Pep Boys Consumer Reviews - Page 7

FOREST PARK, GEORGIA -- First, I would like to give you a little background. I am an Army Reserve transportation officer stationed at Fort Gillem, GA. and consider myself to be at least above average in knowledge of mechanics and do much of my mechanical work myself. On Saturday, April 4, I noticed my alternator belt began making a chirping sound, so I stopped and purchased belt dressing in hopes I could make it home to Florida on Sunday to replace the belt. However, Sunday morning, my battery went dead as I drove onto Fort Gillem.

I drove to the Pep Boys at 4853 Jonesboro Rd. in Forest Park… just outside of our gate and told them I thought I needed a new alternator belt. They checked me in and said they would do a diagnostic on the charging system. Later he called and said I needed a new alternator. Since I needed to be in Florida that night, I said to go ahead and do the repairs. He did and I was charged 432.72.

I left Atlanta that afternoon and drove approximately 35 miles when the battery ran down again. I pulled into a truck stop in Jackson, GA, where the mechanic there did a check and said my alternator wasn't working. Since it was Sunday night after hours, I spent the night, recharged the battery and drove back to Forest Park on Monday morning. When I got there, I told the service manager I would like my old alternator back and my money returned.

He said the old alternator had been disposed of. He said he would do what it took to get me on the road. They ran a check on the alternator — which I have the results of -- and said I needed a new alternator belt. He replaced the alternator belt…at no charge to me.

Since that time, I drove back to Florida and have had no trouble with my car at all. I asked if a test had been run on my old alternator and was told it had been, but no one knew what had happened to the results. The fact remains I paid $432.72 for an alternator when I contend the problem could have easily been corrected the first time with an $83.28 belt replacement.

I am an employee of Pep Boys for over 8 years. During the course of these years. I have been denied promotions that I rightfully earned by obtaining ASE certifications. Our health plan was taken away and replaced with a "heath fund." Under this plan I cannot afford to go to the dr. Last year the company decided that they would not be giving raises.

This year they decide that they will change the vacation plan. The new plan is fine but they are stealing our days that we have already earned. I have 10 vacation days left until the middle of next year. They are telling me that any unused vacation days by December 28, 2008 will be paid out at a rate of 75%. This rate depends on your anniversary date. Some will only be paid 25%. They act as if the vacation has not yet been earned, but it was earned last year.

On top of this the months that I have worked this year until now those vacation days that I would have got next year are now gone. Those days are worth about 2000 to me. Every turn Pep Boys shafts their employees. People complain that they do not get good service at Pep Boys. There is a reason for that and it is the way the employees are treated by the company in turn is the way they treat customers. Pep Boys fails to realize that when you screw your employees, it makes them not care about their jobs, which shows when you enter a Pep Boys. Pep Boys needs to realize you must spend money to make money.

Give the employees a good reason to want to keep their jobs and you will see dedicated employees, which will result in higher sales and customer satisfaction. On top of this offering the best pay rate around will get the best people around. Happy Holidays Pep Boys. :(

WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA -- I had my car towed to Pep Boys on a Sunday. They assured me that the problem was my water pump. So they put in a new water pump for me and charge me $580. OK. They call me RIGHT before they close to tell me they think that the water pump they put in is defective and they will have to look at it tomorrow. I'm OK until this point. On Monday, they call me and tell me that the water pump wasn't defective and the thermostat went. If the water pump and the thermostat go hand in hand, then why didn't they just check both? So they tell me the part for the thermostat is going to be $350.

I call my local Ford dealer and they tell me the part is $250. They jacked up the price and are trying to charge me $100 extra just for a thermostat housing. I call them back and they suggest that I can buy the part directly from the Ford dealer if I go pick it up and drop it off at the Pep Boys. News Flash! I don't have a car to go pick up a part. So after I speak to the supervisor, they drop the price to $250.

In conclusion, Pep Boys lied to me and now I'm not even sure if I had to replace my water pump for almost $600. The only reason I took it to Pep Boys was because they said they could have it back to that same day. Now they want $300 more from me to fix the thermostat and it will be done on Tuesday.

I know for a fact that when I (a 21 year old girl) walked in the store, they assumed I didn't know anything about cars, and are trying to take me for as much as possible. Do yourself a favor and don't purchase any kind of service from Pep Boys. It will snowball into this kind of aggravating situation that every time you want a fair deal, you will have to fight for it. Ask for a supervisor up front if you HAVE to use them.

SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA -- I called Pep Boys on Monday. Someone answered the phone after being put on hold 3 times. I asked how much a Power Steering flush would cost, etc. He quoted $59.99. I was surprised. Their competition several miles down the road was going to charge $193.00. I asked how much time it would take. About 30 mins. according to the person who answered the phone. They would get me "in and out" if I showed up @ 0800. Well...

When I arrived. They were opening the shop. The guy managing the front desk was brusque, no eye contact. Rough. I figured, heck, it's 0800, and he's burned out from customers over time. No problem. I was asked what # they could reach me for pick up. I told them I would wait. I was told that the mechanic doesn't come in 'til later. "How much later?" According to the front desk man, it's according to the traffic. I asked for an estimated time, and this guy got pissy.

He finally told me "1/2 to an hour, maybe?" Well, it was 1 1/2 hrs. before the mechanic finally arrived. I wasn't told anything. I just saw this guy show up, the front desk guy gave him the work order, and told him it was a power steering flush. It was about 0930. They were done with the car at about 1030. Almost 2 1/2 hrs. because the mechanic doesn't want to get up as early as I do to fight the traffic to be at work on time.

Must be nice. I wasn't told anything during this whole time. The funny part was this. When the front desk guy was working with me, he didn't give any eye contact, and very brusque. When other customers came in, he was courteous. When they rang up the bill, he told me my front brakes were low and would need service. I was about to tell him that even if I had to stop my car like the Flintstones cartoons, (using my bare feet), I would not bring my car in for brakes, front or rear.

SAN DIEGO 92117, CALIFORNIA -- Bought four tires from Pep Boys during their buy three get one free sale that was on TV. Was supposed to get $150 after mailing in a rebate form, but four months later I still have no check, not really this stores fault. This store did try to charge me for an alignment that they didn't perform. I caught it on the bill and they took it off. They even said they didn't do an alignment and that it was only supposed to be a recommendation rather than a billing (sure it was). All the same I was happy with my new tires.

Month later my car really did need a wheel alignment, pulled hard to the right and drifted. Decided to bring it to Pep Boys for service. Mechanic called me several hours later saying it was done and that I could come pick up my car. Since I live about half a mile away I walked there, I noticed the car hadn't been moved, had parked a bit funny and it was still parked the same way I left it (with the wheels cocked). I pointed out that my car hadn't been moved and they said again it was fixed.

So I paid, got my keys, and drove out of their lot with my car pulling to the right. Drove right back and told the store manager that the workers hadn't moved my car out of the spot. He said "don't make accusations." I said that's exactly what I was doing since my car hadn't been moved or fixed and I had paid them for that service. He said that they'd "take another look at it" and after few more it drove home nice and straight. It's going to be inconvenient not taking my car there anymore.

Today I got a nail stuck causing a slow leak, and since I had paid for the hazard warranty that I didn't ask for on my tire sale I figured I should use it. Dropped off at 4:06 pm and came back at 8:30 pm (the car had been promised by 6 pm), but once again it hadn't been moved from the parking space I left it in. I do not recommend getting your car serviced by Pep Boys store #0978 on Genesee Ave in the 92117 zip code!

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- My truck broke down on me in Houston, Texas, and I didn't know whom to call so I called Pep Boys, thinking that that would be okay. I mean, at least I knew about them. First of all, I had to wait on the tow for just short of three hours (an hour was the guarantee). When the guy called me the next morning he told me it was my timing belt, I needed an oil change, and listed a couple of other minor things and told me it would be $685 and that he would call me if there were any other problems on the truck.

Well, he didn't call me all day, so I called them at the end of the day. I got a guy that I couldn't understand well, and I had to keep asking him to repeat, and he was irritated with me. In any event, he told me that now I needed to tow my truck to a machine shop, that it needed something else, I didn't understand what. I asked how much that would be, he said about $800. So I asked how much I owed them, thinking that I owed for the tow and everything up to the first phone call. He said $685.

I was very upset and said, "You know, if you had told me this morning that I would possibly be facing this, I would never have had you do that. The truck has 200,000 miles on it." He was rude to me and started talking really fast and I couldn't understand him. I went to the store the next morning and spoke to Jose, the manager. Jose started saying, "It's not our fault your truck is broke, sounds like you're blaming us." I said that, "No, that was not it, I was upset about the way it was handled." He continued being defensive without addressing my issue at all.

I asked him who his manager was. He said I am the only manager, you have to deal with me, and proceeded to tell me all the stores he managed. I said, "No, who is over you?" He, once again, said "I am the manager." At that point I left. I have lupus and I started breaking out in a horrible blistering rash and throwing up. My son came to get me and I went back to Austin and was sick for almost three days. When my doctor upped my prednisone and I started feeling better I e-mailed Pep Boys headquarters three times. No response. Absolutely no response. They still have my truck.

WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT -- My car stalled in line at McDonalds. The motor turned but would not start. I called a repair truck who took it to Sears. Sears looked at it and said it looked like it could be the fuel pump and they could not fix it. I had it towed to Pep Boys. I told them what happened. They replaced the fuel pump without even checking to see if that was the problem. Then they called me and told me my car did not work and did a diagnostics check. Next I was told the security alarm needed to be reset and I needed to take it to my dealer. Pep Boys charged me $750 at this point.

I took it to my dealer who did a diagnostics test first. I was told the fuel pump was improperly installed and they charged me $500 for the diagnostics test and the cost to take the car apart to look at the fuel pump. I took my car back to Pep Boys. They did another diagnostics test and then they told the fuel pump harness was broken and they would only charge me labor for repairing since the fuel pump was under warranty. They charged me $600 to repair something they did wrong in the first place.

I called 1-800-pep-boys complaint department and they said someone would call me. I called them 7 times as the Pep Boys manager, who I spoke within the first place, had closed the case without calling me. Finally, when he called me, he said it was the dealer's fault for not catching it. What? Besides that, he was rude to me and degraded me. Making me feel like it was my fault. I am so angry I want to sue them. Please avoid Pep boys. I was totally ripped off! If you know a good lawyer, let me know.

BUFFALO, NEW YORK -- On 4/21/06, I took my car to Pep Boys for a radiator installation. What should have been a 1 hour job was a 5 hour job because the mechanic was having a hard time installing it. I was also told that my hose that runs from the radiator to the transmission was corroded and needed to be replaced and it was also "highly recommended" that I replace the thermostat. I agreed to both repairs because what do I know about auto repairs? I was then told that they did not have the proper hose for replacement, but they could use another one and was assured by both the mechanic and the store manager that this was an acceptable replacement.

Three days later on 4/24/06, I had to return to Pep Boys to have the radiator replaced because it was still leaking. I was told that it was a "factory defect", but after talking with other mechanics I have a strong suspicion that the mechanic broke it during the initial installation.

Fast forward 6 months, 11/7/06. My car won't shift into gear. I take it to the nearest garage. They tell me that the hose that runs from the radiator to the transmission blew. They also said that it was "pieced together" using 3 different lengths of hose and 4 clamps (something that I was not informed of when I had the radiator installed). Long story longer, I ended up paying over $300 for these repairs.

I've contacted Pep Boys who refused to refund me anything stating that I never informed them I was having trouble. I told them that I wasn't having trouble until that day and that I had to bring it to the closest garage as the car was barely driveable, I don't have AAA and I was not prepared to pay the $60 tow charge that Pep Boys charges. They are unwilling to do anything for me even though I have written documentation from the second garage stating that the repairs I had on 11/7/06 were a direct result of the faulty installation that Pep Boys did back in April.

I have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau and Consumer Protection. I have also contacted a local news station that specializes in consumer fraud. I am not going to let this go. It's not right what they do to people with the "highly recommended" additional parts and hidden costs. Not to mention, they don't back up their work! I am fully prepared to go to small claims court over this. My warning to anyone even thinking about taking their car to Pep Boys: DON'T. I know they seem convenient and maybe even cost effective, but they are more trouble than they're worth and as my mother always says, you get what you pay for -and then some!

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- OK, so my hoses for my radiator had not been changed in quite some time. I live in AZ so this is a necessity. I took my car in to have the hoses changed. Before I took it in there the week before I had them look at my thermostat. They said that within the next 6 months that I would need to change my hoses.

Well I had the money a week later, so I went down there to get my hoses changed. They told me that as they were taking the hoses off, chunks of the radiator came off too. (Impossible unless they were extremely abusive to it when taking it off) So they told me I would have to get a new radiator and they could install and give me a better radiator for only $500 :( so I gave up the money and had them fix it.

My car had never gotten to hot with me, now my car is getting hot all the time, even the middle of the night! So I take it to a different mechanical shop and they tell me that they put on the wrong radiator and that the radiator they installed was too small for my car... needless to say I am pissed. So I called and they told me there was nothing that they could do. So now I have to pay for their mistakes!!!

So I called back telling them that I would contact the Better Business Bureau if something was not done, so they told me that they would refund the money for the part, as long as someone else took it out and they did not have to. Now, I have to take out that part, install the correct radiator, and hope that they don't try to pull some crap about the other place messed with the radiator... I'll update later, but what can I do if they do that?