New Jersey.
I'll keep this as brief as possible.
Last September, two days before flying out on a business trip I took our car to Firestone for an oil change. They said I needed $1000 worth of work, and if I didn't fix these immediately my wheels would literally fall off. Silly, but since I was short on time and leaving the car with my wife I sucked it up and dropped it the next day for the work to be performed. (1x outer tie rod, 2x front hub bearing assemblies). When I got it back it had a vibration in the front right, so I took it back literally 2 minutes after picking it up and after a few hours they said it was a defective part, and wanted to keep the car overnight.
The next day, Sunday, the day of my flight, they kept stalling saying they were working on it, couldn't "get it to fit," etc. After changing flights a couple of times I told them I had to leave for the last flight out, and magically it was done. Or so they said...we still felt a vibration on the way to the airport.
My wife dropped it back off that night, and over the next few days it visited them 5-6 times. They kept saying they couldn't "duplicate" it, and eventually "out of the kindness of their heart" installed a passenger axle on my car. I was never told they were going to do that until after they did it, and guess what - vibration was still there.
I eventually took it to another shop, who told me the outer tie rods were never changed and he couldn't comment on the hub bearing assemblies, but if they didn't replace the 'easy stuff' chances are they didn't do the hub bearing assemblies. I was furious, and when I confronted the shop demanding a refund they vehemently denied it and said they wouldn't refund anything. They wanted to take it back in, but it had already had 5-6 visits with them and honestly I had no trust for them anymore.
Filed a dispute with my credit card company, and after submitting supporting documentation I was credited the full amount. I documented the bent rim finding here, and even in a BBB complaint. I figured I'd leave it at that, and use that money to replace the rim they bent and "fix" whatever was broken (ie. it pulls left after countless alignments, and bounces left over medium-large bumps...possible strut or even frame damage). Well, months later Firestone fought the chargeback with Chase and agreed to only give me a partial refund, since my documents only showed they didn't replace the outer tie rod.
I never saw any credit. So I contacted Firestone corporate, told them the story and received a call the next day. I even took it to a "Front End Shop" (which surprised me with a $330 bill for 3-hours of work, which was to check Firestone's work and figure out the source of my vibrations.) They gave me documented proof that only one hub bearing was replaced, the other was never replaced.
The "Assistant Regional Manager" for NJ Firestone wanted to look at my car. I told him not at Firestone, so we agreed on a local shop next to my house. The second my car went on the lift he exclaimed they were all new parts, that he sees nothing wrong. The local mechanic walked over and said that's not true, these parts seem original. As soon as he did the Firestone rep told the mechanic he was only paying to put the car on the lift, and he didn't want his advice (shady!). He didn't agree to refund any more than my credit card company agreed on (for the tie rod, which was the only documentation Chase had at the time). I pushed him for part receipts, since they claimed they have proof they ordered the parts so it had to go on my car - it had a tie rod, and two bearings. NO HUBS / HUB ASSEMBLIES. When I asked him where receipts were for the hubs, he calls me right away and leaves a voicemail saying the one hub I had on my car was a "freebie," that I only paid for bearings; my Firestone receipt clearly says "Remove and replace hub" under description of work.
At the end of the day:
-I mysteriously ended up with a bent rim and a dent at the bottom of my front bumper after their service. Since I initially thought vibrations were due to bad work, I don't have any documented evidence of a bent rim (I was verbally told this while I was trying to figure out the vibrations and shops were balancing my wheels).
-I paid almost $500 for multiple balancing efforts (since shops automatically assumed vibration = unbalanced wheels), and getting written proof work wasn't done.
-I paid Firestone $1000 for the initial work, most of which was never done.
-Firestone obviously took the car into a curb, but I naively kept thinking it was bad workmanship.
I'm out $1500 already, and still need to replace the bent rim/tire and don't know if that will fix all 100%. It's been 7 months since inception, so I feel like my options are limited. Thoughts?
I'll keep this as brief as possible.
Last September, two days before flying out on a business trip I took our car to Firestone for an oil change. They said I needed $1000 worth of work, and if I didn't fix these immediately my wheels would literally fall off. Silly, but since I was short on time and leaving the car with my wife I sucked it up and dropped it the next day for the work to be performed. (1x outer tie rod, 2x front hub bearing assemblies). When I got it back it had a vibration in the front right, so I took it back literally 2 minutes after picking it up and after a few hours they said it was a defective part, and wanted to keep the car overnight.
The next day, Sunday, the day of my flight, they kept stalling saying they were working on it, couldn't "get it to fit," etc. After changing flights a couple of times I told them I had to leave for the last flight out, and magically it was done. Or so they said...we still felt a vibration on the way to the airport.
My wife dropped it back off that night, and over the next few days it visited them 5-6 times. They kept saying they couldn't "duplicate" it, and eventually "out of the kindness of their heart" installed a passenger axle on my car. I was never told they were going to do that until after they did it, and guess what - vibration was still there.
I eventually took it to another shop, who told me the outer tie rods were never changed and he couldn't comment on the hub bearing assemblies, but if they didn't replace the 'easy stuff' chances are they didn't do the hub bearing assemblies. I was furious, and when I confronted the shop demanding a refund they vehemently denied it and said they wouldn't refund anything. They wanted to take it back in, but it had already had 5-6 visits with them and honestly I had no trust for them anymore.
Filed a dispute with my credit card company, and after submitting supporting documentation I was credited the full amount. I documented the bent rim finding here, and even in a BBB complaint. I figured I'd leave it at that, and use that money to replace the rim they bent and "fix" whatever was broken (ie. it pulls left after countless alignments, and bounces left over medium-large bumps...possible strut or even frame damage). Well, months later Firestone fought the chargeback with Chase and agreed to only give me a partial refund, since my documents only showed they didn't replace the outer tie rod.
I never saw any credit. So I contacted Firestone corporate, told them the story and received a call the next day. I even took it to a "Front End Shop" (which surprised me with a $330 bill for 3-hours of work, which was to check Firestone's work and figure out the source of my vibrations.) They gave me documented proof that only one hub bearing was replaced, the other was never replaced.
The "Assistant Regional Manager" for NJ Firestone wanted to look at my car. I told him not at Firestone, so we agreed on a local shop next to my house. The second my car went on the lift he exclaimed they were all new parts, that he sees nothing wrong. The local mechanic walked over and said that's not true, these parts seem original. As soon as he did the Firestone rep told the mechanic he was only paying to put the car on the lift, and he didn't want his advice (shady!). He didn't agree to refund any more than my credit card company agreed on (for the tie rod, which was the only documentation Chase had at the time). I pushed him for part receipts, since they claimed they have proof they ordered the parts so it had to go on my car - it had a tie rod, and two bearings. NO HUBS / HUB ASSEMBLIES. When I asked him where receipts were for the hubs, he calls me right away and leaves a voicemail saying the one hub I had on my car was a "freebie," that I only paid for bearings; my Firestone receipt clearly says "Remove and replace hub" under description of work.
At the end of the day:
-I mysteriously ended up with a bent rim and a dent at the bottom of my front bumper after their service. Since I initially thought vibrations were due to bad work, I don't have any documented evidence of a bent rim (I was verbally told this while I was trying to figure out the vibrations and shops were balancing my wheels).
-I paid almost $500 for multiple balancing efforts (since shops automatically assumed vibration = unbalanced wheels), and getting written proof work wasn't done.
-I paid Firestone $1000 for the initial work, most of which was never done.
-Firestone obviously took the car into a curb, but I naively kept thinking it was bad workmanship.
I'm out $1500 already, and still need to replace the bent rim/tire and don't know if that will fix all 100%. It's been 7 months since inception, so I feel like my options are limited. Thoughts?