My first experience with Botticello Auto was concerning. I brought my Honda Accord to Botticello for an oil change. They were running a special offering a great price on oil changes (less than $20) along with the promise to top off all fluids and to perform a full safety check. I had very low mileage on my car and I am very savvy with mechanical issues on vehicles. I knew that my car needed a little bit of work prior to bringing it in for the oil change.
That said, I was very surprised with what they found wrong with my car. I received a call a few hours after I left my car with Botticello Auto Repair and the person wanted to inform me on what they found during the safety check. The first indication to their shady business practices was discovered right off the bat. I was told that all four of my disc brakes were low and they recommended replacement on all four including four new rotors and brake pads all around.
The problem with this is that my car has two front disc brakes and two rear drum brakes. They were clearly telling me a lie about my 4 disc brakes. Secondly, I had just had my rear brakes serviced not 10,000 miles prior to the oil change. When I informed the caller that I did not have rear disc brakes she put me on hold and returned to the phone not two minutes later to tell me that my car was all set to go.
Not only did they lie to me about the brake issue, they never tried to cover up the lie and just released my car.
In another incident, I had to go to Botticello again due to an emergency to my vehicle on a weekend and they were the only shop open. This time was a more honest experience, however, the problem they fixed that day returned a few days later. It turned out, as I was informed by my shop of choice, that the fix that they performed was a small portion of the overall problem.
I was very displeased to find out that they were incapable, at the time, to fully investigate the true issue and only fixed a small aspect of the full problem. The fix they did perform was done well at a reasonable price, however it ended up costing me more hours of not having the vehicle a second day in order to fix the entire issue.
If you plan on going to Botticello, I would highly recommend doing a lot of research prior to going there. Know your vehicle and be aware of possibly getting screwed over. Keep in mind they are in a highly competitive area with West Hill Automotive, Joe's Foreign Car, and Mirabelli Automotive around the corner into Newington as well as International, South Street, Goodyear, Midas, and Pep Boys in West Hartford, all within a few miles of Botticello.
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