Merriman Park Automotive

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After four years of using this shop I have decided to move on. I rate them at 3 out of 5 stars, which in my mind equals a 60% rating. They are on the borderline of being a decent shop, but they have some issues that stand in their way.



1. They do not communicate well. They will do the absolute minimum in regards to reaching out to you about your car, and when they do, it's a brief synopsis with very limited options.



2. They just don't do the best work. I don't know exactly what their mechanic's expertise is, but it seems to me that he can be limited in his abilities. His work is also sloppy. Dirt and grime is usually around the work area of the interior of the car, he broke off pieces of the dashboard of my truck on my last visit, and it seems like his attention to detail is fair at best.



3. If you hint at dissatisfaction or frustration, they will respond right back at you with frustration and try to blame you for some reason. Their mechanic is very curt and can get snarky if you ask too many questions and the owner of the shop seems extremely detached from the real work that’s going on – as far as I’m concerned, she just runs the office. Which leads to my next point...



4. Their customer service is non-existent. They do not treat you like a customer - they treat you like you're a family friend that is wanting their car fixed for free. Their attitude about the job they do is that they are doing you a favor, not providing you with a service. They do not go above and beyond, and only when they make a mistake do they try to make things right - which for me, has been more than half the times I've been there.



Here are my personal experiences:



I've had an A/C tube failed to be re-installed after a fan was fixed, which resulted in the tube bouncing around the engine compartment, banging against the other engine fans. I've had them repair wiring on a door, only to fail less than a year later (I got the dealer to fix that one). The last straw was when I had them work on my truck for two weeks, only to drive it home and realize that the radio wouldn't turn on and that my interior dash lights were not plugged in - I returned them the vehicle and was assured that they could fix it while I wait. I showed up when the mechanic was "at lunch" after he told me to come up there about 30 minutes before, and I waited an hour for him to come back. It took him another 30 minutes to realize that he probably wasn't going to get everything fixed while I wait, also expressing his doubt that the radio worked when I first showed up... He begrudgingly offered to drive me home, which I denied - I didn't want him to think he was doing me any favors. They kept my truck for another two weeks and said that they'll fix it "free of charge" - like I was going to let them charge me for something they didn't fix in the first place. When the truck was ready, the owner tried to call me one time but for some reason got a "the owner is not accepting phone calls at this time" (which is weird because I had received calls that day as well as that entire week). She never called me back or left me a message to tell me the truck was ready. When I finally called she said it had been ready for a week. She said she tried to call me - but only documented one call that didn't go through and she never left a message.



You might be thinking, "Why did you keep bringing your cars to them?" The answer to that is that they are a community shop that has served my home for many years and I believe in supporting our local businesses. But the fact is, they're not the only shop around my house and my loyalty to them is exhausted.



If you have minor/simple work to be done I'm sure this shop can handle it. However, anything too complicated and I guarantee you it won't be worth the hassle working with this shop. Bring in your oil changes and brakes to these guys, but leave the hard stuff for a more capable shop.