On May 10, I brought my 1992 Ford Taurus in for air conditioning service. J. Barnes, the service salesman, told me that it would be more economical for me to convert my A/C system from R12 to R134. I told J. Barnes at that time that my current system was fine it just needed its yearly service. J. Barnes assured me that the conversion was routine. It sounded reasonable since they guaranteed their work. I told them to take their time to get it done right and I would be able to leave my car until May 14, leaving four days to do the work. (Service Order 0738 1117809)
When I returned, I discovered my car had no A/C after paying the bill of $1,134.38. I asked to see the service manager, who gave me an attitude, telling me that I would have to wait to be seen as they had customers to take care of. I calmly but firmly asked him what he thought I was and if he realized how long they had my car.
I asked to speak to the store manager, FRANCIS PIRO, who directed the service manager to have my car looked at right away. (It's a shame the service manager couldn't figure that out for himself, but he appeared disoriented, and my first thought was, "His faculties must be impaired some way.")
To make a long, painful story short, I had to visit Pep Boys 8 times for additional service (ticket Numbers 0738 1118048,0738 1119407,0738 1121527) and make 27 phone calls. Several calls were just to try to get the status of parts orders that they were supposed to call me on when they came in.
When I called Mr. Piro to find out why they weren't calling me and what was taking so long the personnel lied and said they tried to call me several times. I have caller ID and no calls came in from that store. That was not the extent of the unresponsiveness. I also made 5 calls to the Pep Boys corporate 800 number. Only one was returned but no message was left responsive to my concerns.
I was never able to get my car fixed, and when I took my car in for the 8th visit, Mr. Stokes, the A/C technician told me that the 1992 Ford Taurus does not handle the extreme high pressure required for the R134 system. I reported this to FRANCIS PIRO and he told me he would prefer just giving me my money back.
I accepted the money, but that is not sufficient. They need to replace my R12 system. I have gotten a quote of $1,400 to do that. Additionally, I never had A/C for more than three days since May 10. I had to rent a car on 4 occasions totalling $687.23. I believe that I should be compensated for my trouble and inconvenience for their incompetence and the restitution of my vehicle.
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