Good /Bad Shops (long) (was Strut tower...)

[nicksimc]

First I'd like to thank everyone for their help in answering my questions 
regarding braces, wheels and intake 'fans'.

I forgot to mention the shop that has treated me _extremely_ well:

Best Service & Repair
935 N 96th  (right off of Aurora)
Seattle (206) 525-0240

They specialize in European cars, the woman who runs the front office knows 
more about Audis than most mechanics I have met and at least some of their 
staff 
worked as mechanics in one of the Audi factories.  I haven't had any 
'problems' suddenly 'appear' once the car is in the shop, and their hourly 
rate is excellent.  
This is a great alternative to Phat City if you live in Seattle and don't have 
a dot-com budget.

While I'm on the , a shop that has shafted me is:

D & W Automotive
2616 SE Mile Hill Drive
Port Orchard WA  (206) 876-8273

This may seem out of the way, but for those in the  Puget Sound area  who go 
to the Bremerton Raceway and might pass through Port Orchard, avoid this place 
like the plague!   The standard post-purchase shop visit ran _very_ high 
indeed and included a new fuel filter (only one I might add...)  When I was 
having fuel 
supply problems, I put the car up on stands, expecting the fuel pump to be the 
problem.  Not so.  Neither of the fuel filters had been replaced, but to top 
it off, the 
rigid fuel line that runs from the large metal canister filter to the engine 
was broken.  The filter had rusted onto the line, and apparently when they 
'replaced' it 
they broke the line (there were plier marks on the line...good idea guys...) 
Instead of  then replacing the line and the filter, they put the old filter 
_back_ in and 
used a piece of rubber hose to bridge the gap between the  piece of old fuel 
line that was sticking out of the filter, and the rest of the line, securing 
it with hose 
clamps...  Maybe they didn't do this, but I can positively say that they did 
_not_ replace either of the filters, and the parts charge for the filter 
suggests that it 
was the one that was mutilated...Grrrr...

M Nicksic