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Recent Reviews

Olivia S.

Middletown, MD

09/26/2020

They took my wallet for ride

I have been a customer of JR's for more than a year. I took my forester in with a mechanic friend's guidance. JR gave us a discount and I left a 5 star review. A year later in April, I came back to replace my master cylinder. My car had almost 300,000 miles and I was looking for a new one. I noticed a green forester chassis on the property and asked about it. JR said I could have it, that it only 69,000 miles on it. Awesome! JR said he could get a new engine from Japan and convert it, he'd call me when he got the engine. Two weeks later I check in. JR said he hadn't looked yet and he'd call me in a few days. Days go by and he doesn't call so I call him. He said his mechanic had Covid and he was short staffed. June rolls around. I call again- how's your mechanic? He was back and JR said he looked into buying the engine from Japan and needed a part to convert it. A week or so goes by so I call and he says he can't find the part. I asked about a different engine. He said he'd look into it. I had a few repairs done by JR to keep my deteriorating car on the road. Still nothing about an engine and it's well into June. By July, I am upset and told him that I couldn't afford to wait for him and that I was going to tow the car off the property. He said he wouldn't allow it, I either have to pay the storage fees for more than 6 months or get the work done by them. Two days later he calls me (omg! He actually called me!) found an engine with 86,000 miles in NY that arrived the following week, but his mechanic took a vacation and he was short staffed again. My engine overheats, JR said my coolant was just low and sent me on my way. It overheated again the next day and my neighbor looked at it. "Your head gaskets are blown". I called JR and told him the gaskets were blown. He laughed and said "that sucks" and he couldn't schedule me for at least three more weeks. I started crying and begged him to put me on the schedule sooner. He said "it may be more than three weeks", that he wanted to do a quality job and I shouldn't rush him and that his boss has no sympathy because they're already giving me a deal on the car. I finally got my engine installed in the last week of July. The grand total was $2,800. After inspection, the wheels were shaking. After the second inspection he said that the transmission needed replaced. I didn't bother to argue it had sat 3 months in the time I have been working w them. He said he'd have to take the trans out of my old car if I wanted it done, he didn't have time to source one and he "already spent too much time on this car". After 3 grand (not including what I spent in the white one), being so patient with them, they are now treating me like a nuisance. It was out of my budget, but JR found time to take the trans from my car (which was now on his property), install it, told me that the wiring didn't line up, found time this same day to call a junk yard, have the junk transmission delivered and installed all the same day. Honestly. It's now ready and waiting for me to pay an additional $1,500. I picked it up September 4th. JR wasn't there. His mechanic took my cash. He printed a receipt that said I still owed $1,500. I made him print a second that said I paid. They jumped the car and I left. On the ride home the battery light comes on. My neighbor has a tool to measure the voltage and it was only charging at 11.3. I called JR and asked why he didn't change the battery and he said "you didn't pay for a battery". After $4,500 he couldn't be bothered to tack it onto my already enormous Subaru bill. Not only that but the battery in my white car is good and he had time to change my trans twice but not the battery? I didn't want to go back. I figured I'd just pay for a new battery when I got my next check. In two weeks the car overheated! I had it towed to a different shop and they said oil and coolant were mixing together. I told them it was installed 2 weeks ago and they wrote a document for the warranty. I know it may also be that it was installed improperly, especially since they didn't change the battery, maybe they didn't bother changing any of the seals either. I can't afford to find out right now. I called obviously and JR said the warranty for the engine was only good 30 days after purchase implying that I was out of luck. My neighbor explained that it was likely he'll determine that the engine was bad and charge me for a second round of labor. JR told me this engine had 86,000 miles and the other shop estimated 150,000. I looked at my receipts, he charged me for R and I, he said he would only charge me for install because there was no engine to remove, the date says 6/30 on my receipt that I received on 9/4. Also, when I came in person to the shop none of the employees wore masks. Wouldn't they want to be careful after an employee got Covid? Did his mechanic ever have Covid? After all of this I believe these men are ALL Con Artists. I believe they pick and choose who to "take for a ride" as the saying goes. These are not people to trust with your livelihood. As someone who learned a lot going through this I am detailing my mistakes to illustrate just how much these people took advantage of me. Not so naive now though.

Not Recommended

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