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  1. Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    499
    #1
    When I met the owner of the shop last week, he asked me for feedback and referrals. Here it is, all based on verifiable data (admin, kindly move this to the appropriate forum if this isn't the right one - thanks).

    FEEDBACK ON PFE's SERVICE:
    First of all, I appreciate it that Aristeo Martinez, Power Five Enterprises's shop owner shouldered the repair of my car's dashboard that was scratched by his technicians at Cainta, which is how it should be because a shop owner bears responsibility for the shortcoming of his/her employees. That said - I can say that having my car's air-conditioning system's evaporator repaired at PFE Cainta was my worst car repair experience ever, and I've gone to a lot of shops and "casas" since I became a car owner in the 90s. PFE's technicians, led by Rick, damaged my dashboard despite my repeated reminders to them to take care of the dashboard panels. One of the technicians handled the dashboard's cloth upholstery with his dirty hands - I had to clean it myself using alcohol from Juvy, the shop's secretary. A day after they installed the new evaporator, I noticed that the AC vents at the driver's side were blowing hot air while the AC vents at the passenger's side were blowing cold air. I brought it back to PFE Cainta and spoke with another lead technician, Wowie. He said the dashboard had to be dismantled again because there were obvious air leaks in the evaporator housing assembly and the new expansion valve that was installed by Rick was defective. He said Rick should have ensured that there were no air leaks before he reinstalled the dashboard and that Rick should have tested the AC system at different thermostat settings, which Rick did not do. Since the dashboard was again in a dissassembled state, I reckoned that it was the best time to bring the damaged panels to Seat Mate in Antipolo for repairs. I called Aris on his mobile phone and I told him that the panels were ready to be delivered to Seat Mate. Aris said he will ask his technicians to bring the dashboard panels to Seat Mate, and when I relayed this to his technicians, they were obviously confused because they only had Wowie's motorcycle as a service vehicle at PFE Cainta. I was expecting Aris to volunteer to bring the dashboard panels to Seat Mate since he has a van, but I did not detect any sense of urgency in his voice, so I volunteered to bring the panels to Seat Mate in my Explorer, so as not to waste any more time. I was also the one who picked up the panels at Seat Mate several days later. Throughout the whole fisaco caused by his incompetent technicians, Aris never showed up at PFE Cainta. I was expecting him to at least show up and assure me that everything will be taken care of, and that these blunders will not happen again, but he did not. I think I spent more time at PFE Cainta than Aris did last week.

    As the shop owner, Aris should have supervised the back job repair. At that point in time, the situation was so bad, so I texted Aris and sent him messages on Viber but I never got a reply. I then called him up to ask if he will be at the shop to supervise the back job repair, and he sounded dismissive. He said, "Titingnan ko na lang kung pwede akong dumaan dun. Ibinilin ko naman sa mga tao ko." But the big problem was his employees were very demoralized for several reasons - they were complaining about the lack of food for "stay-in" personnel and low salaries, among others. I couldn't verify if these complaints were valid, but I did inform Aris about them because it was obvious that their lack of enthusiasm in their work led to poor craftmanship and carelessness.

    In addition, Aris could have at least volunteered to bring the dashboard panels to Seat Mate. He was aware that I had a job to attend to and that this back job and lousy craftmanship by his employees were taking me away from my job. In short, Aris should have realized that it was his shop's fault that a lot of my time was being put to waste.

    And if I were Aris, I should have offered to reimburse the customer for the expenses he incurred on cab rides to and from his shop, even if the customer can afford to pay for such rides. Because it's not just about the money - it's about regaining lost trust and showing empathy while trying to right a wrong.

    A good shop owner would have gone the proverbial extra mile to make sure that his client was not inconvenienced any further by the situation that his business caused. Sadly, it was apparent that Aris was far from being a good shop manager.

    More than two days' worth of my time was wasted because I chose to have my car AC repaired at PFE Cainta. And prior to these recent blunders, the same shop also did a poor job in repairing my Civic's AC system. It was also a back job, but not as time consuming as the most recent one.

    RECOMMENDATION:
    I will not recommend this shop to anybody, not even to my enemies. In fact, even if the repair that was done recently is still covered by the 4-month warranty, I will bring my car to a different aircon shop in case the AC breaks down. I will rather pay a huge amount again to a better shop with better technicians than undergo the same painful exprerience at PFE for the nth time. But if you're really desperate to have your car AC repaired at PFE, at least look for Wowie. His craftmanship is a lot better than Rick's

    REFERRALS: 0

  2. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    2,277
    #2
    My experience with them is quite good. I have used their Novaliches branch Cainta branch without problem. Their parts are quite reasonable and readily available.
    Wowie is a good technician. He was able to diagnose my aircon problems that no other aircon shop was able to do so.
    No experience with that Rick.

  3. Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    499
    #3
    Quote Originally Posted by nelany View Post
    My experience with them is quite good. I have used their Novaliches branch Cainta branch without problem. Their parts are quite reasonable and readily available.
    Wowie is a good technician. He was able to diagnose my aircon problems that no other aircon shop was able to do so.
    No experience with that Rick.
    Magaling si Wowie. Si Ricky sablay, and in my case pati si Aris sablay.

  4. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    2,277
    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by woulfe27 View Post
    Magaling si Wowie. Si Ricky sablay, and in my case pati si Aris sablay.
    Si Sonny yung tech nila sa Novaliches is also a good tech at maayos din ang gawa.

    Si Wowie ay highly recommended na tech. Marami siyang alam maski sa electrical ng aircon. Mahusay din siya mag diagnose. One thing sa kanila ay malaking mura ang parts at readily available sa kanila. Madami silang stock na parts.

    So far wala pa akong back job sa kanila.

  5. Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    499
    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by nelany View Post
    Si Sonny yung tech nila sa Novaliches is also a good tech at maayos din ang gawa.

    Si Wowie ay highly recommended na tech. Marami siyang alam maski sa electrical ng aircon. Mahusay din siya mag diagnose. One thing sa kanila ay malaking mura ang parts at readily available sa kanila. Madami silang stock na parts.

    So far wala pa akong back job sa kanila.
    Mas ok nga si Wowie kesa kay Rick by a huge margin. But if the owner will not address the complaints coming from his employees, even his best ones might leave (if such complaints are valid). I even sent the owner pictures of his employees' complaints that they wrote at the back of their leaflets.
    Last edited by woulfe27; March 21st, 2016 at 09:27 PM. Reason: Typo

PFE Cainta Car Aircon Shop Feedback/Review