Complaint Review: Pep Boys #39 - Chattanooga Tennessee

Pep Boys should give me a full refund for work that was either not done or done improperly to my truck. Except where noted the following is taken from letters I have submitted in my negotiations with Pep Boys and my credit card company.

This is the letter I sent to my credit card company disputing the charges after Pep Boys refused to offer a refund.

On 7/22 I went to PEP Boys because my vehicle's engine had a slight miss and would also occasionally die. The service advisor told me he would need to put my vehicle on their diagnostic computer to find the problem. After the test was completed they told me I needed major engine service including new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, a new distributor cap, fuel injection cleaning, fuel and oil additives to help clean the fuel systems, a new fuel filter, PCV valve and miscellaneous shop supplies. The total bill including labor was $417.28.

When I drove home the vehicle didn't run any better than it did before I went to the garage. In fact, the idle became worse than before. At 8 A.M the following Saturday I took the vehicle back and explained the situation. They told me they were too busy at that time to look at it, but if I brought it back in at 10 A.M. they would look at it immediately. However, four hours later I was still there. The manager told me at approximately 11:30 A.M. that the truck would be diagnosed and finished in one hour. He said it was one of the cylinders, but would need to put it on the diagnostic machine to determine which one. In the end I was told that the diagnostics revealed nothing and that it was most likely carbon deposits from the fuel injection cleaning and that it would clear up in a few days.

They then told me they found that the distributor was broken and it would need to be replaced. (Note that when I took it back for the third time I was told the diagnostics revealed a broken distributor.) I think they broke the distributor but I have no way of knowing this for sure. I was told there they could not locate a distributor, and that they had made several attempts to get one, but that there were many types that fit my type of vehicle. They said they would have to order it from a GM dealer and that the dealer was closed on Saturday afternoon so it would be Monday morning before they could get the part. I was assured my vehicle would be ready at noon on Monday. (From looking at online sites that carry distributors fitting my vehicle there is only one distributor type that fit it.)

On Monday morning Pep Boys called me at my work and told me the part would not be in until late afternoon. At 5:15 PM they did call me and told me the part arrived and my vehicle would be ready at 6:30 PM. When I drove the vehicle home I discovered it did not run any better than it did when I first went to PEP Boys on 7/22. I paid $652.21 in total, but feel that my vehicle is in worse condition now than when I originally took it in. The person I was dealing with is the Service Manager and he was not forthright and honest in his dealings. As you will see from the second opinion I received from the GM dealer, my vehicle needs the same items that were supposedly replaced by PEP Boys. I am requesting that you dispute these charges on my behalf and deny payment to PEP Boys. This second opinion is proof beyond a doubt that PEP Boys did not properly diagnose and/or repair my vehicle and therefore should not receive any part of the payment.

Thank you for your help in this matter.

I contacted Pep Boys in person and was told that they would have refunded the money for the parts if I had brought them in to them from the other repair place (please note I never got my defective parts from Pep Boys either so don't know if they were ever replaced to begin with). I then received a fax through my credit card company that was sent from Jon Cordell, the store manager, to Rebecca at Pep Boys corporate with a rebuttal that stated I was offered a refund for the parts if I could return them and stating that I was told on my very first visit that my distributor was broken but refused to have it fixed and thus the reason for my truck to still be running poorly. Pep Boys refuses to refund the money for the labor even though my truck was not fixed properly and was worse than originally.

This letter was sent to my credit card company after receiving the faxed rebuttal.

Dear Monica,

This letter is in response to your Nov.8th letter concerning the Pep Boys' rebuttal.

07/22/2004

I brought my truck into Pep Boys because of a slight miss in the engine. As stated in the faxed response from Jon Cordell to a rep at Pep Boys, I was told about a broken distributor, but only afterwards and not prior to the work being done. While driving the truck home it was noticeably worse than before I brought it in for service. I was not able to bring it back immediately due to having to fly out of town. However, the truck was not driven until I was able to take it back to Pep Boys when I returned home.

07/31/2004

I arrived at Pep Boys early to let them know that the truck was running much worse than when I had brought it in originally. I was told to come back at 10 AM because we are really busy now. We will take it right in. At 10 AM I brought the truck back. A service person was busy under the hood for quite a while, and the service manager stated I'm pretty sure it's going to be the number 3 cylinder, but we won't know until we put it on the diagnostics machine. Later that day either the assistant or service manager told me that the diagnostics machine didn't turn up anything. No mention was made of the broken distributor or the number 3 cylinder, instead I was told that it was most likely carbon deposits and that the rough engine would clear up in a couple of days.

08/07/04

When the engine did not clear up and only seemed to get worse, I took it back to Pep Boys. This time I was told that the diagnostics found that the distributor was broken. Why didn't it show that on 7/31/04? My truck was supposedly repaired on 08/09/04 and I paid $234.93. Again, on my way home, the truck was worse than initially. I decided it was probably best to take my truck to another repair service, as there had been no change to my truck other than it was worse than originally.

I would like to point out in response to the fax that was sent to Rebecca at Pep Boys. I am not disputing that the initial work was done, but diagnostics from another reputable service center showed many of the parts defective that were supposed to have been replaced by Pep Boys. The parts were not returned to me by the service center I took my truck to afterwards, but I think the enclosed diagnostics reports should be sufficient in showing defective parts, since Pep Boys finds using diagnostics (and sometimes guesswork) in determining defective parts sufficient. I was not given my defective parts either, so have no tangible proof that the parts were defective. As far as the number 3 spark plug the fax indicated being replaced, it was not replaced on 07/31/04. I was told at that time nothing was found to be wrong. On the invoice dated 08/09/04 there is also no mention of its replacement. The faxed response also indicates a stripped housing on the distributor, while the original invoice from 07/22/2004 says distributor was broken. No mention was ever made of a stripped housing at any time. Though I was told originally I had a broken distributor, no mention of it was made on the second visit (though supposedly the truck was placed on a diagnostic machine), instead, as I pointed out earlier I was told it was carbon deposits.

I would like to further point out that I was told many inconsistencies regarding what the problems were, how they would be resolved and how long, which lends no credibility to statements Pep Boys managers make concerning what they remember and what I was told.

On Nov. 29, I called Pep Boys to talk with Chris, the service dept manager and was told he was not in. When I asked to speak instead with Jon Cordell, I heard the desk person tell Jon I wanted to speak with him and he refused and told her to tell me to call back tomorrow and speak to Chris. I called back the next day and was told by Chris that he would go ahead and refund me the money for my parts. Later that day Chris called back and said that he was not issuing a credit because Jon Cordell had sent a credit "request" into Pep Boys corporate.

The reason I feel that Pep Boys should refund my money is because the result of their work was that I still had to take my truck to another repair shop and have it fixed. Why would a reasonable person take his truck, which he just spent almost $700 on to have fixed, to another repair place and pay more money to have it fixed unless it was not fixed properly to begin with.

It makes no sense that Pep Boys can keep the money charged to me for labor, when the labor didn't result in fixing my truck, and in fact, made it worse. If I pay a plumber $2000 for fixing my pipes and $200 of that is for pipes and glue and $1800 is for labor and he screws up my plumbing so bad that I have to hire another plumber to come over and fix it properly and the previous plumber says, "I will give you back the $200 for the parts I used", that is ridiculous. People should not get paid for not doing the job properly. If anything, they should get credit for only work done properly, and in my opinion that was NONE OF IT!

I would like someone from Pep Boys in management, above store manager, to refund all the money Pep Boys has charged me and I wished to be contacted immediately

Gordon

Chattanooga, Tennessee
U.S.A.

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