We had taken our 1997 Chevy S-10 pickup in to get our alternator repaired. Through a "visual" inspection, they found that the water pump and oil was leaking. We had them change those two parts as well. Our bill came to $795.94. We have mechanical breakdown insurance so all we needed to pay was $150 ($50/assembly).
The issues that we faced were:When paying our deductible, they charged us $218. We refused. It turns out that they were going to charge us for a few inspections as well. They said we owed $165. The extra $15 came from coolant which they added but we did not authorize the service; and After taking the truck home, we noticed that the A/C was not working, but it was working just fine before the repairs. There was no cool air coming through the vents. After checking out our engine, we noticed that a couple of wires had been unplugged that operated our "cooling mechanism" (I apologize. I don't have the proper terms to identify the exact parts).
We found that very odd since the alternator, water pump, and intake gaskets lay on the sides of the engine; and the A/C sits right in the middle. There was no purpose for them to even go to the A/C. We felt that we've been "had" since Gunderson is currently under DMV investigation for fraudulent activity and other schemes. We felt we were screwed over. It's one of those things where you take your car in for one thing, get it fixed, and have the tech tamper with something else in order to gain more business. We just got very upset with the whole matter and will never be going back.
