We went into the Firestone center with the appointment that was scheduled for Sunday. This is the second time we were at the store. It was for a routine oil change and a head to toe inspection of our 2003 Buick Regal. At first the sales guy behind the desk seemed professional, nice. She told the sales guy what she wanted done: Oil change and a head to toe inspection of the vehicle. So far, we were quoted $50. They had called us to the back after an hour to look at the car on the hoist, and we were told about the sway bars being broken (which they were). We didn't have the money to fix them from the last time we were in the store. There's no safety issue with sway bars. We were told by the mechanic that the brakes were at 60% material, which there was still plenty on there and everything else looked ok. If we were to replace the front brake pads, it would be $390. She opted to do so, and wanted everything to be ok with the brakes.
We went out to eat, since this brake job would take about an hour. We were called on the cell phone and the sales rep told us that we would have to come back and take a look at the car and we wouldn't like what we were about to see. He told us that there was brake fluid leading from the front calipers. I was perplexed, because there was no fluid on the driveway and we've never had to replace any of the brake fluid in the history of the car. All I could see was dark smudges on the calipers and the calipers were torn apart. After telling the sales guy that something seems fishy here and that the head to toe inspection didn't uncover any problems and problems were found later? She told him to put the car back together, after he told us that the new bid would be $900. She kept telling him she doesn't have $900. The sales rep said that he couldn't put together the brakes because there would be a safety issue.
I told the sales rep about usacomplaints.com and the better business bureau. He's familiar with those sites. I told him that my dad was a manager of a gas station and that he fired a mechanic for poking a radiator hose with a screwdriver. Either our brakes had an oil or fluid smudge placed on there by a mechanic, or the calipers were broken by an incompetent mechanic and the sales rep was trying to cover up for them.
I screamed at the sales rep, demanding to speak to the manager. He told me that the manager had the day off. I kept insisting to speak to the manager. We stormed out of there and went back outside. I yelled on the way out, "This is the last time we come to this place"
We had gotten a call 20 min later from the sales rep. We went back to the store. He told us that the managing partner said to put the car back together and charge us only $50 for the oil change and inspection.
Its amazing the capacity for car care dealers to have the intent to cheat people. I'm glad that we reached an agreement, before we had to sue. I swore if they didn't let us out of there for less than $900 or $650 like they tried to negotiate down, we would have been in small claims court!
DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO FIRESTONE at Gartner in Naperville. They are a bunch of crooks!
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