Almond's Automotive at City Line Marathon

Branden Watson

★★☆☆☆

5 years ago

While the oil change seems to have done my car wonders, the Customer Support I received was less than stellar. This was my second oil change with Almonds so I felt pretty confident going in. My appointment was for 1:00 pm. I called beforehand to verify the time it would take to complete as I would need to visit them during my lunch hour. I was told it would take no more than 40 minutes, perfect as it would leave me 20 minutes to grab a quick lunch. Well, I arrived at 12:50. Early I know. I sat and waited very patiently as the clock got closer and closer to now 1:30 pm. 30 minutes after my initial scheduled appointment, and my car had still not been seen. It took me getting the managers attention, to get a service technician to look at my car. I’m already 30 minutes into my hour lunch. Cool. I’m a patient man. I realize that I may be late to work. Fine. Around 2:10 now and the manager comes back and tells me that there’s another issue with my car and he recommends I get it fixed. I comply because hey, what do I know about cars. Nothing. He hands me a bill for $88. Cool. I catch an Uber back to work (at my own expense) and await my vehicle being ready. Upon returning to Almond’s my car is ready. I’m provided a new invoice that’s now priced at $125. A cool $37 increase. Fine. I just want a car that works. Through all this trouble and lack of awareness on behalf of Almond’s Technicians it was the Managers disposition as well as the front service technicians attitude that will forever bar me from spending another dime. They were short. Rude. Slow. Dismissive. And quite honestly I think a little deceptive. Customer Service goes a long way and simply informing a client as to service times seems to be a very basic and menial task. Why it was askew on Dec 28th we may never know.... I’d hate to think it was because I was a black man, but who knows. I do know that I will not use their services for anything else and I will not be referring any clients their way.

Wendy Free

★☆☆☆☆

5 years ago

We've taken our cars to Almond's for years since it's convenient to our neighborhood and used to offer really good service, which seems to have declined... No more, after today. Not sure why no one at the front desk was wearing a mask; would really appreciate that consideration and thought businesses were supposed to follow that policy? The real kicker was being charged $66 for an oil change! Checked with the Mazda dealer and they only charge $50. Just doesn't seem like Almond's really cares too much about their customers anymore -

Liz Brown

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

Took my car here because of a rattling noise: after inspecting they told me it was something in the “motor”, and it would have to be completely taken apart to see what it is, and that the labor to do that would be so expensive that I would need to just buy a new car. I then went to City Auto Repair for a second opinion. Turns out there were some loose bolts from a repair done by the previous owner. They fixed it in an hour for $200 :| No more rattling. Won’t be taking my car here again.

Evandro Novaes

★★★★★

3 years ago

The staff are very honest and the price is very fair. They never replaced anything that was not needed in my car. Once the A/C stopped working, they checked and told me that they had damaged a bold on a previous repair, that they fixed under the warranty. Thanks a lot, Almond. You were very good to my car while I lived in Gainesville.

Valentina Alvarez

★★★★★

8 years ago

I have brought my car here three times already and every time they are amazing. The first time they ended up charging me over $100 less than expected because they found a different solution to the problem (and over $200 dollars less than the quote I received from Tire Kingdom). In this last time, my oil was leaking and they told me there was just something that needed to be tightened, and they did it for free. It is very obvious that I am a college student with no knowledge about cars, and they could've easily taken advantage of that and charged me way more than they did all 3 times. They're always honest, and I wouldn't hesitate to return or to recommend them to anyone I know. Thank you for the great service!!

Enoch Nadler

★★★☆☆

5 years ago

My wife and I have used Almonds for a few years now for our oil changes. Overall they do a good job and we like that they have appointments. But recently their service at the front desk has been very poor. First, they often have their masks off despite the pandemic and local guidelines for indoors. Second, when I dropped off my car I made a point to confirm that they would call me when it was done. So I went across the park for 45 min and came back it had been done for 30 min. I'm glad they got it done quickly but when I asked why I wasn't called they didn't even apologize. Then I asked where my car was and the guy said "heck if I know, probably around back". We plan to take our business elsewhere moving forward...

David M. Fisher

★★☆☆☆

2 years ago

My family has used Almond's for years and have always enjoyed the service and pricing. So I was surprised when my wife texted me to tell me that the oil change and air filter replacement was $235!!! They did replace both the cabin air filter as well as the main air filter. Still, this seemed incredibly expensive. I called and spoke with the Assistant Manager and he explained that their prices were in line with everyone around town and that prices had exploded recently. Maybe I am just an old timer who doesn't have a realistic idea of costs, but I will be doing my own oil changes from now on.

Maria Leite

★☆☆☆☆

3 years ago

I had an oil change done at this location before and experienced great customer service and reasonable price. Unfortunately, this morning my experience was different. At my arrival for an appointment at 7am, I received a very poor customer service from the woman who was at the front desk. I was not asked what type of oil I wanted, I entered a check mark requesting an estimate in the form I filled and no estimate was provided, and finally, I was not even told how long the service would take (at least to my understanding). The woman (manager, maybe) said something turned her back to me and went back to the office. I was so embarrassed that I thought it was because I got there 5 minutes before 7am, so I even apologized to her to be there before 7am. I asked the guy who was there as well how long it would take for the oil change to be completed and he mentioned it usually took 45 min. So I told him I would be back at lunch to pick up the car. I left the store and when I was already on the other side of the road waiting for the bus, I decided to go back and cancel the service. As a customer, I value good people skills and refuse to leave my money where I am not well treated. Customer service training might be something useful for this business.

Robert Guenther

★★★★★

2 years ago

I've been taking our cars to Almond's for about 15 years, always excellent work at a good price. There have been several times when I was told after inspection that it didn't need any repair work. How often does that happen? I won't go anywhere else.

Drew Long

★★★☆☆

Edited 3 years ago

The work done replacing my rotors and pads was fine and done fairly quickly. However, the car was returned with damage due to not having been set properly on the lift. The service experience was also very poor. I was on a first name basis with the previous manager Clay over years of oil changes and the occasional bigger job, and I trusted his quotes and expertise. This time, I dropped $1000, and neither the new manager Jessie nor attendant met my eye, said thank you, or wished my return business. Tire King next door is my new go to.

Jacquelyne Collett

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

My husband and I have used this shop for over 20years and it used to be the most honest, dependable and fair priced auto repair shop. We will not longer be using them. I see other people are coming to the same conclusion. They are continuing on based on their prior reputation. After several experiences where we felt we were overcharged and mismanaged - we had our last experience where my husband brought his car in for a flat tire. Granted, he ruined the tire driving on it and he lost that hubcap. He got 3 new tires, not a problem, but they didn't put the 3 hubcaps back on - just placed them in the trunk. They put on a new gas cap for $70 (I priced it at Gatorland Toyota for $20.60) and still the check engine light that had been on since a prior visit (around $2,000 visit) was still on. The receptionist was really nice, apologized and said we could bring it back in. She also said she paid more for that gas cap. I am sure she did - but I would like my mechanic to get better deals than that. When you don't really care how much your clients pay, then your don't shop for a reasonably priced part. It is not that easy for us to get our cars in for repair with working, etc. Having to go twice is not acceptable. We will go elsewhere...I have several good recommendations.

Samuel Towne

★☆☆☆☆

Edited a year ago

Used to go here quite often, they were honest and gave a really cheap price. About 3 years ago the quality of work had started to decline, and I was constantly being upsold and over priced. They even suggested I was leaking oil. I park on white pavement, I would've noticed that. Also another mechanic didn't see any problem whatsoever when I went to get my shocks replaced recently. I'm fine to pay more, but not pay more and a decline in quality. Shop rags being left in the car, brake pads not being installed properly are 2 examples that come to mind. I switched to another shop in Gainesville (city auto). It's a shame the place used to be great.

Brandon S.

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 3 years ago

I've been going to this shop off and on for a long time and was always satisfied. My Dad and my brother's family also have used this shop without any issues. Apparently they've gone through a change of management, which might be in large part why it seems things have changed, both from my personal experience and from reviews read online. When I dropped off my car and waited for the check up and estimate. I was told the valves needed to be replaced among several other minor maintanace issues. They quoted me a little under 500. I compared the costs online and they were overpriced both in parts and labor. I went ahead with it though due to my past with the place and left my car there to get worked on. When I called later in the day to check on the progress they said they'd discovered that my valve covers had holes in them and were busted pretty badly. So I needed two new covers. The quote then jumped to 1500. I did some research and saw that Honda 2008s can have these issues. So, aside from the weirdness that they didn't bring this up from the onset, I thought this could possibly be the case. I committed to the 1500. Then when they called to tell me the work they'd done was finished, they told me my power steering pump and line needed to be replaced and quoted me for another potential 900... I called another auto shop and asked them if it made sense for them to have discovered these different issues in a staggered fashion, and the manager there said that, that should not have been the case... I'd be wary of this place. Aside from this off-putting encounter, they overcharge a lot for labor these days…. This is now 3 weeks later: since they worked on my car I’ve had to replace the battery and alternator. My engine coolant was leaking because they didn’t reconnect a part of my air filter back correctly and actually caused a piece to break.

James Pearson

★★★★★

5 months ago

I got front brakes and a presale inspection. The work was fast with reasonable prices. They were recommended highly and lived up to their reputation.

Lesa Lubitsky

★☆☆☆☆

a month ago

Sadly, after the last oil change, I had the metal protective piece for the engine drop so that it scraped the road within five miles of leaving their garage. It was damaged and two bolts went missing. They did nothing (but rigged the bent plate up with a plastic screw) and said it was caused by hitting a curb, which I knew was definitely not the case. I'd like to continue using them, but was unpleasantly surprised by their lack of customer loyalty.

Keven Munoz

★★★★★

Edited 6 months ago

These folks ALWAYS take amazing care of me. Been with them for many years with different vehicles and they always do right by me. My car was vandalized yesterday when someone tried to steal the computer out of my car and I asked them to evaluate the damage. They took me in immediately. And they refused payment!!!!!! Amazing people. Update: Honest decent competent folks. Fixed the damage at an unbelievably reasonable price, quickly and PROPERLY. God Bless you guys!!!

Mark Windischman

★★★★★

4 months ago

Truly a Friendly "Old School" Gas & Service Station - Known as Best in Town to locals, i knew a rare gem was found as I saw interior was a comfortable customer lounge. I've been buying petroleum fuel here for years as my preferred refueling stop - great price and rewards program! When my 2017 VW Jetta had spontaneous issue arise, Almond was 1st choice now that factory warranty is gone. Almond Automotive service was able to diagnose and repair for well below any dealer shop pricing and lucky me, their parts had a 1 year warranty, so when issue presented again ~ 8 Months later - Almond took VW right in and had her back smooth running again in just a couple hours - All covered at no additional charge!! WoW! Its no wonder anyone I see refueling or getting auto service here is likely smiling!