First, several years ago, I purchased a Volvo S80.  After 2 previous Volvos, I expected a quality, well-built car.  Alas, that was not to be.  The Volvo S80 had to go in to O’Steen Volvo at least every 6 weeks.  Through a combination of a poorly built Volvo S80 and poor repairs at O’Steen Volvo the Volvo S80 was a terrible car.  To make matters worse, O’Steen Volvo promised a loaner car each time the S80 was brought in, yet delivered the loaner only about half the time.  With two young kids, O’Steen Volvo…did a terrible job in customer service.

More recently a friend had a Volvo XC90 that was to be repaired by O’Steen Volvo of Jacksonville, FL.  Mark at O’Steen Volvo promised that they would pay for a rental during the repairs.  Enterprise verified the payment for the rental and repeated it.

On May 24, 2010 O’Steen Volvo in Jacksonville stated that the payment would be mailed.  Two weeks later O’Steen Volvo in Jacksonville, Florida repeated their mantra that it was being mailed but that their accounting department is slow. It is now August 2010 and O’Steen Volvo has refused to pay.

If our experience means anything and you want a company that follows through with repairs, does quality work, does what they agree, and treats their customers well, do not go to O’Steen Volvo in Jacksonville.   In this writer’s experience means anything O’Steen is the absolute worst car dealership in Jacksonville Florida.

Little did I know that there were at least 4-5 spots – I have not been able to verify the part above the pool, so it may be more – where they had not finished the work.  After I found the spots, it took some time and multiple calls, but they did come out and fix all of the issues.  It took more than a month, but it seems the delay was one of neglect by workers, not malice.

Monahan Roofing of Jacksonville, did eventually finish the job and did a fine job, hopefully they will continue to improve supervision of their workers so that their quality work gets rewarded.

Grade: B   — only because it took multiple calls and weeks of waiting to get things finished.

Thank you for visiting us at http://www.rinnai.com, Sawyer gas of Jacksonville Beach just informed us that they are unable to take your request at this time. If you wish to contact other dealer(s) please visit Rinnai.

Thank You

Rinnai Customer Support

One would think the economy was booming!

When you pay for Mercedes-Benz quality, one would expect a transmission to last more than 60,079 miles.  For the GL-450, apparently that is not the case. According to BrumosMercedes-Benz, they have seen this occasionally, but not often.  One would think that even “occasionally” would be too much for Mercedes-Benz to tolerate.  For a “gear” to just “disintegrate” after 60109 miles and destroy the transmission, something is wrong with the quality of the Mercedes-Benz gear.

Perhaps now that Mercedes-Benz has dumped Chrysler, things will improve, but an $8000 [the final bill was $7848] transmission for an expensive car with 60079 miles on it is not the kind of quality that I want to waste my money on in the future.

Please note that this is not a reflection on Brumos in Jacksonville – everyone there has been helpful and friendly, but their hands seem to be tied by poor Mercedes-Benz quality.  Perhaps Brumos could have been expected to go the extra mile to get it covered, but perhaps not.  (If you are looking for a car, talk to Scot, he is always great!).  Brumos Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz should have stepped up to the plate on the cost.

We’ll see how many people stop considering Mercedes-Benz at Brumos Mercedes after reading this.

9/1/2009 update:  After telling a neighbor they are no longer considering a Mercedes-Benz.  There goes one new GL450/GL550 sale.  Hopefully that was worth it.

9/14/2009 update: Two more neighbors (who currently own Mercedes’ that were purchased at Brumos) heard about what happened this weekend and were both disappointed in both Brumos Mercedes Benz and Mercedes-Benz itself for not standing behind their products.

Brumos says there is a Mercedes program that handles this in some cases, but not here.

To make matters worse, they called on my cell phone.  And to further complicate matters, Zero-Res in Jacksonville apparently ignored the Federal Do Not Call list (which my cell phone is listed on) which requires a business relationship within 18 months.

Talk about a way to not win customers loyalty – ignoring the Federal Law, doing a pre-recorded message (FTC prohibited without a business relationship in the last 18 months), and doing it on my cell phone where I have to pay for the minutes!

Come on, if you want to win customer’s loyalty, treat them how you would like to be treated?  Would Zero-Res want pre-recorded calls on your cell phone from EVERYONE you had done business with in the last 3 years?  I seriously doubt it.

The company is family run (grandmother, father, daughter, son, perhaps more) and have their reputation at stake, so not surprisingly they were all pleasant to deal with.

Rating: A

On-line at : http://www.thesafedepot.com/

Knowell Lock and Safe

The Safe Depot.com
2144 Blanding Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32210
Phone: 904-387-0042
Fax: 904-389-0281

The repairmen (L.T. and Kevin) were nice and definitely gave the repairs a good try and everyone is very friendly at Consumer Refrigeration of Jacksonville, but this type of scheduling makes the cable company look great.

Based on our recent experiences with Setzer’s Appliance of Jacksonville, we have to rate them as having poor customer service and can consequently only recommend that you avoid Setzer’s Appliance.  On April 29, 2008 we purchased (and our card was charged) a KitchenAid vent hood (aka downdraft, model number KIRD861HSS).  The total cost was $894.64 for a new unit plus installation, well above the KitchenAid MSRP of $819 (see KitchenAid).  One would presume that Setzer’s Appliance of Jacksonville would provide superior customer service to go with their superior prices, but if our experience is typical, that is not the case.

As of today, June 10, 2008, the KitchenAid purchased from Setzer’s Appliance is still not working.  Setzer’s Appliance has stated they would repair it under warranty, and yet that has not occurred.  Now, my question is, why should a NEW unit need immediate repair under warranty?  It should be NEW.  New generally means that it should be working properly.  However, Setzer’s Appliance got the benefit of the doubt and has had the opportunity to repair the downdraft and yet we are 45 days into the new-yet-not-working KitchenAid downdraft

If Setzer’s Appliance wanted to get a good grade for customer service and customer care, after 45 days, one would think they would take back the non-working unit and replace it with a new unit.  

We’ll update this as the experience progresses, but as of today we can not recommend buying an appliance from Setzer’s Appliance of Jacksonville.

On a related note, we’ve recently see pleas to support local merchants.  Buying from HomeDepot or Lowes wouldn’t have had a problem with this.  Unless Setzer’s Appliance gets their act together, Setzer’s Appliance won’t be getting our business in the future.

The concept is simple:  One should get what one pays for when one pays for it.  If you can’t deliver it, take the non-working item out and replace it with a new one.

If you are thinking of buying an appliance in Jacksonville, do you want the kind of service Setzer’s has provided or do you want someone who stands behind the items they sell?

July 1, 2008, 9am update.  The KitchenAid “new” appliance still is not working correctly although they are supposed to attempt a repair again.

July 3, 2008, noon:  It seems to be fixed now, wow!  Finally, thanks!