Lake & Skokie Bp

I knew I needed a lot of work on my ’04 corolla and nothing that needed to be fixed was a surprise to me. But if I had everything done at this BP with Bill Anderson, I would’ve paid $ 758 more than where I got a 2^nd opinion (Merlin’s on Dempster in Morton Grove, but that’s another review:). Bill charged me $ 110 for check engine light diagnostic, which i just can’t get past. I misunderstood as he said in the same fast sentence that the labor fee was $ 110/​hr (when taking to me on the phone about the dx fee). He says he reduced the labor time of the diagnostic from 1.5 to 1 hr, thereby saving me $ 55. He otherwise would not budge and said there is NOWHERE that would NOT charge a dx fee in all his 35 yrs. (Merlin’s is doing it now. For free).
One example of the overcharges is that Bill was going to replace my muffler (with a good brand & lifetime warranty) for $ 366. Merlin’s SHOWED me everything and explained in a manner I could understand that it’s just the flange that could be cut out on both sides and a sleeve put over it. This is not a temp fix. All this has been confirmed with a good friend of mine — I sent him pics of it and all. And he said the $ 175 quote at Merlin’s was fair. When i told Bill this he said I’ll be back at Merlin’s in a couple if months when it breaks because it’s not structurally sound. Again, before I came for 2^nd opinion and saw for myself exactly what is wrong, I talked at length with my friend about temp fixes (patch jobs, etc.) which he did NOT recommend. But he agrees with Merlin’s that the sleeve isn’t a temp fix and that’s is all that’s needed.
It’s hard to find dependable mechanics who you feel you can trust and I usually have 2^nd thoughts about chain stores such as Merlin’s, but I do not recommend the BP garage at Skokie & Lake.
See Merlin’s for a 5 star rec!

Bathroom… ewwww!