Complaint Review: Pep Boys - Richmond Virginia

Regardless of what the Pep Boys "Master Technician" says, the O.P. is correct in his allegations, I'm sure. I have encountered this at numerous Pep boys locations over several years. And, I too, am a competent mechanic. However, after damaging 3 disks in my back, there are several jobs I cannot do. And pep Boys is usually the only one open late that you can actually get into. Time and time again I have encountered the hard upsell of un neeeded parts and services. Making a suggestion is fine, but it goes way beyond this. They are taught to upsell every customer, as they work on commission too. Mechanics that don't upsell will lose their job. For example, I took a 95 Cougar in to a Bradenton FL Pep Boys for an alignment after I replaced some struts and control arms. The "mechanic" sted that it could not be aligned due to "severe" frame damage and worn parts. Well, here is the problem with that. Every part on the front end was new within a 6 month period with all premium parts used and installed to spec. And, the "frame damage" was just a small gouge in the crossmember under the motor that has been there through the last 3 alignments over the past 8 years. It had no affect whatsoever on the alignment. And, Firestone aligned it the very next day with absolutely no problems after Pep Boys refused to do it. Why is this? The mechanic wanted to work on the next vehicle that he could upsell and make commission. He would have only gotten the flat rate for my alignment which he was not satisfied with. PS. He stated that "it was all over the place" and his equipment "could not get a reading". Well, I guess he should have not left it running! I have a performance motor in it with a full set of Flowmasters and a K&N. Yeah, it has a nice idle. I watched this guy from the burger King next door. It was on the rack for less than a minute. He rolled it on, did a quick inspection and rolled it off. He then went to the service advisor with his "findings" on the things that needed to be done before he could align it. I refused the work and asked for an estimate stating what repairs were needed and why. They refused. I wonder why. This is just one experience of many with Pep Boys service centers. I have not had one good one.

It seems that what happened is that your van failed inspection for loose bolts in the front end which is very dangerous. Did you rebuild the front end yourself? Did you possibly forget to put in the lock pin? Did you torque the bolts to the right specs? The most logical answer is that you did not install the parts correctly. In this case the auto tech who inspected your vehicle saved you from a potential crash and possible injury or death! You are claiming that the auto shop loosened the bolts in the front end of the van to rip you off. That would be insane for the auto mechanic to do. The van could loose its steering, the vehicle could crash, and someone could be killed. The mechanic would be guilty of MURDER (not to mention the financial liability!) I simply do not believe that a mechanic would sabotage your car (unless you show me some sort of proof). Your "proof" is the safety wire, but the auto tech says he has safety wire from working on race cars. If you do have real proof, go to the police and someone will go to jail for fraud. Otherwise you are opening yourself up to financial loss for slander. You can't just start accusing a professional of a crime with no proof. Maybe you should try getting along better with people. You wrote- "It's big, it's ugly, it gets atrocious gas mileage, but it starts every time (except after I took it pep boys) and it's big enough and tough enough to argue with the horribly bad virginia drivers and win." How do our vehicles need to be "big" and "tough" and "win" in our drive to work? What you are describing is ROAD RAGE. Are you able to drive to work without getting angry at someone and using your vehicle as a weapon? The real story is that you were angry at the mechanic for failing your (dangerous) vehicle for inspection and made a bunch of false accusations. Get over it. Dangerous vehicles should fail inspection. Try to be sure to correctly torque all the bolts when you work on your car next time. But if you forget, then it should show up when you get your vehicle inspected. Try not to tear the guy's head off. Please.

Um, 1969 Ford Van, (Designed for a mechanical lifespan in excess of 5 years like new cars) with 1 ton rated parts. Kingpins over 1-1/4 in diameter, all other parts equally designed and built overstrong compared to newer vehicles. Dual I-Beam front suspension. Very few components that can go bad. What I was stating was that Pepboys obviously, to me at least, did not do anything other than perhaps maybe look at the undercarriage and try to get me to pay for un-needed parts and repairs as all I had to do was tighten the pitman arm retaining nut cotter pin (which was mysteriously missing) and it passed VA inspection. Whereas Pepboys informed me that they could not pass it as the steering components needed replacing and they were unable to locate any of the parts which are available from TRW and DANA via special order due to the age of the vehicle. All headlights on all vehicles are adjustable, my headlights were adjusted to what FORD states they should be adjusted to. (This is rather obvious as I didn't do anything to the headlight and they passed when I had it re-inspected) I did not speak to any inspector at Pepboys. I asked to speak to the inspector and the manager on duty indicated that the inspector left for the day at 5PM, whereas I picked up my vehicle at 7PM. So either you're mis-remembering or the pepboys manager on duty was lying baldfaced to me. I do suppose that there are totally bone stock, unmodified completely in any way, fashion, method or form 1969 vehicles running around out there, but this vehicle is not. Additional fuse blocks other than the ford built fuse blcok were added to the vehicle for items like, stereo, stereo amplifiers, additional electrical sockets, interior lights, fog lights, driving lights, CB radio, CD-player etc. I do not believe in overloading an existing 5 fuse block and relays are required to correctly wire fog/driving lamps and circuit breakers are not that much more than fuses so when I added all the nice toys to my vehicle I used them instead of fuses. EVERY SINGLE fuse was blown, every single one of them. The circuit breakers needed to be reset, and every single fog/driving lamp relay was fried. What I was stating was that, they worked when I pulled into the pepboys parking lot, how is it that they were all blown out when I picked it up. If MY saftey wire (I don't think that pepboys issues milspec aircraft blue stripe saftey wire to it's mechanics or inspectors) was still on the wheel bearing retaining nuts, how could a pep boys inspector have removed the drums to inspect the brakes and then inform me that the brakes needed to be replaced. (Please do note- MY saftey wire was still on the vehicle -untouched, therefore, the logical conclusion is/was that the brakes hadn't been touched.) Additionally, As long as we are on this subject. 1969-73 Ford 1 Ton vans have a brake indicator light on the dash. My vehicle was also tagged out for this light not lighting up when the e-brake lever is pulled up. This indicator DOES NOT as the pepboys manager stated to me "light up when the emergency brake lever is pulled up". This indicator indicates the presence of air in the adjustable proprotioning valve. This only indicates to me that pepboys was not aware of the fine points of a 1969 vehicle and was trying to bamboozle me thinking that perhaps I didn't know what I was talking about. My entire family is extremely mechanical (My uncle and cousins still build and run race cars in Texas) and I personally built this van, along with every other car, motorcyle, boat, and truck I've ever owned from the ground up and top down bumper to bumper. I gather as well, that somehow the statement that I DO NOT pay for work on my vehicles was passed over. I was not going to pay pepboys to do work on my vehicle that was NOT-NEEDED, UNNECCESARY, and was eventually proved correct as it passed inspection after I fixed what pepboys had broken. You've somehow missed the fact that it worked when it went in for inspection, somehow failed inspection, but after everything that worked when it was taken in (but magically broke) was fixed, it passed inspection. As far as the State Police, I did indeed call them. I was informed that I would need to take the vehicle to them Monday through Friday 8AM to 5PM. This would have involved me taking at least four or more hours out of my day (remember at the time I was working for a startup telco and putting in 6-7 12/14 hour days) and this would have have, in the words of my boss at the time "been a bad thing". Therefore I needed to have it inspected when I could spare the time. So I did. And, gee golly whiz, it passed, without having a bunch of stuff cease to function and without being told I'd have to spend a bunch of money on replacing parts that had nothing wrong with them. Why didn't I go back to Pepboys for the free re-inspection? Because I was severly NOT impressed with the customer service that I had received and the the attitude of the pepboys manager that I had spoken to. Co-incidentally, my van (with the new battery) needed to have a jump start to get out of the parking lot. golly, does this mean that pep boys drained my battery listening to my really good stereo, or that my electrical system need work as well? which was not mentioned on the inspection failure slip Essentially, and this is only my opinion, Pepboys tried to create business for themselves by attempting to bamboozle me and got caught. Instead I now NO longer shop for anything at pepboys, oil, plugs, tuneup components, automotive chemicals, etc etc etc. So who's the real loser here? Finally, in the late 1970's when I was last ASE certified, it was Master Mechanic. They only had 4 tests back then not 40 like they do now. Do you remember the 1970's or were you still in plastic pants?

James, I would like to inform you that you have proven yourself to be the incompetent one after the complaint you submitted. First of all after rebuilding your "undercarriage" as you call it three years ago, do you really think that driving it daily 40 minutes one way each day it's not going to cause wear and tear on your vehicle. Just that one fact proves that you should have never been able to gain the title of being an ASE certified "master level mechanic". To correct you it is referred to as a "ASE certified master technician" in which I am, also I have had my state inspection license for 16 years. If you had such a problem with the inspection, you should have called the Virginia State Police (which I am doing the inspection for, not Pep Boys) in which they would have proven I was right with everyhting that I rejected your vehicle for. I do remember this vehicle because the headlights were out of adjustment and you told the service writer that you couldn't adjust the headlights because they were non adjustable. That proves how incompetent you are on the functions on the vehicle. Why would you have circuit breakers and relays on a 1969 van when it was equiped with fuses only when it came from the factory. Oh by the way, I do know how to safety wire nuts and bolts because I have the equipment due to the fact that I race and work on race cars also. I guess your van did pass State Inspection after you repaired what you said mysteriously loosened themselves, however, if you thought it should have passed when you left Pep Boys, why would you bother going home to work on it since you did a total rebuild (3 years ago). I hope this has helped you to see the light, try to enjoy the rest of your day. :)

James, I would like to inform you that you have proven yourself to be the incompetent one after the complaint you submitted. First of all after rebuilding your "undercarriage" as you call it three years ago, do you really think that driving it daily 40 minutes one way each day it's not going to cause wear and tear on your vehicle. Just that one fact proves that you should have never been able to gain the title of being an ASE certified "master level mechanic". To correct you it is referred to as a "ASE certified master technician" in which I am, also I have had my state inspection license for 16 years. If you had such a problem with the inspection, you should have called the Virginia State Police (which I am doing the inspection for, not Pep Boys) in which they would have proven I was right with everyhting that I rejected your vehicle for. I do remember this vehicle because the headlights were out of adjustment and you told the service writer that you couldn't adjust the headlights because they were non adjustable. That proves how incompetent you are on the functions on the vehicle. Why would you have circuit breakers and relays on a 1969 van when it was equiped with fuses only when it came from the factory. Oh by the way, I do know how to safety wire nuts and bolts because I have the equipment due to the fact that I race and work on race cars also. I guess your van did pass State Inspection after you repaired what you said mysteriously loosened themselves, however, if you thought it should have passed when you left Pep Boys, why would you bother going home to work on it since you did a total rebuild (3 years ago). I hope this has helped you to see the light, try to enjoy the rest of your day. :)

James, I would like to inform you that you have proven yourself to be the incompetent one after the complaint you submitted. First of all after rebuilding your "undercarriage" as you call it three years ago, do you really think that driving it daily 40 minutes one way each day it's not going to cause wear and tear on your vehicle. Just that one fact proves that you should have never been able to gain the title of being an ASE certified "master level mechanic". To correct you it is referred to as a "ASE certified master technician" in which I am, also I have had my state inspection license for 16 years. If you had such a problem with the inspection, you should have called the Virginia State Police (which I am doing the inspection for, not Pep Boys) in which they would have proven I was right with everyhting that I rejected your vehicle for. I do remember this vehicle because the headlights were out of adjustment and you told the service writer that you couldn't adjust the headlights because they were non adjustable. That proves how incompetent you are on the functions on the vehicle. Why would you have circuit breakers and relays on a 1969 van when it was equiped with fuses only when it came from the factory. Oh by the way, I do know how to safety wire nuts and bolts because I have the equipment due to the fact that I race and work on race cars also. I guess your van did pass State Inspection after you repaired what you said mysteriously loosened themselves, however, if you thought it should have passed when you left Pep Boys, why would you bother going home to work on it since you did a total rebuild (3 years ago). I hope this has helped you to see the light, try to enjoy the rest of your day. :)

James, I would like to inform you that you have proven yourself to be the incompetent one after the complaint you submitted. First of all after rebuilding your "undercarriage" as you call it three years ago, do you really think that driving it daily 40 minutes one way each day it's not going to cause wear and tear on your vehicle. Just that one fact proves that you should have never been able to gain the title of being an ASE certified "master level mechanic". To correct you it is referred to as a "ASE certified master technician" in which I am, also I have had my state inspection license for 16 years. If you had such a problem with the inspection, you should have called the Virginia State Police (which I am doing the inspection for, not Pep Boys) in which they would have proven I was right with everyhting that I rejected your vehicle for. I do remember this vehicle because the headlights were out of adjustment and you told the service writer that you couldn't adjust the headlights because they were non adjustable. That proves how incompetent you are on the functions on the vehicle. Why would you have circuit breakers and relays on a 1969 van when it was equiped with fuses only when it came from the factory. Oh by the way, I do know how to safety wire nuts and bolts because I have the equipment due to the fact that I race and work on race cars also. I guess your van did pass State Inspection after you repaired what you said mysteriously loosened themselves, however, if you thought it should have passed when you left Pep Boys, why would you bother going home to work on it since you did a total rebuild (3 years ago). I hope this has helped you to see the light, try to enjoy the rest of your day. :)