.
Final thought....now after you have read all these reports, you feel sleepy...you move your mouse down to the start button, click on it, then click on turn off computer, then off you go...right? You don't just pull the cord from the wall and then plug it in the next time you need to you it? Do you?
I hope you get my point.

Once again, why to give the money back?

She paid for the guys time and knowledge. The guy cant be responsible for her cooling system for the rest of her life. Or he should, since you know everything and he doesnt know what he is doing, b/c you think you know everything and everyone out there is there to get you and your money.

Master Tech
Vehicle Safery State Inspector ( Maryland )
ASE Certified

Tim, Amen. My thoughts exactly. Give her full refund for the repairs that did nothing to fix her car. They definitely seem to use low end parts as well as use the public for their tech's training grounds....either this, or they are deliberateley ripping folks off. Either way, it's a shame. You can't believe the inconvienence and stress they caused Ms Murphy.

Heres a thought, why dont you give her all the money back on the parts that didnt fix her car?? you guys are parts swappers. read the prior post and you will see. you just keep putting on parts til its fixed. try investing in diagnostic equiptment and training for your techs.

America's Service Station received a towing bill from Ms. Murphy on 7/3/04 and has issued a refund check to Ms. Murphy for that amount. An In-Store credit, valid at any of the 7 AMSS locations in Metro Atlanta was also issued to Ms. Murphy in the amount of $100.

America's Service Station received a towing bill from Ms. Murphy on 7/3/04 and has issued a refund check to Ms. Murphy for that amount. An In-Store credit, valid at any of the 7 AMSS locations in Metro Atlanta was also issued to Ms. Murphy in the amount of $100.

America's Service Station received a towing bill from Ms. Murphy on 7/3/04 and has issued a refund check to Ms. Murphy for that amount. An In-Store credit, valid at any of the 7 AMSS locations in Metro Atlanta was also issued to Ms. Murphy in the amount of $100.

America's Service Station received a towing bill from Ms. Murphy on 7/3/04 and has issued a refund check to Ms. Murphy for that amount. An In-Store credit, valid at any of the 7 AMSS locations in Metro Atlanta was also issued to Ms. Murphy in the amount of $100.

#1. Linda Murphy brought her 1992 Lexus ES300 into America's Service Station's Alpharetta location on 3/19/04 for a complete brake inspection and rough running condition.

The vehicle was inspected by an ASE Master Certified Technician and a complete major tune up was recommended and approved by the customer to address the rough running condition.

After inspecting the brake system, the technician recommended replacement of front & rear brake rotors and brake pads. The repair would also include a flush of the brake system, servicing of calipers, and repacking of bearings. The pads and rotors quoted were OEM parts, not aftermarket. This repair also included America's Service Station's standard 3 year/36,000 mile pro-rated warranty.

America's Service Station stands by the original diagnosis by our ASE Master Certified Technician regarding the need for new rotors and pads.

#2. We are unable to respond to this without the name of the customer.

#3. Ms. Murphy brought her 1992 Lexus ES3000 in America's Service Station's Kennesaw location on 5/23/04. The vehicle was overheating and was inspected by our ASE Master Certified Technician and replacement of the thermostat and water pump (original parts on a vehicle with 148,000+ miles on it) were recommended to address the overheating concern. Large amounts of rust were found in the cooling system. Replacement of the timing belt was also recommended due to the high mileage of the vehicle. The repairs were approved and the vehicle was test driven by the technician and did not overheat at that time.

On 5/29/04 Ms. Murphy returned as the vehicle was overheating. The vehicle was inspected and the ASE Master Certified Technician found that the radiator (original radiator on vehicle with over 148,000 miles on it) was clogged with rust and should be replaced. The repairs were approved and completed and the vehicle was driven for over 30 minutes to insure that there would be no more overheating concerns. None were found and the vehicle was picked up.

Ms. Murphy called back approximately one week later and stated that the vehicle was overheating again. At that time, America's Service Station offered to have the vehicle towed in to our facility, at no cost to the customer. Ms. Murphy refused and was then told that she could take the vehicle in to a shop or dealer of her choice for diagnosis. Ms. Murphy was told that she would be reimbursed for any charges she might incur if the problem was diagnosed as any of the prior work performed by America's Service Station. Ms. Murphy was also told that she would be reimbursed for a rental car.

The diagnosis was that the radiator was cracked and the thermostat was sticking. After an overheating condition, thermostats stick and would require replacement. This does not indicate that the thermostat replaced by AMSS was faulty, only that the vehicle had overheated. The vehicle was towed back to AMSS (at no cost to Ms. Murphy) and a new thermostat and radiator were installed. The repairs were completed on 6/8/04.

Rental car reimbursement and reimbursement for diagnostic charges at the other shop were offered to Ms. Murphy, however Ms. Murphy did produce any documentation of charges. She was contacted 2 days after picking up her vehicle and indicated that she did not use a rental car and was unable to produce documentation of charges for the diagnostics at the other location.

America's Service Station regrets any inconvenience Ms. Murphy might have experienced due to the faulty radiator and attempted to reimburse her for rental car charges. Rental cars are not routinely provided to customers, but due to extenuating circumstances, this courtesy was offered to Ms. Murphy.

The above mentioned lady's car over heated so bad on 6/3 (4 days after the radiator etc..was replaced) that she had to have it towed to another mechanic. She's been without a vehicle now for 5 days. Updates to follow.