Greg
Middletown,#2Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 15, 2004
Augusta your right no one twisted their arm, They paid for it. As far as what you suggest that every one do their own maintenance, Well if they did where would you be working?
Augusta
Augusta, GA,#3Consumer Suggestion
Sat, March 13, 2004
Susan, Perhaps it would be good to note that many people in today's society do not care in the least about performing preventative maintenance on their vehicles. If they were, things such as the $580 oil change would not occur. Most people do not take their car in when it is "fine." They take it in when it is broken. Otherwise, the only other times their vehicles are in a shop are when the oil is changed. I can see why you think of this as a $580 oil change, but such is really not the case. Now, for starters, I might point out that no one twisted your or your son's arm to have the repairs performed. Our job is merely to inform the customer of conditions that exist on their vehicle, and provide them an opportunity to have the work performed, or not. Now, if in 47 years and 12 vehicles you have never heard of an idler pulley going bad, then I am sorry. It is possible that you have had vehicles that use tensioners, and not idler pulleys. Many times people confuse the issue, such as this time--it is not the pulley itself that goes bad, but rather the bearings that are in the middle of the pulley assembly(and they are ball bearings). Yes, this is one of the many things that produce that annoying "squeal" that many customers come in and state, "There is an awful squeal coming from my engine and it won't go away, and I don't know what it is." In most cases, the only way that this bearing comes is with a new pulley. Now, as for the hoses...a hose does not have to be leaking to be bad. Again, no one can force you to replace parts. However, if you have had 12 cars in the last 47 years, I would shudder to think at the number of them that have overheated because you only replaced the hoses when they broke. That is why things like this are called PREVENTATIVE maintenance. As for the gash in the hose--okay, that was a mistake, and poor placement of the hose to begin with on the technicians part...people DO make mistakes. However, I do not feel it is reasonable to crucify someone because of a mistake. Our company is famous for its customer service, and if someone has a problem with work that had been performed on their vehicle, all they have to do is bring the vehicle back, and it will be fixed. As for the comment about Autozone having $.97 spark plugs...I would suggest you go buy 4 spark plugs from Autozone, and then ask one of the nice salespeople to go outside and put them in your truck for you, and set the timing, and make sure that your charging system is working properly, and inspect your ignition wires, distributor cap, and ignition rotor button--all for the $5 or so you spent for the spark plugs. And on top of that, give you a 6 month/6,000 mile warranty on all the above tune-up work mentioned in this paragraph. One thing that I would suggest to you is this...in today's "fast-food society", in which everyone wants everything right now, and exactly the way they want it, there are people in the retail industry that are ready to meet that need. If you don't want to pay the price, I would suggest that you go to Aiken Tech and take a course in basic automobile maintenance so you can learn to do the work yourself--short of that, learn to accept the fact that if you want services performed in today's society, you must be prepared to pay for them...just as I am sure you are paid for what you do at your place of employment--otherwise, DON'T GET THE WORK DONE!! As for the check engine light...again, if this was still on, it should have been taken back to have it looked at again. It is really a shame that a lot of people today somehow think that when they go out and buy their $20,000-$50,000 vehicles, that this will be the only expense other than oil changes. Again, if regular, routine maintenance was being requested and performed, there would be fewer instances of many things needing repair on a vehicle all at the same time, which would lessen the chances of the $580 OIL CHANGE!