I dropped my car off at a Pep Boys auto shop the other day for service. It was supposed to be a simple repair that wouldn't take very long. Each day I would call in to check on the progress, but each time I got a vague answer and the promise of a call back. Three days later I find out that they lost the key to my car (luckily I didn't leave any of my other keys with them).So basically it turns out the car was never moved or worked on, and they were lying about the progress the whole time. I had to speak to a bunch of different employees before one of them let slip the news that they had lost the key and had never done any work on it.
Years ago, another reader had success using an EECB to get Pep Boys to honor his tire warranty. We're not sure how many of the e-mail addresses that he used are still current, but the list does show us that the company's e-mail format is Firstname_Lastname@pepboys.com. Good luck.
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(Photo: zemistor)
]]>"After work I took the car to Pep Boys to get them to replace the bolt that broke and fix the flat (driving with three nuts holding the wheel in place instead of four for any length of time didn’t seem like the greatest idea), which they said would take an hour (this was at 4pm). I left. At 8pm I realized that the repair shop still hadn’t called me to say that the car was ready, so I called them and found out that they still weren’t done—but that they would be finished by close at 9pm. Half an hour later I still hadn’t heard back, so I just got a friend to drive me to the shop, hoping that they’d have completed the repair by the time I got there. After some confusion, I paid my bill and left just after close.
"About an hour later, I was going to put some stuff in the trunk when I realized that although they’d fixed the original tire and put it on the car, they hadn’t returned the spare to the trunk. I’m assuming it’s still at the shop, which I need to call tomorrow."
Thank God I found a great mechanic not long afterward.
]]>I've only got one key because the previous owner lost the other set.
I went to the dealership, and it is $100 JUST for the key blank itself, plus the cost to cut it, PLUS the cost of labour (they said it takes about a half an hour) to pull your car in and program it.
Not something you just swing by and pick up when you have a chance.
So don't pull any of that Blame the OP bs. Just because he only had one set of keys does not make it his fault nor is it his responsibility for the key getting lost/replacing it.
On the advice of a friend, I took it to a local mechanic who had it repaired the next day. He simply took off the belt Pep Boys had installed backwards and put a new one on properly. $270.
When I returned to speak to the Pep Boys manager, he explained the mistake by telling me I should've taken it to the other mechanic first.
Oh, and while I was there, the Service Manager was giving an elderly couple a $1400 estimate for complete front end work on a 5 year old Bonneville. You know, struts, ball joints, tie rods, the works.
]]>Whiny, D'ohh and Slack.
]]>I found a mechanic that specialized in Hondas and have never looked back- this was 20 years ago. They may be somewhat more expensive but they won't do stupid things to your car.
]]>But modern cars aren't always easy or cheap to get a dupe thanks to electronics and keyfobs and alarms. I recently paid almost $360 for a key set to mine because a previous owner lost the spare. Yeah my example is probably extreme, so does someone know how much a new key set costs for something like an Accord?
And you can stop with the "I'm sorry, but" garbage please.
]]>the next day i called the district manager who said he'd speak to the store manager and offered me free electrical system testing and half priced battery [if needed] at another store location. which i did.
called the first store later that day to see if the store manager had brought my original key back and was told that since i obviously moved my car that he didn't think i needed it anymore and he threw it away.
yep, that's pretty much the last time i ever went to sears except to walk through the store to get to the watch battery place.
Back when I was in college, my car had just blown a radiator hose. Luckily it was due to an improperly tightened hose clamp (ie, owner error), not a broken hose. Steam was coming from everywhere, so I pulled into the conveniently nearby pep boys. Now, I knew where the issue was, and I think I may have even had the screwdriver necessary to tighten the clamp, but the car had to be on jackstands or a lift to be able to reach the hose.
Knowing this was a self inflicted stupid issue, and that the fix was stupid simple, I was still willing to just pay someone to get under there and fix it quick. So I went into pep boys and explained the situation. This is where the conversation gets weird:
Pep boy guy (pbg): Oh, we don't touch hoses
me: What do you mean you don't touch hoses?
pbg: They don't let us work on them. Liability issue.
me: You're kidding, right?
pbg: No.
me: Can I talk to your manager?
So, manager comes over, I explain the situation.
Pep Boys manager (pbm): Sorry, we don't work on hoses
me: You ARE a service shop, right?
pbm: Yeah, we'll do anything else, but not hoses
me: I don't think you understaind. I can't drive anywhere until I get this fixed. It would take me exactly one minute to fix myself. I can point you to exactly where the issue is. Heck, you could even put it on the lift and I'll fix it myself. I just need this done so I can leave this parking lot!
pbm: Sorry, I can't help you.
Mind numbing, even to this day. I don't ever go back there. Mind you, they didn't seem overly busy or anything. Just stupid. I can't even comprehend why a place wouldn't fix a damn hose...
]]>My interpretation differs: I think that Manny, Moe, and Jack have the ONLY key to the car. By "other keys," I imagine that the author meant house keys, offshore safe-deposit-box keys, etc.
]]>Have they always done repairs as well?
]]>