Autoking Automotive

I just called over there to ask some questions before bringing my car in, and a cranky old man answered the phone. (I think his name was Butch) He seemed irritated at every question I asked, he didn’t know the answers, and at one point he told me that he wasn’t going to waste much more time talking to me, so I hung up on him. If their customer service is that bad, then I’d hate to think of how poorly they work on cars. This is perfect example of a bunch of losers who hate their lives because the farthest they ever got was working at a crappy car repair shop.

Out in Indy on vacation, so I have time to write a post warning the Unilocal community. I rarely post, but the staff’s attitude here really deserves a review. I’m going to detail my issues with this place. In general, customer service was very poor, appointments mean nothing, and the staff is just petty.
First, let’s just talk about timeliness. Don’t bother to make an appointment. Doing so lulls you into a false sense of security. You think it will be like any other service that asks for appointments (e.g. doctors, etc.). Maybe they will run 15 mins late. No, Auto King subscribes to that Family Guy line («In Russia, you don’t drive car; car drives you.») Basically, make an appointment and wait two hours for them to even look at your car. That’s a lot of time when (a) you told them what the problem is when you got there and (b) they just need to confirm what you said by reading the onboard computer.
Second, basic service delivery is poor. When I paid for the initial inspection, I was given a receipt that did not actually detail what the problem was. When you pay for an inspection, you should in theory own the results (e.g. the paper with the listed problem). Not here. I pressed for a detailed description which turned out to be… well debatable (see below)
Finally, Butch (the salty owner?) was just petulant. I told the guy politely (but straightforwardly) that I would shop the repair around. I shopped the repair around (as any reasonable person would do for a $ 200 expense), and I got a very different diagnosis from another repair shop (different sensor was malfunctioning). I called up Auto King to make sure that I hadn’t misheard (I tend to blame myself first before others). Well the colorful Butch got… well…pissy and hung up on me. (Note: I even told him I was leaning towards him, but Butch likes to cut the nose to spite the face.)