This was the worst experience I have ever had at a mechanic. My car is in worse shape now than it was before I brought it in. I feel completely swindled. Keep reading if you want to hear the story of why I recommend EVERYONE STAY AWAY FROM THIS ESTABLISHMENT.
I heard about the mechanic, Dmitri, from a friend who gave a great recommendation. When I dropped my car off he was amiable, if not a bit eccentric. I asked him to change the timing belt and water pump on my ?97 Toyota Camry. My car was running fine before I took my car to D&G. I was only going there for preventative maintenance.
It took him 4 or 5 days, but problems arose before I had even left the parking lot. Right when I started my car there was a terrible squealing coming from under the hood. Dmitri told me to pop the hood, and I watched him as he manipulated the tension on the alternator belt. The squealing subsided a little, and then he told me, ?It is going to make that noise for a little bit as it wears in, but it should go away. Let me know if it doesn?t.? I don?t know a lot about cars, so I trusted him. I drove it back to Queen Anne, which is where the car stayed for the next couple weeks as I went on vacation.
When I got back into my car I was still hearing the squealing, so I figured I would go back to Dmitri. Unfortunately the next time I started the car I heard a terrible noise under the hood. When I looked I found the drive belts were totally damaged AND the crank pulley had come completely apart.
I had to pay to get it towed to the dealer, where they had to replace the entire pulley sub-assembly, and the two drive belts. (As a side-note, I had the drive belts replaced three months ago and had been driving my car with absolutely NO problems until leaving D & G)
HERE IS THE KICKER: the mechanic at the dealership also told me that there was, ?A bearing type noise behind the timing cover.? Apparently Dmitri was incompetent with everything that he touched.
I paid D & G Auto Repair a little over $700 for the initial preventative maintenance. I drove my car twice before it broke down and had to get it towed ($65) to the dealership. The dealership charged me $562.99 to fix all of the damage. On top of all of this I still need to pay someone to get back inside the timing cover to figure out what is making the noise that mysteriously appeared after Dmitri worked on the car.
I went back to Demitry to ask what he was going to do to remedy this situation and he told me, ?Cars break down from time to time. I did not do anything to cause any of the damage.? He kept saying that he was in no way responsible for anything, and in the end offered me, ?$200 cash to forget the whole thing.?
This guy is the reason mechanics have a bad reputation. He has cost me over a thousand dollars. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO NEVER DO BUSINESS HERE.
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