Napleton's Auto Park of Urbana

needed three things done to my '07 Mazda 6 - airbag warning light was on, so I needed that checked, oil change, and my brakes inspected for a good pre-winter check. I figured since my owner's manual r warning light was on, so I needed that checked, oil change, and my brakes inspected for a good pre-winter check. I figured since my owner's manual recommended my airbags to be checked by a certified Mazda dealership I would take it to O'Brien Auto park and get it all done in one place, what I should have done is looked up their ratings before I went there. It was a maze to get in the dealership's service center. Once you pulled into the service center, it was intimidating by its fancy large garage, service men walking around pushing through their assembly line, then ushering you through the doors to check in your car like a hospital patient. I feared that I had just entered in to the wrong dealership, it was the stereotypical high-end service team that could baffle the wisest business men and take advantage of young unmechanically-inclined girl, the one all your friends warn you about from their horror stories and encounters. I had scheduled my appointment in advance, but even with their assembly line set up, my fairly routine maintenance request became a three hour ordeal. Despite an impressively clean waiting area that was equipped with a high-tech coffee maker and plasma screen TV's, it did not make the time progress or put me at ease. By the time a service man did greet me with the some news of my car's health, he opened it with the poor line of "I'm sorry we didn't get you you sooner, *Jeff* went to lunch about an hour ago, and just came back to notify us the status of your car." So, this tells me I was sitting around wasting an hour of my time while my car was in the shop ready to go. To further this poor service man's dialog, he continues, "The electrician did a full computer diagnostic test on your car, your airbag on the passenger side had 6.0 pressure" Note, I told them there was an issue with the airbag and the need for a FULL Computer diagnostic test was not necessary, but he continues his speech, "the electrician assumed it was a loose wire under the passenger seat, and normally he would get approval before preforming any type of labor or service on the car, but since *Jeff* was out, he went ahead and tested the wires. He wiggled the wired and the airbag pressure went down to the normal range of 2.0. He drove your car around and tested the brakes and wiggled it around some more, and confirmed that it was only a loose wire." The labor for this electrician to wiggle a wire was $40 an hour, so without my consent to have a "certified Mazda electrician" wiggle a wire under my car seat for $40 an hour, they went ahead and charged me. In the case of my brakes, they did no more than tell me what I already knew, I had preformed the standard two pennies test on the brake pads, which it had passed on all four tires. But what I really wanted was an detailed check beyond a visual inspection. This would require taking the caps off, looking at the pads, discs, and hydraulic fluids. O'Brien's service man could tell me nothing more than it passed their visual brake inspection. I can't complain about my oil change, because an oil change is an oil change, but I normal have synthetic oil put in my car and I was not even given the option for synthetic. So my three hour car hospital adventure was finally coming to an end, but not with out a big sticker price. The service man told me that after "all the work done to my car" it was going to be around $200 before tax. Now wait a minute, what work?? An oil change is 15 minutes at Speed-Lube and I can wiggle a wire under my passenger seat for free and look at my brakes for free and tell you they're ok. But let's not forget, I got a"free complimentary car wash", not to mention that they hairline scratched my bumper. So is it worth $200 for all their labor and work, NO, BECAUSE THEY HARDLY DID ANY WORK. Obviously the service man could tell I'm a bit beyond annoyed and borderline irate, so he says "OK, OK maybe I can get you a coupon or something to bring the cost down." A coupon?? Well he comes back, and said he was able to re-do some figuring and he got it down to $148 with tax, and he expects me to be happy with him like he did me some kind of favor for saving me $50 he was going to rip me off of in the first place. I'm not one to argue, I hate arguers, but talk about unethical, poor service. To make a long story short, if you want to get taken advantage of and be charged unethical rates, then be sure to see your local O'Brien Auto Park's service center, you'll be disappointed you did. More