I find myself in a very helpless position. I got a my first oil change at 4416 miles on my 2007 Hyundai Elantra. A little over 5 weeks later my dash lights came on and before I could pull over the car stopped running. I called the dealership where I bought my car and had the car towed. I expected that the problem would be a warranty issue. Within a couple of hours the dealer call and asked where did you get your oil changed. I asked why? They told me that there was no oil plug in the car and all the oil drained out of the engine and it seized. The dealer advised me that this was not a Warranty claim since the oil change was performed by PepBoys. At this point I notified the Service Manager at the Plantation PepBoys where I had my oil changed. He was very nice and said he would submit a claim to PepBoys Corporate. At the time I had access to another car so I didn't request a rental while I was waiting for a response from PepBoys. Over 2 weeks went by and no decision had been made. I was informed that PepBoys Corporate was sending a second inspector to look at my car.in the mean time my daughter was involved in an accident and the car I was using to get to work was totaled. I notified the PepBoys Service Manager and he authorized me to get a rental car while we waited for a decision from PepBoys. Over 3 weeks had passed and I got a letter from Pep Boys in the regular mail. They declined my claim based on the following items:
1. I had initially stated there was no oil in my driveway but upon closer inspection I did find a very small and very light oil stain. My driveway is black and I expected to see a large puddle of oil. My driveway is also on a hill so it would not leak very much sitting on incline. Also it had been raining quite hard and often in the weeks prior to my engine failure. I informed PepBoys that my original statement was incorrect and asked them on 2 occasions to come and look at my driveway both before and after my initial statement. They declined and made no mention of my amended statement in their declination letter.
2. They said they found no evidence of negligence on the part of PepBoys or its employees. The Hyundai Service advisor and the mechanic both said that based on the physical oil running from the oil pan to the rear of the car was consistent with a oil plug that was not tight enough.
3. PepBoys also confirmed in their letter that there was no evidence of any physical damage that might have knocked the oil plug out of the car and the dealer also confirmed this finding.
4. Pep Boys solution on how this occurred was that a vandal may have crawled under my car and loosen the drain plug or took my plug completely out of my car therefore causing the engine failure. I didn't have 4 or 5 quarts of oil on my driveway and no oil plug laying on the driveway so I guess the vandal cleaned it all up and took the plug with him. That makes sense right?
5. They also stated that my car has an oil sensor light that comes on when the oil gets low. As I understand that system only works when the oil gets to a certain point. So if the oil plug fell out before the level got to that point then the light would not come on. Therefore I would not have had any warning there was a problem. The first indication I had of a problem is when all the dash lights came on and the engine stopped running.
6. Finally they said it is my responsible to prove that the drain plug was left loose by PepBoys. If I can not show proof that PepBoys left the drain plug loose they would continue to deny this claim.
After I received the PepBoys declination letter I sent them a online complaint asking them to reconsider their position. One of the reasons why I asked them to reconsider their decision is their warranty states they stand behind any repair performed by Pep Boys for 90 day or 4,000 miles. My claim was made after 39 days and 1484 miles. I received no response so I contacted the Service Manager at the Plantation Pep Boys store. He called the Corporate Office and informed us that they had made their decision and my only recourse would be to sue them. Since then I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of which Pep Boys is a member. I did receive a response that my complaint had been received by the BBB and they were going to forward the complaint to the BBB in DC. I assume that is where the Pep Boys Corporate office is located. I know that this process takes time but based on my dealing with PepBoys Corporate I'm not sure that their response will be any different.
The reason I am submitting this report to complaint is because my family has suffered a lot of financial hardships and mishaps in the past several months and we really don't have the means to go to court in order to get this resolved. We bought a new Elantra prior to this problem and gave our daughter the old car as she is starting college. The car we gave her was totaled in a no fault accident 2 weeks after the problem with PepBoys. So we went out and got another car and gave our daughter our second old car to go to college expecting that PepBoys would fix our Elantra. To top all this off I fell at work when I was at lunch and off the clock and fractured my right elbow. We went ahead and had the Elantra fixed because we could not continue to pay for a rental car until this problem with PepBoys is resolved.
At this point my claim is for $7036.04. This includes $6325.58 for the Elantra's new engine (parts and labor), $602.46 for a rental car and $108.00 in lost wages. We're not looking to make a killing. I'm only asking for PepBoys to make this right. A mechanic made a mistake. It happens, but I shouldn't have to beg to get PepBoys to fix this. Although I think we have a strong case and would win in court, I don't want to plunge my family into more debt with court costs and lawyer's fees. Fighting a huge corporation with unlimited resources is scary at best. What if, somehow we take this case to court and lose?
I have filed 2 complaints with PepBoys, reported this to the Better Business Bureau and 2 TV consumer advocates. So far the only response I received is my declination letter from PepBoys.
Rikki
Sunrise, Florida
U.S.A.
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