Complaint Review: Pep Boys Automotive - Cincinnati Ohio

Do NOT go to Pep Boys! They are incompetant idiots who will destroy your property, treat you like garbage, and refuse to make right their negiligent destruction.

I took a brand-spanking new tire and rim (ordered online and delivered the day before) to Pep Boys on Oct 5, 2006. The front left tire shipped from the factory had the rotation backwards and the company told me take it to local shop, have fixed, they would pay for it.

So I took it to Pep Boys (BIG mistake!!!). It was not attached to a car, it was simply a rim with a wheel attached. All they had to do was take the tire off and turn it around and put it back on. I told the man behind the counter to be extremely careful with tire/rim as it was BRAND NEW. It was in PERFECT condition when it went in.

Picked up tire about hour later. Paid and had Pep Boys guy take it out to my car. I noticed an excessive amount of grease ALL OVER the rims. I began to wipe off some grease and realized they had RUINED my rim! There were HUNDREDS of scratches and small dents in the chrome lip of the rim. On the inside area of rim, which is black enamel, there were multiple chips in the paint all over the rim and the center circle looks like it was pried off with a screwdriver (huge chip in the paint) instead of simply popped out from the back. I went back into the store to deal with situation.

I was told by the assistant service manager that he could do nothing and I would have to come back the next day to speak to the service manager. I said no way was I leaving until they promised to take care of ruining my brand new wheel.

The assistant manager, Vernor, gave me a written note stating that he had seen the wheel come in brand new and undamaged and now it is damaged becaused of Pep Boys. I called the corporate office and the woman there verified with Vernor that they caused the damage and told me I had to get the service manager to do the claim when he was at work the next day. She assured me that because they admitted they caused the damage there would be no problem getting a claim and the service manager would be informed of this.

Next morning I went in AS SOON AS they opened at 8 am. Chris Termini, the service manager looked at the damage, said he would make a claim, and began to start the paperwork. As he did this, he told me there was no proof they caused the damage. I said Vernor gave me a written paper stating they caused the damage. He said that I "spoke to the wrong guy" and I couldn't prove Pep Boys did the damage. I told him, "Don't tell me that, you know you guys caused the damage." He said to me, "I'll say whatever I want to you and if you don't like it, you can just walk you a$$ down the road."

I told him not to speak to me like that and he called me a b**** and told me to leave, as he was not going to do anything about it, and walked away.

He comes back almost right away and says he will make a claim for the price of the rim. He copied my papers and I left.

I immediately called 1800-pep-boys and told them about his sexist, rude, innapropriate treatment of me in the store. I was made to believe by the lady on the phone that they felt what he did was seriously not OK and told me I would be contacted by his general manager, Phil. Phil never called me, even though I called back and left a message to have him do so later.

On Mon Oct 9, I got a message on my voicemail from Chris giving me my claim # and he said it would be a week, and he said he would call when it was completed.

I waited 10 days then went to talk to Chris. He was on vacation (of course). I called the 1800 # over and over for 2 weeks straight. I was every time transferred to different people in the claims department, never got a human to talk to one time, left many many messages and was NEVER called back ONE TIME. They completely IGNORED me.

Then I get a letter saying they are denying my claim. They say that the damage was "unfortunate", but that they were not responsible or negligent.

LIARS. I have PROOF they caused the damage IN WRITING. I have documented and kept copies of everything, every contact with them. They messed up my rim and refuse to make it right. It's not big time money, but I feel it is the principle here and I am trying to find a lawyer to get this taken care of.

Don't trust these people with anything related to your vehicle. They obviously have no clue what they are doing. They smeared grease all over even the inner part of the rim (no need to do that except to hide all the damge they caused, hoping I would not notice). They wouldn't even refund the $22 rotation in which they damaged my rim in the process. And the service manager CHRIS TERMINI had NO RIGHT to bully/insult/ me like he did.

But I am not going away quietly. If anyone thinks they can help me, please contact me.

Rebecca

Cincinnati, Ohio
U.S.A.

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