Ok, before I get to the meat of the matter, let me say that Pep Boys is not a bad company overall. They are probably fine for oil changes, tires for the average vehicle, etc. But I cannot recommend them for anything else.
This is what happened: a few months ago my wife's car could not steer properly. Her car has power-assisted rack and pinion steering, which is standard for most cars made after, say, 1995. We towed it to Pep Boys and they properly diagnosed it as the power steering pump. They replaced the pump as well as doing some other work and everything seemed fine. However, I did notice some oil dripping from the auto in the last month or two. I thought it was no big deal, the engine has 120,000 miles on it, these things happen.
Well, a few days ago, the drip turned into a flood. I checked the oil stick, but it read normal. My wife tried to drive it but didn't get too far, and we towed it to Pep Boys again. I did consider towing it to a "better" auto repair shop, but Pep Boys was much closer, they offer a tow discount, etc. So back to Pep Boys it goes. It's $90 for an inspection.
It turned out to be a hose connected to the power steering pump of all things. Quite a coincidence, wouldn't you agree? So I try to get a quote for the hose. This is what made me upset and very frustated with Pep Boys: the manager said either we replace all hoses connected to the pump, as well as replace the entire rack and pinion system, or they will not do any work on the car at all. The manager said the work will be over $ and also suggested to replace the power steering pump! I told him he better look at the maintenance record of the car before we talk further. Five seconds later there was a "Uh... Oh we did replace the pump three months ago". Yes, you did, idiot. At this point I said look, just give me a quote on replacing the hose that's leaking. No dice, I either pay over $2000 to replace a bunch of stuff that isn't even broken, or I go somewhere else. What a bunch of crap!
So I tow it for the second time to a private auto shop that's done a lot of work on our other car. Guess what the price was? $50 total to tighten the leaky hose, fill the power steering fluid up, and run the car for 20 min. The hose was not even broken! It was 1 1/2 threads off of tight to the power steering pump. So, in other words, Pep Boys didn't tighten the hose correctly 3 months ago, and wants to charge $2000 for a job that cost $50! Can you believe that crap?
0 comments