Automotive Diagnostic Center

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Automotive Diagnostic Center, Marysville, WA: I had done business with Mr. Wilbur over a year and ½ (September 2014-May 2016). In that time, I put over $11,000 into his business, including an engine rebuild. I would say I got about 55% good and 45% bad for my money. He has problems with some of his parts (distributor, alternator), and some of his mechanics (leaving parts loose or forgetting to do work, overfilling at oil changes repeatedly, and putting coil wire near engine so as to die on the road). His A/C mechanic mis-diagnosed twice at my cost, though Mr. Wilbur promised air blowing "popsicle sticks." Also, once Mr. Wilbur has determined my bill, he has typically refused to change it, no matter how ridiculous his charges are. He comes across as knowledgeable and friendly, until you realize he overcharges, and there are too many recurrent problems from the work done there. He claims higher prices for the supposed quality. This is not the case at all.
Mr. Wilbur refuses to honor one of his warranties. An alternator was installed on 12/2/15 by one of his mechanics. On 12/3/15, a check engine light came on, and it looked like a problem. I called Mr. Wilbur, and he said to bring it in. The check engine light went out by the time I arrived there. Mr. Wilbur seemed happy at this, and did not have his mechanic take a look. Six and ½ months later, Mr. Wilbur’s alternator not only failed, but it also destroyed my PCM (confirmed later by a separate mechanic after Mr. Wilbur's alternator destroyed other new PCMs until the alternator was replaced). I called to Mr. Wilbur since I was stranded out of town with his failed alternator. He did not respond back in almost 2 business days, so I had to call again and take care of it myself. Yet, he refuses to reimburse me to this day, and it has cost me an added $1480.72 because I went to his shop. If he would have reimbursed me fairly, I would not have had to write this. I see others have had similar experiences with Mr. Wilbur.

Automotive Diagnostic Center, Marysville, WA: I had done business with Mr. Wilbur over a year and (September 2014-May 2016). In that time, I put over $11,000 into his business, including an engine rebuild. I would say I got about 55% good and 45% bad for my money. He has problems with some of his parts (distributor, alternator), and some of his mechanics (leaving parts loose or forgetting to do work, overfilling at oil changes repeatedly, and putting coil wire near engine so as to die on the road). His A/C mechanic misdiagnosed twice at my cost, though Mr. Wilbur promised air blowing "popsicle sticks." Also, once Mr. Wilbur had determined my bill, he has typically refused to change it, no matter how ridiculous the charges are. He comes across as knowledgeable and friendly, until you realize he overcharges, and there are too many recurrent problems from the work done there. He claims higher prices for the supposed quality. Mr. Wilbur refuses to honor one of his warranties. An alternator was installed on 12/2/15 by one of his mechanics. On 12/3/15, a check engine light came on, and it looked like a problem. I called Mr. Wilbur, and he said to bring it in. The check engine light went out by the time I arrived there. Mr. Wilbur seemed happy at this, and did not have his mechanic take a look. Six and months later, Mr. Wilburs alternator not only failed, but it also destroyed my PCM (confirmed later by a separate mechanic after Mr. Wilbur's alternator destroyed other new PCMs until the alternator was replaced). I called to Mr. Wilbur since I was stranded out of town with the failed alternator. He did not respond back in almost 2 business days, when I had to call again and take care of it myself. Yet, Mr. Wilbur refuses to reimburse me to this day, and it has cost me an added $1480.72 because I went to his shop. If he would have reimbursed me fairly, I would not have had to write this. I see others have had similar experiences with Mr. Wilbur.

Like other reviews suggest, Automotive Diagnostics will take your money, and give you a sense that they know what they are doing. And sometimes they do, but too often, they have repaired something that did not need repaired and gave the illusion it was fixed, but they won't refund you for their errors. They just keep taking your money for subpar work.

Great place, was very impressed with the customer service also recieved shuttle service home and then got picked up when my car was finished. Their prices are comparable to other repair shops. I would recommend this shop to anyone that needs car repair. Oh and I even got a courtesy vacuum.

I took my car to automotive diagnostics center on friday oct 16th to fix problems the check engine light showed.

when i dropped off my car the secretary told me the mechanics were on their lunch break. so when that afternoon john wilbur called i told him my concerns and he said they would start work on monday. monday employee mark called and said after an hour he did a compression test and needed another hour to check into it more. later he called and told me what he found and what the fix was and the cost of labor parts and a machine shop charge. the next day john wilbur called and gave me an update on my car and said he had to add another 20 percent to the machine shop charge and that labor was at around 1400.00. so after that phone call from john wilbur i got suspicious because no written estimate was offered.

so i went in and talked to john wilbur and asked him why two people are giving me different prices? he said he had to add 20 percent and that employee mark forgot to. he then said he likes to do a prognosis on the car at no charge when it's put together to ensure it doesn't have to come back in a second time. i said i thought you found the problem that's why i let you do 2 hours to diagnose the car. he said well he needs to know what caused the damage to the parts he's fixing??i asked him i thought you found the problem that's why you're going to get the parts and put it back together? he said it's ok.



on oct. 28th the day he said the car would be ready the same check engine light came on along with the same problems that it had when i brought it in. so at no charge to me he had his best two mechanics on it and said they will figure it out. i knew he was scamming me.

on saturday oct. 30th he called and said it would be around another 2 grand to fix the problem. i told him to get the car ready and i'll pick it up and that i shouldn't have to pay over 3,000 dollars to get my car back with the same problems!

after picking up the car and asking him why he's charging me and he didn't fix the car? he said he and his mechanics did nothing wrong!

i took my car to a second repair shop and had him diagnose and see what he could find.

the next day after diagnosing the car for 2 hours and 160.00 dollars he said it was major problems with the bottom end. and it would cost right around 3,500 to replace pistons and labor, he then told me he uses the same machine shop that Automotive Diagnostics Center uses

and that the machinist that worked on my heads told him that an employee from Automotive Diagnostics Center told him that something got sucked through the motor. which means major problems with the bottom end of the motor.

so JOHN WILBUR AND AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS CENTER knew all along about the major problems with my car but did not say one thing to me and charged me over 3,000 dollars to fix a lesser problem that did nothing to improve

the condition of my car!

John Wilbur and Automotive Diagnostics Center are not honest or trust worthy they are nothing but a rip off repair shop.

i filed a complaint with the BBB.

I have been taking my car to Automotive Diagnostic Center for 2 years and found that they are very trustworthy and have always fixed my car. I would recommend this shop to anyone. I have been to other shops before bringing my car to Automotive Diagnostic Center and was ripped off, so it is nice to have a shop that can do the job.