Complaint Review: Callahan Automotive

Here’s my horrible auto repair story:

I took my VW Beetle to Callahan Automotive located in Mesa, Arizona.  I dropped off my car with the owner of shop, Preston Callahan. I specifically advised him of the work needed for the A/C since I had obtained an estimate from the dealership prior. 

A couple days after dropping off my car, I was informed by Mr. Callahan of costs to fix A/C & also that the car would need several additional unrelated repairs found. They provided me with the repair price estimate that was 3 times the price of what the dealership quoted me plus the costs for unrelated repairs. I was shocked!  Obviously I declined to have that work done there.

I advised him that I could not afford the costs & would be picking up my car (at this point I had a bad feeling).  He then continued to advise me that if I didn’t have the repairs done my car would be not drivable.  I continued to advise him that I could not afford repairs & would be picking up my car.  He then got an attitude with me & said he needed to charge $250.00 for diagnosing & storage fees.  He said he had to have the car put back together! Are you kidding me!!  First of all, it had already been diagnosed & second of all why were they under my hood anyway.  I had already paid the dealership for routine maintenance and they had not mentioned the additional repairs as advised by Mr. Callahan.  I needed the A/C Module Switch worked on which is located in the Dash!  I advised Mr. Callahan that $250 was ridiculous and agreed with paying a diagnostic fee for $75 if I received a written estimate with costs of repairs (this is what my normal mechanic
charges). He advised me he could not provide me with written estimate since I would not be repairing my vehicle. He also said he would have to keep my vehicle until I paid a "storage fee"!! How unprofessional is that!!?? I was so upset I hung up and had a friend call to deal with him and also rescue my car.

After refusing the repairs and getting my car back, it was not the same.  Whatever they did to my car caused a vibration when driven and also a weird humming sound. Prior to my dropping it off, it drove very smooth & quietly.  I ended up taking my car back to my original mechanic since after this experience I would not trust anyone else. My mechanic repaired it and also advised me it did not need the repairs stated by Callahan.  

I’ll never return to that particular shop.  In the end, Preston Callahan would not provide a written estimate for repairs needed and that is because he does not want to provide anything in writing since he is running a rip off shop & is a lying crook!