Grease Monkey — Local services in Athol

Since Athol is close to where I live... I tried going there to wash my Cadillac CTS - each time after trying several times - it would look fine in front but the very back always looked dirty... as if the machine was not hitting the back of the car. Finally, because they were a convenient location for me - I called and met with the Manager, Butch. Of Course it was the cars fault... Not the case ... I had used the car in shows as well as it had been Ceramic Coated which adds to the shine. He said he wanted some of his "kids" to wash the car by hand to prove to me there was some kind of a coating on it. I agreed to try it, he quoted me $40.00 for the "kids" to wash it. We set an appt. time of 6/19/25 at 2:00 pm - I had to drive in from the Spirit Lake area and was on time for the appointment. But he STOOD ME UP!! He was not there... One of the other employees told me that he had decided to take off and get his registration for his motorcycle ... I said did he tell you about this car wash he had scheduled with me... the young man said no he does not talk to me much. I said I will go have lunch and come back to meet with him call me if he gets back soon. I was having lunch when I got the call... I finished and went back... he was not apologetic and said as an excuse he thought his crew could handle it - I knew that was not the truth his crew told me he had not told them about it! He has a young teenage girl who works there and follows him around like his shadow - he brought her in with him to stand next to him while talking to me... when I was talking to him before he sent her away. I have a background in litigation/retired ... She stood next to him while we were talking as if he was going to use her as a witness against me; I had seen her before always following him around out in the garage area. I wondered about that ... as when you walk in to the front desk -no one is there ... she is in the garage following him??? He was obviously, intending to use her to back him as an alleged witness. He is single handedly hurting that business.. I will never be back ... and I am sure I am not his...

When this place first showed up last year it was pretty solid. The lady managing it was great, interacted well and you were in and out in under 30 min and to make it even better it’s 5 mins from my home. But unfortunately after today I’ll be driving down to Valvoline again. There were 5 guys working on 2 vehicles, one of them was a 50’s model C-10 that I would assume was one of their personal vehicles (speculating but I’ve never seen anyone pull a classic into a lube shop, as it was up on the 4 post at the end of the shop), 2 guys were working on that, definitely not doing an oil change, 2 guys were working on a fairly new jeep, not sure what the 5th was doing. When I pulled up, I was the only one ready to come in and after 40+ mins later, with an open bay in front of my truck for about 30 mins, I never got in. Pretty frustrating and with nobody telling me anything (like we’ll get you soon or sorry for the delay we’re short handed, I just sat there in the lobby. I ended up leaving. Really bummed that the customer experience has deteriorated so quickly. Might have just been an off day, but felt like I should share it anyway so everyone else can decide...

I have been going to Grease Monkey since they opened and have always been satisfied with their service. But today was an exception. I was quoted $20 over the phone to put my snow tires on. I even told him that they were on rims so they just needed to be swapped out. He said no problem bring it in. When they were done I was told it was $40. When I told him that was not the price you just quoted me over the phone he said I'm sorry but that's the price. I'm sorry too cause that is not very good customer service. Not backing up what the customer says is one of the first things that's gonna loose that customer. I know you can do better.

Just received a call from the owner of Grease Monkey and he apologized for the pricing mix-up and will be compensating me for the inconvenience. I really appreciate the time Chris took to get back to me. This is a training opportunity for him and his staff and he thanked me for bringing it to his attention. NOW THATS...