Mission Bell Motorworks

Reviews 3

GA

Gary Pearl

June 27, 2015 My Mercedes AMG started shutting down while driving on the freeway to Los Angeles. I have no idea where I am except that I am in riverside stuck on the 10 freeway. AAA was awful and took 2.5 hours to show up after speaking with seven different phone operators on hold for almost 90 minutes while the recorded voice kept telling me to download the AAA app instead of calling. I guess in addition to incompetent operators AAA is saving money by making customers in distress play with their iPhones stuck in the middle highways on hold. Thats the bad news. The response from AAA was that I was called by the CEOs office and they took my complaint seriously, refunded my membership for the year and I then received a call from their head of training for the roadside assistance division with an in depth interview which I was glad to supply. It was actually dangerous to sit on the side of the 10 freeway for 4 hours because the phone operators were trained incorrectly. Good on AAA for seeking the problem out and promising to fix it internally so no one else is in danger needlessly. THE GOOD NEWS IS RIC ANSWERED HIS CELL, met me at his shop after the tow truck finally arrived. He works on BMW. He confirmed what I told him already that the alternator went bad. Its an obvious diagnosis if you know anything about cars. He charged me for the diagnosis $110.00 and for the repair $850. I hate that diagnosis charge when it is unwarranted. I already told him the problem. I should get some credit for being knowledgeable. Ric had problems sourcing the right alternator. He received faulty one and returned it to the dealer. He had same dealer ship one from the east coast. This took a week and he finished July 4th. (When I picked up the car, I feel he did jam me for price and would not accept a check because he thought he may get screwed over, you know what they say about people who dont trust others.) Ric said he would get a new one and install it Monday. Monday July 6, 2015 I feel the need to update my review. While I appreciated that Ric took the car in on a Saturday and gave a great review above, it took him a solid week to replace an alternator which is a basic replacement and charged $973.00. Three mechanics in Los Angeles confirmed the job should have cost $500-600. He used a remanufactured alternator which surprised me but I did check with the dealership ans cost was about $500. Also, since it took so long, I returned the rental car which had already cost me another $300.00. Ric agreed the night before to meet me in Downtown Los Angeles and I would drive him back on Saturday with the car. When I texted him that morning, he said he never intended to do that and asked how much I would pay him to drive. I was stuck and at his mercy. Finally, I Ubered to Riverside for another $100. I told him that the car needed an alternator. Regardless, Ric charged me $110.00 to diagnose my car and then another $857 to replace the alternator supposedly with a new one, but when I got to his shop I found out the alternator was OEM remanufactured which I would have liked to know since I was told it was new. While the Uber ride was nice, its a bit far to take a hired ride. Considering I had already spent $300 for a rental car because of the time this took, this has cost me over $1,400. Next time, I would definitely just trailer my car back to Los Angeles. I think hes likely honest, but the diagnosis charge was unwarranted. I think that should have also been taken into consideration. He also removed the fan assembly and the radiator hose to replace the alternator and my normal mechanic found that odd. Again, I guess thats fine, but the "coolant" light now comes on when I start the car. I just thought I should give a fair follow up and not place judgment. I am concerned that I now have a coolant issue after he removed the radiator. Off to my regular mechanic to fix any issues that may exist so I can feel comfortable driving my car that I have owned and love.

JA

Jay Tolentino

Im going to give you an in-depth review to help make your final decision to come to Mission Bell Motorworks and get your car worked on here: I was looking for a car shop to add new rotors and break pads for my 2011 Infiniti M37s for a while and stumbled on Mission Bell Motorworks on Yelp. I called up the shop and asked for a quote and Rob pretty sold me saying that he does real good, genuine work, and will get the job right. So I set up an appointment with them and right when I got to the shop he took the time to show me his certifications of being a certified BMW Independent Service shop. The waiting room is very cosy and offers free wifi so the wait will be worth your while, and also has Netflix on his large flat screen. While waiting for my car I was watching Breaking Bad lol. But before he started working on my car, he had to ask for authorization and the contract for my car. He explained to me that the work he does will be done right and treat my car like his own and not treated like a random car to get the job done quickly. The price we talked about were really solid for the amount of work he did. He will not cheat you on the price, he really gives you the best deal. The service I got was a complete front and rear rotor and brake change, complete brake flush, complete power steering fluid, and complete coolant flush. For the quality of the work and genuineness of his word, I highly and truly recommend this place to get your car worked on. Even though they are BMW serviced, I brought my Infiniti because I knew he was trust worthy and did he prove me right. My car pretty much feels like brand new, and the fluids look clean as a whistle! I cant thank this place enough for doing the quality work they do. So if your looking for an automative shop, Mission Bell Motorworks is the place to go to. I back this shop 100% of the way!

AL

Alexis Calderon

This place is nothing short of amazing! Took my E90 in for an oil pan gasket leak and I was not disappointed. I was super close to taking my car to a BMW dealership to get the repair done but after reading all of Mission Bell Motorworks reviews and speaking to Ricardo multiple times over the phone, his shop won me over. He is a very knowledgeable and persistent person which led me to believe he was going to deliver quality work. And that is exactly what he did. Ricardo has a great reputation- an average 5 star rating across the board, and it is well earned. His customer service is great and you can tell that hes passionate about what he does-which is something I highly respect. His prices are great and he over delivers! What more could you want? Extremely appreciative of Ricardo, Ill definitely come back to him for ANY work I need done on my BMW.

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