Lincoln Auto

When this place opened a few months ago they had an advertised $ 19.95 + $ 8.25 certificate smog check special — a really good deal. My girlfriend needed a smog test and took her car there and while they were hesitant to do it for that price they begrudgingly went ahead and did it anyway. I’m not sure why they would advertise a low price, then try to get out of it, and finally end up doing it for that price while making you feel like you were trying to take advantage of them. Not a good way to build customer loyalty, especially when you’re just starting out.
This week I needed a smog test on my 2002 Subaru Outback so, in spite of the bad feeling I had for this place, I called them and asked if they were still doing $ 28.20 out the door smog tests. The guy who I spoke to, Lee, said no problem, bring it in and he’d do it for that price. We even had a business card from before that showed the $ 19.95 + certificate price. When I took my car there the technician came out, asked what I wanted, and then jumped in the car and drove it onto the smog check bench and proceeded to do the test before I could talk to him about the price. And even though the Bureau Of Automotive Repair requires a written estimate before starting any repairs I was not given anything to sign. When he finished the check he writes up a work order with a price of $ 50. I told him about calling ahead and being told they would do it for the $ 28 price. He told me that no one would have said such a thing and that I was mistaken and that they’ve never done smog tests that cheap. I showed him the business card and the receipt from my girlfriends test but he continued to argue, telling me they couldn’t stay in business doing tests that cheap. His boss, Lee, finally came over to see what we were arguing about and he said pretty much the same thing. When I told him how he had told me on the phone they could do it for $ 28 he said he would drop the price to $ 40. I told him that they were being dishonest as I started to get into my car to get another $ 12 but before I got the money he said he’d do it for $ 30 because they had some sort of coupon deal somewhere for that price. I paid the $ 30 and left but they made some rude comments about being taken advantage of.
If they had a $ 30 coupon deal why argue over $ 2 instead of just offering me the $ 30 price to begin with? I wonder how many people who come in with the $ 30 coupon, which they claim they offer, get a run around and have to argue and negotiate to get that price. Why create bad customer relations by being rude and accusing the customer of taking advantage of them? If you advertise a price or agree to a price over the phone you should do it for that price rather then argue and lie about what you said and create bad customer good will and bad Unilocal reviews. There are over 30 Smog Check stations in Hayward alone. Seems like a lot of competition to be chasing customers away with these types of old fashioned bait and switch business tactics which give the automotive repair industry such a bad reputation and, by the way, are also illegal in this state.