CoolBDPhenom03

I'm just about due for my Service B already and I've made friends with a few shops in the Bay Area. Now, I have a dilemma where to take my car.

Option 1: I am in the East Bay and this shop is in SF (about 30 minutes away). They're really cool guys and can do my service B for less than $200, however they want my car for an entire day (about 8am to 6pm).

Option 2: A mechanic that I used to trust with my Acura wants to make it up to me. Long story short, there were some issues with my Acura that I needed repaired and his technicians were either incorrect in the diagnosis or their prices were several hundred dollars higher than a different shop in SF. I took my business else where and wrote a review on Yelp. The owner then contacted me and wanted to make it up to me so he's offering me a $560 credit toward anything I need done (that was the cost I paid in parts and labor of the misdiagnosis). This shop is a block away from where I live and would adjust my rear suspension for free in addition to the service B (which they quoted at $350).

What would you do? Go with the european car specialists further away who can do it for cheaper, or give this other guy a chance to redeem himself and pay nothing out of pocket?

elijah

If he's offering 560$ take advantage of that. If he still messes up take your business elsewhere once and for all.

Fung63

I am guessing your 09 is out of warranty?

go with the $560 credit. owner obviously cares about his online reputation and will make sure your car is done right hoping you will then post a positive review

CoolBDPhenom03

I'm still under warranty. Why? Dealer quoted me almost $400.

Roswell

I would forget about the credit (& option B)... and go option A. I mean I wouldn't take a chance of them screwing up again on your Benz (as they did on your Acura) even if the service was free.

CoolBDPhenom03

But if it's mostly an oil change, air filter and cabin filter change, and inspection items, what could they possibly screw up?

Plus, their Service Manager that was new when all of my customer sat issues were happening is no longer there. Not sure if that's a coincidence, but it is a little suspicious to me. The issue they misdiagnosed was intermittent stalling on my Acura, which was an idle control valve sensor and not the ignition and relay they replaced. The other issue was that they thought I had a leak in my oil pump housing, which would have required them to something like a timing belt service to access it. It turned out to be a bad oil pan that someone used a wrong sized plug on. I had that replaced by a buddy of mine for like $50

Roswell

I believe service B requires brake fluid flush... just make sure they use the right grade fluids then. Good luck!

CoolBDPhenom03

Thanks, man. I really liked these guys before that Service Manager showed up. Good work on my Acura up until then. Plus, it's only a block away and right by the MB dealership so it's just super convenient. Hard to ignore that.

Jon2007E63P30

There are NO specific items assigned to "Service #", the letter in the alphabet refers to the number of hours.

Read your service manual and keep track yourself. The FSS is completely dependent on someone resetting it exactly right, and they don't.

BO Knows

Which shop is this?

CoolBDPhenom03

What do you mean?

European Motor Works - both Josh and Eddie are super cool. Was referred to them by the parts manager at Ace Motorsports in Concord.

Roswell

I dont understand ur post as well.. I always thought each service has a specific maintenance routine schedule, no? Unless ur saying we should follow the mileage or year in the booklet for each service?

TEXC63

I had a similar experience with my Service B. I went to a local shop here in Houston to save a buck on Service B and to get a price on a LSD install. Never again. I got charged for air filters and I have K&N. There Service B included removing all four wheel and inspecting the break pads and suspension. None of which happened. I got home and popped the hood and oil was all over the motor. I called them back to get my K&N filters and they where like what filters? So back outside I go to remove the air boxes and the filters where never changes. I wasn’t even sure the oil was changed so I took it to the dealer the next day and had it all done again.

Jon2007E63P30

BINGO!!!
Read your manuals.
(this will be the fifth time on this forum I write this)
Service A = 1 hr (but is almost always an oil change)
B = 2 hr
C = 3 hr
D= 4 hr
And so on. The FSS is interpreting the miles and time intervals in your maintenance manual. However, it is entirely possible to have a B Service which is oil and filters OR oil and brake flush. Both represent 2hours.

If some one just goes by what some one states is B Service, resets the FSS, it may think you just told it you flushed the brake fluid when you did not.
You can dig into the FSS to see what it thinks needs to be done, and to be honest, if you always take it to a dealer, they will do the extra work to ensure the right work gets done.

Roswell

^^ makes sense... thx for the explanation.

CoolBDPhenom03

So...

-Brake fluid and brakes are okay. Rob @ Vivid actually replaced them before I picked up the car at the end of February.
-They replaced the cabin filer and cleaned out the K&N
-Oil change with Total 5W40
-Inspected a bunch of stuff which checked out

And since I already replaced my wipers when I picked up the car, the grand total only came out to $269 including tax. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I guess I'll have to take my suspension in elsewhere to get adjusted, but everything seems good and it came in about $80 lower than expected, which leaves me a good chunk of change remaining for future work.