Grove Street Auto Repair

Thank you for your review on Surecritic. Our goal is always to do the work as quickly as possible and we are glad we met your expectations for that! 

Since this review is anonymous, we are unable to respond directly to your concerns. Please feel free to call me directly at 508-520-8697 and I would be happy to review this with you.

It sounds like maybe you were not expecting the additional information. Please allow me to explain our process. We do a full digital vehicle inspection on every vehicle, and document, with pictures, any concerns we find. Some items could be urgent, and some could be maintenance or things to re-check at the next visit. We believe in giving our customers a full picture of the health of their vehicle to make educated decisions. 

Again, please call me or email me at Service@GroveStreetAutoRepair.com anytime. 
Jean
Service Manager
Grove Street Auto Repair

We are glad you had a great experience here with us and were able to take advantage of the "Welcome Neighbor" offer. Please check our website for other coupons in the future. Did you know we also have free courtesy vehicles and a shuttle service?

Thank you for your candid review. I apologize you did not receive clear answers to questions you had while your vehicle was last here. Please call me or email me with any questions about your visit if you need clarification on anything as soon as possible so we can resolve it. Please ask for me directly when you are here next, or call me and I will make sure we address your questions or concerns.

Each time a vehicle comes in for any service, we do a courtesy inspection. Whenever we see something that may need attention in the future, we make a note of it. The purpose is to help you plan and budgets for repairs rather than have a preventable emergency arise.

Our goal is for you to be 100% comfortable with the service your vehicle receives with us. We hope you will return so we can do this for you.
Sincerely, 
Jean 
Service Manager

Bob and Barbara,

Thank you for your honesty. I understand your concern, and have reviewed the estimate we provided for you last year. I sent you a private email, and hope you will call me to discuss it further. We value our business relationship, and hope we can reach a resoution. 
Thank you,
Jean
Service Manager

Grove Street Auto Repair

I am sorry to hear your son's Impala failed inspection and that you were unhappy with our policy to charge for "service engine soon" indicator diagnosis. Please allow me to explain.

There were several issues with your son's vehicle's state-mandated Safety and Emission Inspection.  We found a headlight bulb burnt out, the right side mirror damaged, and the Service Engine Soon light was on.

After discussion with your son, we replaced the headlight bulb, with no labor charge. The mirror will need to be replaced. The Service Engine Soon/ Check Engine Light was on and the RMV Inspection Station recognized this issue. Per state emission regulations, this is an emissions failure.

The Vehicle Inspection Report printout indicated five (5) Diagnostic Trouble Codes to be addressed.  In order to determine exactly what the issues are, diagnostic testing needs to be performed. The technician attends hours of training classes, and uses sophisticated testing equipment to pinpoint the issues. Each code potentially takes an hour to fully diagnose to the point where one would know what repair needs to be performed. Several of the Diagnostic Trouble Codes on your son's vehicle could be related to one system. The minimum charge for the diagnostic testing is one hour of labor, which is $100.00.

Any auto parts store can give you a guess in their parking lot as to what parts you might need , but they will not install the part for you nor guarantee the accuracy of the diagnosis.  The value of having a trained technician diagnose the Emission Diagnostic Trouble Codes is knowing the diagnosis is done fully and correctly, and having the repair warrantied. 

I hope this helps you understand why there is a charge for the SES code diagnosis. We are happy to answer any questions you may have. Please call me anytime.

Thank you for your time.
Jean
Service Manager
Grove Street Auto Repair   (GroveStreetAutoRepair.com)

508-520-8697

We are always upfront and honest with our customers. I am sure it was a misunderstanding of a complicated issue. Our apologies if you did not fully understand our conversation and recommendations.

We had a discussion about the starter being faulty, and needing to be replaced. This was independent of any engine issue that may or may not have been covered under the manufacturer's warranty. As requested, we examined the engine. The engine turned by hand, and was not locked up. We gave you the option of not having us do anything, and having it towed to the dealer. You gave us the authorization to install a new starter. After installing the new starter, the engine would not run. The new starter was working, but the engine would not turn over all the way. 

The starter would not have been covered under a manufactuer's warranty on a 2011 vehicle with over 100,000 miles, so I am unsure what you think we did that should have been covered under their warranty. 
We hope the manufacturer was able to resolve the engine issue for you.

John,
Thank you for your review on Surecritic.  I am glad to hear our staff met your expectations.

Allow me to share some information about our diagnostic pricing. Our technicians are highly trained, and we have invested a great deal in updated technology and training. This enables us to do accurate diagnosis of very complex engine issues. The typical minimum charge for diagnostic testing is $100, as you experienced. At the end of this process, we are able to tell you exactly what the trouble issue is and what repairs we recommend. Our repairs are all warrantied, and we take pride in making sure our customers are well taken car of.

There is no charge for some of the other basic diagnoses, such as just listening for a noise. I am happy to answer any other questions you may have; call anytime. We look forward to seeing you in the future.


#shopFranklin

The team at Grove Street Auto Repair
508-520-8697

Tire rotation is a critical part of tire maintenance, and will help ensure you get the most miles out of your tires. Industry standards recommend you rotate the tires every 6 - 8,000 miles. It is a small investment which will save you money in the long run.

Thank you for your kind words about our front desk personnel. If they did not explain the charge for the tire rotation to you prior to the service being performed, please contact me directly and I will provide a credit towards your next service with us.

We hope to see you again in the future. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday season.

Jean, Service Manager

and

I am sorry for the frustration and extra time spent to get a new license plate. The State of Massachusetts has specific regulations for the condition of the license plates, and it appears your original license plates did not meet those requirements. The State does not allow a grace period for any non-emissions issues, and that is certainly frustating when it is just a license plate issue.

For your records, here is the wording of the regulation, "By state law, Massachusetts license plates must be readable from 60 feet away. Any green or red passenger plate, which has lost its reflective coating or paint or has been damaged, must be replaced. You can also be cited by law enforcement for this violation. The RMV encourages vehicle owners to swap illegible plates for a set of red plates at no fee. Faded and illegible plates can be swapped at any of the RMV's full service branch locations. A red plate that is lost or damaged can also be ordered at any branch or by calling the Contact Center at 857-368-8000. The cost of replacing these plates is $10 a plate and will be mailed to the registered owner."

 Here is the link to the information - http://www.massrmv.com/rmv/faq/inspection.htm#12

I hope you understand that we are just following the State's regulations, over which we have no control.

Please feel free to call us directly if you have any other questions or concerns.

The team at Grove Street Auto Repair
508-520-8697

It is a hard situation when you have an older vehicle and need a lot of repairs. I am sorry you feel you have to take the vehicle elsewhere for the rest of the repairs. We thought we were fair in our initial diagnostic information, by telling you that it did need a lot of work before you put any money into it all, so you would be fully aware. Once you decided to go forward with repairs, we did what we could. If you should decide to do any further repairs to the truck, we would be happy to assist you. Thank you.

When the vehicle came in to our shop, it had multiple blown brake lines and very little brake fluid left in the system. There was also a strap that was rotted on the fuel tank, which was an issue. The vehicle needed many other repairs but we concentrated on these two at the request of the owner.  Once the brake lines were replaced, we filled the brake fluid and bled the brakes. We discussed the ABS light with the customer at pickup and explained that it may be a sticking float issue due to the low brake fluid level and the high level of corrosion in the original brake fluid. We suggested driving the vehicle for a few days to see if the float became unstuck and resolved on its own.
The customer brought his vehicle back a few weeks later, and we did diagnose the issue and recommended the appropriate repair. We fully explained the issue and the customer opted to not do additional repairs at that time due to the high mileage and age of the truck. We feel the issue was resolved successfully with the customer.

Brian, Your feedback is very important to us. I reached out to you several times, and am sorry we were not able to connect. Please allow me to explain.

When you dropped off your vehicle with us on Thursday, 2/22/16, we had a full schedule already, but expected we would have time later in the day to address your needs.  Unfortunately, the tire had sidewall damage, with a lot of rubber from the inside of the tire having worn off, leaving shavings inside the tire. This rendered the tire unsafe for use. In addition the vehicle's spare tire was damaged.

We called you right away, and recommended replacing the tire and the spare tire. The tire had to be ordered and was not received by us until the next day. The spare tire took some research to locate and took longer to obtain as well.  As soon as you came in on Friday, we mounted and balanced the new tire onto your rim to get you back on the road as quickly as we could.  Your spare tire assembly arrived later in the day, and I understand you did return several days later for it.

We understand how important it is to have your vehicle back as soon as possible, and try to communicate any delays to keep you informed. I hope this helps explain why the process of resolving the tire issues took longer than you were expecting. 

We hope to see you again soon.

Janice and Jason,
 
I tried to contact you but was unable to connect with you directly.  I understand you were feeling upset after we evaluated your 1995 Buick Century with over 120,000 miles on the odometer. You requested we diagnose the "no start" condition occurring when the weather was wet, and also diagnose why the driver's window would not work.  
 
The diagnosis of the no start condition included testing the ignition system, including the "wet test" which took approximately 60 minutes. The diagnosis of the window issue took 30 minutes.  
 
We then did estimates which, given the age of the vehicle, was time consuming. We researched multiple suppliers to find the parts for the window repair. The only available option was unfortunately very expensive. 
 
Because we did not feel it was fair to recommend doing these repairs without giving you a complete picture of the condition of the vehicle, we did a multi-point courtesy vehicle inspection, and found a number of other significant issues. I called Janice to be sure she was aware of all these issues, at which point, you decided it was not worth it to repair the vehicle due to the aggregate cost of needed repairs to make the vehicle drive-able over the long-term.  
 
The diagnosis charge of $98 covered the diagnostic time of our ASE-trained technician for the items you requested we look at. There was no charge for the extra multi-point inspection, nor for doing the estimates.  
 
My hope is that this clarified our process for you, and helps you understand why we do charge for some diagnostic processes.  If we just listen for a noise and put a vehicle on the lift, there is usually no diagnostic charge, but when it takes over an hour and a half to diagnose the concerns, we do need to charge for that.  
 
We thank you for your business and hope to see you again in the future. 
 
Thank you,
Jean and The Service Team at Grove Street Auto Repair

Please feel free to call me anytime with any qestions or concerns. Thank you,
Jean

Hi Laurie,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review of our services.  Your feedback is very important to us, as we strive everyday to meet our customer's expectations. Thank you for commenting that the staff was friendly and courteous; that is an integral part of our business model. 

I understand you would like to have your vehicle's oil changed every six months. We would be happy to take care of the oil change and courtesy inspection for you at that time.

Again, thank you for your feedback. Have a wonderful holiday season.

Jean Bradley, Service Manager
508-520-8697
 

Thank you so much for your recent review.  We look forward to seeing you again.

Susan, 
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a great review for us. We appreciate your business and your loyalty over the years. Trust is critical in the relationship between you and your mechanic and we are honored to have earned your trust.

Thank you for taking the time to leave us a five-star review. We hope you will return again in the future for any services your vehicle needs. We have free Courtesy Vehicles which can be reserved for your next scheduled visit. 

Jean and Chris

Peter, 

Thank you so much for leaving us a five-star review! We appreciate your business and continued loyalty. Looking forward to seeing again in the future.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Jean and Chris