[EDIT 2012-01-20] I've spent some time on the phone with the Service Department Manager (Lance) and I feel we've gotten to the root of the problem. I no longer believe this was intentional dishonesty. Rather it became obvious that the Service Rep I was dealing with wasn't adequately conveying information from me to the actual Technician doing the service and was also not adequately conveying to me from that Tech. They are giving me credit toward fixing what I now believe to be the actual issue (leaking heater hose allowing air back into the system). The Service Rep in question has been let go. Given the effort they are making to correct the situation, I'm revising my rating and my overall assessment. I'll be returning to Armstrong for the foreseeable future.
[Original review follows]
Took my '02 B5 Passat to them to have my coolant system ""burped"" as I had just done my timing belt which required draining all the coolant. I knew air was trapped in the system (vapor lock) as I had no heat except under engine load (high RPMs). Went to Armstrong and asked them to burp the system. The mechanic told me that vapor lock never happens in these cars (passatworld forums claim exactly the opposite) and that they would diagnose the real issue. After about an hour he comes back and tells me they agree it's vapor lock and I should bring it back two days later and they'll fix it.
Two days later I return, expecting them to do the work discussed. I turn the car over to the same mechanic, who returns two hours later and informs me that the heater core is blocked and will have to be replaced for $1100. I tell him that isn't possible since I had just flushed the heater core myself not three months earlier, and Armstrong had done it as well on a visit a couple months prior. He insists it's plugged, they charge me $90 for the ""diagnosis"" and of course I refuse the work. I bring my car home, hook up my hose to the heater core, watch as water flows through unrestricted for about 15 minutes and decide they'd ripped me off. I have my wife come out and help me burp the system (it's kind of a pain in the butt, which is why I went to Armstrong in the first place) and lo, I have heat.
Anyway, I expect they never even looked at my car, probably just had me sit in the lobby for a couple hours, charged me $90 to give the diagnosis they always give for bad heat (which happens to be the most expensive diagnosis: it's a $50 part that requires removing the entire dash to replace). I am going to contact them, provide them with pictures and video of my heater core not being plugged and demand my money back.
I think the part that I find most incredulous is the fact that I had told the guy that not only had I done my own timing belt replacement (an involved job that takes about 8 hours and few people will attempt on their own), but that I had already flushed the heater core myself and he somehow thought I would not go home and spend 20 minutes checking his claim before dropping $1100 on this job. He's either amazingly stupid or amazingly arrogant or probably both.
I'd definitely shop around before having a car serviced here.
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