Let me first say that this is the only negative review I have ever posted in my life. My wife chose to use European Auto Garage for the maintenance of her Mini after purchasing her new car because of their reputation and experience. However, the first (and now only), experience has been much less than what we expected. First of all, it took the forever to do the basic oil change. We waited well over 1.5 hours but that didn't bother us that bad. It however now adds to a laundry list of other things. Next, they quoted her over $1500 for a break job. And, they also over-quoted some other minor work and tires. We found another shop to do these things in order to save some on the price of install and decided to have them just change the oil while it was in there since she had driven quite a bit in between. Immediately when the car had gone back to be serviced at the other shop, they stopped and brought us back to see the problem. The drain plug had been severely over-torqued and had stripped the threads completely off the oil pan to the point that it couldn't even be re-threaded. The only thing holding the plug in was one small strip of thread left. Before then, The only people to have touched the oil pan since we had the car was EAG and the car had not been in the other shop long enough for them to have done anything else but loosen the drain plug. I called EAG expecting them to step up and at least offer to facilitate the replacement of the oil pan for a reduced price or, if their reputation preceded them properly, to completely cover the replacement. However, I received a VERY different response. First, they were incredibly "snotty" about the fact that we would choose to shop around on the replacement of the breaks. Second, as soon as I mentioned that someone else discovered their mistake, they were COMPLETELY unwilling to address the issue or to even talk about anything else other than to say "someone else touched it so we will not accept any responsibility". I attempted to talk to the gentleman for quite some time but he kept repeating the same mantra. After my frustration grew more and more, I informed him that if he could not satisfy at least some of my basic expectations, my wife's car would not be in his shop again and I would be posting a negative review. He, at that time very hurriedly accused me of "threatening him" and rushed me off the phone without even giving me a chance to respond, virtually hanging up on me. In today's world of high service expectations, a high-end service such as that supposedly provided by EAG comes with the expectation of great service. As said earlier, I have never placed a negative review and am not the kind of person that normally would. However, after the "nose-up" type of response I received after calling in to see what they could do about this, I was shocked and felt that other people should know what to expect. Hopefully, EAG management will step up and resolve this. I will update if they do.
Thank you for your feedback Ernest. We work hard to provide professional, expert service to our customers. We understand your frustration about an oil drain plug failing. We see this failure from time to time, considering a drain plug is a wear part, and threads can get worn with time. Whenever we see this happen we are usually able to correct the problem with a time cert (re-tap of the hole). I assure you that the technician that performed your oil service with us, is a Master Certified MINI technician, with over a decade of experience. If he had damaged your oil plug, such as over torquing it, you would have seen signs, such as oil dripping from the plug and onto the ground beneath it. Over torquing does not allow the plug to seal correctly. Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to see the vehicle for the recent oil service. You chose to have it serviced at Pep Boys. We understand that they blamed the drain plug failure on us, however we do not have confidence in their opinion. If we were the ones who determined there was an issue, you are absolutely correct, we would take responsibility for any errors our technician would make. We apologize that you feel we were anything less than professional with you. We will use this situation to work with our team, to determine how to be better in the future. We understand that we are not the shop for everyone, and wish you the best. European Auto Garage
- European Auto Garage