Walczak Auto Service

The guys at Walczak’s always take care of me and my vehicle whenever I have a problem. Dennis, Dave & Jeremy will usually get my truck in the very same day I call.

If there was a 0 star selection, I would have selected it. This happened about a year ago, and I am still sour about it.
I had my driver side mirror hit and it needed to be replaced. I got a quote and had him order the part in February. I called back every week to see if the owner got the part in and each time I called, he said it didn’t. After one month, I eventually went in to find out what was going on. He told me that he hadn’t ordered the part yet. I look at this as him lying to me. I had him order the part, and after it didn’t come for a week… I decided to just take my business somewhere else. Turns out I only needed new glass anyways. I highly recommend taking your business somewhere else.

Competent technician; nasty, unprofessional owner!
Car lost brake pressure on Transit, so a family member recommended Walczak’s because he knew him many years ago. This was late in the day, so they kept the car overnight. Dennis, the owner was pleasant and responsive when we met. However, the next day I got no calls RE: how the work was going. I called for the update and was told the problem was that the hose rubbed against a surface causing a hole to form on the line, since it was an aftermarket line, they were having one made by someone they knew nearby. The tech on the phone mentioned nothing about price, but told me to call back later to see if they were finished. The line was replaced that afternoon. I’ve had no problems since.
The reason I’m even writing this review is because he tried to charge me $ 169.95 for one foot of steel braided brake hose on top of his already steep $ 95.00/hr labor costs for a total of 288.13! I bought the original kit from goodridge (4 lines and installation accessories) for $ 118 on Tirerack. When I confronted him about this, he became very angry, but showed me what he paid for the part: $ 65! He proceeded to argue with me about how every mechanic marks up their parts a certain percentage to cover the overhead for the shop. And to suggest that if I dispute this charge, I would be taking the salary of his workers away! He called ME greedy! As if his employees are getting the entire labor charge! That’s where most honest mechanics get their shop’s overhead.
He tried to blame me for ruining his buisness! Tried to make my request for transparency and fairness into a personal attack. I’m a nurse, so he tried to blame me personally for the injustice of the healthcare system! Told me I have «long pockets and short arms». How unprofessional and presumptuous!
The short of it is that he refunded me the difference between what he paid and what he charged me for the part! He refunded me $ 111.34; the part was marked up 260%! I have never had such a bad experience with a mechanic.
Later I talked about this with someone who used to go to Walczaks years ago, and they confirmed that he has been inflating his prices for years.