Local Business Review Thread

[naturalbornmudder]

This thread is used to review local businesses within our hobby range.

[michaeljr5]

The NAPA store in North Pole is a really great place. I don't know the gentleman's name that works there, but he has been extremely helpful to me. He spent 45 minutes on the phone with me a couple weeks ago when I was just pricing tie rods. The prices are a little steep but that may be because I am still getting use to Alaska's economy.

[GreatWhite]

NEVER Do any buisness with Dave's Auto in North Pole. They like to do extra unnecessary work and charge you outragious prices >:( >:( >:(

[4x4_MMMH_4x4]

youngs hasent been earning many kudos with me lately... pretty terrible prices, if people want there stuff bought locally they should think about competition, i can get much better prices on stuff even after shipping for my truck... performance shop is good if your a regular buyer, he does have ALOT of stuff in stock... if you have friends that work for places, that seems to help a lot, the stupid mentality goes down... NXC!!! got to throw some props damiens way, hes really got a nice business going for him... i wish i had the know how and skills to do that... major props damien!!! ;D 8)

[AlaskaToy]

youngs hasent been earning many kudos with me lately... pretty terrible prices, if people want there stuff bought locally they should think about competition, i can get much better prices on stuff even after shipping for my truck... performance shop is good if your a regular buyer, he does have ALOT of stuff in stock... if you have friends that work for places, that seems to help a lot, the stupid mentality goes down... NXC!!! got to throw some props damiens way, hes really got a nice business going for him... i wish i had the know how and skills to do that... major props damien!!! ;D 8)


Another thumbs down for Youngs. Scheisters.

[AK20]

I didn't have any problems with Youngs, I had new u-bolts made(turned out great) and two brand new driveshafts made as well. The rear was considerably cheaper than High Angle's 1350 shaft even before shipping, the front was great as well, had them to me in less than two days...went in on a Wednesday afternoon, gave them specs and picked them up first thing Friday morning.

Same thing with the Performance Shop, I've heard alot of bad dealings with the guy...but he has saved me time and money both times I've bought lifts and parts from him, I don't know maybe I've been lucky to catch both places on good days? my 2 pennies

[LowNSlowNeon]

;D


NXC - Two thumbs up.

[Advent]

Young's gear was the very first shop I ever got burned at. Those idiots can't sell me the right part to save their lives.

At least they took the darn parts back, but I was driving around on an unbalanced front drive shaft and without a rear for a while.

[TJVigilante]

Sears does really good work up to 35" tire sizes....but of course I need to plug it before I leave. Side note: we can special order Super Swampers, if you talk to the right person(me). ;)

[akram]

Only place I've really dealt with is College Collison.

Not happy at all. They have had my truck for 3wks for 4 days worth of work. They blamed dodge for not getting a part number. Supposedly was just waiting on one part, all other work was done. Called my insurance and they went down there. Found out they hadn't done hardly any work on it. It was supposed to go to American tire to get the wheels replaced and tires balanced and aligned. Hadn't made it there as of last week. Just getting really pissed off.

Probably will not ever go back to them again.

I've talked to the performance shop guy a few times and he seemed cool. Only thing is he didn't seem all too knowledgeable about the products he sold. Haven't bought anything from him.

[holeski]

BAD

College Collision
Young’s
Genes
Cheaz
Ever Napa but North Pole
ARMA coatings (out of business now)
Gary @ Philips field Auto ( tranny guy)
C&R Pipe
The performance shop
Ken’s alignment
DMV
My USPS lady

GOOD

Alaska Rubber and rigging
Danali Fasteners
US Bearings
North Pole Napa
Dave @ Totem two
Alaska Steel
Rizzo @ American tire
Arctic tire
Air liquid
My UPS guy

[mousee]

the ones I like are;
airgas- those guys are the bomb, very knowladgeable and helpfull.
youngs- have hooked me up a number of times, know there stuff.
Greer- Carlin is an awsome person to deal with, she ALWAYS hooks me up.
Napa gaffney- I am biased on this one though 'cuase i have dealt with 'em for eight years.
Denali fastener- biased on this one too, friends with a guy there.
six roblees- good guys and biased here also, dealt with 'em for many years.

there are bad apples in everything. you will ALWAYS run into people having bad days. I know i have had a few :oops: hopefully noone judges me on my bad days...
the ones I listed are the ones i always deal with and like :)

[akjeep]

;)

[holeski]

The bad ones I posted are only the ones I have had 3 or more bad run ins with.

[XFactor]

Stanley Nissan-Con artists
Kens Fairbanks Alignment-Con artist. Charged me 8 hours labor for a 2 hour job.
Performance Shop-Dont like. Charges more if you use plastic even a debit card. Blahh
FedEx-Almost missed a Christmas present because thier delivery guy who ran from Anchorage to here quit. For 3 weeks they did not run packages up here. (this was last year but still irks me)
Calmini-those pukes well ask Mousee. I do not want to get mad again.
JCWhitney-Idiots did not send my steering stabalizer brackets with my stabalizer. Told me 4 weeks ago they would have it to me in a week to a week and a half. Called them a couple days ago now they want me to send everything back (At my expense) so they can ship me out everything again. Pure genius. So now I have to fab up some brackets and call their customer service and (female dog) and complain.
++++ now I am mad again...Thanks....More later.

[the_ronster]

Genes Chrsyler-- Where do I start? Not Jeep related, but one of the guys who "built" (not to name names) the house I bought and wont stick by the legal warranty. Says "take him to court... thats what he has lawyers for". >:(

[LowNSlowNeon]

Genes Chrsyler--+ Where do I start?+ Not Jeep related, but one of the guys who "built" (not to name names) the house I bought and wont stick by the legal warranty.+ Says "take him to court... thats what he has lawyers for". >:(




Gene's Chrysler -


I'd have to say horrible service.....

Hard to deal with... no willing to work with you. I bought my srt-4 from them... and then 3 months later I want to trade my car in on a truck. Refused to give me anything over their original offer. (WELL and I mean WELL below blue book).. then when I get my NEW truck. The power windows are already weak and going ULTRA slow.. So now in the cold they sometimes don't even move at all. (cold as is anything 20 or lower) If I take it in to them they will say it's because of the cold.. so I'm probably gonna wait until summer. :)

[AK20]

How old is the house? +All new homes have a one year warrenty on them, it wouldn't happen to be Liberty Homes would it? +Oh yeah no names!!

[the_ronster]

Nope, not a Liberty, I did do some research on them before I moved back. I bought a townhome just off the Mitchell, its brandnew, he just does not want to cover it....

[AK20]

Yep he doesn't have a choice, it's law. Talk to the BBB or similar, you could take him to court as well but I bet there are easier ways(cheaper!) to do it vs shelling out money for a lawyer and such.

[michaeljr5]

Oh, you wanna talk about companies not to do business with. How about AAFES? Is it just me or are they jacking their prices again. We haven't even gotten our pay raises yet! They are scum! >:(

[akjeep]

I'd sure like to speak my piece here, but I dunno. I hate to talk smack about others unless someone specificly asks me about them.

Like Damien said, everyone has their days, and it's a lot easier to dwell on those then the positive ones. I will say, however, that I cannot disagree with anything anyone has said to this point, and I've delt with them all.

But I'm glad I made someone's good list!!

[holeski]

Kelly should be up there in the good guy list.

[michaeljr5]

Definately, big cudoos to Kelly!

[akcj5]

Here is my quick list (keep in mind, I have only been in and out of Fbx for about 7-8 years now)

BAD
Genes
Schucks
Carquest
Six Roblees

GOOD
Power and Transmission
Aurora motors (WAAAY overpriced, but when you need that oddball chevy part in a pinch.....)
Fbx Radiator
C and R Pipe
Fairbanks Electric Motor and Bearing (or something like that)

Mixed reviews
Youngs
Napa (any of them)
The Performance Shop
Northern Power Sports (not offroading especially, but it is that time of the year)

[antifriend]

Auto Service Co. Toyota sucks, can't even remember all the bad experiences my family has gone through with them. My family drives mostly toyota vehicles, thinking of buying the next one from Nye in anchorage ;D

[ChevyKev]

Long story, worth the read if customer service makes any difference at all.

My carb sprung a leak at Sourdough fuel in North Pole - rendering my vehicle dead (yet with no BBQ custom to most of my vehicles - so that was good!)

With a little help from Jay (Ryan’s friend) I pulled it into the parking lot between Sourdough and Schmucks.

The next day I replaced the Carb and pushed the truck up to the curb about 75 feet from Schmucks front door, 50 feet from their employees plugged in vehicles) It had been -31 for almost 24 hours, so I knew it needed to warm up before I tried to re-start it.

According to the manager at Schmucks, she could not authorize me to plug in my vehicle (even in their store outlets) for a few hours. I would have to contact the owner of the mall. Went to the mall office, which was closed, and called the number on the door which rang at.... Schmucks! Figured I’d simply plug in to the outlet by the empty store front where the truck was - but no power. So I went back and explained again my plight to the store manager of Schmucks. The corporation pays the electric bill, not the store itself, so IF she let me plug in with my cord and IF someone called the corporation and turned her in, she could get in trouble. So she couldn't authorize me to use her store outlet. Even though I offered to pay for the electricity used. She could call the mall owners though and see what she could do. Her call went to a secretary that said the owners wouldn’t OK that, and that I should probably move my truck that night or it would most likely be towed. They’d like to help, but they can’t.

But wait - the sun started shining and it warmed up to -28!

NAPA to the rescue. Literally. I am not making this up. On hearing what Schmucks said, the manager of NAPA allowed one of her workers to clock out for “lunch” to help me strap tow it through the back roads to NAPA where they allowed me to plug in my truck. The same employee offered to bring his big heater the next day for my use if plugging it in didn’t work. I promptly went to Pizza Hut and ordered 2 pizzas which I took back to NAPA and shared with their employees for a thank-you “lunch.” 3 hours later, being plugged into the NAPA outlet, the truck fired right up and another (former) employee of Napa and friend of mine, Jake, came up and helped me get both my trucks to my house.

Customer service is valuable. There is a reason why I spent over $300 in parts on Monday and Tuesday and Schmucks got a total of $6 of that, and NAPA the rest + Pizza!

[AK20]

Napa is the bomb, of course I'm sure it helps that your a VIP member there!!! Either way that just makes me sick to hear that about schmucks, that could turn into a matter of life and death at 30 below. :disgust: Also when did Jake stop working there????

[ChevyKev]

Jake left a month or so ago - he's now an electrician making bigger coin.
Good for him, bad for me when I need his knowledge!

VIP or not, customer service goes a long way. While NAPA will most likely help their "VIP" customers - they understand that a little help now and then insures their customers will shop there before going anywhere else! Good customer service = return customers = more business. An elementary business principle that Schmucks doesn't seem to understand. And technically - as far as the Corporation of NAPA, they probably weren't supposed to let me plug in my truck there, but they also understand the above stated principle of customer service.

[akram]

I'm glad to here there is still somewhere with good customer service.

I have to update on my dealings with College Collision. I gues I might have posted too soon about them being a bad business. The work they did on my truck was great. I found out the guy working on my truck wasn't communicating with the owner so parts weren't getting ordered/installed. When my wife got the truck back they forgot to change the bent rim out that was in my bed. Took it back they did it real fast for her with out any argument and put my spare back under my truck. They also left one of my floor mats out, found it the next day and put it in. And to help make up for all the trouble I was having they put a mud flap on that I was missing for free and replaced my license plate lights for free. We also got a big appology from the owner for them having my vehicle over 3 weeks instead of the 4days they were supposed to have it.

So I would probably recommend them to someone else. Yes I had issues with them but they took care of that. I was also told the guy that worked on my truck is no longer working there partly due to my truck. I hate for him but he should have done his job right.

[akjeep]

That never would hae happened when it was M&O (before the CSK Proshop crap)
They were the locally owed, small town store that would go out of their way for you.
I used to deal almost exclusivly with them before the buyout.
Now I deal exclusivly with NAPA. If you know who to talk to there, they will do whatever it takes.

[akram]

like to add to the list. Alaska Rubber and rigging on Van horn is great. Great customer service. Cheaper for the brake line than I could find online. Scott was a big help. i would recommend everyone to them. http://alaskarubberandrigging.com

[holeski]

I second that!
Power and transmission is really good too. They can make throttle cables and such.