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Like an idiot, when I had to have a 60,000 mile service done recently, I decided for once to try to save a little money, so I took the car in to Toscalito Tire in San Rafael, who had told me a couple of years ago that they were an authorized Saab repair facility. They wanted nearly $200 less than Embarcadero. They've been doing some basic things like oil changes for me over the past couple of years, and of course new tires when I've needed them, and I'd been pleased with their service. I figured what could possibly go wrong with a routine maintenance, so why spend more than I had to. Hah! I was about to find out.
My previously perfectly running car (1999 9-5 4 cylinder wagon), with which I've never had a problem, came back to me with the "Check Engine" light on. They told me that was just a setting that needed adjusted to turn that off, and that that sometimes happened with these services, so I wasn't in any great hurry to get back in, especially as I was really busy, out of town several times, etc. It then started stalling 2-3 times every time I tried to start it. So I took it back up there - and then things went from bad to worse. It drove OK going home, but the next day, it started hesitating and jerking all over the place, not responding well to pushing on the accelerator, slowing down instead of speeding up, etc., especially when going up hills. The next day I tried to drive it, it just got worse. By the time I made it from Mill Valley to Union Street, it stalled out as I was parking. I then headed over towards Embarcadero Automotive to drop it off, but it got so bad that I actually had to pull over and have it towed. I don't think it was moving more than 2-3 miles per hour tops.
Embarcadero got it all cleaned up for me, thankfully, but it cost me nearly another $200, plus almost $150 in cabs and rental cars.
The problem? The idiots at Toscalito put in the wrong spark plugs. They apparently couldn't be bothered to find out what Saab actually recommended. And they were claiming to be Saab-authorized? Say, what?
So, of course it turns out that they are *not* an authorized Saab service facility, surprise, surprise. I reported them to Saab at Embarcadero's recommendation.
I'm going to ask them to cover the costs of the repair, and I'll report back what their response is.
I'm also considering asking them to cover the expense of my having the whole service redone at Embarcadero - or at minimum, refunding what I paid them. If they put in the wrong brand of spark plugs, how can I be sure they put in the right everything else, and did everything else correctly? My boyfriend used to own a shop years ago, and tells me there's a wide range of quality for parts like belts and filters, and a lot of shops just throw in whatever they have, whether it actually fits or not, and this service apparently replaced a lot of those things. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
Needless to say, they've lost even my tire business now. And I will never, ever, ever try to cut corners like this again with my car.
Wendy
posted by 67.174.235...
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