Placentia Auto Repair

Hello Andrew,

Sent a letter. Contents of the letter below.

I’m sorry. There’s no other way to put it other than I’m sorry. You had a bad experience with us that is uncharacteristic of my service writer. He assumed too much when he thought could take some liberties due to our friendship and he got a hard lesson that not all friends are loose with their money. He’s apologized and people are human. They make mistakes from time to time.

As for the work that was performed, we felt the shaking was rather severe, hence we did the balance of the tires first. I know you came in asking for an alignment and an oil service, but I tried to steer you towards an inspection packaged with the oil service. You even signed on it, but it seems to have gone unheard/unseen in the jovial “hello old friend” pleasantries in the morning. We really just wanted to see what was more of a priority, instead of blindly just going with what you wanted.

I’ve enclosed a check in refund of the full amount of the bill $XXX.XX. I hope we can remain friends.

Sorry I didn't adequately explain. The reason I recommended the whole radiator as opposed to just the radiator cap was the top tank had a lot of calcium deposits on it. Although I did do a pressure test and saw no leak of the system, I was afraid due the calcium that I saw, that at a later date the radiator would fail. I glad the radiator cap fixed it. Again I should've explained better, sorry.

There was an era when we didn't pay a fair wage, nor did we even know what a fair wage was. We used to be the garage that was happy to pay the rent and feed ourselves, but given what we know now about the world, that day has long eclipsed. The cost of milk isn't cents anymore, it's dollars. Rent is now in the thousands, and my poor parents who worked all their lives did not set up the business well enough to retire. I'm sure there's other garages out there that are unaware of what overhead costs and what needs to be charged to combat inflation.

To that end we need to charge for diagnosis and inspections. Free diagnosis is a thing of the past. And although we most of time are not as expensive as the dealer (due to our ability to get OE quality Aftermarket parts), we for the last few years have been looking around and educating ourselves on what charges/dollar amount is considered fair.

But I'm not on the defensive. I just wanted to explain the world as we see it now. Sorry. I should've done a better job explaining our diagnosis fees.