DEKRA Smog Check at 9089 Dallas Street, La Mesa, California.

Great service and the staff. I was able to get my smog test in a timely manner.

All business are great when you pay them for a service and you receive the service you actually paid for. What really highlights a business character is how they handle issues. Unfortunately I have found that Dekra does NOT have the same standard of service when there is a question of the workmanship being done.

I brought my older vehicle to Dekra to be SMOG checked like I have before. I was met with a new set a faces but friendly and helpful all the same. My vehicle failed the fuel Evap part of the test, which is highly possible due to the vehicles age. I was informed this is due to leaks and to repair it and come back for the free test. Much time was spent looking for anything that could cause this leak and after some minor repairs (not needed but did them to be safe for the next test) the last smog test was done by Dekra only to fail again.

I took the vehicle to have a smoke test done on the Evap system only to find that there were no leaks in the system. This obviously is very confusing as I have one test saying there is a problem and another test saying there is NO problem.

I then took my vehicle to another SMOG test only location and passed with flying colors. I asked the SMOG technician how I could have failed the test before but not now. He said the only reason could have been the test not being performed correctly.

I made the La Mesa Dekra aware of the issue by speaking to Gilbert and requested to have credit toward services for future SMOG test (I test 3 vehicles every two years) in the total of the amount of what I paid to Dekra already for the failed smog tests and the cost of the unnecessary smoke test. I do NOT want any direct money back.

I was offered a free smog test for a future vehicle (less than the cost of my previous smog test) and that is it. This offer is far from what I would consider fair and speaks to management’s standards of service when presented with any issues. Dekra’s official response to my issues is that they have faith in their technician and not sure how it’s possible for a smoke test to pass and another SMOG test to pass.

Makes me wonder how many other customers may have paid money for nothing only.

Side Note: All the staff I have worked with has been friendly, it’s only the handling of this situation I take issue with.