Reviews
The best ppl in town
Back in February we were stranded in Vegreville due to a faulty alternator while enroute to Saskatoon in the minivan. Let me begin by stating that I am grateful for the fact that this shop was able to get us going again and we continued our trip despite the nearly 7 hour delay.
When a family of 4 pulls up with a broken vehicle I suspect it is anyone's first instinct to assist them in getting on their way. They told me they have parts delivered daily from Edmonton at 1:30pm so getting the part wouldn't be a problem (*note this for later). Being mechanically inclined I was able to give the owner and tech enough information to indicate a faulty alternator, which they tested and found to be an accurate assessment.
We arrived to the shop at 10:15am and they had it fully diagnosed in about an hour. My family and I toured the town as best we could on foot and at -20C and the shop owner knew we were on a trip. Again, being mechanically inclined, I was under the impression the disassembly and removal of the faulty part would have been accomplished in anticipation of the replacement part arriving at 1:30pm. Seems logical to anyone that has pulled a wrench. As it turns out the shop didn't even begin the procedure until AFTER the part arrived. Not like the old part could have done any more so I'm REALLY not clear on why they chose to wait on disassembly with a family of four waiting for the work to be completed.
It's 4:30pm and I had to call THEM to find out the van is ready to go. I'm a little bothered that it literally took all day for a repair that books out at 1.9hrs and then I get the invoice. They charged me almost $400 for an alternator I could have got RETAIL for $265 RIGHT NEXT DOOR at the Bumper to Bumper. So let's assume the jobber price on this part is around $200. Marking up parts for profit is part of any repair shop business model. Taking advantage of a stranded motorist by marking them up 100% and doing nothing to expedite the repairs is a little much. The way I see it is we were overcharged on a part and the actual repair work took 4 times as long as necessary to finish the job (1 hour of work could have been accomplished while waiting and then an hour for reassembly after the part arrived). When I questioned the pricing on the part they kept referencing OTHER parts that cost more money?!?! I didn't BUY other parts so this was a very frustrating conversation. The owner THEN had the gall to tell me the price included a rush delivery charge! How is that possible when you get daily parts delivery from the city ANYWAY?!?!?
Bottom line: They will get the work done and from my post-travel inspection things were done well.
Will it be efficient? It sure wasn't for us.
Will it be fairly priced? If the gouging of this customer on parts markup is any indication then no.
Use this place if you need to. The owner and staff seemed really helpful at first. They really didn't respond well to having an informed consumer with mechanical knowledge questioning them on the bill.
Best mechanic is Darcy Sr. Here. Great service and excellent front end staff
Perfect service