Pepboys now gets my vote as the worst customer service in the United States. It's said that a person go through as much trouble as I did just to pay a bill. Below is my story:
This entire problem began on April 26, when my car overheated. It was towed to Pepboys #213 on Clairton Blvd. To be looked at. They replaced two items on the car, which cost me $169.54. On April 28, I noticed the car was having the same overheating problem and took it to Pepboys #549 on Stubenville Pike. This time they said there were more problems, including a water pump that needed replaced, and that it would cost me approximately $831. I approved them doing this, on the premise that there would be no labor bill, as I hoped the car would be fixed correctly the second time.
The car was ready for pickup, but I had no way of getting to the store until late that evening. An employee took my card numbers over the telephone, and said I was all set. I picked up the car that evening with the keys inside of it. I noticed when I picked it up, that there was no receipt inside. I figured maybe the employee just forgot to put it in there, but was happy my car was fixed.
Two days passed, and my car began exhibiting the same problems yet again! The car would shut down whenever you turned on the air conditioning.By this time I was irate, and sick of the problem not being fixed. I ended up trading my car in. The dealership verified the problems with the car, thus I got a much lower trade-in value on my car.
On 5/14/07 I misplaced my Debit Card and reported this to my bank. Keep in mind this is over two weeks since my car was "fixed" at store #549. A manager from that store called me to let me know that they could not charge my card successfully. I let him know that the problem was not fixed, and that I had to trade the car in. I cannot in good concience pay for services that are not performed properly, much less pay multiple times. If there was an issue with billing my card, the keys should not have been left inside and an employee should've called me that evening, or at least the next day to let me know there was a problem, not over two weeks later.
Today (5/26/07) I received a call from George, at what I am assuming is your corporate offices. He called me first at 2:42PM and let me know that charges for "theft of services" would be filed unless i paid the full amount of the botched repair job. I explained to George that I would gladly pay for the parts, however I would not pay for the labor which was not performed correctly. George then became very rude, and would not answer my questions I was asking him, and proceeded to hang up on me.
At approximately 3:06PM he called back again, stating that they would cut the bill in half which translated to a bill of over $400. I told him I could not pay over $400 for a repair that was not performed correctly. I asked the George why the keys were left inside the car, and I was not called for over two weeks regarding the bill. He became very loud and argumentative with me, and hung up again.
It is now 3:52PM and I have just received a call from John, the manager of store #549. He explained to me that the part and labor were under warranty from when I had my car fixed at store #213. When I took my car to store #549 and informed them the problem was not fixed, I approved repairs based upon the premise of the labor being under warranty, and that I would just have to pay for parts.
Since then another district manager has been on the phone with John and myself, and agreed that I should not have had to pay the original $169 for service that did not fix the problem. This $169 difference was more than the difference between the parts ($257) and what Pepboys wanted to bill me ($400). We agreed that I will pay the cost of the parts and the problem would be considered closed.
I would also like to note that this entire fiasco could have been avoided, had good customer service practices been used. I received a total of 5 calls from Pepboys today, when this all could've been resolved with 1. I have taken cars to Pepboys for several years and never had such a problematic and rude customer experience. I would especially like to emphasize the rude treatment I received from George. He hung up on me twice, and I have never been treated so rudely. I think this is a prime example of just how rude certain retailers can treat you. I will never go there again, and would suggest to anyone to get your car fixed elsewhere! They don't deserve your business!
Mark
CORAOPOLIS, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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