[urq] The Trip from Hell (Firestone Con-artist Rant)

[spot.ontheroad]

For the good of mankind those fatherless pickpockets at Firestone ought to
be dragged out in to the street and stoned to death. Call me a radical but I
felt angry just reading about it.
Some time a go I posted my experiences with a so called Auto Electrician
outfit who installed my alarm (in a fashion). I still have not yet decided
how to exact a painful but memorable revenge on them.
Why can't people be honest any more?


Keith (jumping down off soap box and retiring for the night!)

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew B <andrew.sb at gmail.com>
To: <urq at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 10:30 PM
Subject: [urq] The Trip from Hell (Firestone Con-artist Rant)


> Email 2:
>
> Well, this weekend I decided to take a trip to Buffalo to visit a
> friend of mine who went to school there.  The trip up was fine,
> outside of some issues with my Spedo, and the car made the trip with
> no sweat (lots of gas though...).  On Sunday, when it was time to
> leave, I went out to start my car, and it turned over as usual, but
> didn't start.  So I turned the key again, as usual, and it cranked....
>
> and it cranked....
>
>
>
>
> and slowly it stopped cranking.
>
> I figured this was a low battery, so I tried jumping it, to no avail.
> My guess was that it was flooded as well as dead.  Regardless, I
> called AAA, thinking they may have some suggestions, but mostly I just
> got a tow.  Of course, I really didn't have anywhere to tow it to.  My
> uncle is in the area and has a garage, which I figured would help the
> car warm up, and it might be able to start.  Of course, I didn't know
> how to get there.  So we towed it to the only place open on a Sunday,
> Firestone.  This is where it gets interesting/bad/disappointing.
>
> I got to firestone at about 3, since I wasn't the only one stranded in
> that icy cold.  When I got there, they told me they would work on it,
> and figuring that it needed a jump and some heat, I thought it would
> be an easy fix.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  They didn't even
> move the car in until 4:55, and they closed at 5.  I figured they
> could at least tell me if they weren't going to try working on it,
> then I could make other plans.  I'm very lucky I was staying with a
> good friend out in Buffalo, as I had to spend another night there
> while I waited for firestone to do anything.  When I left, the guy
> told me they would work on it in the morning, and call me by 9 when
> they figured out what it was.
>
> So, I woke at 7 the next morning, and finally got to Firestone at
> around 9 or 930.  They hadn't even touched the car yet.  Now I know
> they've got other customers and everything, but it takes 30 seconds to
> see if it'll turn over.  So, I hang around for a while, and about an
> hour later they start working on it.  A couple hours go by (who's
> counting, anyways?) and the guy tells me he's getting some price
> qoutes on some parts for me.  Parts?  All I need is to get it
> started...Sure enough, the guy comes back with an estimate of $570 to
> replace my spark plugs and wires, and to flush the fuel system.  Might
> as well throw an oil change in too, right?  I couldn't believe it,
> $230 worth of labor to install plug wires...are you kidding me?
>
> I told the guy I needed to hear it run before I paid for anything.  He
> said the guy had gotten it started earlier, but it was idling high and
> stumbling.  I figured it just needed to warm up, but regardless, he
> wouldn't let me try it until "they put it back together."  So i go out
> to take a look, and sure enough, there is one spark plug removed, and
> the corresponding cable is removed.  No open distributor, no throttle
> body (which he said was "gummed up"), and no signs of any effort at
> all.  I told the guy I would put it back together and start it, and
> then we'd see, and he sent somebody else to do it (one spark plug is
> "all apart"?).  Sure enough, the car immediately started, and the guy
> drove around to the front before I could even see it.  He wouldn't
> even let me see how it ran!  When he parked it and ran off, I got
> inside, and sure enough, it ran just as well as it ever did.
>
> I can't believe those con artists wanted me to pay $570 to do some
> crappy work that didn't need to be done.  I'm amazed that they get
> away with this.  I got out of there after spending $60 (yeah, for a
> battery charge and a flooded engine), and I would have gladly paid the
> original $85 they wanted just to get out of there.  To make it even
> better, they broke a T junction in my windshield washers, and my radio
> and clock no longer work.  I'm hoping it's just a fuse.  I was so
> eager to get out of there, I didn't even care.  I drove the car back
> to syracuse without any problems, besides no radio and a loud
> spedometer.  I can't believe those guys, I'm pissed.
>
> Anybody have any suggestions on where to turn?  My father suggested
> the better business bureau, but I'm wondering if there's anything
> else.  As I waited for 5 hours there, not a single person walked away
> with a bill less than $300.  What a mistake that was...  Anybody have
> a similar experience?  I've never been to a Firestone before, and I'll
> never go to another.
>
> -Andrew
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