1 star so I can leave a review, would rather give -5. Last week I brought my van in to have the alignment done. Got a call from the manager Warren, he said there were a bunch of issues with the van. I went down to the shop to discuss in person. He said I needed to replace both inner and outer tie rodes on both sides. Power steering leak. New rack and pinion would be needed. Steering gear assembly needed replacing. Rear brake rotors needed work (didn't ask to have these checked). Gave me a 2300$ bill and said they'd give me the pre-work inspection for free since "there was a lot more work to be done before getting to the alignment." He then proceeded to tell me my wheels would fall off if I drove it home, yet let me drive home. Before leaving he told me he'd give me the work at shop price, so he'd take 500$ off. How nice. I said I'd have to take the van home and figure out what to do... At this point, I'm obviously quite worried. I just bought the van 2 months ago and the pre-purchase inspection came back perfect, hence why I bought the van. I called that shop and told them what happened and they assured me I could bring the van to them and they'd redo the inspection free of charge with me in the bay and walk me through everything. They also said it sounds like Warren was trying to fleece me. Ooohhh, was he right. Had a 20 year mechanic co-worker check the van over so I wouldn't have to make the trip over to the other shop in Airdrie. Told me there was nothing wrong with the van, just the alignment needed to be fixed which I obviously knew about, and that Warren at Mint Auto was 100% a scammer. He then fixed the alignment for me. Tie rods just needed tightening. He saved me upwards of 2300$. 2300$ I do not have, I would have had to do into debt to get the van fixed at Scam Mint Auto. This shop is as scummy as they come. Unluckily for them I have some basic vehicle knowledge and have a lot of friends who are honest mechanics. I know tie rods don't hold the wheels onto a car. But most people have zero car knowledge, hence why the scams work. Do not take your car here. Read through the other 1 star reviews and you'll start to see a pattern. Another pattern you'll see is the shop responding in an attempt to seem professional and defending their initial diagnoses (scams). I'm sure they'll respond here and say something like "we never do work on a car that isn't roadsafe, our certified technicians were confident that your van needed the work quoted." If my van wasn't safe, why did they let me drive home? They invalidate and dismiss their customers who don't know any better. Scum scum scum. These guys give honest shops a bad name. I recommend the OK Tire in Airdrie if you're ever out that way or can afford the drive. Honest shops are hard to come by but luckily for us, the consumer, google reviews that show a pattern tend to help us weed out the bad ones.
Hi Jake, at Mint Auto Service we take any review under 5-stars quite seriously. We have been in business for over 50 years and we have not survived that long by performing shoddy work, "scamming" customers nor compromising our commitment to full transparency and honesty. Which is just how we treated you, we gave you an honest and transparent report of the condition of your van when it came in. We could have taken your money and done the wheel alignment with the poor condition your front end components were in, instead we advised you that there was a huge safety concern with these components and advised you to repair them properly to get the most out of a wheel alignment. Unfortunately we do not take any short cuts and will not put our reputation at stake for a "quick fix". In Alberta, we cannot legally hold a vehicle against customer wishes for safety concerns so we would not have held your van due to the issues that were present. We would strongly encourage that you take the van back to the shop that performed the pre-purchase inspection and have them actually re-inspect the vehicle. Best of luck. -The Team at Mint Auto Service
- Mint Auto Service Westbrook