StartMart rip-off! Rebuilt alternator went bad in a month! False advertisement! Mesa Arizona

All I can tell anyone reading this report is, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! When it comes to a costly repair on your vehicle you can save hundreds if you research the company first. Apparently my situation is not unique when it comes to dealing with this company. If I had read about them first here, I would have never gone to Start Mart and would have saved $209.

Back in March of 2004 I was having a problem with my alternator. I looked in the phone book for places I could take my Nissan to be repaired at cheapest cost to me. You see I am a single mom and money doesn't come easy around here. The ad in the phone book said they did a free test and no labor fees. So I thought, "Hey what a deal" and took my car in first thing that Saturday morning.

I went in at 10 and told them the problem I was having and they said it sounded most definitely like an alternator problem. Then they started writing out the estimate and I was told I could waive the analysis fee and they would just rebuild the alternator. (Wait? What happened to free test?) Anyway, I waived the fee, and then was told there would be a $0-50 labor charge, (ok... so there is a labor charge) only if there were obstructions and they had a hard time getting to the part. I thought, "Ok cool, I've seen where my alternator is and I didn't see anything that would be considered an obstruction, so it's cool."

So my son and I sit in the waiting room with my estmiate that, at that time, read $149.95 plus tax. My son and I sat and watched Saturday morning cartoons, "Gone in 60 Seconds", and "Star Wars" before we were finally told that we were done. I paid my total, which had come out to $209. They explained that they were a lot of obstructions to my alternator, but they were only going to charge me $40 labor cost, and silly me I honestly thought oh how cool they aren't charging me the full labor cost. See when I think people are cutting me a break I really appreciate it (I've had that happen several times because of good human beings that God blessed with good hearts).

So I get in my car and head to my brother's house. I heard some noise on my way there and decided to check it out when I got to my brother's house. I noticed my serpentine belt was shredding and was not installed in the groove. I had my brother look at it and he said that it hadn't been put on properly and the gear/wheel had started to cut it away.

I called Start Mart back and told them what happened. He asked how old my belt was. The first question that came to my mind was, "Well if there had been signs of wear wouldn't a good mechanic suggest to me that I replace it before putting a bad belt onto a new alternator?" But I told him, "No, I replaced my serp belt less than 2 years ago. It has a lifetime warranty on it." He told me to bring my car back and he'd look at it and see if it was in fact their fault for the bad belt.

I took my brother with me and we all got back in the car and headed back to Start Mart. When I got there, the guy looked under my hood and said "yep, that needs to be replaced. Do you have the receipt on your belt still?" "Yes of course, I save all my receipts." (In fact I still have this one even though it does me no good) "Well I will need to look at it and if the belt is still new, then we will replace it." By this time I was just mad, first of all I am not dishonest, I believe in kharma and I wouldn't lie to get stuff for free in life and I expect the same from everyone else including my mechanics.

Second, you could look at what was left of my belt and see that there was no wear or cracks indicating that the belt would give at any moment. So I said "Well will you be able to replace my belt today?" and he said no that there wasn't enough time (you know it only takes 40 minutes at most). So I said, "you know what, just forget it." I knew that I still had the warranty on the belt through USA Cyber Lube N Tune (by the way, great service from them every time I go there) So I decided to take it there and get it replaced and just pay the labor cost for them (they've earned it). It took a whole 40 minutes to get my car in and out, and that's with an oil change!

My brother told me not to go back to Start Mart for anything anymore because he could see that they were not going to refund my money or do anything for free, in fact he said he'd bet that would have made me pay labor to replace my belt. So I got my belt replaced and all was well, HAHAHAHA so I thought. Three weeks later, after my DES appointment, my warning lights come BACK ON!! Oh man, you don't know how frustrated I am at this point. My first thought was,"Maybe it wasn't my alternator afterall." But my lights were going dim and my radio was playing all weird. Next thing I know, my car is dead.

So I call my brother, and he jumps me and we go to AutoZone. They try to test my battery but the car won't hold a charge long enough for the test. I talk to sales people about everything I had went through with StartMart and they said, "You should try to get you money back" and I said, "I don't think I will be able to, they didn't even want to fix my serp belt. They will probably tell me because I waived the analysis fee, I will have to pay the fee to see if it really is the alternator. Plus, I will have to pay more labor costs since the warranty is on the parts only not labor."

We tested at AutoZone and it was in fact the alternator. I had to buy a battery to test the alternator. They laughed at me (very nice guys but I know it wasn't AT me just the situation) when I told them how much I spent to get my alternator rebuilt. They told me they could sell me a new alternator for $120. Shannon, the salesgirl, said that she would put my alternator in for me because she liked to work on Nissans, though they aren't supposed to do it.

I had to wait for her to be off the clock, I watched her put it in, and guess what, she didn't remove ANYTHING to get to my alternator, we just lifted the coolant reserve out of the holder and moved it to the side. It took a whopping 2 hours! (So why was I at Start Mart until 4 in the afternoon, when I got there before 10am?) I spent a total of $180 that night, I got a new alternator, a new battery, and I gave a litte $$ to Shannon for her help. (See what I am talking about? Decent human beings.)

Anyway, its now going on September and I haven't had one problem with my battery or alternator. I chose to just get a new alternator with AutoZone rather than trying to rebuild my alternator and possibly causing more damage to my car because they can't build a reliable part. If I had looked further into Start Mart before I took my car there, I could have easily saved $209. Oh yeah, and I consider the ad in the phone book false advertisement, there is no free test, yes there is labor cost, and no they aren't cheaper than anyone else. Let's see, $150 rebuild my old alternator or $120 for a new one at AutoZone... which would you pick? I'd never recommend this place to anyone. I'd say don't go to the Start Mart in Mesa, AZ but it doesn't look like this is an isolated incident, apparently same service in other states by the same company. Read on folks! Do your research, this place is bogus! Save yourself $209!!!

Renee
Mesa, Arizona
U.S.A.

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