America's Service Station Ripoff Couldn't Detect a Dead Battery Given Two Opportunities Charged $42.50 Norcross Georgia
When our pick-up truck failed to start one weekend morning, we recharged the battery and drove it to America's Service Station, because it is only a couple miles away, thinking they could verify that it was indeed our almost-new battery that had failed and not something more serious. They said the battery was fine, claimed to have cleaned the terminals of corrosion, and charged us $42.50. They strongly suggested that we let them service the cooling system, said it needed it badly. We declined this service.
When the truck failed to start again the next day, we charged the battery again and took it back to them for another check. They claimed to have checked the battery again and could find nothing wrong. And again they kept talking about the cooling system needing immediate servicing. A mechanic said that perhaps the mercury switch on the hood light was keeping the light on even when the hood was down and was running the battery down. Even I, a 65-year-old, non-mechanical female could check the hood and tell that the light went off when the hood was opened less than 8-12 inches. When we finally got the battery to the point of purchase, they detected that it was bad in less than five minutes and offered us full credit.
Joanna s.
Duluth, Georgia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Joanna s.
Duluth,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Manager Refused to Accept Test Results on Dead Battery
#2Author of original report
Fri, December 17, 2004
On December 16, I called the manager of America's Service Station and asked if they would credit back my Mastercard for the meaningless tests they had performed and for sending me away twice with a dead battery. David, the Manager, told me that he would have to have a written test report on something with the company name and a signature, from the place where I'd bought the battery, indicating the battery failed and they had taken it back, before he could credit my Mastercard. I went back to the place of purchase, got a print-out of the test they had done on the battery, got it signed, and took it to America's Service Station. David looked at it, and said he still could see no basis for issuing a credit because they still had their print-out showing that my dead battery was good.
There has been discussion in the industry about the unfortunate acronym--a*s--that the company name America's Service Station invites. I for one think it is most appropriate, because that's what they all are.