I've owned a Land Rover for years. I've been to the Dealership and the competition. The only Reason I went into ""Columbia"" Rovers, was a free oil change coupon stuffed on my Land Rover Discovery Series II.
Despite the creepy, overly pushy sales persona the owner gave me as I brought my car in, I let them get on with the oil change.
First, without my permission, they removed my license plate frame, and slapped on their own without even a thought to ask.
Second, after it was almost over, Brent (owner) came to me to tell me that my head gaskets were leaking profusely, a job PDX Rovers had just done several months before. He also told me that because of the bad head gasket job, my engine was toast, and needed to be replaced. He was very pushy about it, and quoted me $5000 in repairs to fix it all.
After explaining that I knew PDX had done it right, he began to trash talk the competition in a way that absolutely disgusted me. Trash talking the owner, lies about shotgun work, and deceptive diagnoses....
But the truth was, I've known PDX for quite some time, through quite a few other Land Rover owners too. And know them to be among the most trust worthy folks in town. I called him out on the BS, and asked to have my car closed up and removed as quickly as possible. I was done with them.
A few weeks later, I had my Discovery looked at again, and not only found out that there was a lot more to the story behind Columbia than just shady mechanics, but shady business practices as well. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!
Not only were my head gaskets in great shape, but my engine was perfectly fine. Not a leak, broken part, or nothing in sight. Columbia was ready to charge me FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS to do absolutely nothing to my car.
How desperate can you be?
Needless to say, I will never return to Columbia Rovers, and will steer every last Land Rover I see in Portland away from them as well. Portland is too small for a mechanic or anyone to get away with running a business like this...
Pros: ...
Cons: Get quoted 5 Grand for Imaginary Work
more