Joe's Garage LLC
Recommend as a shop? No. I'm torn on writing this review because these folks did an excellent job with their "complimentary" inspection, and not only was this thorough but also included photos. I have in quotations because I do believe they did an inaccurate billing assessment, but in theory it appears they do the inspection service with any service at their shop. Full review is on Yelp!. The biggest reasons I have to give a low rating and couldn't recommend is communication. First, I reached out to them based on local recommendations. I checked to see if they felt confident assessing the work (import, Volkswagen). And then if they had time to get to it anytime soon. They were confident that both could happen. They did initial diagnostic on maybe the next day, and we happened to be driving by the shop and noticed that the window in our vehicle was down and the vehicle was left on the street with a bag over the window after hours. In the Whit. So naturally the next day we wanted to know what was going on, they apparently had issues with the window and well... The last stumble on communication is addressing key concerns that us bringing the vehicle in. Drivability, concern for leaking injectors. They were quick to point out that OEM spark plugs were not used. Did not offer to remedy this first. Went into some electrical troubleshooting instead, they asserted the issue was a faulty computer system and we should replace this first. The agreed upon plan before any work was done was to replace some bolts, and verify fuel injectors were properly seated. When we received the vehicle back, ran about the same. They affixed a band clamp to an intake hose, abraded a wire to a sensor (I'm assuming during testing), and within two days we had leaking injectors. Turns out they didn't do the bolt work at all, and said after the fact it was "out of their wheelhouse", even though this was the very first objective in the initial game plan. When I called to talk to them about the spark plugs and the lack of visual work, they said that wasn't the plan and they apologized for the confusion. They do say they record their calls, at the beginning of every call to the shop, so I'm sure they could double check accuracy of this if they chose to do so. Work they did do? -Complimentary Inspection -Attach a band clamp -Checked spark plugs Biling was for three hours of general diagnostic. They had done various flow tests and electric tests per their word, but couldn't say for sure. What I do know is that the above was done, we were billed for three hours of work, and none of our key concerns were addressed from the initial diagnosis. We were advised to either replace the car's computer, or take to VW dealership, depending on what timeline you spoke to which agent. We had the car home for a couple of days before the injectors started leaking, and again had vehicle towed to another shop, but this time to VW dealership. Prior to the injectors leaking and us taking to VW dealership, replacing the spark plugs with OEM corrected all but one of the fault codes read when back from Joe's. So again, I'm not sure why they didn't suggest this and do that first. I haven't worked with many garages, but compared to the service department at the VW, it appears that the theme for this is the bottom line I would not trust these folks for a complex fix, thorough diagnostic, or work that I couldn't do on my own over two hours in length. And if you can't trust a shop to work on stuff you aren't familiar with or don't want to work on, is there really any point on taking your car to that shop?