Latchkey Auto Sales and Service

April 19, 2009

This shop will rip you off! If you go in for an inspection sticker and you think your car will pass, BEWARE! They will find many things "wrong" that need to be fixed, before you will pass. If you have to come back, they will fail your vehicle, so you won't go anywhere else. In our case, through negligence or intent, a major repair had to be made where there was no hint of trouble when we brought the car in. And to ad insult to injury, the double whammy, they charged too much for the repair work done.

Really disappointed.

To preface, John Bird of Latchkey had done some awesome work on a previous Audi and VW Passat and Corrado that I owned, about 12 years ago. I Moved out of the area about a decade ago, but my family still resides in the Lakes Region area.

During a recent trip to NH to see family, my car had it's catalytic converter plug up. I initially purchased the parts to do an exhaust job (complete... headers to tailpipe, on a 1988 Crown Victoria), but decided the work was more than I could do without a welder and mandrel bender at my family's home.

I contacted Mr. Bird, and he agreed to do the work. Work proposed was to bolt on a set of headers, an "H pipe", and weld mufflers on, and custom bend tailpipes to go over the rear axle and out the sides.

I unfortunately did not ask for an estimate or timeframe for such a job, as Crown Victorias are easy to work on, and research showed this was a 4-6 hour job, and if parts were brought to the mechanic, $400-600 in labor.

The job actually took 3 days. I was also charged over $880 to install an exhaust on a Ford. As an example, over $100 of the job was to install a foot of heater hose from an air tube to the engine, and tighten two hose clamps.

The bad part is... This is a car that uses the old R12 refrigerant for air conditioning. I had, one month prior, spent many hundreds of dollars getting the system leak tested and recharged with the proper, and very expensive R12... As opposed to converting to R134a which is less efficient. The car had a recently inspected and perfectly working A/C system the day I brought it to him (it was used to defog the windshield en route for delivery).

When I received the car back, the A/C did not work at all. Due to the design of the engine, it is impossible to install the headers without discharging (and reclaiming the very expensive refrigerant). Either Mr. Bird stole the R12 via reclamation, or just vented it to atmosphere (which is a HUGE EPA violation, as it's a CFC refrigerant). I now have a car that I'll have to spend upwards of $800 to retrofit to CFC-free refrigerant, when it was working flawlessly when the car was delivered to him.

There is a large chip in the paint in the leading edge of the hood. The chip extends down the vertical lip on the passenger side, so it would be impossible that it'd be from debris, as it is obscured from view when the hood is closed. This car received a complete paint job in October 2012, and this is now the only blemish.

A hard line (similar to a brake line) was snapped off the driver's side frame rail, just behind the header. It is an older car, and I understand things break, but he snapped it off and just left it without telling me.

And to top everything else off... The exhaust installed is now rattling against the underside of the car.

I contacted Mr. Bird, the shop owner, for an amicable resolution, and was immediately countered with "you ***holes and your older cars are always trying to get something out of me", as well as numerous other expletives and no chance of any type of help.

I'm no idiot to cars work, and cost of repair. In this case an afternoon, $4-600 job turned into a 3 day $900 job, and he broke over $1000 worth of stuff in the process.

Don't walk... RUN away from John Bird at Latchkey Auto.

Its nice to see honesty and integrity still exist! I loved being spoken to in a straight forward way. and after the owner patiently explained what needed to be done, and a couple different options, the decision on how to proceed was actually mine! I also loved his accommodating nature and the convenience of same day service. No wonder he said he's had most of his customers for years. Thanks to his willingness to work with me and his eagerness to save me headaches and money, he'll have my business from now on! There's still something to be said for small town businesses!

I should have listened to the other review "Don't Go There". I needed a reliable 4x4 vehicle as I was expecting a new baby and I also wanted to support a local business. He seemed nice enough and directed me to buy an SUV that came 100% ready to go with NO issues, 20 day plates and an inspection sticker. The day I bought it he failed the inspection and asked me to drive it around over the weekend. I drove 5 miles away and the brakes locked up and rear tires were smoking. Then, the 4 wheel drive was malfunctioning, the horn didn't work, rear wipers and brake lights! It took him over a month to correct the 4x4 and inspection and I didn't even have it in until the warrenty expired. 3 months later the breaks were gone & starter needed to be replaced. 6 months later the transmistion blew and the hub assembly needed to be replaced! He refused to help us and was rude and mean. I'm now over $6,000 in debt without a running vehicle with a newborn baby.