As I was trying to replace a valve cover gasket, I dropped a bolt into timing belt area. To determine if the bolt had just fallen to the ground I turned the car on and the bolt shot through casing area around timing belts, at that time I turned vehicle off. Restarted engine, it ran vey smooth. I decided to have the belt replaced because of a small tear on the outside edge of the belt, and the recommended replacement is 60.000 miles.
I called Firestone and they told me not to drive the vehicle and to have it towed by Firestones' recommended towing company and was quoted a $20.00 fee, this was to be added to my total bill. He also agreed to put on the valve cover gasket, I had purchased, on the car at no charge because he would have had to put the old one back on anyway.
The car was taken by Cottonwood towing to Firestone, at a charge of $45.00, not the quoted $20.00. The mamager called me and told me that since he was there (inside the enclosed areas of the belts), that he noticed my other belts were worn and would recommend they be changed as well, I gave them the go ahead.
I picked the vehicle up and was not given any feed back with the exception of my spark plug wires, one of which was broken, as per the technician who performed the repair on my car. I assumed that the car was running poor due to the wire problem. It was not running to bad at the time so I decided to wait to replace the wires since I was told it was not a danger to the car for a short time.
I purchased the wires and relplaced them about 2 weeks out from the repair at Firestone. The car still ran very poorly, at this time I called Firestone and told them that the car was not drivable and was instructed to have tha car towed again to the shop and that they would pay the tow charge if it was a mechanics error.
When I did not hear from Firestone after a few hours, I called and was told by Tony, the manager, that my engine was blown. We talked and he then informed me that he warned me that this may happen because it was possible that the time had jumped and that this could cause internal engine damage. I assure you that if this conversation would have happened, I would not have put new belts throughout the car.
My sworn statement is that this was never said to me, if it had been, I would not have spent 565.00 for a repair to a potentially ruined car. This car is a 1995 Hundai Elanta, not worth investing this kind of repair charge, if there could have been possible internal damage.
The other argument's I have are, if the belt had jumped they would have been able to see that while removing the old belt, if the marks on the belt would have been checked, and secondly, how did they come to the decision that it was blown, they stated that they would need to go inside to see what had happened. I was not willing at that time to pay any additional charges to what I feel are a very dishonest company.
They did waived the second tow charge, this was done with no explaination.
I made a $200.00 payment and have since stopped payment on the check. I feel that the company should repair damages caused by their negligence, at that time I would be willing to pay the bill for the repairs rendered.
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