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NTB - Work Undone/Poorly Done

National Tire & Battery (NTB) • Batteries • Tires • Brakes • Damaging wheels and rims • Damaging studs and lug nuts • Damaging customers' cars • Price disputes • One-hour discount • Poor service • Unnecessary repairs • Warranty disputes • Work left undone/done poorly ---- • NJ Fraud Case Settled • Sears Unloads NTB

Diane of Houston TX (6/11/03):
I took my car to NTB. I wanted to purchase new tires (if needed) and get my car aligned (if needed). I wanted to first go to NTB because I would be able to go there about every 4 months and have them balanced and rotated for free. I purchased four new tires and they told me I needed new struts. So I said Okay and they put new struts on my car and four new tires and aligned my car. It cost me about $960.00. Shortly after this (I mean shortly) I heard a squeak and odd noises. I took my car back into the NTB and they said they did something wrong so they fixed it and they said that they gave me a new alignment. They said they aligned it at no cost because it was something they did.

I picked my car up and it had a horrible sqeal. I couldn't get it back to NTB (I have a busy life and I thought I was taking my car somewhere that was reliable that I wouldn't have to spend a bunch of time fixing their mistakes). The other day the car began to drift to the right and I had my daughter in the car. My friend was following me and told me that it pointed to the right while I was driving and it swerved when I turned.

I took it to Bay Area Automotive and told them this history and asked them to look at it. They called me and said that they don't like to say negative things about other repair shops but this was especially disturbing because my car was way out of alignment. He said that it would need to be aligned and realigned and that should cure the problem. He said that stuts shouldn't take that much to put in and it looks like they turned the bolts a more than necessary.

Anyway, I really trusted NTB and I think I was taken advantage of. I would like to get my money back on the alignment. I really want to get my money back on everything because I told them I didn't want to put four new tires on if they couldn't align my car. But, they said that they could so I bought new tires. The problem is that I went to NTB because I thought I could go there every 4 months to get the tire rotated and balanced. But, now I don't trust NTB so I don't want to go there.

Diane should sue the company in Small Claims Court.

I returned to my car, finding it in the same place as I originally left it and started to inspect the tires, figuring they hadn't touched it. Sure enough nothing had been done. Upon confronting them, they claimed that they had worked on it and that it was finished, which is a blatant lie considering my tires are marked in such a way that I know what their original configuration is. Not wanting to waste the rest of my afternoon I just told them I wouldn't ever come back and I left. My friend also had a similar problem with an NTB just down the road in which her dead battery wasn't replaced, just recharged but she was still charged a full new battery price.

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