I just wanted to post this up for everyone to read. There is some good and some bad, and im not bad mouthing straightline on everything but im not praising them on everything either. Heres what happened..

My car broke down on May 7th, it just completely died out, so i got it out of the street and everything and didnt know who to call, since i dont know what tow companies cost or anything like that here in IL. So i called my buddy Mikey from Straightline, to see if he could possiby pick it up and this way i would let them work on it. So they were awesome and came and picked up the car no problem.

So they get the car to the shop and whatever and they find out its the fuel pump that went out, so i told him OK, order me a Walboro for the car, and i told him Speed Inc has them on there site. So they said they would order one..So a couple days go by and i dont hear anything about it. So on the 14th there i found out they still havent recieved the pump and they were waiting on it...Alsoon the 16th of the month i was asking what the total price would be just to make sure i have all the cash and i was told around $275 so i was just like alright thats fine.. So then later on the 16th i get another PM saying that Speed inc said it will be 2 weeks before they get the pump in. Now im not saying thats there fault I just wish we would of known sooner about this, since i need the car by the end of the month cause im going out of town with it. So they said they were gonan call around and order me a new one, so i just decided that i would call TSP and order one from them if they have it. So i did but for some reason they wouldnt let me ship it out to them, it has to ship to the credit card holders address. So i got the pump the next day and hurried it over there (45min drive for me) on friday so they could get it done on Sat. Well it didnt get done on Sat.

Then i find out it will be done monday and that i can pick it up in the morning, so im like cool, my GF canceled her plans to come and pick me up to drop me off to get the car. Well she gets to my house and i hear that they are having problems with the pump and all kinds of stuff and that they have to take it all apart again to try to figure it out. ( thats understandable) Well anyways, to try to make this shorter, im leaving for work and i get a call from them saying it should be done this evening they figured it all out and it will be done, so im like cool. My GF already left and she lives 30 min from me. So i left work early and she had to drive ALL the way back to my house to pick me up and all they way out to get the car.

Well when i go to get my car everything was cool, and i was getting ready to pay and then i found out my total was $547 which is not AT ALL what i was expecting. Found out i had to pay for a tow which i was never told before i had too. I wouldnt of really cared i just wish i would of known before anything. Now i get the car back to my house and it seems like my exhaust is rattling quite a bit which it NEVER did before. So now i have to figure it out..

Like i said this isnt a thread to talk smack about Straightline, i have no problems with any of the guys work there and they have helped me out numerous times, i just think they were overwhelmed with the amount of work they have coming in and out of the place, and i just felt a little overlooked. Also i think i should of been told how much it would of been for towing and i feel like i shouldnt of had to pay the full amount for the tow when i was never told anything about it. I also dont think i should of had to rush and buy a pump and it should NEVER have took that long to find out they are out of stock of fuel pumps from Speed Inc. Im just curious what everyone else thinks? Do you guys feel im wrong in feeling this way?

 

if your not trying to talk smack about straightline, why did you post the thread?

 

This being the second time Ive heard something become a problem after coming out of Straightline Ive started to wonder where to get work done as it seems you cant trust most local commercial shops. A friend of mine got work done at straightline which was fallowed up by a strange occurance that left his car sidelined 30mins later. Straightline did take care of it, but it seems like the guys at alot of these shops are hard pressed to offer good customer service. If you want something done right or put right afterward then you have to strong arm them into proper customer service. Im also not only picking on Straightline, you shop owners know who you are.

Timing seems to be a huge issue with alot of these places, being up front with time frames isnt a bad thing, if its gonna take 3-4 weeks to do something of course the quote is 2-3 days. Jake isnt the only one this has happened to, this has happened to me and alot of other people. He shouldve been quoted the price for the pick up from the get go, its almost implied that it was free. Hell I wouldve thought so, esp if a friend was the one who said they'd pick it up. May not have been his fault, but the 275$ quote to 570$ is way off. Most traditional shops Ive worked with or been to in the past seem to quote you a price and make you sign a billion different places saying that you agree to pay that much. If the price changes they call you in the middle of the job and tell you and do not continue till you agree to pay. This leaves me to question why the generation of speed shop is so apt to screw things up. I know playing with fast cars isnt cheap but it doesnt mean you can get your car shoved up your *** because they have no standardize pricing scale. I also wonder to the skill level of most of the people at these shops, to be honest I was never involved with these shops till recently. I used to always used the 50+ year old guy with years of expirence or the place with certified mechanics. I have to wonder how many of these shop owners could truly work on the range of cars some old school mechanics could, this may have something to do with not having to know diddly about cars to open a speed shop. Too bad there are no laws in that reguard. Also I never encountered these issues or prices when I did. I think consumer ignorance is to blame, also I have a solution, I will bring more info on this idea asap. Id also like to speak to someone with an interest in this investment idea that will solve alot of these problems and make them money in the process.

Customer service is dead. The company I work for has been selling over priced **** you should never need but has been in business and has stayed making money for over 25 years because of amazing customer service... Rant over.

 

Valid post, thanks for stopping in.

I understand how you feel about the price man. I was quoted 400 for a install I was having done a while back, I get there and my bill is very close to 700 bucks for some b.s. reason. I said the same thing about you should of let me know alot earlier. I only ended up paying about 500 but still. I dont like feeling left out or ripped off. I dont feel your wrong for how you feel. I mean I would of felt the same way man. It sucks when **** doesnt go the way it should.

David

 

I want to get everyones opinion about what happened...I like all of the guys from Straightline. i just think the stuff that happened wasnt the greatest

 

That's the most ignorant thing Ive ever heard, I think the reason why is because Jake wasnt sure if he got screwed or not. You people should thank him because the more people that complain rather than shell out money and stay quiet the less likely others are to get screwed.

 

Like i said im not saying anything bad about the employees..i like all the people i have met and talked to. Both Mikes are very nice and any questions i have they answer right away and Nick the same thing, hes a very nice guy. I was just shocked when i seen the total, especially since im not exactly flowing in the money which is why everyone who knows me knows i am always asking, well how much is it going to be. So i can make sure i will have enough for that and all my other bills..Like i said i didnt think it was gonna be $200 more then i thought, so it screwed up alot of my stuff after i got home and i realized i had some bills and im going on vacation this weekend and all of that, and now im screwed cause the $200 i was going to use for gas and everything is gone..

 

Now you have to save and pinch your changed man. Sell coke, that simple haha!

 

Exactly Alex...Also, i dont like to complain and i dont like talking smack about people i know and that i consider my friends, normally i would just eat it and forget it, but times are tough for me now and every cent to me counts, so thats why im a little upset.

 

I know what your saying Matt..

 

 

i agree that it doesn't sound very fair at all what happened to him, but how can you say nice things about someone and how they are your friends then.... oh by the way they screwed me? i know what it's like to wait longer on your car or pay more when you get there. i can relate. the post just didn't seem to make a lot of sense. you can't sit on the fence.

 

life sucks & then you die,jake!they are all nice guys there at straightline we all know that.i am sure they will cut you some slack on your next visit.my car was out of commission for 3 months last year because of 1 of our sponsors mistakes on here & its still not right & i have spent over $3000 at that shop, so it is hit & miss where ever you go!!!!!!!!!!!!good luck!

 

By law you are allowed a written estimate and if that estimate has to be re-written to a larger amount they have to get approval. There are a very few amount of shops I deal with now since it seems when I drop off a part/motor/trans/etc the initial vocal estimate and the bill at the end is usually 4 times larger. Now I get everything written out, listed down to the smallest detail and a copy of this agreement is signed/dated/etc before said parts are dropped off. It always bothered me when the first estimate is always within "reason" and the final bill was always higher. Once I had a gas tank sumped at a radiator repair place and the final bill was LOWER than the initial estimate AND they blasted and painted the tank for me. Needless to say that place has had its name thrown out into the mix for others repeatedly. I had REALLY bad luck with the speed shop on 159th street just a little west of bell road. Don't remember the name, but they charged $250 to tune a carb on my camaro a few years back and it still had the stock jetting and vacuum secondary springs in it. I admit I was young, dumb, and had no idea how a carb worked. But a few years later I pulled it apart to replace a gasket and everything inside the thing was factory jetting, etc and pulled the plugs and they were black. I still feel the same emotions today that I felt back then, since I calmly explained I had no idea what I was doing and I was willing to pay more for better quality workmanship and tuning. Not to mention they sold me a "reman'd" carb instead of a "brand new" one so they could price match summit apparently.

 

thats bullshit....like xpndbl3 said they should have gotten your approval before hand. i dont know if you can contact the Better Bussiness Bureau over this but i would give it a try...only after you talk to straightline and see if they can straighten this out for you. which if they would like a positive rep i think they will....this site im sure contribute to alot oof their business.

where are they guys from straitghline line???

they have anything to say for this?

 

$570 for labor and a tow............Does seem high!!!

 

Oh ya 2 things i didnt even check on my receipt that is included in the $570 is the fuel filter and a fuel line patch? i didnt even know i had a fuel leak..

 

This is my bad, as i was looking at the receipt it was $547 total not $570..but still..

 

not saying anything bad towards straightline, as i have no problems with them. but just in general, you should have been notified and given the ok before any work was performed, unless you said do whatever needs to be done. and anytime theres a price discussed, if theres a change to it, you should be informed before they continue.

i know from the time i worked at farm and fleet, anytime the price changes w/o telling someone, people flip out.

 

wow