Shell

Enroute to the airport, back in Dec. 2013, we had a problem with our Toyota Corolla 2005. We had no choice but to drop our car off at the nearest service station, which was Milton Shell. They replaced the brake pads, rotors, calipers and hoses & refilled the brake fluid while we were out of town. After flying back from our trip we picked up our Toyota to drive all the way back to our home in Southeastern CT. The total came to almost $ 900. In January 2014, we had to have the brake hoses replaced again. We had driven no more than 1000 miles since the December repair. Then, in March 2014 we had to have the calipers replaced again. We had not driven more than an additional 2000 miles. We called Milton Shell to complain and ask for a refund for bad parts, but they wouldn’t reimburse us for any of the cost, either parts or labor of a job poorly (or corruptly) done the first time, unless I drove over 100 miles from Niantic, CT to Boston to their shop. Not likely when my car is undriveable! The last insult was when recently, in March 2016 we had to have the rotors and pads replaced again. It’s been just over 30,000 miles since we had the rotors supposedly replaced Dec 2013. Either Toyota Corolla 2005 cars have terrible brake systems, or this service station uses bad parts. You be the judge.

DO NOT go to this gas station for any car repairs, under any circumstances! Wife’s car had a busted serpentine belt on the way from Milton and we wanted to drop it off to the closest garage for safety reasons to see what the problem was and to get a repair cost estimate. As it was after their regular working hours, the gas station worker told us to drop it off and leave a phone number as we would get a call back. The next day I did get a call from what appeared to be the garage owner Jason. He explained to me what the case might be and gave me a quote, which I thought was too high and said I wanted to go to another place for an estimate since I discovered I could drive the car without the belt for another 30 miles. In fact, all I wanted is to take it a known mechanic in Quincy, which would’ve been only 3 – 4 miles away. But see, originally I dropped it off because I was not sure that it was safe to drive any further.
Anyhow, we come back after work to pick up the car and the gas station guy says the owner told him to charge us $ 45 for «check up» and «diagnostics». Even though we never signed anything agreeing to pay and from my experience no one ever charges for an estimate unless it is agreed upon in advance. I told him this is nonsense and we’d like the car back. So he said the owner — Jason would be there in 5 mins. He arrived and told me the whole spiel about what I need to do and how much it would cost. I told him it’s all great but we’d like another opinion and would like to take the car somewhere else. He kept aggressively trying to convince me to get it repaired at his place, which made me even more suspicious and I told him blatantly that I’d like to just pick up the car at this point. He said OK — $ 45. And he refused to give us the car keys until we paid, even though we never signed or agreed anything upfront. This Jason guy kept yelling at me and my wife, telling us not to teach him how to do business. Then he went further — he kept asking me what nationality I am and all kinds of ridiculous questions. He told me he is «persian», even though I never asked him where he was from and that did not matter to me, all I wanted is to be treated normally and to get my wife’s car back. So I did something I’ve never done in my life — I called the cops. And before I did that, I told him that I am about to in case he changes his mind. Instead, he told me to call whoever I want and that I would have to pay for the police showing up. So I did.
The Milton police showed up, the gentleman was very calm and courteous. Interestingly enough, he told us this guy Jason owns the other gas stations around the Milton Village perimeter and people have reported various problems with him and his staff multiple times. So I guess we’re not the first ones to get on this crook’s hook. Anyway, it only gets worse. The police guy told him to give the keys back because that was defined as holding the vehicle «hostage» and a business has no right to do that. The owner wouldn’t budge, he would now yell at the cop and I could’ve sworn I thought he would start throwing fists at the cop, he was so aggressive. To be honest, if I was the cop I would’ve arrested this guy but I was impressed that he was way more composed and respectful than I would’ve been. Like this Jason guy was shamelessly yelling at him, calling him names, running around his stinky gas station and trying to hide the car keys — all for $ 45. We ended up getting our car, but it was a tremendous task and took a while. Needless to say, our Saturday afternoon was ruined.
So moral of the story is, people like this come to this country, run their business in hell knows what manner, disrespect the law and then discriminate against other nationalities and background (I have an Eastern European accent). PLEASE DO NOT give him your business. He does not deserve it and he will die bitter for being so spiteful.