I've been satisfied with Bobbie & Steve's and was consistently using them since '02 for mainly oil changes and routine maintenance the past 9 years. \r
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Although I've heard from several people through the years they're expensive and the owner's are jerks (including someone I know who went to High School with one of them), I kept coming back. \r
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Well, just as of last week, I'm honestly done with them due to unethical business practices...not only did I almost way overpay for their services, I was baldfaced lied to by Randy. \r
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What happened was my VW Passat's battery was low (doesn't take someone with advanced education in car mechanics to know when your car battery's having issues). \r
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When I brought it in, I told them it was my battery. However, they insisted on giving my car a dianostic check which ran $109. Not a real big deal even though I knew I overpaid for it. \r
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But, when they came back saying ""yep, your car batterie's dead and you're looking at an extra $305 (e.g., $414 total) to replace it,"" is when it was blatantly obvious they were trying to scam me. Oh wait, it get's worse....\r
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As I'm standing there telling them I'm not moving forward with the installation, one of the owner's came by saying I better ""get it fixed now because your battery's so dead we had to jump it in our garage and you'll be stranded somewhere soon if I don't (textbook Sales tactic), is when it was even more clear. \r
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What's interesting about this is he said ""he'll readjust the price"" as if he knew the price was rediculously inflated. Wait, there's more!\r
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I then left and immediately drove my car to my VW dealer (which didn't give me one problem while en route), and showed them the estimate Bobbie & Steve's gave me without sharing any additional details with them, their exact words verbatim while laughing were ""What kind of an operation do they have going over there, $305 for a new battery? something not right here, even the way they wrote-up your estimate doesn't look right."" Wait, it get's even WORSE...\r
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After they took a peek, guess what? turns out the battery WASN'T dead at all but low and wasn't an immediate need for a new battery to be installed right away at all. However, I decided to have them put one in anyway which ran a total of $161.87 for everything. \r
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The moral of the story is, do your homework, compare prices, listen to other's you know and trust when they have a negative experience somewhere, and simply dismiss yourself permanently as a customer where you're getting ripped-off at which is the wisest thing you/we can do as consumers to a business. \r
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The pros to Bobbie & Steve's is their awesome new facility and their free car washes. However, this place honestly scammed me that day by one of their co-founders which is big deal, and even though it was the first time in 9 years, it's still enough to personally not earn my business back because this experience really pissed me off like it would anyone - enough crap in the world happening now than putting-up with this kind of B.S.\r
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Get a life you guys...seriously. \r
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Pros: Great new facility in Eden Prairie with a nice waiting room, provide free car washes for your business. \r
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Cons: Dishonest and unethical business practices at the senior level which is the root of every unhealthy organization. \r
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