S & P Shell

I have to say that I have had good results with Bill. My A/​C went out on my Toyota Corolla about 16 months ago and the dealer wanted $ 1100 for a new one. I went on e-​bay bought a used a/​c unit and a new condenser. This set me back about $ 113. Bill Installed and charged it with freon for $ 135. Doesn’t get much better than that.

I went to Bill at S & P for a couple of years. I was impressed at the very beginning because he struck me as so honest — he actually accepted a post-​dated check from me for an emergency repair, when I had never been to see him before. I appreciated his trust and started to go to him exclusively.
I’m not sure if Bill just does not have the skill to be one’s exclusive mechanic, whether he is not experienced with foreign cars (I have a Nissan), or whether he just truly didn’t care, but basically what happened is this: I had been telling him for a long time that something didn’t seem right with my car. It sounded funny and didn’t feel safe when I drove it. Every time I brought it in, he said it was either fine, or needed hardly anything (I’ve never spent so little when visiting a mechanic before, and it was every single time). The noises were getting louder and the car felt worse, and I called to tell him about it and set up an appointment for a couple of Saturdays away. I saved about a grand to spend, figuring I would finally take care of the thing and the car would be in perfect shape. I brought it in, and only $ 200 later was told that it only needed some work done on the brakes and that it was fine otherwise; that the noise I thought I was hearing was no big deal and he recommended waiting on it.
I found out two things when I moved out of Watertown and brought my car to someone else:
1 — the tires I had purchased 2 – 3 years earlier (from Dedham Wholesale Tire) were actually THE WRONG SIZE tires for my car! This is not Bill’s fault… but in two years he never noticed this and told me?! All the times I told him how unsafe I felt driving? He’s not a tire specialist, but my new mechanic picked this up right away, and once I replaced the tires, driving it felt much safer.
2 — the «little thing» Bill advised me to wait on, 6 months later, is costing me $ 1500 because it wasn’t a little thing — it was a huge thing that has just been getting worse and worse (ball joint, axel, brakes, engine problem, etc.). I’ve gotten 2 independent estimates that gave me identical reports, and both places have said that if I had done this repair 6 months ago it would have been closer to $ 500 and that I have been jeapordizing my safety by driving the car like this.
This is more of a personal gripe rather than professional, but one last thing: holy moly, is he a moody person. He is either so pleasant and helpful that I can’t imagine a better guy to bring my car to, or he’s mean and snipey — he has actually yelled at me before. In fact it was an outburst like this that led me to stop going to him altogether and find someone closer to my home.