In the spirit of people getting terribly annoyed and upset with companies (DIRECTV for example) I’ve had it with Pep Boys.
First, let me say that I don’t think it’s just the fact that they’re one of those big one-stop car places. I grew up in the Northwest and used Les Schwab during high school, college and while in Idaho. I was always happy with tires I bought there, as well as any other work they did on my car (brakes/alignment/etc). I first went to Pep Boys when I moved to Princeton. And many of you may remember when my friend Amy and I were driving down to Florida from Princeton and my car broke down and needed a new alternator – it was 9pm and Pep Boys stayed open for me and replaced the alternator. So, I was very appreciative for that. So appreciative that I even tipped the guys an extra $100 for staying open late.
But…then that same alternator needed to be replaced again not more than 6 months after it had been installed.
And then the current saga. Sarah’s car got new brakes put on at Pep Boys (the Piedmont store in Atlanta, GA) back in August of ’05. A year later, they needed to be replaced. So we went to the same store and got new brakes again. The brakes were fine, but after a few days, the car had a very high-pitched squeaking noise. We took it back a few months later and asked them to fix it and they did “fix it.” But a few days later, the noise was back, and now our brakes made a grinding noise. So we took it back, they said the “fixed it” – both times they said the rotors just needed to be resurfaced. But then a few weeks later the noise was back again. So we just took it back in a few days ago. We’re in the process of selling Sarah’s car and it is in great condition except for this squeak – so we really wanted to get it taken care of properly. We dropped it off for the whole day and finally picked it up yesterday and again “it was all fixed.” They told me they took apart the brake system and cleaned it numerous times and the squeaking noise was now finally gone.
And it was..for the first 10 minutes of driving. And then it came back. Picture Adam extremely frustrated right now. So we decided to take it to another Pep Boys (the Stone Mountain store in Stone Mountain, GA) since it was still under warranty and we didn’t want to take it to another mechanic and have to put any more money into the car. We dropped it off around noon yesterday and didn’t hear back for quite awhile. I finally called and talked to someone who said she’d call me back in 30 minutes. A few hours later, I finally called back. Around 7.30pm, I talked to someone and they said, “We can’t find anything wrong with it – the parts are all new – and there isn’t a squeak.”
No way. So I said, “I drove 20 minutes to your store and it squeaked LOUDLY the entire time. Can you please have someone else drive it and check it out again?” This was the smartest thing I said all day yesterday. Around 8.30pm I received another phone call and they said they found the problem, but a certain bolt broke off during their work, so they’d have to call me in the morning. Well, at least the problem was fixed.
I just got off the phone with the store manager, and I can’t believe what he told me. He said that, believe it or not, he doesn’t think our rotors have been resurfaced in quite awhile. This is extremely hilarious because that’s what the Piedmont Pep Boys said they did each time. He said that the caliper bolt(?) just broke off last night, because it had been jammed back into place by whoever last worked on it. From what he could tell, whoever worked on the car tried to get it off to resurface the rotors, couldn’t get it off, and then just jammed it back into place. The rotors have not been resurfaced – and the other Pep Boys have been straight up lying to us. He was able to get the last caliper bolt assembly kit in Atlanta and we will probably have the car back today – and he is going to bill the other Pep Boys store for the parts & labor.
I’m glad I pushed them and pushed them – the store manager said that they passed the car off to their most meticulous mechanic after I asked again last night and he was the one who found the problem. I’m glad I did that – but I shouldn’t have to. I’m glad that they are paying for the work done today and for these parts – but the problem was caused by Pep Boys to begin with. I know that not all local mechanics are great – but I know that I’m done with Pep Boys and that I want to try and find an independent, local mechanic for future car work. There was one guy who worked on all our cars growing up, and I like that. I like knowing the person who works on your cars.
If you’re in the Atlanta area and you need to go to Pep Boys, I strongly discourage you from going to the Pep Boys on Piedmont. I have been pretty happy with the Stone Mountain location.
What about everyone else? Local mechanic? One-stop car store? Only the dealer? What are your preferences?
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I hate pepboys…we don’t have it up here in the midwest but when I lived in New Orleans, they made me mad on more than one occasion and it seemed like they could somehow make just about any car repair add up to $500.
To answer your question though…now that we both have cars that aren’t clunkers we generally tend to stay with our dealership shop. It may cost a bit more but we figure they know what they’re doing.
Adam – all I know is the Pep Boys around the corner from CRW in Princeton is sketch! A number of folks that used them while we were there said so.
Another friend at PTS, after a couple of bad NJ mechanic experiences of his own, turned me on to the section of Car Talk’s website where you can find their recommended mechanics in your area. In case you’re wondering, these are the guys on NPR on Sat. mornings – half annoying, half brilliant. Anyway, I found an awesome mechanic in Princeton via their site. Here’s the link: http://www.cars.com/go/advice/cartalk/index.jsp;jsessionid=2TLVKLNXV1JGZLAYIE2E2VA?aff=nationaleir site – here’s the link:
Oops…bad link. Try this one:
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/cartalk/index.jsp;jsessionid=2TLVKLNXV1JGZLAYIE2E2VA?aff=national
Adam,
Before entering the ministry, I was mechanic in Atlanta. If you don’t mind a bit of a drive, anextremely honest and competent man named Danny Moss owns Moss Automotive. It is in the Alpharetta/Roswell area, so it’s kind of a haul from Decatur, but it may be worth it to deal with someone honest. Danny can be irascible, but he takes excellent care of his customers, and he hires the best mechanics he can find. Here is his website:
http://www.mossautomotive.com/
If you have no choice but a chain near by, try Tires Plus. They have good prices,but the best thing about them is that, being owned by Firestone, they are phobic about customer service issues (since all of Firestone’s issues in the 90′s). If what had happened to you at Pep Boys had happened at a Tires Plus, they would have fixed it for free and given you a refund. If you called a regional manager, you would get double your money back.
If you can handle the drive, go see Danny.
i have found that one of the best things in life is a good mechanic. three or four times now in my life, i’ve had to find a new mechanic, and every time i’ve looked for a privately owned place where the owner is actually one of the mechanics(this usually means that all the mechanics, along with the owner, care about the work that is being done). but the real valuable part is building a friendship with the mechanic/owner, so that you see them as more than a service, and they see you as more than just money coming in. out of all the mechanics i’ve used and approached that way, it’s been great.
did you sulk in your corner of the car when you were frustrated?
yes he did.
try this: http://www.angieslist.com – you have to register with your email but you can opt out of mailings. it’s has tons of local databases of all sorts of service providers with grades and reports assigned by regular people…it’s been great since we moved to a different area of townfrom where most folks from my church live.
God bless Les Schwab! I miss them terribly… Who wouldn’t miss free steak with the purchase of a new set of tires?!?
I recently visited a PepBoys in NewPort News, VA. The one off of Warwick, about 3 mi. from FT. Eustis. I do not recommend this store to anyone. I went there on a Friday afternoon around 2. The service dept was so packed I was waiting in the line of the actual store check-out line. I finally got to the service desk after 30 min of listining to people complain about the service(bad start). After talking to the service rep., He said come back tomorrow around 8am when they open. I just needed a brake inspection and figured I would need some front pads. I usually do this task myself in about 30 min, but I’m not at my home area so I chose PepBoys. Wrong answer. I went in the next day around 2:45pm , they said “maybe we can do the inspection but we’re not sure about time to do the work. I was then told that they don’t close until 6:00pm. I asked the clerk, ” is it really going to take over 3 hrs to inspect some brakes and change some pads?” She said “we’ll see what we can do.” I then looked at the 10 bay service center. There were 8 open bays. I again asked the service clerk( at this time the manager was standing there)”really, 3hrs for some pads?” At that time the manager said, “we might be able to help you. Can you leave your vehicle here overnight? I, the out loud thinker said “Hell No, I want it done today!” I was told that after the inspection we will know how long it will take. It took 15 min for the technician(so called) to pull my truck around to bay 9. After another 25 min, my truck was finally lifted off the ground to start the maintanence. It was 30 min before they started taking my wheels and tires off my truck. At this time, I had to say something. I asked “why is it taking soo long to do the work on my truck?” By this time some different people were working at the service counter(shift change?). I was told that the maintanence on my vehicle is complicated(Not at all). I asked for the manager. After he came out, I asked him “what is the deal?” “Why is it taking soo long to work on my truck while you have soo many employees just standing around?” His reply was “I’ll look into it sir.” 1 hour later, I got a call on my cell. It was the manager of PepBoys, standing 10 feet away from me. “Sir, we have your vehicle here ready for pick up.” I hung up and walked 10 feet to the counter and said “where is it?” “Huh” was the response. “My truck is ready, right? You just told me that on the phone.” “Oh” he said. I asked if that was my truck still on the lift? (yes, I know its my truck on the lift.) “Umm yes it is.” Wow, I thought he said it was ready. After 10 minutes they finally brought my truck down off of the lift. I mentioned to the manager that I’ve been here for 3 hours(yeah, this was at 6pm) I asked him “how did such an easy task that takes me 30 minutes take your store over 3 hours?” I was told “We have been very busy today” Oh, really? With a 10 bay service center and only 3 bays at this time being utilized and a bunch of technicians(???) standing around, WTF? I will never take or reccommend PepBoys to anyone. Not to mention that it cost over 100% of the price to do it myself and 6 times as long. Don’t go to PepBoys, EVER, for anything. Their store merchandise is also more expensive than any other store(yes, especially air fresheners.) Stay Away!!!!!
I’ve worked for pepboys and it was just a part time job, I was a sales accosiate and I acctually had people that came to me because of good customer service I was made temporary manager but no extra pay or benifits after 5 months working their I relized that pepboys is just a major rip of they suck and I quit never go to pepboys save ur money and search around
Pep Boy’s in Riverdale Utah ripped me off. Went in for a brake job on my wife’s fairly new car, only 30,000 miles. They ruined one of my calipers and told me it came in that way. So it came from the factory that way and work perfectly for 30,000 miles. I could’ve replace the brakes myself, (being a better mechanic than any at Pep Boy’s) but opted for the 99 dollar deal. Only to cost me 3 times as much. The mechanic and manager lied right to my face. These guys take advantage of women and men that don’t have a mechanical aptitude, so beware these people have no integrity. I would be very afraid of anything they touch that might be related to safety. I work with about 10,000 people at the local air base, and those that know better have boycotted them for similar reasons and reputation.