STEALTH AUTO IN YANKTON, SD - AVOID AT ALL COSTS UNLESS YOU ENJOY LIES AND CRAPPY SERVICE!

Time to vent…

In late March or early April, we got in contact with Stealth Auto here in town to get some work done on our van. The exterior door handle was broken on the rear passenger door and there was something going on with the exhaust. The mechanic we chose was the same guy who had put the trailer hitch on the van last year. He is owner/operator of his own shop. We’d liked how quickly he did the work and that he came in under the amount he originally quoted us. I also liked that, when we needed a different hitch, he helped us out, even though it was a Saturday.

Anyway, he told us he would order the parts. Fast forward (after a few phone calls inquiring about if the parts had arrived) to late June, early July. The mechanic calls and tells us the parts are in and he’ll get the van in. Amy asks to delay this to the following week as the dance classes our oldest is in were going to be on a break for the Independence Day Holiday. Mechanic said that was fine and asked that the van be dropped off Monday. Told us the repair would take “about a day.” Amy and I both had eye appointments that day. After Amy’s, she dropped the van off. She was offered a loaner, but since I was home the remainder of that day and since the repair was only to take a day (maybe 1.5 days at the worst), she opted against it.

No call that Monday, June 30th, to tell us the van was done.

Driving by the mechanic shop Tuesday afternoon, I noted where the van was parked. Amy told me where she had parked the van. The van either had been taken out of and was placed back in the same spot, or it hadn’t been touched. In any case, there was no call on Tuesday, July 1st.

On my way to work on Wednesday, July 2nd, I drove by to see if the van had been moved into the repair bay. Miraculously, it had been! I could see it in the repair bay and was confident that by the close of business that day, we would have our van back. Except… no one called us to tell us the van was done.

On July 3rd, Amy called to inquire about the van. She was told that one of the parts wasn’t in (!?!?!?!). She asked about getting a loaner vehicle through the holiday weekend (as she didn’t want to have to depend on my being home to do something outside the house with the kids). She was told they had a vehicle and she should come and get it. Amy walked the 1.5-2 miles to the place with the kids in tow. She got there and was told there was no loaner available. She talked briefly with the mechanic, who told her that he was waiting for a loaner that was currently in use and was supposed to be dropped off within the hour. He explained to Amy that much of his business is referrals from AAA and that he was busy training in a new mechanic to help him with that business and hadn’t been able to be at the shop much that week. He further told Amy that the shop was closing early for the holiday and promised he would drop the loaner off no later than 3:30. At 3:45, Amy called the shop and found out that the mechanic was on his way out to the lake – to drop off a loaner vehicle. Huh. Interesting timing on that one, huh? No loaner, no call, no one there knowing what the hell was going on. I was pissed because it isn’t always a great thing for a 8 mos. pregnant woman to be out walking in the summer heat pulling a wagon or pushing a stroller. I also really don’t like being lied to. Not. At. All.

So let’s do a little tally here. We were told the parts were in, then we were told that a part had not yet come in (LIE). We were told a loaner was available (LIE). When that loaner wasn’t available as promised, we were told the loaner would be dropped off at our house, which never happened (LIE). We had been told the repair would take a day (LIE) and the mechanic agreed on that he’d be able to get to the van if we dropped it off on June 30 (LIE). The mechanic apparently was planning on spending the majority of that week training in a new mechanic and would be unavailable for anything else (LIE BY OMMISSION). Okay, we are up to 6 lies. Now back to our story…

We survived the weekend with one vehicle. If we’d had the van back, we could have gotten the bunk beds, but that just ended up getting put off a week. Amy called him on Monday, July 7th to ask about the van. She was again told that they were waiting on a part. She asked if there would be any way for her to get the van. They said it wouldn’t be a problem as NO WORK HAD BEEN STARTED ON THE VAN!!! Yep, the bastards kept the van for an entire week (for a job that was supposed to take a day) and didn’t do a single thing with it. Kept it even though they knew we wanted a second vehicle for the holiday weekend.

After we got the van back, we ran into the mechanic out at Wal-Mart on July 11th. He told Amy that he’d be giving her a call to get the service on the van rescheduled. It is a month later and we STILL haven’t heard back from him.

Since that time, we got the van into a different mechanic. Decided to get the door repair done. Took him 90 minutes. Yep, you read that correctly. 90 minutes. We will be going back to him for all our vehicle service from this point on.

Oh, our current mechanic told us that the Ford garage was a bit pissed with the folks at Stealth Auto. It seems that all the parts for our van had been in for a couple months and former mechanic wasn’t stopping to pick them up.

Okay, back to the tally. We were at 6 lies. Add to that the following: we were told on several occasions that the parts weren’t in (LIE) (LIE) (LIE). The van had absolutely no work done to it, nothing that prevented us from having it over the 4th weekend (LIE BY OMISSION). We were told that we’d be contacted to get the van repair rescheduled (LIE).

11 lies. Needless to say, I’m not going to cry any tears if Stealth Auto goes out of business. I’m hoping for his sake that the AAA is very good to him. If he has to depend on the local trade, I can’t see him doing well, especially if the way we were treated is the way he treats others in town. Hope he has a good time this winter when the tourist trade has dried up.

Suffice it to say that if you are in Yankton and in need of auto repair, avoid Stealth Auto at all costs. Unless you have AAA. Then you'll be fine...