Birdhouse Garage

Annika Meehleis

★☆☆☆☆

10 years ago

Birdhouse Garage charged me $800 to jam miscellaneous junk metal into to my failed control arm, and then sent me back out on the highway, claiming it fixed. Not only was my life endangered, but also the children I was a nanny too, as well as other drivers on the road! I will tow my vehicle an extra 100 miles before I step foot on that ground of a dishonest business!

KJ M

★☆☆☆☆

10 years ago

As an outsider watching this man handle business, his practices were embarrassing, at best. If you want the short of this, Bill is extremely rude and sneaky in his practices: TAKE YOUR VEHICLES ELSEWHERE. If you want the details... a friend of mine (M) took her car to Bill's shop for an unknown cause, and she explained that she was tight on cash given the time of year (seasonal work woes) and was wondering if he could work on it slowly over time for a discounted price. Originally (mid October), Bill eagerly agreed to help, promising that he would do what he could in his spare time to keep the price low, but over two months later it turned out that Bill (his words) "lost interest working on it and stopped weeks ago" and failed to mention that until relatively recently (early December). Still unable to retrieve her car, my friend was forced to leave it there, allowing Bill the chance to claim that he was working on it (despite the fact that every time we drove by it the 2 feet of snow that had built up had obviously never been disturbed). Bill left doors and windows open, as well as the hood, allowing environmental damage to build up over the two months as ice crept inside the vehicle. Additionally, M's iPod is missing from her car, and while we can't prove that he took it... we wouldn't be surprised at this point. When we finally had the ability to confront him about what he had done, his actions were absolutely disrespectful and unnecessary. We called a tow truck to remove the vehicle from premises, at which point Bill ran out of his shop and started yelling at the tow truck driver, threatening that he was going to call the cops (because that's what all sane men do... right). The driver was startled, and Bill would hardly let us explain that we were waiting to close out business with him before we passed it onto the tow. We requested that Bill explain and show to us what he had done to the vehicle, and he refused to tell us or show us anything (the best answer we received was that he exchanged a part, which we still have no proof that it was even replaced). We explained to Bill that we only wanted to know because we felt that he hadn't done anything and was cheating M out of her money. He still refused and threatened to keep the car and sell it at auction. As we tried to communicate with him, his lack of professionalism and respect grew increasingly scarce, insulting us and skirting any effort to explain his part. He constantly contradicted his own answers, stating one moment that he was charging her $55 and the next stating that he was charing her $110 and $220 and back to $55 and back to $110. NOTHING he said made ANY sense. It was like talking to a deranged druggie unable to keep his facts straight as he nervously bounced from one topic to the next. He shouted multiple times, "well that's your fault, this is how business works... just pay me and don't come back!" Really Bill? Is that your business practice? Pathetic. At the end, M paid him the $110 for apparently nothing simply to end the headache. The tow truck driver, a blessing of a man, shook our hands and laughed, "I've never heard anything good from that shop." Needless to say, we're all shocked that Bill's Birdhouse Garage is still in business. My guess is that he only survives because he takes advantage of desperate tourists during the summer (classy!. No local has anything good to say of him. Save your money and time and get your car towed to Anchorage from the start.

Danielle

★★★★★

2 years ago

LOVE LOVE LOVE BIRDHOUSE. The staff is absolutely the best around. Welcoming, warm, and helpful. Had a great time getting to know the family and visiting this beautiful property. We are already planning our return.

Fabe Dog

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 7 years ago

Probably the most dishonest and unprofessional business I’ve ever delt with. Steer way clear of this place, trust me. They’ll rip you off and damage your vechicle in the process. If you like dealing with super shady people at a location that’s a complete disaster area than this is the place for you! This Guy allowed my engine to get filled with water, scratch up both my bumpers and then had the oddosity to hold my ride hostage until I gave him 500 dollars cash.

Landon Burleson

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 4 years ago

I live down in nikiski and I had an appointment to buy a car which mind you is a 2.5 hour drive away and when I arrived he wasn't there and didn't answer a single call or text for almost a week and was all suprised that I didn't want to come up for another appointment. To add to the fact the car was 100% miss advertising it was missing windows and the truck was rebuilt with aluminum Dimond plate and the truck was permanently welded shut because of this so there was no way to even get in the truck of the car. *(ADDED EDIT TO REVEIW TO SPECIFY)* The car was missing the driver window, the dash was completely ripped apart and wires hung everywhere. The car was in complete disseray ive been a mechanic for a long time and I didn't get cold feet I know a lemon when I see one. The Car thats worth "$10,000" I wouldn't pay $500 for the car was not nice the trunk was plated wuth aluminum and no longer even opened you say you value people's opinions on social media maybe be truthfull in your advertising and don't try to discredit those who had full intentions on doing business with you till I actually saw the product and as I remember there was no offer of lowering the price just a "uh sorry I gotta get this stupid phone fixed." Don't try to discredit me I left a review to show people the service birdhouse garage produces.

Kelly Bliss

★☆☆☆☆

7 years ago

This place is a joke. I'm upset that I have to give them one star just to post. Do not take there unless you want to over pay to get backyard type mechanics. Getting told that we could only pay cash (credit cards were down supposedly)on our way to pick up the vehicle at a scheduled time was unprofessional. This place is 35 miles away from the nearest bank so we had to drive an additional 70 miles total to get to a bank to get enough cash for the $1000 bill. Ridiculous and shady business. Don't go there!

Mary E

★☆☆☆☆

3 years ago

Our rented RV tire pressure sensor went off near Girdwood. Called And the man said he could add air to our tire and fix it if needed. When we arrived, nobody in office. So we called again. A lady answered and she said their electricity went out and it would cost “a couple hundred dollars” to hook up the generator and air compressor. Ridiculous! As we drove away we noticed a light on in the office. Not at all trustworthy.

Mitch Gardiner

★☆☆☆☆

6 months ago

Paid $125 for a punctured tire. I will let that number speak for itself.

Deborah Naspinsky

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

Beyond incompetent at repairing something as simple as a slow leak on a tire (can’t even make this up), which they charged $200 and needed in cash. They repeatedly lied about things like Bill is on an emergency tow right now, when I could hear the person on other end of phone saying he is at the phone store. Prior to that, Liz lied about no phone reception so can’t call him not even with my own phone, which I knew got perfectly good reception on that part of the arm. Then she lied that the land lines don’t work, which miraculously did when I called them directly in front of Liz. Seriously, the worse pathological liars I have ever encountered and you wonder what is happening and why anyone could think they would even be believable until you notice by the amount of empties lining the office and garage itself, substance abuse is obviously an issue here. Then your heart breaks for them a little, knowing this is how they survive and suffer through their lives while taking advantage of others, lying to themselves and others, and knowing they are just going to be in the same hole day after day unless they do what feels impossible and that is get themselves so actual help for their issues. Ugh! It’s a tragic, toxic scene that I strongly suggest you avoid. They can’t actually repair anything. They can’t even seem to fix themselves. Just drive on by and send them some positive energy as you do, hoping one day they will muster up the strength to address what they must and be ever so thankful you are not in such a situation as they are, one where they feel they must lie and cheat in order to get what they believe the “need” to survive another day.

Jennifer Worman

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

I traded a tow truck for 2 vehicles a 2008 ford explorer and a 2006 volvo xc70 not even 2 weeks later both vehicles had been reported stolen. $500 extra to have some title work done on the ford because he claimed there was issues another $500 on the volvo to have him get a key made. Plus alot of work needed done to both. The explorer i had to drain 3 extra courts of oil out of plus new tail light cover plus tires. I have about $1,000 in repairs ive done. Then he has the nerve to threaten me. He has a pretty big courtview history along with his girlfriend. Dont doDont do business with william halfdan peterson or with elizabeth flynn. I went and repoed my tow truck and got nothing but threatening text from him when he owed me $1,000 that i loaned him thought he wad a friend.

Jack Rhodes

★☆☆☆☆

a year ago

These fine folks decided to list their cabin on Airbnb. The location is a junk yard with broken down cars, trash and old god knows what all over the place. They didnt know that they got a booking, they also had no idea what cabin they listed. One cabin had a thick smell of smoke and mold. It had a broken down car on either side and old broken stuff outside of it with no outdoor area that's clean. That was the good one, the other was a total mess and not ready to be lived in. To their credit they did issue a refund but then we had nowhere to stay the night. Camping was better than what they had to offer They shouldnt try to run lodging if they can't offer something of quality and can keep track of their bookings.

Twombles Jones (DTAWOM)

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

Car broke down in the pass with no reception and after catching a ride to Hope the only option for roadside assistance was this place 120 miles in the opposite direction from where we started. Upon drop-off the owner told us he'd give us a free diagnostic and get to it right away. 5 days later he hadn't worked on it yet but informed us that to even diagnose it would be his standard $200/hr shop rate to start. When we declined the diagnostic fee he surprised us with a $50 per day storage fee. We had to rent a dolly and drive 240 miles round trip to reclaim the vehicle and avoid additional storage fees. In addition when we went to pickup the vehicle the front license plate was broke off with visible scraping on the front bumper. When asking about it that night the owner replied the next day saying it the license plate was right in front of the car. As someone who was crawling in the cold rain under the car to hookup the dolly I can confidently confirm that was an outright lie. Would not recommend this place under any circumstances.

Caleb Harold

★☆☆☆☆

3 months ago

Wildly unprofessional, difficult to communicate with, and exorbitant and inconsistent pricing. Elizabeth who often answers the phone won't give a straight answer to simple questions and continually beat around the bush with me.

Dusty Davis

★☆☆☆☆

2 months ago

The job done here had to be redone by another mechanic only months later. Also someone with access to the phone at birdhouse called and texted me at 2 AM weeks after my car was there. Do not use this place!!

Caleb Harold

★☆☆☆☆

3 months ago

Endured a saga with Elizabeth and Bill from Birdhouse Garage this weekend trying to recover a disabled vehicle 25 miles south of their shop... Elizabeth kept asking for good reviews, wonder why she was so adamant about that? Short version is that these Elizabeth strung me along for nearly two days telling me every couple hours as I called to check in on progress that "the driver is enroute" or "big accident on the highway" or "lots of traffic so we're waiting till later tonight", or... (they never called me with an update and you get the picture). No accidents on the highway, light traffic all weekend (I was down there on the highway myself), etc... In the end, rented my own equipment, roped some friends into helping, and recovered my vehicle on my own after their malicious constant lying. If you're reading this, beg, borrow, and find a different way to get help. Elizabeth and Bill will not help in an emergency. If for some reason they do, they guess on their pricing and were charging over $1,000 for my tow after bouncing around wildly on pricing.

Cooper Hemmersbach

★★★★★

2 months ago

Haven’t tried the mechanic side of things, but I’m giving them a 5 just based off one thing. I dated Bill’s daughter and it was a great experience, 10/10 would date again. Everyone else, hands off tho, just leaving a review in the hopes she sees it. Despite what other reviews might say about this family, I know in my heart she’s one of the good ones.

Yarden Shalit

★☆☆☆☆

a month ago

I got stuck up at Crow Creek Mine Road and stayed in my vehicle overnight as i had a camper. No issue for me, figured in the morning I'll contact either a mobile mechanic or a tow truck. First thing in the morning I got a tow truck through my insurance provider and they offered to tow the vehicle to Birdhouse Garage in Bird Creek. After seeing that they offer mobile mechanic services I figured I'd contact them as I had a severed hydraulic Brake line and maybe he'd have the ability to fix this on the spot. I contacted Bill at 9AM and he very enthusiastically stated that would be no problem at all and that he would be there later in the afternoon and that it should be a quick fix. After that conversation I cancelled my tow request as he said he'd be there in the afternoon. I called after 1PM to confirm that he would be coming out. He said absolutely. "We haven't forgot about you, I'll bring chains I called again right around closing and he stated. I'm headed your way now. From 5PM-8PM there was no contact or response from Bill or anyone. I decided to attempt to come down the road and finally contacted Bill. He said he's not coming up there because it's icy. I said if I get down to the beginning of the road could he meet me there? He said yes. After getting down to the bottom of the road i was unable to reach him after numerous attempts. Birdhouse Garage and Bill cannot communicate with customers to a point where there's a potential to endanger someone who needs their services.