Upfront admission: This is the first time I’ve taken my beloved 2018 Ford F-150 with 60K miles to Honest-1 Auto Care. I needed an oil change and my AC stopped blowing cold. I called them on a Friday at about 4PM. I asked JOEL if it was better to bring it in tonight or before they opened on a Saturday at 8AM. They said just show up tomorrow and we’ll get to it as we can. I was there at 7:50 AM for a drop off. They did not contact me until 3PM on Saturday to say that they haven’t fixed the AC yet but they have changed the full synthetic oil ($107 - $15 website coupon) and tested several other fluid with “corrosivity strips.” Both the brake fluid ($125) and radiator coolant fluid ($170) tested “bad.” I gave approval to move forward. Hey, I’m not a mechanic nor have access to these “magic testing strips.” I received a call at 4:30 PM on the same day (Saturday) that the AC had been charged but the compressor is not coming on. It’s too late to diagnose so we’ll have to keep until Monday. Monday comes and I receive a call at 4PM when they said the AC compressor is dead. $1,284 to replace it. In for a penny, in for a pound. They claim the part is in town and can be received early enough on Tuesday to have it back to me. Tuesday comes and instead of a call saying your truck is done (in time for my Social Distortion concert which I made them aware of) they now say the entire system is “flooded with contaminants” and we’ll need to replace the condenser and extension value. Now they have me over a barrel. No additional discounts are mentioned nor offered. I received word the truck was done at 5:45PM and to come pick it up in the next 15 minutes or wait until tomorrow. I took my truck in for AC service and oil change. I leave paying $3,394.16. Was it required? Again, only people with car maintenance knowledge can judge. Will I ever recommend them? Absolutely not. I’m pretty sure that I covered most of their costs to repair my truck over the 4 days they had it. They did not even thank me for my business. Photos of invoice are included here so you can verify my review.
I'm sorry the repairs took longer and cost more than you initially expected. Regarding the test strips, we check brake fluid for copper contamination and the coolant is checked for both acidity and boil/freeze point. These are the only accurate ways of testing both fluids. We do this on all vehicles hoping to prevent further and more expensive repairs in the future. Regarding the AC, there is no way to know if the system is contaminated or not until you open it up. As soon as we saw the "black death" in the lines, we immediately stopped and contacted you. Sometimes compressors come apart internally and start throwing metallic parts throughout the system. This is what happened to your original compressor. The only way to fix that is to replace the parts and flush the lines. It's nobody's fault it happened, we just ended up repairing it for you. We are also at the mercy of our vendors for deliveries which ultimately takes as long as it takes. We try to keep all customers posted regarding changing timelines. We will try to do better in the future. I'm glad your AC is blowing cold again. And, yes, we did say "Thank You" when you picked it up because I was sitting at the counter and specifically said "Thank You".
- Honest-1 Auto Care Paradise Valley