pep boys screwed me

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Five10packs
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Joined: 29 Mar 2005 17:35

pep boys screwed me

Post by Five10packs »

Hey guys, I got screwed over by Pep Boy's here in San Gabriel CA. The one off of Rosemead and Broadway.

First off, let me tell you about my background. I work full time as a mechnic, and have been working at my job for over 1 year. Before my job, I have dont countless brake jobs on various cars and brake configurations. I went to an automotive program at the local school where I learned many things, including brakes. I have taken basic machine shop clases that invlove basic lathe and mill work.

Ok, so Im doing a brake rear job on my friends 2006 acura tsx. I get oem honda pads, and decide to get teh rotors resurfaced by Pep Boys. Its on its first rear brake job. So I go in, and they tell me its going to take 2 hours for my rotors to be done. I guess they were busy. So I call to make sure my rotors are done, they tell me they are. I go in and ask for my rotors. They show me the rotors,a nd OMG, they are messed up. The outter side is ok, a quick cut. Not the best job Ive seen, but they will work. I flip both rotors over, and OMG! They totally messed them up. And they were going to give them back to me like that! Obviously the technician jsut did a quick flat rate joba nd didnt even doublecheck his work. You could tell the cutter wasn't cutting and was bouncing around. It had grooves in it I could dig in iwth my nail, and my nail would get stuck in the grooves

So I show them the hack job they did, and the manageer makes the tech redo at a very slow speed to make the finsih look nice. I sit there for 1 extra hour!!! Rotors dont take that long to cut properly.

Anyways, so I am happy they are resurfaced and look ok. I do the brake job and get paid. The next day my friend calls me and tells me the pedal is pulsing and she heard a screech braking in reverse.

So I go back to Pep Boy's and tell the manager, the same manager I dealt with when I got them resurfaced. I knew he was going to say this, but he says,"we measured them, they were in spec." From thinking about it the night before I already know what to say to him.
1)I brought up the fact the car is a 05 on its first rear brake job
2)I showed him the old pads and showed him they were not metal to metal
3)They screwed up the first time cutting the rotors, causing a deep gash, causeing them to cut down to the lowest piont to make a smooth surface again
4)The rotors now have a blue tint to them and you feel the pedal pulsating
And I'm here keeping it cool, being very nice. Just letting him know they screwed up without yelling at him

He tells me this
1)They were in spec(doesnt acknowledge how fucked up they were the first time they tried to send the part back to the customer
2)He asks me the runout. I told him, I dont have a runout gauge, but hte rotors are now blue and you feel the pulse in the pedal
3)He tires to tell me the runout is off,a nd ther arent overheated. To me, either way, their fucked up
4)They were Generic rotors and that is what he is going to give to us. That is total BS, they say honda on them, and they are off the origional car with only one set of brake pads that had regular wear
5)He tells me,"Dont you know race car rotors are wafer thin?" I tell him,"those are made of a special material"
6)He tells me,"come back at 10:30am, I will have the rotors for u." I asked him,"how do you kow you will have the rotors? You never asked what kind of car it is."
Good thing my friend spoke up, because they were going to give her generic rotors. She told him she wants the OEM rotors, like the ones they screwed up.

So the manager calls the local acura dealer and they tell him they wont have it untill tomorrow morning. Good thing, my friend calls her dealership nearby, and they have them in stock.

So now Im doing this writeup, I'm going to end up doing the brakes another time, free of charge because Pep Boys screwed up. The manager doesnt want to admitt to them screwing up, and doesnt want to pay for their screwed up job.

Anyone know where I can post this on the internet to show other people to let them know not to go there?
inline4
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RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by inline4 »

did you pay with a credit card or check card?

complain higher up and dispute the transaction.
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thisismatt
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RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by thisismatt »

Why did you need to turn the rotors in the first place?
I'm your huckleberry.
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hang_510
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RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by hang_510 »

my santa barbara (1993) manny, moe & jack horror show ended with the serv manager being fired!

my GF at the time w/an RX7 took it in to do the struts/alignment.

i did the brakes and SHE took the rotors in just like you, they told her they were out of spec and needed new!
i went back about 3 hours later...they resurfaced them w/o any issues. :evil:
i mentioned this to the store (not serv) manager also.
my main issue was that if i were a woman(or just an idiot), i woulda been screwed big time!!!

brakes back together the car goes in for the struts. come out riding good. next stop tires. and then back for the alignmnet. all good at this point.

3 weeks later the inner surface of the front tires are seriously worn. have the GF take it back to PB for a follow up check, since they did all the work. they tell her that shes driving the cyns too fast and thats what causing the wear :x there was only ~200 miles on the tires...
she come home very upset, so now i gotta go back and figure what happened.

i bring it back and the ass-man tries to tell me the same thing, i retort that even if i were to drive the shit out of it on a track, the tires would NEVER wear like they are.
get the serv-man in to the fray and after 2+ hours of arguing about what was the problem, they finally agree to stick it back on the rack. a little later they determine that the struts were installed wrong.

outcome: 2 new tires, lifetime alignment(never used), full refund for the labor, letter of apology from the CEO and 2 incompetent employess fired, 1 being the service manager.

whenever possible i avoid them...
byron wrote:I'd be all over that like a fat kid on a smartie.
okayfine wrote:Sense doesn't always have everything to do with it, and I speak from experience.
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okayfine
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Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by okayfine »

thisismatt wrote:Why did you need to turn the rotors in the first place?
This.
Five10packs
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Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by Five10packs »

thisismatt wrote:Why did you need to turn the rotors in the first place?
I probably could have just thrown some new pads on there, but I I wanted a fresh surface for the new pads. Oh well.

So after all the fuss from one of the managers. We got the parts, went back to Pep Boys with the old rotors they resurfaced. They reinburst us for the oem rotors. The one manager giving us a hard time was not there anymore.
Gensaiken1
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RE: Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by Gensaiken1 »

damn that is a crazy situation.

Glad you got it resolved correctly and got OEM parts back on there.

They don't have any pep boys where i'm at but atleast I know to avoid them..
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thisismatt
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Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by thisismatt »

Five10packs wrote:
thisismatt wrote:Why did you need to turn the rotors in the first place?
I probably could have just thrown some new pads on there, but I I wanted a fresh surface for the new pads. Oh well.

So after all the fuss from one of the managers. We got the parts, went back to Pep Boys with the old rotors they resurfaced. They reinburst us for the oem rotors. The one manager giving us a hard time was not there anymore.
I've gotten some crap for my opinion on this before, but I've just never seen the point of turning a rotor. If it's not damaged then I don't see the point and just "pad slap" the old rotor with a good bedding in of the new pads, and if it is damaged I just buy new rotors...yeah, I buy inexpensive ones from Kragen - typically the Aimco GS brand, which I've never had a problem with.

How much does pep boys charge to turn them out of curiosity?
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hang_510
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RE: Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by hang_510 »

last time i went it was $5 ea, i think its under $10ea still
byron wrote:I'd be all over that like a fat kid on a smartie.
okayfine wrote:Sense doesn't always have everything to do with it, and I speak from experience.
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okayfine
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Re: RE: Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by okayfine »

Gensaiken1 wrote:They don't have any pep boys where i'm at but atleast I know to avoid them..
I had a Napa machine shop mis-balance a flywheel to the tune of 4oz off. Bad machinists aren't exclusive to PepBoys.
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okayfine
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Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by okayfine »

Five10packs wrote:I probably could have just thrown some new pads on there, but I I wanted a fresh surface for the new pads. Oh well.
It would have been edumacational to have mic'ed the final thickness and compare that to factory new to see how much material they ended up taking off. If you could catch your finger nail in the gouges, plus a clean cut, plus the material from the other side of the rotor surface...not surprising they warped.

I'm with Matt. Unless there's metal-on-metal contact, or some kind of funky grooving going on, I leave well enough alone.
Gensaiken1
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Re: RE: Re: RE: pep boys screwed me

Post by Gensaiken1 »

okayfine wrote:
Gensaiken1 wrote:They don't have any pep boys where i'm at but atleast I know to avoid them..
I had a Napa machine shop mis-balance a flywheel to the tune of 4oz off. Bad machinists aren't exclusive to PepBoys.

good point... maybe i'll stick to stores where people know me. :lol:
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