I was referred to Chris Walker at Bay Muffler by Paul Jancis at Driven Auto Care to repair an exhaust leak at the manifold/pipe flanges on a 1978 Motor Home, Chev 454, in order to pass a smog test. Chris lied to me, twice, saying that he would do the repair the next day and replace the exhaust flange gaskets, phoning me back with a time to bring it over.
The first time I gave him the benefit of the doubt and called him back after several days, only to be told that he again needed time to call me back with an appointment. It's been three weeks now and still no call from Chris. I obviously gave up on this some time ago and made other arrangements, but I suspect that Chris just didn't want to do this job and wasn't honest enough to tell me why - so he chose to waste my time and violate my trust in order to avoid speaking honestly.
I think I know why. The attaching manifold pipe flange studs rust and he didn't want to hold this big vehicle in his very limited, virtually non-existent parking area for 24 hours while penetrating oil made it possible to remove the rusted-on nuts without breaking the studs off. If the studs break off the manifold has to be taken off the motor to replace them - where the bolts attaching the manifold to the engine block could also break off - which could create a very costly customer relations problem I think he wanted to avoid.
My advice: Avoid this service provider if you value honest dealings.
Pros: A false One Star rating was required for this posting
Cons: No vengeful reproof - just the facts as I experienced them
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