Anonymous
map-marker Live Oak, Texas

Steves Imports Customer Care Review from Live Oak, Texas

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
Be careful about doing business with this place. I took my car here based on a recommendation from another repair shop, because they were too backed up to take my car in at the time. My car was in desperate need of a new catalytic converter which I was aware of. Steve's imports did their diagnostics on my car, and said it also needed two O2 sensors and a mass airflow sensor. They said the total repair cost would be $1700. I was astounded with the quote they had given me, because that's way more than my almost 20 year old car is even worth. I understand that some repairs can be costly, but at that point I decided to call around to other repair shops to see if I could get a better deal somewhere else. I called about 3 different places and for the same repair that Steve's was trying to charge me $1700 for these other shops were saying they could do the same job for about $1000 to $1200...which was hundreds less. I called Steve's back and said I would be picking up my car and wouldn't be having them work on my car. I get there and they charge me $107 for the diagnostic they had done on my car, which fair enough they need to make money too, but when I explained to them that I could get the same job for hundreds cheaper elsewhere they just laughed and joked about it. Obviously this shop doesn't care about customer service if they are going to sit there and laugh and joke about their ridiculously high costs. I definitely wasn't laughing at the way I was being treated. After I got home with my car and I was reading over the diagnostic report that they had given me I noticed that their charges didn't even add up. They were going to charge $1120 for replacing the 2 O2 sensors and catalytic converter. Then the cost of the mass airflow sensor was going to be $340. Even with the $107 they charged for the diagnostic that doesn't add up to $1700...there's still $133 missing from that quote, Makes you wonder where that extra $133 was going to go. Probably straight into their pocket. My advice is to stay as far away from this place as possible. They'll just scam you out of a lot of money.
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Reason of review:
Pricing issue
Kinya Qxb
map-marker Portland, Oregon

Tried to rip me off, broke my parts, and sent back my car in pieces

Steves Imports - Tried to rip me off, broke my parts, and sent back my car in pieces
Steves Imports - Tried to rip me off, broke my parts, and sent back my car in pieces - Image 2
Updated by user Jul 08, 2014

I'm pleased to report that Steve's Imports has gone through some major restructuring in the management and they have since reached out to me and apologized for the incident.

Original review Apr 03, 2014
I dropped my car off for a diagnosis. SI called me back with the diagnosis and I decided that I would have the car towed back to my house. When my car arrived on the tow truck the valve cover was thrown on top of the engine pinching hoses and lines with the hood resting (open) on top of the engine. This caused damaged to the heat lining on the underside of the hood. Once started putting things back together I noticed that my intake cover had a plastic connection broken off as well. I drove back to SI and told them that the way they sent the car back was unacceptable and all I received was a bunch of lame excuses that "there was no point to put it back together." The point that I was trying to make is I paid for a diagnostic and I expected as a paying customer to receive the car back in the same condition that I had dropped it off. On a side note: The diagnosis ended up resulting in the car needing a complete engine replacement. SI had quoted me 5400-**** range with the new engine (with 78k miles), labor and fluids included. I asked what labor and fluids only would be if I could track down an engine myself would be. Labor and fluids was roughly 1700-****. I ended up tracking down an engine from an auto wrecker (with 78k miles). The auto wrecker told me they had just quoted the same engine to SI earlier that day. The engine was 2000 with a core exchange. Now let's do some basic math. Original Quote: ~5400 Labor/fluids only: ~1700 Engine: ~2000 I would have saved roughly $1,700 by just making a phone call and having the exact same engine shipped to their business. Why is there this difference in price??? DO NOT go to Steve's imports, they will take you to the cleaners. When you decide you can't afford to do the repairs right away they will send you your car back in pieces because "it's not worth it to put it back together" after a diagnosis. Steve's Imports will point the finger at the tow truck driver for breaking my intake cover and hood heat shield. Then they have the audacity to claim I used there "discounted" price for the engine I purchased. I did a google search, found the wrecking yard, and purchased it at THE PRICE THE WRECKING YARD HAD LISTED ON THEIR SITE. Not once did I ask for the repair shops "discounted" rate. I tried to solve it with them over email but they denied it was their fault and never got back to me. Steve's Imports is definitely by far THE worst shop in town. STAY AWAY!!!
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Loss:
$94
Anonymous
map-marker Portland, Oregon

Steve's Imports in Portland ripped me off

First of all, the girl at the counter, Dee, was rude and unprofessional. I had my car towed there after it overheated. They offered me a loaner car, which I thought was great and I accepted. So then they come up with a quote for over $6800! I researched on the web and found another way for them to repair the issue and went back to them. They requoted it at $1800, and I decided that I would need to save money for a few weeks before I could have it completed. So I returned the loaner car and paid the $150 for the diagnostic service, (which is higher than anywhere else). This was on a Friday. I told unfriendly Dee that I would try to get my car towed out of there on that day, but I couldn't get it done before they closed, so I arranged it for Monday. She calls me Monday morning and informs me that they are charging me $30 a day (including the days they are closed) for my car sitting there from the moment I had it towed to them until I could get it towed out, on Monday! They never told me this upfront and I wasn't informed of it until Friday when I went in to pay the diagnostic bill. She says they wont release my car unless I pay the bill. And then she says that they cut the amount in half to $165 (this number doesn't even compute)! I argued and disputed it with her, but when the tow truck driver got there, they wouldn't release my car! I had to pay this unfair charge so I could get my car back! DONT USE THIS PLACE, THEY RIP PEOPLE OFF!!!
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Loss:
$165
2 comments
Guest

They are a rip off they always diagnosising the wrong problem.forsure they are rip offs and every time I had got my car back from them has been more problems

Guest

I dropped my car off for a diagnosis. SI called me back with the diagnosis and I decided that I would have the car towed back to my house. When my car arrived on the tow truck the valve cover was thrown on top of the engine pinching hoses and lines with the hood resting (open) on top of the engine. This caused damaged to the heat lining on the underside of the hood. Once started putting things back together I noticed that my intake cover had a plastic nipple broken off as well.

I drove back to SI and told them that the way they sent the car back was unacceptable and all I received was a bunch of half *** excuses that "there was no point to put it back together." The point that I was trying to make is I paid for a diagnostic and I expected as a paying customer to receive the car back in the same condition that I had dropped it off.

On a side note:

The diagnosis ended up resulting in the car needing a complete engine replacement. SI had quoted me 5400-**** range with the new engine (with 78k miles), labor and fluids included. I asked what labor and fluids only would be if I could track down an engine my self would be. Labor and fluids was roughly 1700-****. I ended up tracking down an engine from an auto wrecker (with 78k miles). The auto wrecker told me they had just quoted the same engine to SI earlier that day. The engine was 2000 with a core exchange.

Now let's do some basic math.

Original Quote: ~5400

Labor/fluids only: ~1700

Engine: ~2000

I would have saved roughly $1,700 by just making a phone call and having the exact same engine shipped to there business. Why is there this difference in price???

DO NOT go to Steve's imports, they will take you to the cleaners. When you decide you can't afford to do the repairs right away they will send you your car back in pieces because "it's not worth it to put it back together" after a diagnosis.

Steve's Imports is definitely one of the worst shops in town. STAY AWAY!!!

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