John’s Automotive

About a week ago, my car battery light came on and I was wtf! Hopefully It’s just a battery issue. So I go home and Immediately call my mechanic in San Diego to get his opinion. He told me to unplug the positive on the battery and the engine shuts off, he immediately says yep it’s the alternator. So crap! There goes a couple hundred dollars, the car is old so it’s a given. I remember seeing this auto shop on the corner of Marine Ave and did a search and found John’s Automotive, I called to get an estimate for a alternator on a Acura TSX and right off the bat he didn’t sound to pleasant. So he says «I can’t give you an estimate, you would need to bring the car in so we can check it out. My mechanic already gave me a honest estimate, so I already knew what price is fair vs getting ripped off. And we already knew 98% it was the alternator, just give me a estimate geez!
So I’m like F this, my car is going to die on the road if I don’t get it to a shop fast! I did another search and found Tony’s Auto Repair down the block. I called and he gave me his honest price OVER THE PHONE and I liked what I heard and brought it there, no run around. He fixed it, Tadow! New alternator in 2+ hrs! That’s how it should be
I wanted to take it to John’s in the first place, but I wasn’t comfortable with him not being up front with an estimate. (See how quickly you can lose a customer) So my car also needs a smog done and prior I asked how much he charges, I was told $ 25 plus certificate, okay that’s sounds right.
Two days later I bring my car to John’s automotive and ask for a smog check, I had over keys and ask «how much is a smog ?» and he says $ 45. I’m like what? You just told me on the phone it was $ 25, he replies nobody charges $ 25 for a smog around here and I’m like yeah right! In Gardena there’s a dime a dozen! I was about to leave and say F this, and then he says I’ll give a discount blah blah. So I handed him $ 30+ and figured, heck I’m already there and crunched on time.
He completes the test and says my car didn’t pass. He asked if the battery was unplugged recently and I told him «yes» I just replaced the alternator (which he couldn’t done, if he gave me an estimate). He goes on telling me since the battery was reset, the computer emission blah blah needs to recalculate and record data to resmog. So I’m like okay that makes sense, he tells me to drive 100 miles, also freeway miles and come back. He goes «I’ll give you one free retest «I normally don’t». I’m like okay, so I drive around LA for 100 miles and in the freeway?
A week later after driving over 100 miles and the freeway I come back with my dmv papers etc thinking I’m going pass. Nope, he retests it and says «It’s the same thing» I go well… you told me to drive around freakin 100 miles and freeway and come back! He replies, you need to drive more, sometimes you have to drive 1000 miles for the system to clear. He goes drive it around more and come back and I’ll resmog it. Like drive 1000 more miles???
So I walked out with a bad taste in my mouth, like walking out a restaurant disappointed. I go home and call him and asked if I bring it back will there be a charge? He said «yes, I have to recharge you, but I’ll give you a discount, I’ll do it for $ 30» WTF, my point is I followed your directions man and drove around 100+ miles etc for nothing and now you want me to pay more money. He should’ve told me to drive it a lot more than 100 miles and come back. 1000 thousand miles! Such BS. He should have checked the MONITOR FOR CLEARANCE before retesting. And I also brought that up, clearance before retesting. His response «uhh I don’t normally do that. but I can do that for an extra charge» Screw this, I’ll take my business somewhere else! Lesson learned and we just moved to the area!