Firestone Complete Auto Care
$ Cost me Dearly $ - transmission and serpentine belt

Here is a good one! I went to Firestone about a year ago and had some Bridgestone tires installed on my work van. The cashier mentioned that my Transmission fluid should be replaced and recommended a flush as well as the replacement of a pully tensioner/serpentine belt. I made the appointment and paid the $850 for the tires. I returned a week later for the other work which was to take about 1.5 hours. After 2.5 hours the manager came to me and said "there has been a problem". It turns out, the hose they attached to flush the tranny had not been fastened correctly and came off flooding the garage floor with fluid. He then said "the work will take a little longer". I drove away three and a half hours later. My van had under 70K miles on it and 30 days later the transmission went out to the tune of $3600. Was it a result of them pumping all the fluid out of my transmission onto their floor? Who knows! My van is a 1 ton and should not have transmission issues at under 70k miles. To top it all off, when I got home I smelled burning oil when I got out of the vehicle. Upon opening the hood, I was shocked to see red transmission fluid sprayed over the entire engine compartment. They made no effort to clean anything but their floor. I was so mad, I went down the next day and demanded that it be cleaned. They sent my van to a steam cleaner who blasted the engine compartment. Both tranny oil and water are not good on electrical engine components, but what can I say or do! Now for the serpentine belt! It turns out, they use the absolute cheapest crap belts available because it started squealing like a pig for 20 minutes every morning until the cheap rubber material warmed up from the engine heat. This embarrased me at every intersection. The belts they use are simply garbage. I put a Goodyear Gatorback belt on myself and solved the problem immediately. Through it all, I was too afraid to take my van back to them in fear that they would foul something else costing me more. I highly recommend finding a reputable mechanic to work on your auto before you take it to Firestone Complete Auto Care. They will never see another dime out of me nor will they ever come within 10 feet of one of my vehicles for as long as I shall live.

Company: Firestone Complete Auto Care
Country: USA

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