A guy I know took his older Ford 4x4 plow truck to a local Pep Boys to have the front axle seals replaced,after my friend told him he'd want 200+ bucks to replace them,and Pep Boys said they'ed charge only 150 bucks...being cheap,he opted to have Pep Boys do it...my friend wasn't offended,he hates doing those jobs anyway..
Two days after he brought the truck home from Pep Boys,he sees a large puddle of gear oil oozing out of the drivers side front axle tube,worse than it ever had leaked!...he called the manager and complained,he replied "well,we fixed the seals,it must be another issue with the front axle"...
He got disgusted,ended up having my friend do the job over again...couldn't have the truck sitting idle not useable,in winter!...so my friend goes to take it apart,and finds a huge amount of blue RTV snot inside the two axle tubes,like a whole caulking gun tube's worth!.
..they never took the axles out or the diff cover off,so there was no way they attempted to change the axle seals,which are next to the carrier bearings,it has none out near the tires!...it took over 6 months for him to win a small claims court against Pep Boys,they only refunded his money though,no other additional money for his inconvenience,etc...
Another customer came into my friends shop not long ago,to get an oil change..while it was on the lift,he notices both front tires are beyond bald,they both had steel cords showing on the inside edges!...when the owner came to pick up his car,he tells him "Hey,you know your front tires are ready to POP,right??"....guy says "WHAT??...I just BOUGHT 2 new front tires at Pep Boys yesterday!....my friend also mentioned "the oil looked BRAND NEW,like it was just changed too,when I drained it--are you sure it NEEDED an oil change?...guy said "yeah,it went almost 5K miles!....
Friend says "well,maybe you PAID for 2 tires,but they didn't go in YOUR car!--he then shows the guy his tires and he agreedyes,those are the same ones!!..
...after a lengthy reaming,the Pep Boys service manager learned the guy who was supposed to put "tires on the red car outside" had mounted them and balanced them ,put them on the car--too bad it was someone ELSES car that was only there to get an oil change!...
...the owner was an elderly man who cant see that good or walk far,so he never even looked at his "new tires" when he left...he DID get a oil change though!...too bad it costed 250+ bucks for it though...and the oil got dumped in the dran barrel the next day!..
I dont enjoy working on my junks any more,but will,when I keep hearing about how badly many folks get raked over the coals at servivce stations and the many dealerships nearby,I fix them myself if I can.....they seem to prey on women the most here...one comes in complaining about squeaky brakes,and she'll either get a 600 dollar bill for replacing EVERYTHING,or else they'll just spray them with brake cleaner if the pads look healthy and charge almost as much--then say "its normal for these cars to have noisy brakes"....after screwing them out of hundreds of bucks..
We worked on one lady's car recently that had no less than a dozen 3/16" compresion fittings another "reputable garage" used to install a multitude of "patches" on severely rotted brake lines,and charged 650 bucks!..instead of just replacing all the line,they just chopped the most rusted sections that failed out,and used the compression unions to join them all together!..
...2 weeks later another peice of original line popped,and she took it to my friends place..he ended up replacing EVERY line on it from the master cyl,to the ABS block,to the rear and front wheels...and he only charged her 300 bucks to have it done RIGHT....
Just yesterday a woman brought in a 2001 Cherokee she had bought at a used car lot a week or so ago...said the salesman let her have it for 300 bucks less than the asking price,because a local Jeep dealer she took it to during a test drive to get a quick "inspection" said the "front brakes are completely shot,it'll need pads,rotors,calipers,and maybe a front wheel bearing"....when my friend inspected the front brakes,the pads,rotors and calipers were still like brand new,they couldn't have been on the Jeep more than a month maybe..he called the used car lot she bought it from,he works on the guys cars often,and the guy says "I TOLD her I just PUT all new front brakes on that thing--I said "MAYBE" the rear brakes are ready to be done,so I knocked 300 bucks off the price when she said she'd have them fixed somewhere out of her own pocket!"..
Then the woman freaked when my friend tells her it was the rear brakes that were shot,it needed new shoes,e-brake shoes and wheel cylinders--she told him "I want the FRONT ones replaced too"...
"OK Lady,your the one paying for them!--whatever you say"..
..so now he has a like new set of rotors,pads and calipers to sell the next customer with another jeep thats short on cash!...I see things like this happen a lot,many things dont get replaced but the owners get charged for it anyway,or they replace things that were perfectly OK,etc...
I trust very few "mechanics" around my area...too many are in a big hurry to rush things out the door,or simply guess at which parts may be faulty when it comes to sensors,etc...if they bust a bolt they will leave it out,or glue the head of the bolt back on and make it "look" OK...anything to save time and get the thing off the lift quicker...
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