ok so i went and got my alignment today. quite eventful i must say. i take it to the shop. ive been there before. they do good work. well, this old man, maybe in his 70s is the guy that does it this time. he takes my keeys, and gets my car and brings it to the ramps. drives it up nice and easy, but the rear wheels are halfway on the ramps and halfway off. he tells me that the rear end is out of alignment. and thats why it went on their crooked. so they back it off nice and easy, and its slowly moving further off of the ramps. and what do you know. off the ramps my car goes. and he just looks at me with this "oh ****" face. mind you the car is being held up by the ramps that it just fell off of. and its still in gear. so my tires are spinning and hes just starin at me. and he says what im assuming was the first thing that came to mind. "yea the frame must be bent to make the rear wheels turn to the left". i just look at him, because i know if he breaks my car hes fixing it as well. so i wasnt too worried about it. so the other guy comes over (his son) and jacks the car up by what i think was the rear axel. cause it raised the tires and car off the ground a little more. and the rest of the ramps back under my car. and lets my car back down. my exhaust it on the ground now. the tailpipes i mean. and as he backs it up. its just a scaping the ground. he gets out of the car and talks to me about the frame being bent again. and thing its crap, because for the fram to be bent in the fashion he speaks, it would have had to be hit on the front left. it was hit on the front right, and the only damaged part of the frame, is right up there where the collision occured. and i have been all up underneathe that car and eyeballed it myself. the car is straight as an arrow. so i told him that i would have the frame looked at when i pull that part of the frame out and he told me that the misaligned rear wont affect the tires but it might make the car pull to the left. now this is after the alignment. im just hoping to god that he didnt screw me over on my alignment just so i dont think he cant drive lol. anyway, closing a long story, i get to the bank and i notice that my right rear tail pipe is bent. like this \ and pointing down more that the left. Erik isnt happy about that. if it were just the mufflet that was damaged i wouldnt mind. im changing it soon. but not my pipes, cant have crooked mishapen pipes lol. after closer inspection i noticed my right pipe had a downward curve to it, so i called them back and told them about it and they said they would fix it if i bring it back to them. and leave it.... now i dont wanna do that. i will stay with them. dont want them tinkering around with my car and bending all my other stuff. needless to say i will pay the 40 bucks more and get it done at a place like pepboys. im just glad they owned up to it and offered to fix it without any hassles. because i have pics of my rearend from hours before my alignment was done. they wouldnt get by on that. lol. thanks for reading. just wanted to share.

 

How about the cutt throat version next time please.
Have some one follow you and look at your car. If the rear was out of alignment due to a bent fram the car would look as if its going down the road crooked. But the old man knew exactly what the problem was without looking first? Sounds like a usual excuse.
From what I know of the pep boys around here I would never trust any of them.
I watched a guy doing an alignment on my car, after I waited half a day, on a lift. Not the alignment rack. He hoist it up and was just messing around with the toe but with the wheels dropped the caster/ camber is off and you can't do the toe and get it any where close. They did not charge me so I did not get to complain and ended up going home and readjusting it in my garage myself and did a better job.

 

ive had people follow me before. im not crooked at all. car is as straight as its gonna get lol. but im taking it back tomorrow to have them fix it. so were all clear.

 

Pep Boys tales of woe. I got three good ones.

About 5 years ago #2 son takes his Grand Prix to Pep Boys to get the the struts replaced and the wheel aligned. We go back that evening and and the right rear wheel is about 20 degrees off vertical. Spoke to the mechanic and he sez that according to his machine, it is supposed to be that way. Got the manager involved and he agrees that the wheel is off line but has no one that knows how to fix it. After some wrangling he agreed to charge only for the parts. Next day drove slowly to an alignment shop and got the car fixed.

A few months later #1 son takes his Audi Quattro to Pep Boys for state inspection. The car has full time 4w drive and cannot be put on a two wheel only roller. The inspector drives the front wheels on the roller and starts the test. The car keeps stalling out because the back wheels are on solid ground and can't turn. The idiot floors the pedal and pops the clutch, the center differential strips. Now the car won't move. Speak to the manager, sez he has no one that can fix the car and makes arrangements to have it towed to the nearest Audi dealer. The estimate comes to around $7,000. We decide to tow the car home and fix it ourselves, and give a copy of he estimate to the manager. The manager turned white & almost fainted.Pep Boys sends a check to my son for $6,500. At this point my son is tired of arguing and takes the $6,500. We go to the local salvage yard and they located a transmission with center diff for $600. Ordered a new clutch for about $400. Spend two days fixing the car & came out $5,500 ahead, but the car still needs inspection, lol

At this point I decided to have some fun. Pep Boys had a sign advertising spark plug replacement on any V8 for $88.00, plus the difference for platinum plugs. Anyone who changed plugs on a LT1 Camaro knows how much fun it could be. Took my 94 z28 in to the shop early one morning to get the plugs changed. Called back around 3PM and was told the mechanic had been working on the car all day and should be finished by 5PM. Went back at 5 to pick up the car, and this time the manager was waiting for me and wanted $520 in labor plus parts. I showed him a copy of the ad in the local paper and the sign hanging in the shop, and advised him that Pep Boys could be sued for false advertisement. He relented and I paid my $88 + $45 for the platinum plugs, plus tax and took my car back. We made an agreement that no one in my family would ever visit his shop again. Spoke to the poor mechanic, who gets paid by the job, and left him $100 tip.

 

That last story is a good one Pete!
But it seems that is the pep boy expirience where ever you are.

 

the pepboys in my area is great. expensive as all hell but a great place. i went there for my first carb and it threw us for a loop. it said on the computer that the warehouse had 1 in stock, when you click to order it, it sends you back and says discontinued. so the manager told me about it and let know about the carbs they had on the shelf. they had a few holleys and a few edelbrocks. picked out the cheapest holley they had 259 or so. he goes in the back to get it and he cant find it. comp says they have it but its not there. he gives me the next best one for the same price. which still didnt fit because my egr was in the way lol. but my pepboys always goes out of their way to accomodate me.

 

They were accomodating to me also, but I expect to be able to drive the car when it leaves the shop, instead of being handed a check and a basket full of parts, and being told to go get it fixed. lol

 

ok i took it to the guy today to look at it. he looked at it and told him what they screwed up. and he proceeded to call my "a piece of junk" and that "it should be in somebodys junkyard somewhere" and my "exhaust system isnt stock" and he doesnt "..see the harm in having a bent exhaust system." and how he never should have put it up on the rack. i say, listen, i come down here, im being civil with you, it doesnt matter whether or not my car is a piece of junk or how large my exhaust system is, stock or not. it wasnt like this when i brought it to you for an alignment. when i brought it here, i needed an alignment, when i left it needed exhaust repairs, what kinda sense does that make, when i take a car to a shop of any kind i want to leave in better condition than when i came. not worse. what i need you to do it repair what you damage. he continue to talk about how my car is crap and how the frame is bent i explained it wasnt. and it all ended with him wanting me to leave it there all day. i said i cant do that, im not wallking 13 miles back home lol. he said well bring it back one day when you can leave it all day. i said i think i can do that. now, i dont know what to do. should i take it back or should i deal with it myself. because i dont want this guy to "fix" my car and it really end up in a junk yard. oh, when talkin about my exhaust system whether its supposed to be that big or that low, i said ive seen many 3rd gen camaros and they all look like this.. he said " i work on them all the time, and they arent like that" now, i know thats bs. in the 20 years ive lived in newport news. ive only seen maybe 3 82-85 camaros and firebirds. and i own 1 of them. the likely hood of however many there are here all going to this shop, is slim and none. i think i will just never go there again. i like my car. and i dont want them to break it lol.


sry this isnt the cut throat version madmike lol.

 

That *** is totaly unproffesional. A customers car is better if not equal to your own. At least that is what you are suposed to make the customer feel. The way you are suposed to take care of this is speak to them in front of other customers. See if he knocks your ride then.

I knew a guy that worked at a Tune Up Masters and one of thier motos was you don't tell a customer thier car is sucking air, you say its drawing, "You never tell a customer thier car sucks". And that did not just apply to air.

Try dropping it off on a day you can sit and watch them. Or have a friend be your eyeballs. You know you pissed them off so they may just be spiteful to you. Contact the B.A.R.. Around here a shop has to be registered with them. Them when there is a problem they step in for you. They are kinda like organized crime.

 

the damage isnt too bad. it somethin i can fix myself actually. i just wanted him to do it, cause he messed it up.