klemenz

So I went the Pep Boys today to do a simple wheel alignment because my car is pulling a little bit to the right. It's been annoying me and I don't want my tires to wear so I figured this would be a good day to just fork over some money and have it done while I'm out of school.

Well: I hand over the keys and they immediately drive my car to the garage to get serviced and I begin looking around the store at some tires, rims, l.e.d. lights etc. etc. An hour and a half passes and finally I go over to the front desk and they tell me they just finished it and the mechanic that serviced my car is driving it around on a busy highway while it's snowing outside (somewhat irritating but as long as it comes back the way I left it fine).

Immediately the manager tells me something is wrong with my right front bearing and that it will need to be fixed soon. He prints me a receipt showing how much it will cost to fix if I come back blah blah I say thank you and hand him the $76 that the alignment costs.

The mech comes back and the manager asks about the pull. The mech says that the pull is completely gone and I have nothing to worry about.

Of course I'm like hell yeah this annoying *** problem is gone.

I drive down the road and nothing has changed. At all.

I drive back rather pissed at this point. I tell the manager that the mech lied right in my face and told me it was gone. He says that he is an ethical guy and I better not say it to his face or he might not like it.

He calls the guy back and tells him to get in the car with me and take a ride.

We drive down the road and he tells me it's supposed to pull a little while i give it gas because it's FF.

I say "really?" and I let go of the steering wheel with my foot off the gas and I almost let the car steer itself off the road. "It's really supposed to do that?"

Of course he makes excuses blaming the road until I do it again. He promises to fix it this time. (YOU MEAN TO TELL ME HE DIDN'T DO IT THE FIRST ****ING TIME?)

Then apparently now my strut tower is bent and that's the reason why and the cradle is out of alignment and he says I must have wrecked the car blah blah

I get my money back after wasting my time.

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

I never had goop experience with pep boys, $76 is a bit much for a front wheel alignment too. Go to a reputable shop and not some franchise shop (I believe pep boys is franchised?)

PulsarGTS

iTrader: (6)

We you all ready know what everybody will say your first mistake was...

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Your strut tower is bent? Yea, that's gonna happen.

What does he mean by 'cradle'? There's no subframe on an A33 like there is on the A34 and a lot of other cars.

Bjs470

iTrader: (13)

Yea no pep boys around me luckily

klemenz

Well obviously he didn't know what he was talking about in the first place, I didn't expect him to be very knowledgeable.

stephenlc

iTrader: (1)

pep boys is awful. Half the time they don't do the alignment, unless your watching. Then they say something is broken and they can't do it untill you fix it.

denny_1986

iTrader: (1)

what a frikin rip off!
u know getting ripped of is one of my biggest fears. I wouldn't care if it costs a $1000 to fix the car as long as the mechanic is honest. I hate a$$holes who try to take advantage of others in order to make a few bucks. They forget that there are hundreds of workshops everywhere and it only takes one bad experience to lose a customer...

Gollum67

iTrader: (1)

Are those mechanics ASE certified? Sounds like a bunch of hacks to me. You should have asked for a print out of the alignment adjustments.

nb96king

i believe there is only one guy in the back who has to be ase certified. i would never trust my car there, all the other supposed mechanics who work there are just regular people. i only go to pep boys for their oil sales, but usually walmart beats them at that too

Jobi

I was about to go to pep boys for a wheel alignment also, thanks for the heads up!

SF04SE

stay away from pep boys unless you don't mind strung out teenagers on roxies touching your car for minimum wage

utune-up

I had a similar experience with Pep Boys. I have had the front end aligned 5 times at 3 different stores. The vehicle should have a +.5 camber ( similar to the rear wheels). To check the plum of the wheel put a level across the wheel, and at .5 % the levelshould read about one/eight of an inch off the rim on the top end. At this time I have three/eights of an inch out of plum, which equates to over +2.5% camber. This is what eats the inside of tires, such as VW, Porcshe, or any other vehicle that has an independent REAR suspension.
In a nut shell, the same company calibrates all the Pep Boy machines and the Techs are not Knowing of anything different, but to run that machine. If the customer does not know how to check the final work outcome, the customer has just paid for a "DOG AND PONY SHOW" and now is the time to get IN LINE for a new set of tires.
Tell the OWNER to get the machines corrected and/or get your money back and run away fast.
To where, I do not know. Buyer beware, we are all fair game, men and women, all companies are like this, because unconcerned people make up these companies. tucson, az

soto2635

iTrader: (3)

i have no complaint here, the staff is all older guys and they are very freindly and get the job done

nismomaxgtr18

iTrader: (5)

lol never go to PepBoys except for an oil change, or mounting/balancing rims/tires or ricer accessories lol.

James92SE

iTrader: (31)

PepBoys, as a whole, is in TERRIBLE shape, especially on the retail side. It's not franchised it's corporate owned. The shops actually have ASE certified master-techs, but there's only two or three compared to 5-10 "installers". These "installers" do most of the work in the shop.

However, that's not unlike most other shops/mechanics. Many shops these days are made up of part-swappers with no formal training or a few mechanics that are ASE certified in brakes or something (you can get ASE certified in several "areas").

Very few shops employ legit ASE master-techs. Many don't even have ONE master-tech. At that, most guys even at reputable shops who do alignments aren't full-fledged master-techs or anything. Most are just general shop grunts who've been trained to do alignments - which isn't rocket science.

I'd guess just like any other national chain, it really varies location by location in terms of quality of service.

(Though, even with your alignment technically in spec, it's still entirely possible for your car to pull one way or another. Uneven tire wear, bushings, unevenly torqued suspension components, etc.)

kissmymax

And My company wonders why they have so many problems. I work at Pep Boys and i seen customers leave frustrated and other customers who only bring their car to us. Any shop you go to there will be different levels of technicians. At my shop we have guys that are in strong in certain areas and weaker in others. IMO for best results try talking to the mechanic who will be the one to service your vehicle, also leave your vehicle to allow plenty of time to let the mechanic work on it. (no rush job) And always take advantage of your nationwide warranty. At my shop we do all the way from a tire plug all the way to a engine swap. Most with just under a 5% margin of error. (parts fail mechanics miss things. We are all human. )

also pay is good no one makes min wage.

eckopariah

Strut rods bend more frequently than you might think. If you stove your car into a snow drift or hit a curb at a decent speed, or even a good sized pothole, you can do all kinds of damage to your car, and throw it out of alignment - bend a strut rod or shock tube, bend a tie rod, even bend a steering knuckle (I've seen it happen). From the sound of it, the poster's story is a pretty bad experience (the reason why I do my own work, instead of going to unethical chain repair shops), but the mechanic might have a point in that something may be bent. Vehicles always pull to the side with the least positive caster, and caster is not adjustable on many vehicles, the only way to fix it is to replace a bent or broken part.


Caster, camber and toe are measured in degrees, not percentages.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

I'm well aware of the possibilities of bending suspension components, but if you read either the OP or my reply, he said nothing of the sort. Strut tower ≠ strut rod.

ARTadpole

I don't mean to sound rude, but next time you need the front end worked on, you should go to a garage that specializes in front end repair work (alignments, etc).

eddie982

iTrader: (10)

Poop Boys is a more apt name, like monkeys flinging poop around.

max ride 41

iTrader: (4)

i would'nt trust shlep boyz to take dents out of a trash can. especially after an oil change years ago they failed to put the oil cap back on and the oil light popped on half way back to the house. man i was hot....