Community Update

EXPRESS WILL WASTE YOUR TIME, WASTE YOUR MONEY, AND THREATEN YOU IF YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.

I had an HID kit to install in my compact sedan, to replace an old set that was underperforming. I asked if the job could be done by noon (i.e., in one hour). I was told it could. I waited.

An hour and 45 minutes later, "Roberto" called me into the back room where "Nick" had disassembled the car. "These foglight housings are bad," he says, "the lenses are cloudy." "Yes, I know the housings are cloudy," I respond. Then he advises me that "One of [my new kit's] ballasts is no good. Dead out of the box." He did NOT demonstrate how they were defective. I was suspicious; I had used the same brand of kit four times previously, without issue. He asks me "Did you get them online?" and I say yes. "Boy, they saw you coming!", he says. At this point he tries to sell me one of his overpriced in-house kits. I tell him to just put the car back together instead, because I am already 45 minutes late and need to go.

At the counter, "Roberto" charges me $75 for labor. I ask him to show me how the ballast was defective. "You mean bench test?" Roberto replies. "We don't have the ability to bench test. But why? You don't trust my technicians?" Sensing that Roberto is getting testy, I try to talk him down and say that I just need to see the defect for warranty purposes/getting my money back from the manufacturer etc. He is mildly confrontational for the remainder of my time there.

A week later, I take the the allegedly defective kit down to a guy named Dave at a different shop down in Dorchester. I advise Dave that somebody I don't trust has said the kit is no good. Dave bench tests the kit. "Yep, everything's working," Dave says. "So the kit is good?" I ask. "Yes, the kit is good."

I go back to Express, kit now successfully installed. I tell "Roberto" my concerns about being charged $75 for nothing more than the pleasure of having his brilliant sidekick "Nick" tell me my non-defective parts are defective. He brings "Nick" out, who assures me that my kit was indeed defective, since he bench tested it. (Then, he insists that whoever installed the kit successfully must have slipped in new parts without informing or charging me, just to make Express look bad!) "But wait," I say, "Roberto, you told me you didn't have the ability to bench test anything, remember?" Roberto looks at me and says: "You like screwing people over. I could tell first time I saw you. I'm not going to give you your money back. You can try to fight the charge with your credit card company, but I will fight back." I ask him if he cares about his online reputation. He replies "I hope you [write bad reviews]. I'll fight that too. I'LL FIND YOU. I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN."