Bought a Prostart starter motor ($116 $40 core charge) 10/23. Gave in old starter to waive core charge.
Prostart motor failed on 11/15. Total short in motor, according to mechanic that examined car afterwards, could have caused a harness fire. My wife was driving the car at the time and after being called by her where she had broken down, I disconnected the battery as there was smoke coming coming from the engine compartment. The mechanic told me that by doing that I had probably prevented a serious fire. There was a very strong smell of smoke and burning when i got there.
Mechanic examined car on 11/16, told me that it was not unusual to see major problems with Prostart starter motors. Returned Prostart motor to Pepboys on 11/17, wanted refund of purchase price and return of my starter core, or any core that could be returned for core waive fee OR refund of the $40. Pepboys agreed to refund of purchase but not core charge.
I then told Pepboys manager that i would actually prefer for them to return my old starter but was told it was not there. I then told them I was happy to take any starter that my mechanic could take to waive the new core charge he needed to charge. The manager gave me a starter which I took to my mechanic. It was badly broken, in his words, it had been removed forcibly from what ever car it was on and that it would not be able to be returned for core charge. He also told me that the pepboys manager would have known that and that it had probably been sitting in their store with nowhere to go.
When pepboys processed my refund, the computer asked should the core charge be refunded (I saw the question on the computer). They had already told me that was impossible.
1) Prostart starter motors appear to be unreliable (Dangerous in this case) 2) Pepboys have now won on their deal with me, they are $40 up and I'm down over $200
Have made a formal complaint to pepboys over the web. Complaint sent to the manager in pepboys west chester. No response so far.
Will call them tomorrow to follow up. If there is no resolution by them, will file report with BBB and Attorney Generals Office.
I gave x y to get z. Z was faulty so I got back x but not y. And in fact i've paid even more then x y.
Total cost to date is $200 and I have NO intention of letting it go...
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