Auto Repair - dishonest shop

82rude

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May 8, 2012
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4,082
You wouldn't last very long in Ontario with a jalopy .You would be pulled in for a mech inspection and that most likely would be the end of it.All vehicles sold must pass a comprehensive inspection .Never understood people driving around with a car falling apart,its a possible deadly situation.
 

DayCruiser

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Sep 24, 2004
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953
I wouldnt go to firestone to get a tire leak patched. They put some flunky on it and sure as the world turns he will break off one or more lug nuts and put the hub caps back on. You will find out one day.....Women get scammed all the time. I have been scammed about rotors. Got a second opinion. Just sad how many have no morals
 

gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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I wonder how many gallons of headlight fluid they sold? Or how many turn signal bulbs they sold after telling the woman that her turn signals were intermittent and then turn them on and show her how they are blinking off and on. :rolleyes:
 

82rude

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May 8, 2012
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The old man took his car into a quick lube place thinking he needed the works.They topped off the fluids and made sure the tires were properly inflated and sent him on his way no charge.Told him his oil was just changed recently and was not ready for a few months yet.They were correct and I give them full credit for not hosing a 80 year old man.Too many times these places take advantage of the eldery.As for me I do most of my own mech work myself but if I cant I go to the local ford dealer who has been great with me ,and I'm nobodys fool and know if I'm being snowed or ripped.
 
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redneck joe

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Mar 18, 2009
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I wont use a firestone from an incentent about 33 year ago. admittly local management is always key but just cant do it. 17 year old, just married and ripped me of for 34 dollars which at that time in life was like 300 bucks now
 

avenger79

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May 5, 2008
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there are lots of bad shops out there.

there are good ones too but you have to find them. I actually have a great dealer shop I use for my Jeep, but it has a lifetime power train warranty and they have been awesome. lifted, big tires winch on the front and they still cover everything when needed. this is especially good because anything not covered I do myself, so they aren't making any money off me. they get Chrysler's money but that doesn't bother me, LOL

my worst shop experience, was actually a boat shop, and I hated feeling like I had no other choice. I didn't understand the workings of the outboard engine and got reamed for my inability. that was the last time that will happen.
I make absolutely certain to tell everyone I can about how his shop operates. One day I was retelling the story to a guy I didn't know. when I was done he said oh I should tell you I work there. I said well hope you aren't looking for an apology, I tell everyone I can about you guys.
 

Harritwo

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Oct 4, 2011
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586
Took my Ford in for an oil change at the local Jiffy Lube. The oil jockey comes out, tells me the truck was 2 quarts low on oil. Then comes back out and tells me the filter is dirty and needs to be replaced. He could replace it for $29.00 Only issue, that truck never was low on oil in 14 years, and it had a K&N Filter. He showed me a paper filter. I watched them put the oil and filter in it, then i wound up leaving with a free oil change because i called them on their dishonesty.
 

DayCruiser

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Sep 24, 2004
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You know what becomes a nightmare? Trying to get many(not sure about everybody) dealerships to fulfill the maintenance agreements that you pay for when you buy a new auto. Oh they will do the work but you will not be a priority over new business that walks in. Then they hit you with the sales pitches for other work they want to do for you whether you need it or not. You start to dread going there and they seem to like that. But that was part of your purchase deal so you keep going. The service department doesn't seem to care that you may never buy another auto from them because of this hassle
 

gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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You know what becomes a nightmare? Trying to get many(not sure about everybody) dealerships to fulfill the maintenance agreements that you pay for when you buy a new auto. Oh they will do the work but you will not be a priority over new business that walks in. Then they hit you with the sales pitches for other work they want to do for you whether you need it or not. You start to dread going there and they seem to like that. But that was part of your purchase deal so you keep going. The service department doesn't seem to care that you may never buy another auto from them because of this hassle

The reason some brand name shops don't care anymore, is because they probably won't be owned by the same people next time you go in for service. Some places around where I live change ownership so many times, that I don't have a clue what dealership it is from one month to the next. JMHO
 

David Young

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Jul 12, 2015
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The Firestone tire in my town in Tennessee has done people bad. I have and never will use them. I do all my repairs. A shop told my sister her brakes on her truck and car were ready for replacement and just for her truck would be around $550 :(. She asked me if I knew how to do them, I said yes. I replaced the front rotors, pads and rear drum shoes on her truck and the front and rear disk pads on her car (the rotors were like new) for a total of around $120 for both vehicles :) She was very happy.


​With traction control it is now possible for the rear brakes to wear as fast as the front brakes. Especially if you drive a lot on gravel roads and in snow. The rear brakes will apply to keep the vehicle straight without you knowing it. Just saying.......
 

southkogs

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I do as much as I can, but I certainly have my limits. Fortunately though, there are two really good shops here in town. Both honest enough even to say, "that ain't broke enough to fix yet. Take it home and break it some more." One group is a little on the pricey side, but sometimes the honesty is worth it.
 

MTboatguy

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Jul 8, 2010
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I have a 1996 Aerostar AWD extended van because of a bad shop, the guy I bought it from had it sitting in his yard for a couple of years so I stopped and talked to him about it, seems he went to have the oil changed and they told him he had water in the oil, so he parked it and bought another, I said, ok, took a chance and now I have put over 50 thousand miles on it, no problems at all, no water in the oil, put a new battery in and drove the heck out of it.

I paid, exactly $100 dollars for it and have owned it for over 6 years now, and drove it back and forth between Montana and western WA several times.
 

jbcurt00

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You know what becomes a nightmare? Trying to get many(not sure about every).......
Although it hasnt been w out a very moderate amount of hassle, mostly to accommodate my hectic schedule, at the end of the day (week/month/year), I cant complain about the 'incuded' service contract from the dealer I bought a used Kia from (not a Kia dealer) or the Kia dealer that has serviced it, either for insurance work or warranty work. Zero out of pocket for 2yrs until I bought a battery last week and the tires I'll buy between now and the 1st snow.........

Both service departments and staff have been outstanding. I go out of my way to thank them and let the managers know they've done a good job.

FYI, going into either place, having dealt w both dealers sales staff, office managers and others up the corporate chain, but professionally, not as a car owner, I had low expectations, very low in fact.........
 

DayCruiser

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Sep 24, 2004
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Yea I am sure there are some good ones out there. The one who did the servicing was not the one we bought the auto from. Still it was their duty to honor the other dealers agreement. The honored it but not without making it difficult. I think the one who we bought the auto from would have been better. Just too far away
 

avenger79

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May 5, 2008
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I have a 1996 Aerostar AWD extended van because of a bad shop, the guy I bought it from had it sitting in his yard for a couple of years so I stopped and talked to him about it, seems he went to have the oil changed and they told him he had water in the oil, so he parked it and bought another, I said, ok, took a chance and now I have put over 50 thousand miles on it, no problems at all, no water in the oil, put a new battery in and drove the heck out of it.

I paid, exactly $100 dollars for it and have owned it for over 6 years now, and drove it back and forth between Montana and western WA several times.


I got a a'68 Mustang a few years back that way. had a bad rear axle bearing. shop told the guy the whole rear end needed to be rebuilt. so he sold it to me for 500. I put in a $12 bearing the next day and drove it for 2 years than sold it for 3000.
 

jkust

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Aug 2, 2008
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You know what becomes a nightmare? Trying to get many(not sure about everybody) dealerships to fulfill the maintenance agreements that you pay for when you buy a new auto. Oh they will do the work but you will not be a priority over new business that walks in. Then they hit you with the sales pitches for other work they want to do for you whether you need it or not. You start to dread going there and they seem to like that. But that was part of your purchase deal so you keep going. The service department doesn't seem to care that you may never buy another auto from them because of this hassle


My wife's suv actually (the subject of this thread) was purchased with about 9000 miles left on the factory warranty. I always buy used cars and hadn't ever got one with any warranty left on it so this was great. It immediately had some driveability issues and the dealer (not where I bought it but my closest GM dealer) just couldn't figure it out and ended having the car for weeks at a time over and over. One time, the Tech was going to drive it home to test it over the weekend and instead he decided to take it through the woods on a joy ride with is friends. They called me that Monday to tell me to come and get it after they fixed whatever the latest part was that they threw at it in their attempt to solve the problem. I showed up to get it and there was a big dent in the door and the side of the suv was scratched all the way down the side from driving it through the woods. Now you can imagine how unhappy I was and that they didn't even mention it to me but expected me to bring it to their attention. They ended up having to repaint the rear bumper and paintlessly remove the dent as much as they could. GM actually had to get involved, the service writer and the tech (not with the service writer) who joyrode the suv both got fired and they offered me some sort of deal for the suv which would have cost me a lot to upgrade to a newer one so I kept it since I actually liked it. For my trouble, among other things they gave me a 105,000 mile extension of the factory warranty with zero dollar deductible and loaner cars. That made my Firestone experience seem pretty tame.
 

tpenfield

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Sometimes you have to wonder what possesses people to do stuff like that? :rolleyes:

Joy ride a customer's car through the woods? ? ?
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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Sometimes you have to wonder what possesses people to do stuff like that? :rolleyes:
My ex parked her car at a parking garage at the airport once. Very surprised when we got a parking ticket by one of the parking employees with the address of his home! Parking garage ended up paying for the ticket but didn't even refund the parking fee!

Name of the parking company was Parking Spot which is a huge national company so not some small company.
 
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