BEWARE
BEWARE! I left my car running for several days and drained my battery, which became so low that AAA could not jump the car and had to tow it to 54th Street Auto Repair. An hour after the car was dropped off, I got a call from 54th Street Auto Repair telling me that the battery was dead and not recoverable and I’d have to buy a new battery and they would have to “recalibrate” the hybrid system. The cost would be $825. I agreed to the repair but asked to keep the “old battery” as it was only a year old and fully warrantied. I took the old battery up to the Toyota dealer in Connecticut where I bought it to get a refund and when they checked it out, they found that the battery was fine and only had to be charged at a cost of $65. They recharged the battery, replaced the new battery with the old one, and all was well. No need to “recalibrate” the hybrid system they said, as the system automatically recalibrates as I drive after ten to fifteen minutes. I returned to 54th Street Auto Repair, gave them back the new battery, and asked for a refund of my $825 since I had asked repeatedly if they had tested my old battery and if they tried to recharge it and they repeatedly assured me they had, which obviously they had not. After some back and forth they agreed to give me a refund, but when I checked my credit card, they only refunded $585 of the $825. I called and asked for the entire amount, as they had lied to me and if they had simply recharged the old battery and put it back, the cost would have been $65, which is what I paid the Toyota dealer in CT. They refused and started coming up with stories — the $200 they kept was for their “evaluation” when the car was brought in, which they obviously had not done or not done correctly; then they said it was for the recalibration of the hybrid system they had done. I explained that this did not need to be done according to the Toyota dealer, if they had simply charged the old battery and put it back, the hybrid system would recalibrate automatically in 15 minutes when driving. They still refused to refund the $200. I have disputed this with the credit card. But BEWARE. I have no idea how many other customers they have lied to about the need for repairs that are totally unnecessary, but I seriously doubt that I’m the only one, just the only one I know of who checked them and found them out. The authorities should look into this.