This full report, along with photos, has been placed on www.arizonadynoscam.com.
For the last month when I accellerated my 1998 Infinity Q45 there has been a sluggish and breathy feeling in the higher RPMs, however when idling or travelling at a constant speed the issue was completely unnoticeable. When I arrived to work four days ago my car was smoking and had a burnt smell coming from the engine (coolant leaking out of the top of the radiator and burning). A lady I work with recommended Arizona Dyno Corporation, saying that they are honest and would never scam someone.
I took my car in to Arizona Dyno Chip at 11am on Friday, April 30th, 2010. I told them of the smell coming from the engine and the performance issues felt occasionally when accellerating and asked if they would check it out. I was told that they would give me a call before 2pm.
At 2pm Friday I called to check on my car and was told that they were busy and hand not had the chance to look at it. They then returned my call at 5:02pm that day to tell me they were busy and wouldn't be able to look at it until Tuesday, which I told them was fine.
Today is Tuesday, May 4th, 2010. They called me back at 1:11pm to tell me that the radiator is leaking and needs to be replaced, the spark plugs are shot and needed to be replaced, and the fuel filter needs to be replaced. Arizona Dyno Chip quoted me $1000 for all of this, which I said I could not afford that and that I would have to come pick up the car.
When I arrived to pick up my car from Arizona Dyno Chip they sprung a $192 "diagnosis fee" for the two hours it took to diagnose my car, which I responded was ridiculous! I mentioned that it took four days to get looked at, that they were quoting me $1000 for $200 worth of parts and a couple hours of labor, and brought up that they never mentioned a diagnostics fee. I told them I can understand and would pay a diagnostics fee, but that $192 is a "scam and ripooff" and that I never had to pay over "$80" for a diagnostic fee before.
I said if that is what they were going to charge me I would pay, but that I was going to file a complaint with the Better Business Beurau and every consumer reporting agency I could. I brought up that I had already found a negative count against them listed with the BBB, and at this point John (Arizona Dyno Chip's representative) began getting hostile and unprofessional in his comments, cursing me to my face and making sarcastic remarks. He said, "Fine, I'll give you a $100 off. How's that? Are you happy now?" After which his hands started shaking from anger and he kept cursing me to my face. He then swiped my card for what was going to be $92, but his hands were shaking so violently from anger that he accidentally hit .92 cents, which made him even more angry. He stapled the diagnosis receipt to the credit card receipt and told me to get out.
I left Arizona Dyno Chip and started my car, all seemed normal. Then I pressed the gas to leave and the car stalled! So I turned it on and started to drive again only to find that pressing the gas pedal now causes the car to stall, and not move.
I walked up to Arizona Dyno Chip and told John that my car wasn't even working anymore, and remarked that I had brought them a working car I wanted looked at only to get a broken car back four days later! John lifted the hood, pointed at the radiator which had oxidation along the top from the leaking radiator fluid, and stated that "all [he] did was see that the radiator was leaking and pulled two spark plugs and noticed they were corroded." This was their two hours of diagnostics? He claimed neither of those things would have put the car in this condition, and that it must have been like this before I drove it in. To this I responded that I drove the car in on the freeway from over 20 miles away, that I had been using it every weekday for months to get to and from work, and that I brought it in because there was a smell coming from the engine and occassionally when accellerating it would feel breathy or sluggish (I signed a document stating all of this when I dropped off the car).
John's response? "You actually think I'm going to help you after mouthing off to me in there?" Then he turned around and walked back inside. I had to spend $80 to have my car towed home, and now have a non-working car sitting in my driveway - a car that I drove in for a checkup, told the mechanic I couldn't afford the quote and that I'd have to pick it up, and then picked up in non-running condition I would like my car restored to the [working] condition that it was in before I brought it to Arizona Dyno Corporation.