I just got home from the Firestone Tires on the base here where our Pontiac was getting some work done and I cannot believe the things I saw. We are pretty pissed about it.
First of all, we should have known better than to go there. We got some new tires there a couple of months ago and when my wife got home she the car was running really bad and kept dying. I pop the hood and find this...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0089.jpg)
They lef the hose between the MAF and the TB unsecured so it was running like because of all the dirty, unmetered air it was ingesting. Nice. They apologized and were pretty cool about it so I let it go.
Last Thursday we finally decided to get some wheel bearings done on the Vibe. It had been making noise for a while. Nothing terrible, but noticeable. I tried to figure out which side was making noise and couldn't figure it out so we figured we would give Firestone another try since they are convenient (across the street from my wife's building.) We took it in Thursday morning and they called us within 2 hours and told me most of the noise was the right, front wheel bearing. They said the left side was somewhat worn, but did not need to be replaced urgently. I told them to go ahead and replace both side while it was in there and they said it would be a couple of hours.
They called me around 5 and told me they had trouble getting the parts in a timely manner (in their defense, a tipped over cattle truck was disrupting traffic that day) and that it would be finished first thing in the morning. I was fine with that.
The next day I dropped my wife at work and she was just going to walk over there to get the car during lunch. She got over there and they said the spindle nut was stripped and they couldn't find one. They said they had to get it from the dealer and it probably wouldn't be in until Monday (today.) I'm sure they didn't think to check the Toyota dealer, but anyway...
We did not hear from them today so I called them around lunch time. The guy said they were just getting all the parts they needed and were putting it together. He said it would be done in the afternoon. We stopped by at 6pm because they close at 7 and we hadn't heard anything from them. The guy at the counter apologized and said they were having a problem with the bearing and offered to take me in the back and show me. We went back there and had a look.
The Vibe was up on the lift with greasy hand prints all over it. The caliper was dangling by the hose. The ground effects were being bent by the positioning of the lift arms. He showed me the spindle while he explained to a stripped nut. He said it was fine to use even though it was missing 1/3 of the threads. After that I called his attention to everything they had done wrong and he admitted his tech did screw up bad enough to be pulled from the job. He (this guy was the shop manager) said he would personally oversee the correction of these things and that he or the store manager would contact me tomorrow morning to speak to me about the job.
Here are the pics...
He found a better place for the caliper once I called him out on it.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0317.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0323.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0322.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0318.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0319.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0320.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/Loaded87IROC/IMAG0321.jpg)
The quoted price for this "work" I had done was $477. I'm sure as hell not paying that. I knew I should have just done the work myself like I always do. This is why I avoid shops.
I had a flat tire so I removed the wheel from the car and took it to Firestone. They waited until after they dismounted the tire to tell me it is against their policy to patch a tire with tread as minimal as this. It's a race tire and they could see the tread when I showed up so they could have told me when I arrived before wasting their time and mine. Instead, they tried to push a new tire on me. Of course, I just took the now separated wheel and tire somewhere else and got it straightened out without issue.
Sorry to hear about all this...but those two quotes just had me ROFLing for some reason. ;)
Wow. Hopefully someone gets fired for this. Good luck with the rest of the fixin'...
I'd sue. You have clear evidence of them mangling your car. If that's what they treat the outside like, imagine what they would do to the inside.
The arms they use to lift shouldeither have a screw height adjuster, like a heavy duty bottle jack, or a plate that flips up with a notch to hit the flat lift point.
Toyota/chevy can't make a wheel bearing to save their lives. If they bought a cheapy wheel bearing instead of a timekin, you"kk be back in there within a year or two.
I'd have them replace both caliper brake lines and charge them for a repaint.
Ever since I had jiffy lube forget to put my oil filter back on(that's right, I said back on. I wrote the service dateon it and they re-installed it) and had walmart break two of four lugnuts witout mentioning it, theonlying I bring my car to a shop for is tires, and I bring the rims down in another car.
The firestone near me hires dumbasses too. I buy my tires there since they are the cheapest, but I take them elsewhere to be mounted. I don't even trust them with that.
My brother-in-law worked there. Somebody was using a wrench as a backup to the impact gun, something went wrong and the wrench flew across the room and smashed my brother-in-law in the face so hard he had to have reconstructive surgery. It seems like a bunch of D-Students working there...
Thanks guys. Good to hear I'm not the only one they show their stupid side too.
The cattle thing was pretty crazy, here is a link to pics of the cows running around free on the highway. http://odc.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=5002&p=3694#photo-showcase-cows-on-freeway
I guess I will have have to see what new shennanagins they have for us in the morning.
When I was newly on my own I had a py old AMC and took it to Firestone for a oil change when I left with it I went about 2 miles before it started rattling like a sewing machine, they changed the filter and forgot the oil, they ended up putting me in a rental car for 45 days and putting a brand new motor in a car that wasnt worth squat. Never trusted them for anything other than tires after till 20years later went to get some tires mounted and figured since I didnt have time to change my oil I would have them, what could go wrong. Well as I sat in the lobby I heard a horrid screaching crashing sound and figuring since the only vehicle I had seen move from up front was mine that it must be mine. I calmly got up and went to the shop and politely asked why my year old Explorer was sitting on the front of a Caddy. The guy was driving on the lift and mashed the gas instead of the brakes, launched it off the lift over/thru a tool box and computer and onto the front of the caddy in the opposite bay. Actually drove it off the Caddy as I watched.
Yeah, They employ guys that can't cut it at dealerships. That isn't saying too much though, cuz I can tell you that at the dealer I work at we have our share of hacks and scammers. I've seen much worse than your car, hold them accountable for all the damage, looks like the guys used a fork on your outer tie rod, killed the boot for you. Good luck with your car. Oh yeah BTW timken is oem for us at GM.
Wait they want YOU to pay THEM?
Lawyer up and file a lawsuit.
Yikes...this is why I do my own work. There's just no excuse at all for bending the ground effects like that, that's just pure laziness.
I just got back from talking to the store manager at Firestone. He was very understanding about the situation and said he would take care of it. He is ordering a new axle for the mangled up side, filing a damage claim for the ground effects, and all I'm paying for is the actual wheel bearings themselves. He also said I could oversee the repair myself or we could take the car to another Firestone (yeah, right) for them to verify the job was done correctly. We are planning to go to out of town this weekend to Wichita and he said if the car isn't done he would get us a rental car.
Overall, I would say he handled the situation well. I understand that they can't supervise every thing every tech does, but this job was pretty much screwed up from start to finish. We will see how it ends.
Good luck and hope everything turns out better for you.
That's awful! I'm glad they're going to make good on it.
. Best of luck man...
Get something in writting. It will go a long way if they don't take care of it.
I'd have that manager eating out of my hand before I left.
My mom had the same thing happen on our old F-150 at Jiffy Lube, they forgot to put the filter back on, then denied it when they were called out on it....s....
At least the manager is trying to fix things (hopefully he follows through on it). Seems like most of the time they don't do a thing about it.
Yeah id get some written statement from the manager. Even if it is a Vibe its your money and now your time that is being wasted for no reason. Thats why I try to stay away from big name brand places like that they dont really look when hiring, thats why i like to take my cars to smaller shops where you have a face to face relation with the actually owner. Yeah it might take a bit longer to fix but you'll know it's being fixed and not broken even more.
I went to a local Firestone to get tires for my old Thunderbird, they told me they had my size in stock and the wait was about an hour; awesome, now I don't have to waste my Saturday waiting for tires.... I sat in the waiting area for about 30 minutes with my wife, and finally we went to go get some lunch. An hour later we come back and my car is still sitting outside, bald tires and all. So another 2 hours in the waiting area, I finally go to ask whats going on... They only had 1 of the 4 tires and even though I was in the waiting area it seemed nobody was going to tell me that they wouldn't be here till Monday morning. So I got the manager, and he made it right, gave me their best tire for the price of their cheapest tire (which was what I was originally getting). He also hooked me up with a front end alignment and waived their 5 dollar balancing fee per tire. Now, I probably won't go back (I haven't in 2 years) but the Manager made it right. Sorry to hear you going through that BS, but they really screwed your wife's ride up, beyond just a simple eff - up..
Wow man, I really hope that manager wasn't just feeding you a line. Sounds like you should be taken care of now. I sure hope so anyways. I had a good experience with a NAPA manager correcting something today on my truck. Had a Serp. Belt snap this weekend and when I went in to get a replacement I mentioned what happened(Had just replaced the belt a year and a half ago) and he warrantied it, so instead of an $80 repair I had a $40 repair. I was pretty happy about that.
If any of you guys west of the mississippi have a les schwab locally, hands down, the best service. You pull your car up to the front door,someone comes running. They park it, you get free popcorn and coffee and watch satilite on a leather couch. They also fix flats for free for the life of the tire.
Somebody needs to be fired.
We got the car back last night. As a last act of stupidity, they ran the battery down on it by leaving the doors open or key on or something so they had to jump start it for my wife to be able to leave with it. The manager called me this morning and said he submitted a damage claim and said that we should be hearing something from their claims department within the next week or so. As for the repair, I guess we will find out in a couple of days when we go out of town. Hopefully the wheels don't fly off as we are driving down the highway!
double check your lugnuts ;)
Awhile back, my buddy took his Mountaineer to wal mart to get new tires out on. I took him there to pick it up...I kid you not, he checked every lug nut whit his torque wrench....2 weren't torqued enough. He bitched. I laughed.
Moral: when it involves your well being, and others', don't leave the smallest detail to chance...