Pep Boys
Ripped me off, did repairs and did not fix what they broke, then claimed car needed more repairs it did not

The weekend before last we took my husbands car to Pep Boys off of I-240 on Walker. It needed the coolant line fixed and a rack and pinion replaced. We wound up paying $1,000 for it.

We don't drive the car when we don't have to so it was driven a total of 3 days. During that time it stalled several times. We thought perhaps we had gotten some water in the fuel line. We ran it out of gas and got more that we knew would be good.

The car went crazy on Tuesday - idling really fast and slamming whenever it was put into gear. This would be exactly one week and one day from the day it was 'repaired'

We called Pep Boys to see what we needed to do about the warranty. They said to have it out.

Later they informed us that the diagnostic to find out if they would cover the cost of repairs would cost $89. Now they are saying, yes it is a vacuum line, and yes it is up where we were messing with stuff, but that doesn't prove we did it.

Now here's the thing: if I get another mechanic to look at it and tell me if what Pep Boys did caused the problem I void the warranty and they don't have to fix it at all. If I take it off the lot after it has been diagnosed and not fixed, i void
the warranty. Which totally messed me up to find out, I really REALLY wanted to take it until it started to jump around again and then park it right there with a great big sign that said "PEP BOYS fixed me."

Probably better that I didn't, it might have made me feel better for a little while, but I think in the end it would have accomplished nothing more than to show my kids their mom can be a vindictive bitch on occasion. Not to say I don't still want to be a vindictive bitch, but... Oh well.

We have prepaid legal so we called to see what we could do. The lawyer says that getting them to admit fault would be nearly impossible. This is a very common practice for mechanics - their so called 'warranties' are really nothing at all, because they are the only ones allowed to touch the vehicle or the warranty is voided, and you have no claim at all - well actually in that case I could get the 90 diagnostic fee back, but nothing else. If they don't want to admit fault they don't have to.

Basically what I was told by the lawyer is, we have to let Pep Boys do the repairs, pay for them, take the car to another mechanic AFTER the repairs are made and have another diagnostic done, in the meantime, Pep Boys has however much opportunity to cover up any involvement they may or may not have had.

The lawyer said this is one of the most common cases he sees, frequently people will have costly repairs done only to find out that, 'wait there's more' that was NEVER a problem before, but miraculously within moments of driving off the lot, become a major issue.

We finally got an estimate form PepBoys for the new repairs $650 along with an itemization of what needed done. We decided we weren't giving them any more money and had the car towed to another mechanic. The car was repaired for $250, and the needed repairs did not include two of the things pep boys listed on their estimate.

Company: Pep Boys
Country: USA
State: Oklahoma
City: Oklahoma City
Address: 7600 S. Walker
Site: pepboys.com

  <     >