I took my 1995 Saturn Coupe to Pep Boys on Friday, May 30 shortly after it stalled on me for the third time. Even though I have been deceived by them in the past (in Madison, TN, on Gallatin Road ~Summer 1999) I thought surely I was just unlucky.
That same night I was called back and informed by Stephanie that I had a bad battery and alternator. She stated that it would cost ~$300.00. After hesitation I agreed to pay for the repair.
Upon leaving my Saturn with them, I told Stephanie to make sure not to close my hood all the way because the hood release was broken. This was obvious from the hood not closing all the way when I left it in their care; though the clamp worked and held the hood down well enough for now.
When I returned on Saturday, May 31, I found my hood forced closed (from the apparent further bending to my hood). It would not open at all! When I told the mechanic that worked on it, Andy Vazquez, to take a look at it, he did and stated that there was nothing that he could do about it. I stated that the old saying: "you broke it, now you fix it!" applies here. To which he replied that he needed to get his manager. He went to get his manager, Roy, and when Roy looked at it, he stated "What do you want me to do about it? I replied: "If your employee broke the hood clamp he or you need to fix it before I leave here!!! To which he stated: "I'm not liable for that" and he walked away. I chased him (obviously very angry at this point) and told that he needed to fix this.
He finally went to get the store manager, Mark. When I informed Mark of the situation, he told them to take a look at the problem. After 2.5 hours of not fixing it, Mark comes back and tells me that I need to take it to a body shop to fix it. I told him that I am not going to pay to fix a problem that his mechanic caused. He stated that he will try to get a friend to look at it from a shop up the road and that if he can't do anything that I am on my own.
This is the Monday after and I have received no word back at all and Pep Boys has had my car since Friday, May 30. My wife and a neighbor saw the state of my hood the afternoon that I took it into Pep Boys so there is no guess work about "was the damage really done there or not?" If there is no repair to the hood clamp on my car and it is not returned to me in the same state as when I left it with them, I am contacting an attourney. It is sad that it comes to this, but I may be left with no other choice.
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