Chantilly Auto Repair

I will address your 3 points, but first I want to address your “SCAM” comment. This was not your fist visit to our facility; in fact, this was not even the only vehicle you brought to us. You have been coming since November of 2021 with not one mention of a scam before this visit. I want it to also be very clear that you have only ever visited us for a highly discounted service via Groupon and done nothing else here in regards to service or maintenance outside the scope of the coupon you purchased. Groupon is a great medium for customers to get to know us and for FAS to connect with folks we might not have ever met otherwise. We perform every one of these Groupons at a loss as we are looking to form relationships. We realize that there will be customers, like yourself, that will never reciprocate in our relationship and that is okay, because there are so many other great customers we get to meet and interact with. However, you seem hell bent on destroying a reputation we have spent 45 years building because we made one error and you didn’t like the other facts presented to you. Groupon has a very negative reputation in our industry as there is a perception that the only folks that will visit a shop with coupon are “bottom feeders”. Individuals that will only do what the that coupon prescribes and nothing more. Furthermore, those same individuals will have poorly maintained vehicles that make performing said service more costly for the facility and time consuming. And then if anything is even perceived to have gone wrong (e.g. they hear something they don’t like about that state of condition of their vehicle), then the business is to blame and all measures are deployed to damage the reputation of a business that was/is giving them a service at cost. While we have encountered the above mentioned Groupon customer they are are far and few between. The overwhelming majority are just looking to try out a shop at a low risk/cost scenario to build a rapport and find a shop they can trust. That being said, the few bad apples we get are making us reconsider our partnership with Groupon. Sir, I would lump you in with the bad apples in this scenario. In 5 visits you have not reciprocated in this relationship and only taken advantage of the discounted service, while there is nothing wrong with that and we expect some of these the negative review for an accurate diagnosis really makes you the worst of the worst. I wish I could share the link of your vehicle’s inspection with photos, but unfortunately there is personal information on there we won’t risk sharing. Point 1: You are correct in that an oil change was recommended when not needed. This happens even though we have many procedures in place to prevent it. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have already had a discussion with the team here to ensure those procedures are better adhered to. Point 2: Just because another inspector passes a vehicle that our inspector fails does not mean those items you failed for pass. It is difficult to make out in the photos, but oil contamination on belts does fail VA Safety. It is more clear that your rear shocks are leaking in the photo. This will also cause your vehicle to fail safety inspection. This was all explained to you. Point 3: We did not charge you for anything. You purchased a Groupon for AC service. We redeemed it and performed the inspection that is part of the service. We found an issue that prevented us completing the service that needed to be rectified before continuing. You were advised of this and accused us of damaging your vehicle. This last point you made is so absurd I won’t even address it. In closing, the relationship you and FAS share is not mutually beneficial and never has been. Therefore, it may sound coarse, but I’m actually not sorry to see you go. Best of luck to you and thank you for the feedback. The team has been re-trained. Luis Owner

Hello Baba, I searched our database for your name and several variations with no luck. I also went through our alignment database and was unable to find a vehicle in the last few weeks with the alignment specs you mention. I then went much further back to May 18th and found your vehicle and subsequently your information. This is the second review you posted, though that one was under the name we have in our database, for the same matter that we had responded and for which you subsequently removed. I’m not sure if this a tactic that you are using to try and hurt our business, but you seem very spiteful and out to do damage not present facts. As was explained to you at the time of service your vehicle has no adjustment for front caster or front camber. However, you do have rear adjustments for camber and toe which were adjusted and looking at your specs it looks like everything looks pretty good to include front toe. While your front camber is a bit out of spec (0.08º is the max) it’s not so bad as to cause any kind of drivability issue or lead to abnormal/excessive tire wear. To be clear these are fractions of a degree. Now, why are there different before and after readings if there is no adjustment? If I were to make and educated guess I would look at how bad your front and rear toe along with your equally bad rear camber and surmise that it is a wonky front camber reading when we first compensated the targets. However, after adjustment of the toe (which will change camber slightly depending on suspension geometry) and first getting the back pretty darn good we got a better reading on the targets. And this could account for the small change. To surmise, your alignment was adjusted as per factory specs at all adjustable points. Your focus on what could be a ghost reading for an angle there is no adjustment for and blaming us for not adjusting it or causing it to change (BTW I would rather have a 0.3º vs -0.55º in regards to tire wear) is pretty disingenuous. Not to mention the charge back you performed on your credit card. So, you got the best alignment your car is going to get and didn’t pay for it, but still felt it proper to leave a one star review in as many places as you could. I hope your pettiness get’s better. Best of luck!! Luis Owner

Mr. Xu, Thank you for the opportunity to respond to you on this platform as my response to you on Groupon is not seen by you, but my response here is. First, to address the camber and caster adjustment on your vehicle - your Volkswagen does not come equipped with either camber or caster adjustment. The only adjustment that can be made for your application is the toe. This was explained to you at the time of service. You mentioned a change in the before and after for those measurements. The change is in the hundredths of a degree not tenths and the reason for this is air flow in our shop that can cause slight movement on the cameras attached to the alignment boom. I have responded with the same information to the credit card company on your chargeback dispute. Again, and I can’t be any clearer, there are no adjustments for caster and camber on your vehicle. If there was, we would adjust it to the manufacturer’s specification. I am more than happy to have you bring in your vehicle so I can show you in person. Please let me know when a good time for you would be. My telephone number is 703-591-5225. Kind regards, Carlos Owner

Dear Kaleeswaran, we appreciate your feedback and are sorry to hear about your experience. However, your name does not come up in our system nor does your review give us much to go on. We strive to provide excellent service and our customer's satisfaction is important to us. Please contact us at your convenience so that we can work towards resolving this issue.

Thank you Sachin for the wonderful 5-star review! We are thrilled to hear that you had a great first impression of Foreign Auto Services. Customer satisfaction is our top priority, so we are glad to know that your service was completed on time and that you enjoyed our well-appointed waiting area. We look forward to serving you again in the future!

We appreciate your kind words, Manuel! Glad to hear that you had a positive experience with our team. We strive to provide prompt and professional service to all our customers. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you for choosing Foreign Auto Services!

Thank you for the 5-star review, CATALIN! We're delighted to hear that you had a great experience with us at Foreign Auto Services. If you have any more car-related needs, feel free to reach out. We're here to help!

Thank you, Brandan, for sharing your experience! We're thrilled to hear that you and your wife are satisfied with the customer service and craftsmanship at Foreign Auto Services. Your kind words mean a lot to us! We're committed to providing top-notch service to all our customers, and it's great to know that we've exceeded your expectations. We look forward to serving you again in the future!

Hello D, Thank you for your feedback. We also want you to know that we are just as disappointed that price was the source of your displeasure with your vehicle’s service. It seems that you were happy with the brake service, the 72 point digital inspection, the battery replacement, the fact that the technician was able to properly diagnose why your BMW was giving you difficulties starting, and diagnose why your Airbag light was on as well. Unfortunately, when you have numerous items on your bill the numbers start to add up. Inflation is a real issue these days and we are not immune as a small business from the pressures it brings. There are numerous ways this affects our business directly, from increased costs of parts to unexpected rent increases. All the while, wages are growing and putting pressure on us to do the same for our team or fear losing the great folks we have the pleasure of working with. I don’t tell you this to insult your intelligence or to garner sympathy, as I am sure you know all these things, but it bears stating to contrast what to me seems like a reasonable bill considering the scope of work performed as well as the make of vehicle. To expand on how expensive things have gotten we have seen a significant increase in the amount of large ticket item replacements (e.g. complete engine assembly) that we have not seen since the 1990s. We feel like this is due in large part to the cost of the average new vehicle now rising to nearly $50K. While the amount invested in these large repairs is significant it pales in comparison to the increased taxes, insurance, and the huge loans/payments one ends up with going for the alternative. We want you to know how disappointed we are that price was the issue that you were unhappy and we understand the pain of our current economic climate as we struggle with it as well. Best of luck to you and if there is anything we can do for you do not hesitate to reach out to us. Best regards, Luis Infante Owner