Seven months ago, my husband and I recently purchased a Taurus, at the time of purchase we had the car outfitted with VERY EXPENSIVE, BRAND NEW Goodyear tires. They came with a warranty for 100,000 miles.
This is all well and good. We've been happy little consumers since buying the Taurus, nary a complaint could we make,
until about a week ago when we noticed that the Taurus
was pulling decidedly to the right. No biggie - it was
time to rotate the aforementioned brand-new, warranteed, expensive tires - why not have the Taurus'alignment checked at the same time?
I dug around in my Entertainment Passbook and found a
coupon for Firestone promising 50% off an alignment. I drove to a nearby Firestone to have the tires balanced and rotated and the alignment checked. Firestone was more or less empty when I arrived.
The guy behind counter told me that it's Firestone's policy to "inspect" the tread of each vehicle's tires before they begin to work. I had no problem with this, especially since the tread on the Taurus' tires looks so new, so pristine, that you'd think I'd never driven further than a block in car. So, I followed Mr. Guy Behind the Counter out to where I parked and watched him take a look at ONE rear tire.
He told me it'd take about 40 minutes to balance and rotate the tires and do the alignment. I handed him my coupon for the alignment and I went next door to Walgreens. When I returned, about 40 minutes later - my car still hadn't been
worked on. Meanwhile - other people, mostly women, had
turned up in the Firestone waiting room. I seated myself
in front of a window over looking the work bay and
waited, and waited. Eventually my car was brought in.
While waiting - I noticed that every single woman who
had brought a car in, whether it was for an inspection, tire rotation, or some other minor issue, was being called to counter, or out to the garage. I disturbed to note that they were all being told that they need additional work, or parts, or tires.
Still, I told myself that maybe I'm just being paranoid -
this is afterall not 1962. A nationally known
company like Firestone would hardly dare to single out
their female clients for unnecessary
repairs/replacements... Right? I watched as the first tire was removed from the back of. Almost immediately, I was called to the service desk.
It seemed the mechanic had found a "potentially serious"
defect with my tire. I was sent out to the service bay
where the mechanic was apparently balancing my tire. He
rotated it for me and told me that it was no longer
perfectly round and that it was supposedly making a ripple as it turned. I looked. I looked intently. I squinted and attempted to discern ANYTHING, but alas, I saw nothing like the ripple he
assured me was there. The tire looked fine. The tread
looked great.
Speaking slowly, so that there would be no ambiguity, I
told him - "This tire is less than a year old. I don't
see anything wrong. It looks good to me." The mechanic
asked me if the car was pulling to one side. I said yes,
but so-o-o? (duh, isn't that an ALIGNMENT issue?) He
then insisted that meant the tire was SEPARATING on the
INSIDE, and that I was looking at a potentially
dangerous problem. He also pointed out that - this is just
the first tire he had looked at. He indicated that my other tire smight be "dangerous", too. I FIRMLY told him to go
ahead and "rotate the tires" and to take care of the
alignment. I went back inside.
Thirty minutes passed and i was called back to the service desk. I'd by then lost my seat by the window and couldn't really see what was happening with my car. The guy behind the counter had a
prepared estimate - he informed me I needed to spend
over $234.86 to replace my Goodyear rear tires - both of which had been determined by Firestone's mechanics to be suffering
from "Internal shredding / separating." with a Bridgestone Tire Package.
I was really irked. The guy behind the counter went into a whole
song and dance about how I'd be jeopardizing my safety and
that others because of my "faulty tires." He said that it was the mechanic's perogative to decline working on my car since he wouldn't want to be responsible for my driving with unsafe tires that could "blow out" at any time. I considered this to be a classic example of the scare tactic, used by legions of unscrupulous salespeople since time
immemoral!
I asked if the alignment was finished and if my tires
had been rotated - because I wanted to settle up and
leave. I was told that since I'd decline dto follow their reccommendation and replace my tires that my tires would not
rotated and that alignment still
hadn't taken place. I should have just demanded that
they give me back my keys and put my tires back on right
then & there! But having already wasted a couple of hours - I was determined to have something to show for my pains - and that something was to be my half-priced alignment.
More time passed - and it passed slo-o-owly. Meanwhile,
I watched Firestone continue to tell their female
customers that they needed additional service. At last I was called back to the desk to pay. The guy
behind the counter tries one last time to get me to
agree to replace my rear tires. He showed me his palms -
which were dirty and said, "Ma'm, I've been out there
looking at your tires, and they aren't safe. Look at my
hands!" (What, dirty hands = bad tires? What a concept!)
Then, the guy behind the counter told me that although they
HADN'T rotated the tires - because they were hazardous,
I was STILL being charged $35.99 - because
that's the "fee" for examining and balancing my dangerous tires, but it wasn't not too late to go
ahead and have those tires replaced. I pointed out that my tires were still very new, and that if there was a
problem that I had a manufacturer warranty. Not one to
giv eup, Mr. Guy Behind the Counter countered with -
"They won't honor it - they will just tell you that you
braked too hard while driving."
At that point, I was thoroughly disgusted. I wanted to
shout, "Hey even if my tires are bad - which I don't for
one teensy-weensy minute believe - why would I replace
Goodyears with Firestones? Certainly not for the
EXCELLENT reputation in SAFETY they've enjoyed in recent
years!" Instead, I insistedon being given my bill, I forked over my credit card.
Mr. Guy Behind the Counter handed me my copy of the bill
and the credit card slip to sign - attached to my copy was my
coupon for 50% off the alignment - ONLY he hadn't taken
50% off. Since it was impossible to miss the coupon
attached to the bill, AND since I'd shown this guy the
coupon as I'd entered it's my belief that he was
hoping he could attach the coupon, charge me full price,
and have me sign without looking things over.
Genuinely infuriated, I'd been fighting the temptation
to refuse payment altogether.instead, I pointed out the
coupon and insisted on the transaction being voided and
rerung. That's when the guy behind the counter admited he
doesn't know how to void the transaction. This would
require a second "Guy Behind the Counter".
Finally, $30 was taken off of their charge of $59.99 for the alignment and I asked for my keys. I was told that the mechanic
still had them and that my car would be brought to the
front. I waited another 15 minutes. No car. I went to the service bay window but I couldn't see my car. Finally, I walked outside and around the front of the building and to find it had been moved into the last service bay. It seemed that having actually received payment for an alignment, Firestone thought
they'd better go ahead and perform one.
I drove home and called Klingemann American Car Care Center and asked if they would be bale to examine and rotate my tires that afternoon. I'd had them work on my vehicle in he past and had been very happy with the quality of both their work and their service. They said that they could take a look at the car right away.
I drove to Klingemann and told them what had happened
at Firestone. They checked the tires, and found them to be in EXCELLENT shape. I mentioned Firestone's "Shredding on the Inside Theory" and was met with more laughter. Klingemann rebalanced and rotated the tires for a mere $14.45. I was in and out of Klingemann's in less than an hour.
Full of newly rekindled indignation and wrath, I called
the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint about
Firestone. The BBB responded with a taped
message. I was asked to identify the business I'd like
to complain about by its phone number. I did. The BBB's taped
message informed me that Firestone is a member of
the Better Business Bureau and dedicated to solving
customer complaints. I was given the name of a customer service representative and a number where he supposedly could be reached. It was the SAME telephone number as that of the Firestone I was calling to complain
about!
I tried the number anyway and was told
that there was NO ONE by that name working there - that
there had never been anyone by that name working there.
I redialed the BBB and learned via the taped message that I could file my complaint in
writing and they would send the appropriate form in a
few working days. Grea-a-a-t. Meanwhile - I think I'll
just tell EVERYONE I ever met about my experience.
Melissa
Austin, Texas
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