Christian Brothers Automotive Montgomery

Reviews 3

JO

Joe Florida

The name of this place really bothers me, and reminds me of the money changers in the temple. They are just using "Christian Brothers" for marketing purposes, not to show a genuine Christian nature. I went in for an alternator swap. I knew it was the alternator and told them as much; didnt stop them from charging me $48 to "diagnose" the problem. That was for an half hour of labor which if you want to count the time it took for them to tell me the price, was not a half hour after I brought it in. So yes, their hourly labor rate is $96 which strikes me as a little high, and yes, they don’t mind rounding up to the detriment of the customer. The rest of the bill was just as offensive and out of tune with normal auto repair prices. A re-manufactured alternator for my car was $117 at the time, they charged $244.20 and kept the core fee for themselves. No, they didnt put a new one in, just a re-man. They then charged me $39.78 for a serpentine belt, which I dont mind that they replaced, but a new one at any auto parts store runs around $20. So paying twice for parts is pretty painful, but then they add on a fee for "shop supplies"; Im not sure what for, wear and tear on the tools? A paper towel or two? Whatever they were, they cost me $37.10. Youd think that "shop supplies" would be included when you pay premium for the parts and labor. On top of all of that, they padded the hours they were replacing the alternator. They charged me for 1.5 hours ($144.09) but the guy was only working on it for 45 minutes tops. The rest of the time that it was in their garage it just sat there. Thats right, a car in Christian Brothers Automotives garage is accruing labor costs even if it just sits there, hate to see what the overnight tab would be. Just think of the “shop supplies” that leaked into a car that sat there overnight. They have three salesman upfront and only two technicians when I was there. This shows their focus: extract every possible penny from a potential customer, especially if he is from out of town. Why pay extra techs when you are still billing for the time that the car sits in their garage right? Another indication of their less-than-honest nature is that they put all these odd-ball prices on the parts and shop fees. Like what is with the 10 cents on shop supplies, they couldnt round that off? Well they could, but they dont want you to realize that they are just padding the bill. Ten cents looks more authentic. They also have a sign in the back that says: "Ask every customer: Is there anything else we can check for you today?" Id hate to see the proposal for work you get back when you give these guys a greenlight to check out your entire car. The technicians were good, the alternator seems to be working out fine. But the salesmen are only good at small talk. They brought my car back out of the garage and it started to smoke. They thought the engine was about to explode or something they turn it off and frantically check the oil. When I get out there they say that the oil pan is empty. Nope, check again. When they checked again they saw that it was half full like I knew it was. The smoke was from the debris that got knocked down onto the serpentine belt. Some debris that my $37.10 in shop supplies should have cleaned up. Guess not. All-in-all, I paid $545 for a pretty simple fix, and they quoted me on the phone $250 as I was driving trying to get somewhere before my car died. I guess they knew they had me, but I hope this review saves somebody else the expense and frustration of dealing with these guys. These guys bend you over with a smile on their face. If you want this type of service and pay these type of prices, just go to the dealer, at least they are more knowledgeable about your car.

DO

Dorinna Thom

I was driving my 2005 Honda Accord from Huntsville AL to Mobile AL. When I reached Montgomery, my get up and go got up and went! The engine was working fine but my car wouldnt power forward or backward. I called AAA and was towed to Christian Brothers long after closing. They do have an after hours drop (very easy to use) so I dropped off my keys and wrote an explanation of the symptoms and asked them for an estimate to get it fixed. I called a cab and rented a car to drive the rest of the way to Mobile as my daughter had to be there for a band function. When I had not heard from them by 4:30 the next day, I called them to see if they had a chance to look at it. They had looked at it and they explained that it needed a new clutch, flywheel and pressure plate and that it would be around $2300 to fix it (they did give me an exact price). Since I dont even come close to having that kind of money, I told them I would come by on Saturday and pick it up with a U-Haul and U-Haul dolly. They seemed a little put out and charged me $50 for checking out the car (no problem there - I agree they should be paid for their work). I got it home and left it in the driveway while I started looking for a way to raise $2500 (assuming that it might be a little more). I called around in Huntsville and got one estimate over the phone and another estimate by towing it to an auto repair shop (where they actually gave free estimates). The first place told me it would be $1123 to fix it; the second place would charge $1152 to fix it. This is when I started questioning the integrity of Christian Brothers. I agree with other reviewers that they have a beautiful building and it is very clean. It is easy to drop off your car after hours and they were fairly accommodating about me picking up my car after hours. However, none of that makes up for taking advantage of a woman (traveling alone with a 15 year old daughter) who is semi-stranded half-way between home and a desired destination. Not until I got home did I realize how much they would be overcharging me for the clutch, flywheel and pressure plate plus labor. I wondered if that was their standard charge or were they were taking advantage of me? Im not sure Ill ever know but I just know that the entire situation feels just a little smarmy.

NE

Nevando Lopez

Nothing but the worst.....they dont care about their customers I was without a car for a week and when i called to check on it the B** who works in the office kept telling me they would call me back later on this afternoon and i never heard from them , everyday they had an excuse and always kept telling me that they should have it ready by today and then I never heard from them or to call tomorrow and I was the one that kept calling them ( the costumer should not be in charge of keeping in contact ...save your time and money and go else where because there aint nothing christian like or godly about this place and the prices ridiculous!!! I paid about at least 3000$ with this company and was without a car for a week because they had it in their shop for my car to break down not even a month later with the same problem ....I wish giving stars was not even an option for this review

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