
Joan of Brick, NJ on March 29, 2000
On 03/12/00, my husband brought our 1995 GMC Van to Sears to have new tires put on. During the procedure they accidentally ran over all 4 of the rims to our tires. We were told that they would order and replace the rims. We agreed although we were not pleased.
The next day 3/13/00 when I drove the van for the first time I noticed the van was pulling to the left. We proceeded to bring it back to Sears that night. We told the manager Roger that it was pulling to the left and was not aligned right. He told me that it probably wasn't the alignment but the brakes were bad. I told him the van did not pull until I had the tires put on.
After approximately 20 minutes arguing with them, a mechanic took the van for a test drive and agreed it was not aligned right. They told us to bring it back on Sunday 3/19/00. My husband brought it back that day and decided to also have new front brakes put on while they were re-aligning it and installing the new rims that they ordered.
When the van was done and my husband drove it home, the left pull was worse than before. He called Sears the next day and was told the mechanic who worked on it was not told that it was pulling to the left and just did a normal alignment on it. They told us to bring it back for a 3rd time.
My husband then brought it back on 3/26/00 for the third alignment. The manager was very upset because it took the only 2 mechanics working that day approximately 4 hours to get the alignment right. My husband drove home that evening and the alignment was fine.
After we brought the van home on 3/26/00 after the 3rd alignment, I did not drive the van until 3/28/00. I was driving on a major highway with a 50 mph speed limit in our town taking my daughter to a doctor's appointment with 3 other children in the van. I went approximately 1 1/2 miles when I was coming up to a red light. As I slowed down and then proceeded to brake, my brakes failed and I was forced to pull quickly to the side of the road to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The van came to a stop approximately 50 feet from where I first applied the brakes.
I was very shaken. The children -- two 3 year olds, a 6 year old and an 11 year old -- were very frightened and also very shaken as to what had just happened. One of my neighbors had just driven by when she notice me on the side of the road. Thankfully she had taken the 5 us home so I could call my husband. I called my husband and told him what just happened and he immediately came home from work. I then proceeded to call Sears and tell them what happened.
I spoke to the Asst. Mgr. Craig. He asked if I could drive the car there. I then emphasized again there were NO BRAKES and the Anti-Lock Brake light was on. He told me to have it towed at their expense but if it was anything put the pads they put on they were not responsible.
When my husband arrived home, we drove to the van. He looked underneath the front tires and noticed that when they realigned the wheels the 3rd time that they did not properly put the ABS cable back in its proper place. The cable was actually rubbing against the inside rim of the tire which caused the cable to wear throughout and short out which in turn caused me to lose my brakes. My husband wrapped the cables to make it driveable and brought the car back to Sears.
He told Craig that he specifically did not want them to splice the cable back together and wanted a new cable installed. Craig assured him that he would order a cable but because it's a dealer part it would take another day to fix the van. He agreed. That evening my husband called Sears to get the status on the van and Craig told him that the van was fixed and we could pick it up. He told my husband that the ABS mechanic spliced the cable back together. I told my husband this is not acceptable and I called Craig myself to find out why the new cable was not going to be installed. He told me that the car fixed and was FINE, I told him this was NOT FINE and that this is highly unacceptable. I then reminded him that I almost got in an accident with 4 children in my car.
He then told me since I did not agree to this quick fix to speak to his manager Roger tomorrow. I called Peach the next morning and explained my concerns. I told him I was not going to accept the way they fixed the cable and wanted a new one installed. He told me he would call Craig to find out what happened.
When he called me back he told me that they did this quick fix as to not inconvenience me until the new cables arrived. I told him that there were none order. He assured me that they were and it would take 2-4 days to come in. I asked him why Craig did not tell me this when I spoke with him the previous night. He said he didn't know and assured me they were ordered the day before. So far it has been left at that.
I feel these people have shown a total lack of professionalism and negligence and a blatant careless disregard for human safety. These people have not once apologized for the inconvenience they have caused me and my family for the last 3 weeks and the consequence that could have resulted in something tragic because they did not take the time to do a job right.