Metro 25 - Firestone

I have been a customer of Metro 25 for a couple years. The first thing that drew me there was location to my home and they accepted a credit card that gave me 6 months same as cash to pay for major purchases. While I still believe this business is a good choice for tires or possibly an oil change, I believe it is an extreme dis-service to their customers to continue to charge what they charge for many other other repair jobs. While I learned awhile ago that their pricing was a bit higher than my old auto repair, I needed that 6 months same as cash option. This week I had an issue where my car stalled while pulling out of my driveway, I called metro 25, someone named John answered the phone, I asked how much the charge would be for a fuel pump, thinking it may be the problem, then I asked what the charge would be for a timing belt and he told me I just needed to have it brought in, they would look at it and give me pricing then. I decided to have it towed there. My car and I arrived there around 11:30, at 2:30 I asked the guy at the desk if they determined anything. He went into the shop to check and came back and said "he's looking at something on the computer. About 45 minutes later, two guys come in from the shop and appear to be in a bit of a disagreement, with one of them saying "I didn't spray that much in there". It looked like he had my distributor cap in his hand, but I am not sure. The guy at the desk went into the shop with them. Another 15 minutes later, they call me to the desk and one of them says "your engine is blown", I said "how can that be, I just drove it 100 feet out of my driveway"..he said to me "it just wore out". Then the three of them go back into the shop, the desk guy comes back and gets on the phone. About 10 minutes or so later the guy at the desk looks at me and says "Its your timing belt". At this point I think what the heck is wrong with this place? I asked the guy " are you sure its my timing belt, or are you guys guessing?". He tells me they are sure because "I just talked on the phone to my engine guy". Really? I think to myself. You have two guys looking at my car for almost 4 hours now and a guy on the phone knows what is wrong with it but the two in the shop you had tinkering with my engine gave up and said the engine is blown. So I wait for a price, I am told that the engine guy that was on the phone is pricing it out. Another 30 minutes passes and I am told $795. During my day spent in the waiting area, I had a lot of time to do some internet research learning more about the timing belt for my car model and year. I knew it was approximately a 4 hour job, the water pump should probably be replaced at the same time, and the seals should be replaced and, maybe a serpentine belt. The internet has a job estimator, I know this is not always accurate, but it said it should cost about $450 -$500 parts and labor.
Something I did forget to mention above is Metro 25 said they wouldn't have this "BIG" job done until after the holiday, possibly not until next Monday , which was 7 days away, because of the holiday week. I told them this is a no go. One guy pushed my car out of the bay and left it land where it did, seriously...I had to push it into a parking space myself. At this time, the guy that determined my engine was gone came out and said this to me "You aren't even having the work done here? This is a HUGE job, they (my other shop) don't know what they are saying, they will never have it done."
That is it for me with Metro 25, I paid that $80 diagnostic fee for them keeping me warm for 5 hours, broke up that gimick credit card in front of the guy writing me up, called a tow truck, had my car taken to the shop in Dearborn. And received the call that my car was repaired and ready for pickup at 5:30 the following day.
The other shop, replaced the timing belt, the water pump, the seals and both serpentine belts. I paid them $510 and have the receipt to prove it if anyone doubts my words.
Don't trust this shop with any type of work other that basic work...some of the guys working here and looking at your car have no idea what they are doing. There are also alot of shops that no longer charge the diagnosis fee, that you are used to seeing at a dealer shop. Be educated and be aware of what is going on. I had seen other signs of lack of integrity and ethics here before, although very minuete in comparison to this instance, but I let it slide because I liked that 6 months same as cash...That was where I went wrong.