Moya "moyalynne" W.'s Profile

I scraped my car in the Whole Foods parking lot, which I know is a horrible and cruel cliche.    The damage was just so minor to not warrent the hassle of insurance, but enough that I had to get it fixed. I was recommended here by the incomparable Bay Area Hand Picked Cars - http://www.yelp.com/se....

The experience was just perfect.  The results are excellent - you can't tell a single thing happened, and the car was returned nicely detailed.  I got the chance to meet both the guys, Mike and Joe, and they were charming and accomodating (and very strong and tattooed).  Mike sized up the job and provided an estimate that came in exactly  -- in time and in cost -- when the work was done.  Joe went out of his way to check me in on a busy morning, and wanted to know if on top of that I needed a ride anywhere.  These guys put me at ease, and the results did the same.  

The one thing I would advise is to pick up the phone and call, instead of email. One single email I sent went unanswered.  But if you call (or drop by), you'll not be disappointed.

Phew; that's done. Now call them and get your work done.

I came back because my tricked-out car's speakers suddenly stopped broadcasting.  I was fearful of a long involved process at great cost to find out what went wrong.  Victor said to just bring the car by -- they weren't busy.
Within 1/2 hour, the speakers were FIXED. At an incredibly nominal cost. Antonio, the engineer, is a master - he was inside the door, replacing a wire, and getting me back to the music just like that.  
You may have some trepidation at the small size of the place and if you don't speak Spanish - it feels like a family hanging out there and maybe you don't understand exactly what they're going to do.  
It turns out these are *all* the reasons to love this place more - it is a family, in our neighborhood, and they're looking out for us, and our cars. You can totally trust them.  AND, I believe you'd find no better price in the whole city.  Gracias, hombres.

I can only echo the sentiments already expressed on Yelp after buying my car a week ago.  Five stars are truly insufficient for Bay Area Hand Picked Cars.

Ioanna Stergiades is a CAR MATCHMAKER.  I'm set now for what I hope is a long time with the perfect ride thanks to her and BAHPC, but should I ever need another car again, I'll not hesitate to look to her for help. Since she's risk-free and utterly approachable, there's no reason for anyone reading this not to contact her today. She's smart and responsive and also--- she gives good email!

My beloved car finally heaved-ho after its long trip to the moon, and after driving the same very special car for so long I had basic ideas about what I wanted but not specific ideas. I was fairly afraid of being taken advantage of at dealers or not knowing enough to capture a pre-owned model that would live up to my epic run with my old car.

After reading all about her here, stalling, then finally taking the plunge a mere day before they towed my old car away, I sent a little note off to Ioanna via her contact page on the BAHPC Web site, fearing a black hole.

She responded right away and we engaged in a warm weeks-long exchange of ideas and recommendations before I ever agreed to sign any contract. Because of her help, I identified the car I wanted - and this was all before I promised a penny. I was impressed both by her knowledge of all-things-makes-and-models automotive, and by her ability to grasp my needs and guide me to what would make me happy.

In the end, the day after I contracted with her to broker the car for me, she found the used model I wanted with all my necessary deviations -- moon roof, manual transmission, tricky audio -- checked it all out, and magically delivered it merely days later. Delivered to my house! With full tanks of fresh liquids and sporting welcome kit! Fully checked, smogged, registered, detailed, and ready to go!

The percentage that she took for her services was more than worth her company in the process, the feeling of making the right decision, all the time that I did NOT have to spend contacting dealers or driving cars for sale by owners, checking those cars, handing the papers, facilitating delivery --- the WHOLE bit. And of course the car.

In short, BAHPC is exactly the service for you if you:

- Have ever been put off or offended by or at a car dealership
- Have purchased a car from a dealer and a few days later had that nagging thought that it's not quite what you had hoped
- Simply don't have the time to do the footwork and visits and checks required to get a car
- Just want to have a partner in your experience
- Want to know what you've been missing all these years without a service like this!
- Don't yet have the privilege of knowing Ioanna
- All of the above
- None of the above

Lastly:  Ioanna's smart, resourceful, opinionated but not pushy, responsive, reassuring, and reliable. It was a pleasure working with her and a great way to humanize what all too often can be an alienating expensive dehumanizing experience. I'm confident knowing I will never again have a lonely car buying experience ...

Oh and I have this perfect rocking great CAR TOO!

The man really seemed nice enough on the phone and I bet the place is as great as folks describe, but I didn't go because I was quoted $80 just to diagnose a problem with my car, whereas the folks at Twin Brothers in the Mission quoted me only $30 - and I was out the door after a couple hours of service for $80 total.

Yelp says "you're A-OK" with three stars but sorry Audiologix I can't give you five because it seems you were the high bidder.

Granted, this one-star review comes from an experience years ago -- maybe even pre-Yelp if there is such a thing, but it still stands out as a low-point in my life whenever I pass by Alouis on Divisadero.

I was preparing for a roadtrip to Vegas in my aging car at the height of Indian summer. I thought I'd treat myself by fixing my long-broken air conditioner so I could at least survive the trip. Alouis was recommended to me by my mechanic so I took my car on in.

It seemed a nice enough big clean place. But the first thing the man I saw told me was that I really shouldn't get my old car's AC repaired but should just rent a car to get to Vegas -- "I'm trying to save you money, lady."

He explained all the possible things they might have to fix to get the AC working again and the great expense (of which the bill ended up being every penny --and more), and I told them to just fix it.

After I signed the estimate I remembered I also had a broken vent cover in the car, so I asked him if they could fix it while they were in there, whereupon he verbally added $200 to the estimate and I, to my ultimate demise, agreed.

When I picked up the car the AC was fixed -- the vent not. Yet the $200 extra was on the bill. I went to hunt the same man down but he had no idea what I was talking about. I of course could prove nothing of the extra padding for the unfixed work since I failed to make sure it was itemized on the revised estimate. It had just been "corrected" on the one I signed. He knew nothing about any broken vent, was annoyed at me, and I was angry and stuck.  I drove off into the desert ... at least with air conditioning. And drove, by the way, several years more with my old car.

I certainly hope things have changed there since then, but I don't need to know since I'll never go back.

Although David Sobel has a history of full-scale construction jobs and home-building, we've used his services for basic home repair as well as more heavy-duty jobs such as tiling and wall-ripping-apart stuff that we could NEVER have known to do ourselves.  Plus, he was the only one after many tries who managed to fix our dang broken sliding pocket door -- he fixed it cheerfully and NOW the thing slides like butter -- using just my PINKY FINGER!  He had to plow into the wall to put the track back in, and now it's like new.

He's friendly, reliable, and does beautiful work.  And he goes by the mantra "I can fix anything but a cat."  If you need help with your house, call him up.

Like everyone else here, I cannot say enough about Dr Swan and about this practice.  

We found her when we were searching for a pediatrician for our baby.   We interviewed quite a few doctors. Waited in crowds of people in many cold waiting rooms. Met many overworked late tired doctors.  Until we met Dr Swan.

The practice is intentionally small and so warm and caring. Dr Swan spends a long time with you -- and you feel like you're the only thing in her day at that moment.  She even made a *housecall* shortly after our girl was born. She's stopped by on a *weekend* to test our girl for strep.  She responds via *email.*  We loved her manner and experience and caring with our girl so much we both dropped our existing arrangements and signed up to have the whole family cared for at this practice.

In the meantime, we've seen all three doctors here and the whole practice is great.  You have to bill your own insurance -- which actually the more we work with it, the more we appreciate.  Even in practices that bill insurance directly, I typically have forms and follow-ups -- it doesn't seem any more of a burden here, and what the office saves in the confines of that insurance hassle, they return many times in personal attention and care.

I would not hesitate to recommend anyone to Dr Swan and to this practice.

Nopa is one of the places I think of first when I think of my favorite places to eat AND drink in SF.

The food is superb and also creative -- lots of veggie-friendly options as well.  Their cocktail mixology is awesome -- they even made a cocktail recently with locally procured and hand-made bitters. They used Nopa-true ingredients for this, like eucalyptus.  This was the first place we tasted Creme de Violette in a cocktail and we've been making yummy Aviations since.  Every time I go, I also find the staff warm despite being ALWAYS WAY BUSY.  

A great last-minute (if you're lucky) choice too, because of the long bar and big communal table -- but it gets really really packed.

It's a great experience (yeah, the food too - not JUST the drink!)

Since I just FINALLY wrote my first review on Yelp I had to get out a couple of extras for my Favorite Things in San Francisco.

This is one of them.

Slightly tough on vegetarians (salty pig parts etc), but more than makes up for it with secret breakfast ice cream, hibiscus-beet sorbet, salt-and-pepper ice cream, and just general awesomeness in the wild wild world of ice-cream-fads.  

Humphry Slocombe simply cheers me up when i need it.

Christy Rafferty of Riff-Raff Plumbing came recommended to me when we were in crisis and our water heater was spewing hot liquids all over the place. He came very rapidly, recommended models because we didn't know anything about water heaters, and had our heater replaced within the day.

Just yesterday, our tub was leaking and we remembered Christy and called him back. He came today and fixed it up in a jiffy.

To boot, he's a lovely wee Irish man and very pleasant to work with.  His business is new, and he's so local to us that the service is really prompt. It feels good to have an expert in the 'hood.  I'm going to spread his info around our home-owners' association.