two cents more

I took a van to Express Oil Change yesterday. Years ago I took the van there and was told that they now serviced transmissions. I said they could have a look at it and let them put on a new gasket in which they recommended. The transmission started giving me trouble AFTER I left. I finally took the car to Frost Transmission on 77. I was there told that who ever messed with my transmission last used the wrong size gasket. I paid to have FROST fix what Express Oil Change messed up. I pretty much made up my mind NOT to let them work on my car outside of changing the oil. Fool me once.

Yesterday I pulled in for an oil change.

1) The guy said my turn light wasn't working but I noticed the light ON while he was pulling it out. The light was LIT while he was holding it in his hand. He had to break the light in order to get it out of the socket. Does that count for having a broken turn signal?

2) For some reason he wasn't emptying all the oil out of the containers while he was pouring into the head. Maybe he was lazy and didn't want to wait until all the oil drained from the containers but I PAID $12.00 EXTRA for the better oil treatment and the oil was still pouring freely when he carefully tiled the containers up and tossed them. Why was he throwing it away instead of putting it in my engine? I realize it was because it was my money and not his. Maybe he went back later and combined all the oil so he could cap off his personal vehicle - who knows.

3) He said that my belt and tires looked good. In reality, the tires are in real bad shape and the belts need replacing soon too.

4) He said I needed new wipers. I told him that I just put the wipers on twenty minutes prior while in the Walmart parking lot. He said, "Well, you never can tell with those Anco blades, they don't lay too good on the glass." The bozo didn't know what he was talking about and had lost all credibility with me. I am sorry I took his advice earlier and went with the more expensive oil and the turn signal that I obviously didn't need.

I wasn't confrontational about anything - I just knew that I wasn't going to come back. Kind of like the time Expert Tire broke my A/C while charging my Dodge Caravan and then tried to charge me $700.00 to fix it. I drove the car over to Brice Thomas and they welded the area that Expert Tire damaged. Expert Tire called me the following Sunday and said that the part was in. I told them that Brice fixed what they broke and to send the part back. I'm just not going back and their just not going to touch my vehicles anymore. I used to buy all my tires, for all my cars there - well - not after that.

Last month my pal Jerry had an engine light come on and pulled into the same Express Oil Change location (Rainbow City, AL). The mechanic there said that it would cost him $500.00 to fix the problem. Bill Noah fixed it for under $100.00 (parts and labor). What does that tell ya?

I just don't know how some folks stay in business. I have some mechanics in town that have earned my trust and they will have it forever. When a so called mechanic performs such a dis-service, they should not be trusted AT ALL for any service. There is after all, businesses out there who will give you good and honest service. Both Express Oil and Express Tire have lost ALL credibility with me. How can you trust folks when they either recommend services not needed, don't perform the service well -in fact- break you're car while saying they are fixing it and then try to charge you for the fix? From this day forward, I am only going to take recommendations from people that I KNOW and TRUST! Let the buyer beware.

MY BAD BUSINESS LIST

Express Oil Service (Rainbow City, AL)

Expert Tire (Downtown Gadsden, AL)

MY GOOD BUSINESS LIST:

Noah's (Bill) Garage (Southside, AL)

Dean's Auto Service (Downtown Gadsden, AL)

Quality Transmission (Gadsden, AL)

Frost Transmission Inc (Rainbow City, AL)

Putman's Alignment Corp. (Alabama City, AL)

Baker Tire Company (Downtown Gadsden, AL)

There are of course other good and bad auto services in the Gadsden, Etowah County area - I'm just listing the ones in whom I have dealt with personally.