Tech Express

AVOID THIS MECHANIC AT ALL COSTS. The worst boat repair experience I have had in my life.. Jerome Rigsby with Tech Express is a scam artist. If you read this review and others you will see Tech Express has many victims who have been taken advantage of.
1. On June 30^th I reached out to Jerome Rigsby with Tech Express because my port engine would not start.
2. He quoted $ 1,349.21 to replace exhaust manifold and said I would be running by July 3^rd.
3. When I arrived at boat he had not installed the exhaust manifold but still wanted full payment of $ 1,349.21. I sat on the boat and only paid him when he actually did the work he was charging me for.
4. The repair did not work. He re-​diagnosed the problem and said I need to replace the cylinder head. This would cost an additional $ 3,089.42. He said this would get the boat running and he would have repair done by end of the week.
5. End of the week comes and he performed no work on the boat. Boat still not running. He re-​diagnosed the problem again yet this time decided the entire port engine needs to be replaced. He then sent me a new invoice in the amount of $ 6,355.01.
6. 5 weeks later and many broken promises the port engine was finally installed. I ran the boat for 20 minutes only to hear the alarm sound, and newly refurbished port engine quit and start to billow smoke.
7. He said to give him one week to address the issue. The week goes by and issues till not addressed. Now he says he wants to take the engine out and start over.
After 2 months I have spent $ 8,679.01 to Tech Express. But get this, the boat still does not work. This is a boat owners nightmare. To pay someone to fix the boat and at the end of it they have taken your money but your boat still does not work.
He is also absolutely awful to work with. He is dishonest and has no professional integrity. When I met him at the boat one time to do a test run he was completely intoxicated and reeked of alcohol.
Tech Express should not be in business. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT USE THIS MECHANIC UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If you choose to use this mechanic you will be sorry just as I am. You will be out of money but your vehicle will still have problems. Such a shame.
Wayne

I have to second Alex’s review. I had the EXACT same experience.
Jerome is a good mechanic and personable (really, he’s a smooth talker and has good energy, so you can’t help but like the guy), but he’s completely unreliable and isn’t true to his word. Besides that, the whole experience of working with him was completely unprofessional — I have no invoice and no receipt showing the work that was done and an explanation of the charges AND he charged me over 40% more than he’d quoted and he didn’t even finish the job.
I’ll spare all the details, but basically my experience with Jerome has been a series of failed commitments, missed appointments, or him showing up late and messing up my entire schedule. My first appointment with him was on a work day and I’d set it up so he’d come by around 8, giving me time to run off to work and make meetings. He was two hours late for that and then didn’t even have the right parts to do the job, so it took multiple other appointments that he was either late to or missed completely before he finally made the repairs.
For someone who is offering a service that is supposed to be convenient (he comes to you) and fast (express), my experience has been the exact opposite — I’ve spent way too much time emailing, calling, not getting a response, finally getting a commitment to a time and then him not showing.
The basic work I’d asked him for was to tune up my ’01 motorcycle, which needed an oil change and was running a little funny. It took him multiple trips to my place to get the right parts — spark plugs, an oil filter, and oil (really, you don’t just have those basics in your service vehicle?). When he finally did get everything repaired the bike ran great and he did solve the problem (erratic losses of power and stalling). He is a good mechanic.
He’d quoted me $ 300 all in AND that he would repair my seat by replacing the seat cover. He even said he’d order it on Amazon for me so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Sounded amazing except that what actually happened was he charged me $ 430 ($ 130 more than he originally quoted) and didn’t order the seat cover or repair it.
When I called him out on it (once I was finally able to get in touch with him) he finally agreed that if I bought the cover he’d put it on. What actually ended up happening was I ordered the seat cover, then couldn’t get him to respond to me for weeks. When he finally did respond and agreed to come help me, he stood me up. I called him out on it via text (because he wouldn’t answer his phone) and he said he’d come the next day (Saturday). Well, Saturday has come and gone and no sign of Jerome.
I’m done waiting for this guy and will file an official complaint just like Alex. I’ve wasted far too much time and energy on Jerome.
Oh, and one other small detail I forgot to mention… after I drove my bike for the first time after the repair and brought it back into the garage, I discovered a sizeable pool of oil on the garage floor because the oil filter had come loose and was leaking. Guess who got to spend an hour cleaning up the mess and re-​tightening the oil filter: me. Convenient, professional, fast? I think not.
For the record, I think this is my first one star review.

Jerome seemed great to start. He followed up quickly to estimate requests, was willing to work on the price, and scheduled the first appointment quickly. He asked for a large up-​front deposit, which had me worried, but he had good reviews on Unilocal,so I took a chance. He was a couple of hours late to the first appointment, but at least he showed. For the second appointment, he didn’t show, then rescheduled several times. He finally did show up for the second appointment, but only stayed for under an hour and left the motorcycle open, leaking oil, and with pieces everywhere. He never showed back up for subsequent appointments even though we tried for two months to get him to show. He stayed in contact with us for the first month and consistently rescheduled, until he finally stopped returning calls. I had to sell the bike as-​is at a big loss because I used almost all of the repair money on the deposit with Jerome. Now I’m fighting to get my money back.
For awhile I thought something bad happened to Jerome because he disappeared. But then he called out of the blue once I filed a charge dispute with my credit card.
Jerome seems like a nice guy, but he’s extremely unreliable and doesn’t do the work he promises. Unfortunately the reviews seem to have gotten worse, so something may be going on that’s affecting his business.

made 2 appointments, he stood me up both times. Didn’t call either.

Jerome is an awesome guy and he does really good work very informative. He truly knows what he is doing. I’ve found my bike mechanic.

Bike got stolen in Oakland, and of course I wasnt expecting OPD to find it in one piece. …I ended up buying a p.o.s. bike I could afford til insurance would pay up, n then… within 10 mins after the purchase, ended up calling tech express: when the bike tried to kill me. I thought of tech express before anyone else cus Jerome had left a notable impression on me some time ago; he was having trouble finding parts for exroomie’s old skool bike, so he had volunteered to lend one of his own motorcycles to the guy for a few days to get to work.
Unfortunately, Jerome missed my call, n I had totally forgotten about it until a coupla days later when he called me back, apologizing for receiving the message too late and offering to help with the crappy bike issues. over the phone he says: sounds like it may be a simple problem, will swing by free of charge for having me stranded n waiting. Next morning he came by, gave me valuable self-​repair/​maintenance tips, got the motorcycle running again like a «champ»: unbelievably nearly perfect for the condition it was in! took him about an hour, taking care of this n that extra, n he wouldn’t take my payment.
By this time OPD had miraculously found the stolen bike, banged up n broken but still *standing in one piece*, and I was thinking about getting it fixed to keep.
…would I call tech express again to get this done?
oh, HELL YEAH!

Jerome was great, called him yesterday to schedule service, today replaced the clutch (not a small job), changed my oil, fixed a couple of things I did not even know about that were wrong and bang, car is back to me tonight! Thanks Jerome, I will def use your services again!

Jerome is awesome. Came by, fixed my issue, and gave me pointers on my motorcycle. He is also fun to talk to, smart guy. I would recommend Tech Express to anyone who needs work done on their bike. He is passionate about what he does, and will do exactly what he says he will do.

A long while back I made an appointment with this guy for work on one of my vehicles. After I read the bad reviews, I cancelled the appointment. Jerome was rude to me and used swear words on the phone when I cancelled my appointment. He was very unprofessional and I was glad I cancelled.
Fast forward to today. Out of nowhere several e-​mail notifications telling me that I had an appointment with Tech-​Express. I had made no such appointment. I called to find out what was going on and was told, «Oh I f***ed up and made you an appointment by mistake.»
Um, wow. Really?
Even though I was assured that I would not be billed (for a service I had never requested in the first place) after reading another review about how a customer was double charged and got no response to requests for a refund of the over billing I will be watching my credit card charges like a hawk to make sure I don’t get ripped off, also.

Jerome Risby does take his time but for me it isn’t a problem since I don’t need my car everyday. I have an old car and really like that he takes his time and makes sure everything is working properly. No he is not cheap but my car has never run better and I don’t have to worry about it breaking down. I like having a mechanic that remembers my car instead of taking it into a shop and starting from scratch with a new mechanic everytime. Also, I had an electrical problem in that the car would start sometimes and then not. No other shop could fix it and I was seriously thinking about trading it in but Jerome stuck with it until he figured it out so I didn’t have to buy a new car.

Let me save you some time and help you avoid frustration. This guy is a back yard mechanic. Always, always late. It takes him much longer to fix your problem then if you were just bring it to the dealer or a local repair shop. I asked him to fix a problem with my bike. I took him several tries to get it right, but that was after he kept telling me other things were broken on my bike (even though the problems were not there to begin with, he just assembled it incorrectly by leaving crucial parts out). How do I know? I watched as he disassembled the motor for the 6^th time, 6TH TIME!!! And the price was not right either. He is extremely expensive for less than bad work. When he needs parts, you have to order everything yourself because he has no credit with anyone. Then you have to order again and again and again because he doesn’t know what to order to get the job complete. There are a lot of shops out there, but he should not be an option if you want quality work done the first time and immediately. One word should sum it up…“nightmare”. Unfortunately I heard that he was a lousy mechanic after all the work was not complete. If there was a way to give him no stars, I would.
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Because I wrote an HONEST review, look what Unilocal sent me…
(And «NO», I don’t want to be your friend JEROME. So don’t bother sending my a friend request again.)
Hi there,
We’re writing to let you know about one or more complaints we’ve heard about your review of Tech Express.
We recommend that you ensure that your review complies with our Content Guidelines (
) and Terms of Service (
). Steer clear of exaggeration and embellishment, and don’t draw conclusions about the broader business practices of the business you reviewed based on your own experience. Ultimately, your words are your responsibility, and posting false information can have legal ramifications. If you think you need to make changes to your review, you can use the edit function to revise it.
Please respond to this email and confirm your review complies with our terms. We’d also welcome any collateral information you might provide to help confirm that you were a customer of this business (e.g., receipts, order information, etc.)
Thanks for helping us keep it real on Unilocal.
Regards,
Pam
Unilocal User Support
San Francisco, California
Unilocal Official Blog |
Unilocal Frequently Asked Questions |

Your review:
Let me save you some time and help you avoid frustration. This guy is a back yard mechanic. Always, always late. It takes him much longer to fix your problem then if you were just bring it to the dealer or a local repair shop. I asked him to fix a problem with my bike. I took him several tries to get it right, but that was after he kept telling me other things were broken on my bike (even though the problems were not there to begin with, he just assembled it incorrectly by leaving crucial parts out). How do I know? I watched as he disassembled the motor for the 6^th time, 6TH TIME!!! And the price was not right either. He is extremely expensive for less than bad work. When he needs parts, you have to order everything yourself because he has no credit with anyone. Then you have to order again and again and again because he doesn’t know what to order to get the job complete. There are a lot of shops out there, but he should not be an option if you want quality work done the first time and immediately. One word should sum it up…“nightmare”. Unfortunately I heard that he was a lousy mechanic after all the work was not complete. If thee was a way to give him no stars, I would.
ref:00D3vCN.5004EyPJh:ref
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Hey look what Jerome sent me…
Hey Hot Diggity, just wanted to let you know your an asshole!!! if you had an issues then you might have said so but chose to hide behind the name of a wiener’s name and posting some anonymous BS about your motor pull — Maybe why your slow — but u can cook.
Anyways, though you should know your a girl. Have fun
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There is nothing that I have lied about on this review. If you can disprove any of these facts, I will happily remove this review Jerome.
Here is the update on what’s going on with Tech-​Express:
He has called me and offered me CASH MONEY to remove my review after he has sent me several threatening letters stating that I defamed his character.
Let me see… defame your character. How did I defame you? All statements are true and correct to my knowledge. Like I said before to Unilocal,If any statement I have made that is false or incorrect, I will be more than happy to remove that part of my review.

Jerome came by this morning to service my problematic to start Suzuki Bandit and had it up and running in no time. Tech express rates are very reasonable, Jerome is extremely knowledgeable and pinned point what was wrong in minutes yet didn’t rush the job and executed very professionally. Furthermore, and that probably one of the reason I’ll call him again, he was extremely friendly and didn’t have that attitude you unfortunately are often confronted to when you step in a bike shop in the bay area.

I would give 4 stars if the tech was a little better at time management, actually 5 stars but im holding back a star until I see the final credit card charge.
I called these guys to tune-​up my little enduro since the reviews seemed decent and the shop rate was competitive. Im a stickler for time but I knew that the tech had until 10am to get to my house to start. He called at 9:30 and said he «had to get some stuff» and would be at my house around «10:15-ish». At 10:45, the tech rolled up and started working on my bike. I have a beater and told him alot of things didnt need to be done and after I asked, he said I could watch him work the bike to learn how to do some of the things myself. He worked fast and explained alot of the procedures, including how to change the front tire, oil, plugs air filter, lubing and wrapped up at 12:15. I think he could have done a few more things since he had been there for 90 minutes and there is a 2 hr minimum charge, but I learned alot that will save me time and money servicing my own bike. He also offered further assistance if I started changing the tire and got stuck… bonus.
The estimate was originally for 3 hrs of work so I want to double check that the time charged was amended, but overall he was fast and the bike looks great. BTW– The tech was actually the owner who has tons of experience on different motorcycles and works on boats as well.

When the wheel of your 1965 Galaxie falls off because the front axle breaks in half, it is really nice to have a mechanic come to you.
Luckily for me, it has been a while since I have had major car drama, but this was an awesome service to have when I needed it.