2 /5 Tim Palmquist: The belt tensioner broke on my F-150, and I needed the repair done that day to get to work the next morning. I got the truck to them by 11 am, after I had verified with them in a phone call that they could fix it that day.
I called about 3 pm and they still hadn’t fixed it, because they said they didn’t have the parts. I had already researched the parts and knew where I could immediately pick them up, so I asked if they could get it done if I brought them the parts, but in the midst of the conversation they said the parts arrived.
They insisted on replacing the belt, claiming that it was torn, but I insisted on keeping the old belt. It looks perfect (much better than the belt they installed, which looked worn from the start). When I showed the old belt to the mechanic he admitted that he couldn’t see anything wrong with it.
They did finish the repair that same day, just before closing time. But they did more than what I approved and charged me much more for the parts than I could have paid.
In comparison, the identical problem happened two years ago when we were traveling through Georgia. Thankfully that time the shop got us back on the road in an hour and charged us $150 (less than half what I paid this time).
I’m still dealing with the aftermath of this repair, as some new issues might be related. I knew it didn’t sound right the moment I drove away but I really didn’t want to deal with them anymore, and I figured they wouldn’t want to deal with me either, as it had seemed that I was imposing on them to try to get them to get it done that day.