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On Wednesday 9/24 I limped into the America's Service Station in Norcross, Ga. as I was having trouble keeping my car running. I knew it wouldn't make it home.
I checked the car in and told them what it was doing and also what repairs and maintenance I had done to the car in recent months, Fuel filter, pressure regulator, and fuel pump. Just to give them a background on recent repairs and maint.
At that point I left. Later that day I was called back and told that they thought it was bad gas. I told them I had been driving on that gas for 2 weeks and over 100 miles so I didn't think it was that. He called me the next day to tell me it was the Primary Fuel Pump, car has two pumps and the one I replaced in the tank is called the Fuel Pre-pump. I approved the repair. They called later that day and told me the car was ready to be picked up. I asked if he was sure it was fixed as they had diagnosed it wrong already (bad gas). I picked it up paid $505.00 for the repair and drove off.
Three miles down the road the car died again! It was doing the exact same thing. I got it to the side of the road and called them back. They came and got me and took me back to the shop and assured me they would take care of it, apologized and said not to worry, they would take care of my car.
The next day they called me back and told me my car was ready to pick up. This time it was the other fuel pump, the one I had replaced. I go to pick it up and was told the charge would be $435.00! They diagnosed the problem wrong twice and wanted to charge me almost $1000.00 for a simple part replacement. The actual repair took less than 30 minutes to do. I know, I did the repair myself, it's actually easier than changing the oil
I feel as though I should have been refunded for the wrong repair. I don't mind paying for the correct repair. Yes it was very high, yes they are known for that, and yes I know they are in the business to make a profit.
I was told by the clerk (Chris) that I shouldn't be doing my own repairs, let the professionals do it. He also said it was the wrong part that I put in. First, it wasn't a bad repair, the part went bad. Second, the part I put in was the correct part. I verified this. It worked for 3 months also. There a different manufacturers for parts on a vehicle 23 yrs old. A lot of the time they will look different but be perfectly fine. They need to train their counter clerks about this.
When I asked to speak to the manager, Chris managed to get him on the phone. I told him that I felt that I should not have to pay for a repair that wasn't needed. He said that I shouldn't have come in there with a diagnosis and that I shouldn't have told them I replaced the pre-pump. What kind of logic is that? I asked if he wasn't going to do anything and he said "Absolutely Not!" At that point I ended the call.
Moral of the story: Don't go to America's Service Station. They can't diagnose a problem correctly, have very poor customer service, foul/rude manager/owner and are very expensive.
Had this happened in my driveway it would have cost me less than $150.00 for a new pump. Making a profit is one thing, ripping people off is another thing.
