Requested a diagnostic: $162. Alternator belt- low priority. A week later, the battery begins to drain, parked the car until we could pay the $800 alternator replacement within that month. Couple days later, engine stops randomly... They'll check it out for $162 (no credit towards previous repair warranty). Was told the diagnostic isn't a full car diagnostic, just a suspected system check. No report. Received a coupon for 2 free donuts and a $15 discount on the next repair they knew we'd need. Update: it's my car. I asked my husband to find a new mechanic since my guys had closed. I'm loyal and appreciate transparency and consistency regardless of cost. There's a clear misunderstanding on the alternator check because I'm at least entitled to that. It makes sense to be confused and upset on paying for a new diagnostic without knowing what the other one uncovered, especially when all this happened in a short window of time. If the first diagnostic uncovered the issue we suspected it to be and you looked at nothing else then you're essentially leaving it up to me to decide what's wrong with my car and I pay you to agree or disagree but without ever knowing what you actually looked at. At least at my yearly physical my doctor discusses everything instead of me guessing which body part needs attention first.
We're sorry your feeling frustrated about Damon's car, Kris. As we spoke to him when he came in - testing, much like going to the doctor, is specific to the symptoms presented. Just like a doctor will have to do multiple seperate tests to figure out seperate things like a bum knee, hair loss, and vertigo, vehicles are the same way if they present new and different symptoms. A common misconception with our industry is there is a single machine you plug into a vehicle that prints out all of the problems, current or future, that need to be solved and that is simply just not the case. We offered to retest Damon's alternator again under warranty at no cost but also clarified that if it was a new and different issue, further testing would need to be performed. He declined both of the above. We don't outwardly advertise it but we commonly send hand written thank you cards with coupons for other local small NKC businesses to our appreciated customers. We're sorry if this came off as insincere. Even if you decide Northtown is not your preferred repair shop, we still hope you enjoy some sweet treats from Donut King.
- Northtown Auto Clinic