A&R Automotive & Transmission

I have been taking my car to A & R on a referral from a family member for about a year. Recently, my car had a warped head that needed to be repaired. After several days, I got a call from A & R that my vehicle was finished being worked on and that it was ready to be picked up. I went to the shop, and was told that I didn't have a thermostat in the vehicle when they replaced the head. I decided that since they were going to warranty the head for 6 months, I would have them install the thermostat so that there were no issues at a later date if I needed to get repairs based on the warranty. I picked the car up on saturday when they were about to close (they said it would drive fine without the thermostat, it would just run cold), and said I'd bring it back monday when they were open again to install the thermostat. However, almost immediately after I left the shop on saturday, I noticed a loud knocking sound coming from the engine. At my house, less than 5 miles from the shop, I opened the hood and heard noises coming from the timing belt area. I called the shop immediately and said I would bring it back in to be looked at for the knocking sound (since it wasn't knocking before the repairs). By tuesday morning, they finally told me that it was timing belt tensioner bolt that had broken, which is part of what they had been working on. When I inferred that they had a hand in the bolt breaking, the owner denied that it had anything to do with their work. When I picked up my car, I told him how much of an inconvenience it was to be without my car due to their shoddy work from saturday, until tuesday (Work days missed, and money spent on cab fares, and public transit). After paying them $765 to repair the head, wait for them to fix their mistake on the timing belt, and then be told it was $50 to replace a thermostat I could have bought for $10 and installed in 15 minutes seemed like bad customer service, after all I had been through waiting on them and missing out on work - The owner said "that's life"