My opinion of Steve's used to be very high. They seemed to be capable, honest and nice, but as it turned out they are none of these things.
I brought my 1999 CR-V in for a valve job with an estimate of $1500-$2000. After two long weeks I got it back with a bill of $1750.50. It seemed alright for another two weeks, but then It suddenly started running very rough with a flashing engine light. Since I live out of town he told me to take it to a local garage and have them hook it up to an analyzer. Both Steve's and this other garage owner said that a thorough tune up would most likely fix the problem. This cost me another $360 and did no good. My thinking was that if I had to sue,(which I am still considering), I could at least say I did everything they asked.
Disappointed, I brought it back to Steve's with the instructions not to do anything that I would be charged for, giving them the first of many opportunities to do the right thing. They took it back apart and told me that one of the valves had broken. They said it was one of the ones their machine shop didn't replace. I had the impression that when a valve job was done they replaced all the valves and I told this man, Mark, as much. He began to stutter and stammer. He said that usually they do but this time they didn't somehow. They tried to lay the whole thing off on their machine shop. It was obvious to me he was lying. My car was all apart and when I asked him to put it back together so I could take it somewhere else he refused. He offered me what he called a ""compromise"". Since there was no telling why or how the valve broke, implying that it was no fault of his own, I should pay for parts and discounted labor, another $300. I felt I had no choice but to allow them to do the work and take them to court over it later.
I should mention they also managed to break my stereo. I asked them to put that right, but it turned out not to be as easy as they had supposed so they didn't. It isn't broken-broken really. They just disconnected it and now I need a 5 digit code from Honda to reactivate it. I have owned the car over 4 years and managed to keep the stereo going that long without the code, up until now,
So to sum up; I am out the initial $1750 + the $360 from the local garage + the $280 they charged me for re-doing the work they screwed up the first time, + whatever it's going to cost me to fix the radio + 5 weeks without my vehicle.
Do not have any dealings with them, they will not take any responsibility for their own mistakes.
more