Hi All,
I went to firestone yesterday for wheel balancing and tire rotation. They asked me to wait for an hour, they got my car back after an hour and said that the car is ready and i can drive back home. When i have inspected the tires, they havent been rotated. when confronted, the representative said that they have rotated and he is the one who helped. Here comes the interesting part, i have a dash cam and it starts recording as soon as a car is started, looks like they havent touched my car at all, they have driven it around the block and delivered it to me. I have GPS coordinates, time and video from my Garmin Dashcam.
How can i proceed with dealing this?
You don't need to start a vehicle to rotate wheels. {black}:idontknow:
Do they vibrate?
I parked my car well outside the store and also it was raining that day. I have reached out to another tire store right away and they have shown me that the wheels are never balanced and they are way out of balance. 🙂
I'd find out the owner/manager and politely ask him to make good on it - refund or rework. He/she probably doesn't know or want his employees to do this.
If this doesn't give satisfaction, go up the ladder to Firestone corporate.
And if that doesn't work, there is probably a local/regional TV station that would like to do just that kind of story, especially with video illustrating the situation.
They might issue me a refund. But isnt something that they are doing unethical?
Yes, it is.
I certainly agree, and we need to spread the word. FWIW, I've found that the Brandname Advertised shops are the most problematical. Dealerships will try to swindle you by specifying too much work, but if they pulled that at, say a Ford dealership, the dealership would get a bad rep, and dealerships want repeat customers. The heavily advertised tire and muffler and companies - don't depend on repeat business, hire the lowest skilled mechanics, etc.
This is why I do not like Firestone...they have scammed me multiple times on my Mazda's transmission. They said my transmission only had 20k miles left before it would die on me (at 150k miles), but I still went ahead and did the fluid change when they said it would ruin it, and it's still running fine at 190k. They charged me like $400 just to look at the transmission, and all they did was tell me "We can't change the fluid". Well, I sure proved those idiots wrong...
@mountainmanjoe is exactly right. There's no reason to start or move a car to rotate tires. The balancing is done on a machine and then the tires are re-installed. They may have driven a block to make sure there wasn't anything vibrating.
How does the car drive? Does it feel out of balance?
While I don't recommend using Firestone ever for anything, people are too quick to yell "scam" these days. If nothing else, check your wheel weights. Are they new? Can you see patterns on the rim from where the old weights were?
Of course. When something happens that you don't understand, call it a scam!
I see the weights were full of dust(not new) and i took the car to an another tire store right away and they have shown me that the wheels are not balanced.
@MountainManJoe, I know one of two about cars and DIY atleast after watching Scotty's videos.
There might also be physical evidence. See if there is any indication of new balancing weights on the wheels. You can usually tell where old weights have been removed, and new ones look - well, they look new.
This is why people should never, ever, take their cars to chain shops like Firestone, Pep Boys, Midas, etc. There is an extremely high probability that they will be dishonest, incompetent, or both.
Yes, when i confronted him and said that i have video evidence too, he blatantly lied to my face that he is the one who helped the mechanic with the repair.
i was going to say just a knothead employee, but now sounds like a scam
i mark one tire and put an x on my oil filter, have had a toyota dealership forget to rotate the tires or put on a new filter
I've had shops not change oil, leave tools under the hood, and worse. Always check the work before you leave the shop's parking lot.
Probably as Scotty says, i have to learn to do basic stuff myself..
You'll find it's a very liberating feeling not to be dependent on a mechanic for every little thing. Learn to do the basics but keep a good independent shop in reserve for the things you can't or don't want to tackle yourself. Learn to do things safely and be methodical, check each step. (Did you REALLY put enough oil back in the engine after draining it?) Lots of videos out there to show you how to do basic maintenance.
Did you pull the car into a bay when you arrived (unlikely)? If so, they would not have to move your car to rotate the tires. If you parked in the parking lot and the car was not moved prior to the test drive, no way they rotated your tires. They wouldn't roll a jack into the parking lot and roll the tires inside for balancing.
This is why you don't go to dealerships and chain shops.
I like the Firestone tires, but I would never take any vehicle to one of these places for anything, ever!
I got some for next to nothing after the 721 fiasco
Cool!
