Complaint Review: The Pep Boys - PepBoys - Westchester California

After having received a letter from Pep Boys corporate office denying my claim, I filed a small claims case against the store and won the full amount including court costs. Sometimes the system does work.

I have been a General Motors technician for longer than I care to remember. I hold a master ASE certification and several awards from GM. It is my experiance that people take their cars to Pep Boys to save money. If you compare the hourly rate you may be surprised. Parts MAY be cheaper at Pep Boys (sometimes) but they are usualy generic parts and dont really fit the way they should, or are rebuilts that never last as long as a factory new part. A false economy at best. I have seen plug wires at Pep boys costing MORE for a middle quality part than the GM part of higher quality. One example of wasting money comes to mind, a customer took his car to a Pep Boys in the San Fernando Valley, in California, to have a rough idle repair made. PB sold him an alternator, when the mechanic routed the serpitine belt wrong (he didnt use the routing diagram sticker on the fender) he ground down the factory bracket and drilled new holes. Because the belt was misrouted the waterpump ran backwards and caused the car to overheat. Then he was sold a mass air flow sensor for a engine miss. This was the wrong repair AND it too was improperly installed. To adjust the fast idle the mechanic ground off the butterfly stop (the wrong way to adjust the idle. There were several other issues but you get the idea. When all was said and done the customer was into us for almost $2,000 because of some hack at Pep Boys. The man took PB to court and last I heard won by just showing the judge the invoices.I have even seen on a couple occations Pep boys bringing in cars for us to finish a repair they started and I would love to see how much they billed their customer for what we did. Are all Pepboys this way? Ones I have come across seem to be so. Sloppy workmanship, uneducated in the necessary skills and arrogant when confronted about thier errors. Greedy also comes to mind. But those are just my opinions.......

If the mechanic weighs over 250 lbs, you might have a case if the seat is truly broken. If not, you'll lose. If by "broken", you mean the motor or lever won't work, you'll probably lose anyway. They do wear out and all mechanics will move the seat in order to drive the car, just as they will almost always roll the window down. If the window won't go back up, that is not the mechanic's fault. If the seat back is actually broken and won't go back up, or the seat area is flattened because the mechanic is a whale, then you will have a legit complaint. Call Pep Boys Corporate office and file the complaint with them first. After that, contact your state's consumer affairs dept in your government. If all else fails, file in small claims and bring experts who know your car. Good luck.