Please read carefully if you're going to go to Vickar for... - Marika Roman
Please read carefully if you're going to go to Vickar for any service on your vehicle, especially recall work.
I had an appointment with Vickar on March 5th 2021 for a cross-member recall. Either the cross member was faulty and needed replacing or it was fine and they would spray it with rust coat. After waiting nearly 3 hours, the man who you give your keys and info came back and told me my vehicle failed the punch test (meaning it needs replacing) but in order to perform the recall I needed to do about (if I remember correctly) $700+ of work, and that they would be so kind as to do it. Well I said I'll just get MY mechanic to do it. They told me my trans oil pan was rusty and that I needed new front lower control arms. The manager guy told me VERBATIM my car is too unsafe to drive and the control arms can "fall apart at any minute" and made me sign a WAIVER for my cross member. So I bought the parts myself and my dad took my car to the mechanic for me (as I was busy the day of my appointment.
When my dad brought my car in my mechanic refused to do the work because he said my control arms were completely fine, albeit old and did need replacing (he said he reckoned within next 6 months) and anyone who told me that they would fall apart at ANY minute is scamming me. The other mechanic at the shop said my control arms were fine also. I ended up taking my car back and asked him to do the work anyway because Vickar won't do my recall without those 2 things being replaced. (And my car needs the recall done because it's UNSAFE) So he did it all the while saying not to. All in all it was about $900 out of pocket for me.
I made an appointment with Waverly for my recall since I figured they were the same. When I arrived I told the gentleman there that I had been to Vickar and that they failed my punch test and I needed a replacement. He said they still needed to run the tests on my cross member because that's their policy and they only order cross members if a car fails, that they don't keep the part on hand as it's pricey. which makes sense. Although I was disappointed because I thought it was going to fail and would have to come back at another date. So I waited 30 minutes, (much faster than Vickar may I add) and when he came back he said... that my cross member PASSED the test and does NOT need replacing. He said they would apply the rust coat and it would take 30 minutes to an hour.
Now I was just mad. Why did I spend nearly a THOUSAND dollars to fix things I was told I NEEDED to fix in order to have a recall done WHEN I DIDN'T NEED THE RECALLED PART REPLACED!? I asked the gentleman "are you SURE because as I told you Vickar said I failed and my cross member is UNSAFE?" He said yes, that he trusts his guys and they've seen hundreds of my case, he further went on to tell me that he specifically didn't tell his guys that I originally failed my cross member test as to not taint his judgement and to get an unbiased answer and that after his mechanics passed my car he THEN told them Vickar failed my car and his mechanics said "that's not right."
So I'm fuming at this point. I got my invoice, and drove over to Vickar.
I asked Vickar for my previous invoice. The manager fumbled around for 15 minutes trying to find it (seems like a fairly easy thing to find?) And handed it over. I was advised by Mitsubishi (Brampton. Where all my work has been done before, who I trust.) to then ask the General Manager why they told my I needed a recall where Waverly told me I did NOT. The service manager (who got me my service order) was already in his office. the GM told me to have a seat and so I asked them to explain the work order they gave to me. After they explained how bad my car was I said "well why did my mechanic say it was fine, and more importantly why did I PASS the cross member test at Waverly?" And handed them the invoice from Waverly. The service manager seemed stuck up on my control arms, which was not my concern. My concern was my safety and after repeatedly asking about MY safety it was abundantly clear that was none of his concern, and that he wanted to know "why Waverly would pass me" and tried to indirectly discredit Waverly by questioning their mechanics decision and telling me how qualified his mechanics were. As if Waverly isn't just as qualified and as if they didn't run the SAME tests on my car!
He said "the guy at Wavery is my GOOD BUDDY" and said he was gonna give him a call... (not the guy we dealt with may I add and the guy we dealt with seemed like a pretty straight and honest fellow) and that he would call me back.
So he did call me back. And is now asking me to go see his "good buddy" to recheck my car.. excuse me? Now this is just FISHY. I'm extremely uncomfortable now and have no choice but to have my car RE-EVALUATED (at my own inconvenience).
Also the service manager from Vickar is telling me it's HUMAN ERROR even though I was under my car while THREE different employees told me how bad my cross member is... so ALL THREE OF YOU messed up? Why would I ever trust you if you do HUNDREDS of these tests and can't even do it right? He also is now telling me my trans oil pan was LEAKING that day. Even though I was underneath my car that day and 4 days prior to that day and there was no leak and my driveway is clean as a whistle, not a drop of transmission oil.
How does me going into see someone-who-my-mechanic-said-is-SCAMMING-me's "good buddy" sound like it's in my best interest? I just want to be SAFE! Is my car safe or not? How do I trust them now?
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