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Pep boys is THE WORST. They screwed me over about 8 years ago with my new brakes and swore never to go back.
Pep boys is THE WORST. They screwed me over about 8 years ago with my new brakes and swore never to go back.
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Why should he have to pay for the key that Pep Boys lost? What have personal visits to the shop provided? I would think that such an obvious error by Pep Boys would be enough for them to fix the situation without further prodding.
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He shouldn't have to pay for it but his paying to have the key replaced and then pursuing money damages against Pep Boys may well be the most expeditious way back into his car... Would you suggest waiting until Pep Boys gets around to replacing the keys?
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I thought Pep Boys just sold parts like Auto Zone and O'Reilly.
Have they always done repairs as well?
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And it costs a fortune to utilize the service side of the house, too.
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yep..they've always had a service side of the house
Why wouldn't you have a spare key? I'm sorry, but really? I have like 5 spare keys and I have OnStar. I don't want to be trapped somewhere with the inability to enter my vehicle.
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Sigh.
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.
I might add, my car is a Honda Civic, which isn't exactly the most technologically advanced car in the world. The price of that key can go astronomically higher, depending on the the make + model.
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Yeah, Hondas, despite their awesomeness are a pain in the ass to get keys for if the model you have is more recent than around 1997.
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No spare key? I'm not siding with Pep Boys regarding the event. I'm just amazed that the OP didn't have a spare key. What would he have done if he lost his keys somehow? It boggles the mind?
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Yes everyone should have a spare.
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.
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He does have a spare key. It specifically states in the write-up, \"luckily I didn't leave any of my other keys with them\".
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Reading comprehension FTL: \"He claims that the shop's employees lost his only car key\"
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He does have a spare key. It specifically states in the write-up, \"luckily I didn't leave any of my other keys with them\".
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.
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Last year, I went to pick up my car at Pep Boys and was waiting for about 10 minutes while the person in front of me was irate at them losing his key and the person behind the desk was emptying drawers and so on. The Pep Boys employee kept mumbling that he was sure he gave the customer his key, but the customer kept touching his pants and assuring that his pockets were empty. I finally said to the customer, \"Just to be absolutely sure, could you turn your pockets inside out?\" He did, and found the key. He quickly left, embarassed, without apologizing to the employee (or thanking me). The employee then said to me, \"Thank you SO MUCH for doing that. He wasn't listening to me. We've been searching for his key for 45 MINUTES!\"
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For the record and speaking as an ex-mechanic, do not ever bring your car to Pep Boys, Jiffy Lube or any other chain. They are the worst. Find a local mechanic via word of mouth and stick with them. You will save money and your car is much less likely to get screwed up.
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I third this. After taking my car to some quick change place (can't remember which one) car developed a leak because they stripped the plug in the oil pan.
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.
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I second the Jiffy Lube sentiment. I went there a couple times for oil changes and the last time I was there they either couldn't get the oil filter off or didn't have it so they just left the mangled old oil filter on and I didn't find out until I went to my normal car shop and they showed it to me. I'm just thankful they didn't mangle it enough that it sprung a leak.
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this pep boys was obviously listening to the wrong album. it's supposed to be \"manny, moe & jack\" guys, not \"you drive me ape\".
I went to Pep Boys once... Once.
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...
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i took my car to have the electrical checked and battery replaced, if needed, at sears auto in florida several years ago. it was a mall location so my friends and i wandered around the mall for a couple of hours while waiting and went back about half an hour before they closed, at the time they had given me to.
the assistant manager said they didn't work on it because i didn't leave my key. i checked my car and it was now unlocked, sitting in the lot, so clearly the key had even been taken out to my car, but wasn't left in it.
i named the person i left the key with and was told that i had apparently left my key with the manager who went home an hour ago.
i asked why they didn't call my cell phone, but this was before cell phones were assumed and they thought i had put down my home phone number and that since i said i was going to be at the mall next door that they wouldn't be able to reach me.
of course i didn't have a spare key because my roommate had recently borrowed my car and not returned it before going out of town for the weekend.
i got the assistant manager to call the store manager at home. he admitted over the phone that he found my key in his pocket when he got home but that it was a half hour drive and he wasn't bringing it back. and that i needed to find a way to get my car out of their lot before morning.
fortunately i had left a spare key at my mom's for emergencies and she brought it to me so i could start my car and leave.
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.
Hopefully your car didn't have a passive antitheft chip in the key like most new cars do. I would have pitched a fit, and probably called the district manager on my cell phone right in front of the highest ranking lackey in the store at the time.
ah hell, it was an 84 celica. it didn't have any kind of chip except paint!
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Wow.
I thought I was the only one that happened too. Pep Boys lost my key after making me waste half of a vacation day waiting in their waiting room and telling me that my car would be ready any minute now. It turns out that they were not working on my car and the guy had left with my key. They made him come back and return the key but not one apology or offered discount. I only went there because they had extended hours but even that is not enough to induce me into going there again. So avoid Pep Boys in Denton, Texas. The lights are on but no one is home with any of the employees.
Hi Laura and Mike,
My name is Kristin and I run the Pep Boys Twitter feed (twitter.com/pepboysauto) and I wanted to help. Please feel free to email me at kristinkeith@zadv.com or reply to the @pepboysauto Twitter feed for how I can get in touch with you and make this right along with our customer service team. Thanks!
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It's like Geek Squad - only, for cars!
Brilliant!
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That's beautiful.
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Perfect analogy.
I stopped doing business with Pep Boys years ago when it took them three hours to \"fix\" a light...that turned out they didn't fix. Luckily I checked it before driving away or they probably would have screwed me more then that one time.
Pep Boys is one of the largest fleet service providers here in SoCal and has been for some time. That said, they wouldn't touch my car if they were the only place in town.
He can call Pep Boys corporate number, its 1-800-PEP-BOYS believe it or not, tell them what happened. Someone from corporate should get in direct contact with the service manager and the district manager. Make sure you are specific in how you want them to take care of your problem, i.e. if you need a rental car they should provide one for you. As long as your demands are reasonable they should help get your problem straightened out. This is advice is a few years old but I'm pretty sure they haven't changed the way problems are escalated.
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Pep Boys.
Whiny, D'ohh and Slack.
My last visit to Pep Boys, which WAS my last visit to Pep Boys, was for a timing belt replacement. After four days they called me to say it was ready and I could pick it up. When I got there, they couldn't get it started. The engine would just crank over. Their \"diagnostics\" said I had ruined the engine trying to start it after the timing belt failed and it was gonna cost me $800 for the \"service.\" After pointing out to them that they hadn't fixed anything, I ended up just paying $150 for the parts.
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.
Wow. I have to join the legions of people talking about their issues with Pep Boys - I took my car there once in college and will never bring a vehicle there again. The blog entry from 2006:
\"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.
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what state is this in.. If you are in Philly. 215-CAR-KEYS can make you new keys cheaper then the dealer.. they helped me out when pepboys lost mine.