R & J Automotive Machine Shop

Bad customer service. I was currently in the process of rebuilding my engine to add a turbo. I called them, they were very rude and talked to me like I was an idiot. He would not give me a quote unless I brought my engine into there shop. That was understandable. I brought my engine in anyway because i couldnt find any reputable shops on the area at the moment. So I brought everything in which included a crankshaft, connecting rods, bearings, main caps, pistons, rings, cylinder heads, and the block. Even after seeing the engine they said they’d need a few days to look it over to give me a quote for the cylinder heads and sleeves. All I asked them to do was balance my crankshaft, hone my block sleeves, and give me a quote for surfacing and cleaning the heads. Well they told me it would take them 2 weeks to get all this done. A week goes by and I don’t hear from them. I call them up and they said it was not done yet, it was gonna take longer, and that they still didn’t have a quote for me. Another week goes by and I call and they tell me they don’t have my engine. I was furious at this point. I asked them where it was and they put me on hold. Five minutes later they tell me they have sent my engine and all its components elsewhere to get balanced and honed. I didn’t agree on this when I dropped everything off. In the end it took them over a month to get everything done, never got that quote, and they just slammed this over charged bill on me. Also, they forgot to give me my main caps and then argued that they didn’t have them. Needless to say they had them and I fought to get them back.

This place ripped me off. I informed them I was traveling through on my way back to the east coast and I guess they decided to take advantage of my lack of time. They charged me $ 69 for an oil change, more than twice what I pay back home. If this is the price of an oil change in California, then the joke is on me I guess. Shame!

Beware! I’ll preface this by saying I’ve NEVER written one of these before – in fact I didn’t have a Unilocal acct until 8 minutes ago. Roger (the «R» of R&J) was plenty nice to me until he figured out I’m no sucker. I may not know a cam shaft from a door knob but that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot – actually, I might be, but that’s not the point. Whatever I am, I am not a sucker (see above).
The short story goes like this: My car broke. I got it towed to R&J, agreed to the diagnostic fee (~$ 70) and was told it may take a couple of days. Waited patiently w/​o hearing from them for 2 days. Called in and they said it might be another couple of days to figure it out – no quote given. I go to pick up my car and Roacher tells me it’s going to be ~$ 600. I tell him I don’t have the $$ and I would never have ok’d a $ 600 repair job on a car worth about the same. He tells me I can pay half now and half when I get my next paycheck. I ask him if he thinks I would’ve ok’d a $ 1000 job on this car. He says «Probably not” – this is a direct quote and what it really says to me is: «I’m only charging you what I think I can get away with». I tell him $ 600 is the same thing to me as $ 1000 and all I consented to was the diagnosis fee of $ 70. This is where he becomes rude, raises his voice and says just pay me the $ 70 and get out of here. That’s exactly what I did.
Here’s the kicker: I have another mechanic look at the car and he tells me they never even did the work they claimed! It was a kill switch issue! Maybe I am an idiot after all but I am NOT a sucker! I wouldn’t go back to this place if they were the only shop in town (and they’re not btw) – I’d buy a friggin bicycle. You’ve now been warned. If you don’t know cars don’t go here. There’s too many hard working *honest* mechanics to waste your time with these crooks!