Pep Boys

By 6:30 I told my wife, "Let's go and pick it up and take it someplace else on Sunday because this place appears to be unreliable and has already deceived us." We arrived at 7pm and saw that they had just placed the car on the hydraulic and since they were closing at 8pm I decided to watch them through the window from within the store. I watched them change the oil, and add a gasoline additive to the car, I saw the air filter changed but the tires were never touched and the car was not sanitized as advertised either. I did not really care about sanitizing the car but a tire rotation, brake inspection was all part of the deal and no tires were removed. I was already angry from being lied to about the time but kept my cool and told the cashier/service person that the tires were never removed and rotated.

What makes me even angrier is that you can see that figures were entered on the sheet as if the tires were removed, rotated and brakes inspected. What if there was a problem with my wife's brakes? If her brakes would fail after this you know I would do the same thing you would do; I would call my family attorney and sue for punitive treble damages. I was told I could come back to have the tires rotated; because of our schedules and patient loads we have no time during the week so I returned yesterday after lunch. I was only looking for a tire rotation because the last time I took her car to Honda and all was well. Since I was deceived and caught them in the act I assumed they could do a quick tire rotation and I would have been happy and done with this. That did not happen. I was told it will be several hours. I asked what time they open on Sunday and was advised 8am.

We returned for a 3rd time today, Sunday and arrived at 8:08am. I waited 2 customers and was told the same thing that it will take several hours, I was livid at this point but did not display outwardly how angry I was. I told the salesperson forget it and I started to take back my paperwork from the salesperson and he held the paperwork more tightly and I finally just pulled it from his hands and told my wife I know what to do next and we left. Now you know why I am going to put a copy of this email to you as well as on your review board, Google reviews and any other reviews.

If I treated my patients the way you treat your customers I would probably have many deceased patients. I will never return to Pep Boys because of your poor customer service and deceptive business practices. How many people have been to Pep Boys and dropped off their vehicles and assumed their tires were rotated, brakes inspected or even oil checked. Is this how you make a profit?

About a month later the car broke down on 120 hwy and you can see smoke. At that point I was frustrated with Pep Boys and decided to call a mobile mechanic. The mobile mechanic informed me it was the coil that burnt and cracked the black thing that sits on top of the coil. He said because of the bad coil this can have electrical short and damage to the engine. He told me to take a lot of pictures before taking it back to Pep Boys. Stated that if they don't take care of it he would take them to small claims. I took it back to Pep Boys. Told them what the mobile mechanic said. It was a bad coil that started the crack the black piece that sits inside the coil that caused it to burn and smoke and may have a short or worse. They called and stated that it was the negative battery cable and the battery and it would be about $400.00 for both parts. I told them I wanted someone who knows what they are doing to check the car. They called me back and said it was the engine that is bad. What the!!!!

I asked for details what they meant by that. The Following day I called and talked to the Office Manager who was on vacation. Stated that she would find out. The next day she told me Dave the District Manager sent his Super technician to inspect the car and he told her the cause of engine failure was because of a tune up that caused the engine to fail. I had an inspection 3 times and they missed all three times. Sara (sp) the office Manager stated that wasn't the issue 5 months ago. This is recent? Again what the!!!! 3 Inspections still bad coils and still under warranty and stated they replaced oils and spark plugs because it was still under warranty but now have a bad engine.

Pep Boys use to be good, Not anymore. If I could give a negative number I would. Do not use them. I am planning to take them to small claims. I am not knowledgeable or mechanically inclined when it comes to cars but this is not fair. I will not ever use them again. Date of experience: August 31, 2022.

The manager said he cannot replace the battery because the computer says it is good and if he replaces it that would be warranty fraud, which is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The fraud is on the part of Pep Boys because when they sold me the battery, they said it has a warranty which I feel they will not honor. Their own mechanic checked the car and said nothing is wrong with it. I think it is obvious the battery has a defect and will not hold a charge if it sits.

They still had possession of one of my cars that I planned to negotiate some work for their negligence. It had been months. Honestly, I had anxiety about dealing with them. Yesterday, I spoke to ** who had no idea or record of where my car was or that I was ever there. I showed up in person to discover he never even checked the computer. He immediately found me after checking but still no record as to what happened. **, the extremely defensive and RUDE manager, who said he believed it was towed and had to check. I asked why I wasn’t notified and he said they tried several times. Lies. I never heard from them.

The vehicle now costs $995 to recover from the junkyard. They are taking no accountability nor offering apologies. Come here at your own risk. I have since lobbied a complaint with corporate via phone case #** and a separate email complaint. I was informed each time that someone would contact me. I have not heard from anyone a week later.

Please note that each time I picked up my car they handed it over in the garage area. This time we dropped off my car for an oil change and the guy told me that I had a nail in my tire side wall and needed a new tire and he sent me pictures to show me (the nail was on the bottom of the tire, not the sidewall). He tried to tell me that even though it looked like it was on the bottom, it punctured the side of the tube inside. Seriously!!!!

Then my husband's truck was in the night before to get it back early on Sunday. We couldn't get ahold of the shop for hours but when we did, a lady named Gabby said that the oil pan screw was stripped and we needed a whole new oil pan. But if we wanted they could put oil back in the truck so that he could use it until an oil pan came in. Then she told my husband that they could put oil in it but it would have metal shavings in the oil and she would not drive it if it were her. When we came in she said that she would show us the problem but when I tried to follow her into the shop (where I have always picked up my car) she turned around and got in my face (I almost punched her) and tells me that I can't go into the garage area. Now she tells my husband that she can not put oil in the car because the screw didn't fit anymore.... So now, either I buy a new oil pan from them or I have my car towed. Con artist, scammers, thrives. Do not go here!!!!

Don't know when I'm going to get my truck back. Oh yes they gave me a rental but I've lost wages and they gave me an adjuster. The adjuster came back with an offer that is so sad. I don't know what to believe. I'm about ready to lose my truck and it's going to get repoed due to them having my truck for so long and I cannot work, cannot work in the rental. I'm a doordasher. I live in Colorado but I'm stuck here in Indiana. Been stuck ever since they caught my truck on fire. The worst experience I've ever had. I will never never use or recommend Pep Boys ever again.

They told me to apply to the pep boys credit card, I refused. I told them if the car won't move, I would tow the car to my home. They said, "Ok let me talk to technician to bring the car outside from the shop." I told him, "I already saw my car parked outside." He said, "Ok let me talk to the technician." He left, while my cousin was with me, he went outside and I stayed inside. My cousin went to next to the car, the guy who was talking to me inside, his name is Harry, he went to my car, opened the hood, and installed the sensor, my cousin was watching him. We were told, they already replaced the sensors!!!

I think their plan was to start the engine, but the engine wouldn't start, and forced us to replace the catalytic converter. Harry said he would just talk to the technician, but instead he went outside with the oxygen sensor, and installed it. I started the engine, and drove home! I was told that the engine wouldn't start and my car wouldn't move. I will never take my cars to pep boys again. Ever. I don't even know if they did what I was charged for. I will take my car to another auto shop to check it out. I don't trust pep boys after what they did.

She explained she needed to be refunded, that she will not pay $300 for one day of AC - that they were to have figured out the issue before refilling (why else was she there for hours after my scheduled appointment if they weren't actually diagnosing?!). They say they can refund the charge for the diagnosis (note that they had JUST said that it was a free AC check minutes earlier). They say that this $300 is always explained to be the first step. That the dye test they did, etc. that is not definitive. That they are SURE she was told this. She reiterates everything that she was actually told - and they argue that she is wrong. That they ALWAYS say this. Implying that either she is dumb or lying. She left a message for their district manager - since this manager on site was nothing but disrespectful and dodgy. To date, she has had no call back. Anyhow - stay far far away from Pep Boys.

I immediately called TireBuyer and they confirmed that the tires were in fact delivered and signed by the manager, Dorian. I told Dorian that TireBuyer confirmed the delivery and his signature of receipt and he became very defensive and said the tires must have gotten lost. At this point, I've wasted enough time in the store and I asked TireBuyer for a refund but they weren't able to process a refund just yet since they needed to call FedEx and the Pep Boys store to figure out what happened. I ended up leaving the store without new tires and without a refund. Today I'm driving around with bald tires, which one of them has a nail in it, while there is ice on the roads all because my tires got lost in the Manchester Pep Boys. I will be going to the Better Business Bureau and filing a complaint with the commissioner's office if a resolution isn't reached.

They didn’t even call me. I had to call them to keep checking on my car's status. Then when I go to pick my car up they were so rude to me as if I did something wrong. I told them that I just got my brakes and rotors changed and they had to take the tires off for that service so it had to be in there! So yeah 9 hour day without my vehicle. Me and son couldn’t go anywhere and get nothing accomplished. I just think it was really Rude of them to waste my time and honestly not even try to think of another solution to get my tires changed, and then to not apologize is like a slap in the face. Rude staff all around especially Nicole!

On August 28th, I walked into Pep Boys and explained to Jesus, who I understand is the manager, that I was driving from FL to NJ for an extended visit, and wanted a set of new Pirelli PZero tires. I also made an appointment at this time to drop the car off during a business trip a week later, so that I didn’t go without my car while I was in back in FL.

I picked up my car on September 8th and took it home. On the 24th, I made my drive up to NJ. When I arrived on the 26th, after a car wash, my father immediately pointed out that he didn’t think I had gotten new tires. My father has been collecting cars for his entire life, and I told him I was not sure what new tires would look like, but that I would call and make sure Pep Boys actually changed them for me and didn’t just rotate the same ones. He assured me they weren’t new and to call.

I called and spoke with a manager named Steve who asked me to send photos of the tires. I took them and emailed them over, saying in my opinion, maybe the two back ones were new, but what do I know? They were clean so I’m not sure if I could tell. I didn’t hear back from Steve so I called back on October 1st to see what he thought. He said that he wanted me to go to a Pep Boys nearby and have them take a look and have them call him back. I could not do it that night, so I went the next day. I went to Pep Boys store 711 in NJ.

I walked in and asked the man behind the counter to look at my tires, and told him my situation. He came out and measured the tread in the tires and told me the tires weren’t new. I called Steve immediately and asked Peter if he would speak to him. He did. Peter told Steve he looked at the tires and they were not new. He also called another gentleman out of the garage (I did not get his name) and after looking at the tires, he said they were not new tires. Steve was very apologetic, and said he would be in touch after they looked at the cameras to see what happened. I told him I was making the drive again in November, and I just wanted new tires before then. It wasn’t a rush. I wasn’t being a jerk. Mistakes happen.

But then I went another week not hearing from anyone, so I called Steve to see what was going on this past Saturday, October 9th. Steve said they checked the cameras and the guys did change my tires. I told him I am really not concerned anymore with what his camera shows, since clearly, they are not new tires. I get that my father’s expertise doesn’t count, but the manager I went to in the Pep boys in Pompton plains, as well as another gentleman in the garage, told them they measured and they weren’t new tires. THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD ME TO DO. I told him I was frustrated and this is getting ridiculous. Steve said that Jesus the manager would be calling me first thing Monday morning to discuss it. (Oct 11th.)

On October 12th. I had not heard back from anyone. I was ready to put this everywhere online to save people the trouble I had, but then thought maybe instead of writing a scathing review I should contact corporate. I spoke with someone who said they would get the area director involved. That was 1 month ago. I was told the area director in Central Florida was handling it, and I would get a call back soon. IT'S NOVEMBER 21st- I NEVER HEARD BACK. I got new tires at another company before my drive down again to Florida, and they actually showed me the difference between my supposedly "new" tires which only had 2500 miles on them, and actual new tires. They were disgusted when I told them the story, and how Pep Boys across the board from FL to Corporate are liars who CLEARLY do not care about their customers or making any mistake right.

This is wrong, and it shouldn’t have taken this long to figure this out. I’ve done everything they’ve asked and I’ve just been treated like… yea no big deal whatever. They could've just refunded me the money for the tires and done what’s right. I’m not asking for pain and suffering, just what I’ve paid for and didn’t get. And how about ANYONE at this company be responsive. I'm sharing this story everywhere to warn people - STAY AWAY FROM PEP BOYS NO MATTER WHAT LOCATION!

Then, I went again and set up an appointment for the first morning slot so I wouldn’t have to wait. The mechanic was an hour and a half late. Then, they claimed I needed new wiper blades but I had just changed them three days before. When I told them, they said, “oh yeah, you’re right.” The next day after the oil change, my car began and is still (now months later) making weird noises when I drive between 30-60mph. Lastly, I made an appointment for an oil change today at 9. They told me they were busy and wouldn’t be able to start service for about 2 hours. I pretty much returned today to ask what they had done to my car last time. I left and went to Mr. Tire and they are awesome and honest and helped me right away.

Fast forward 2 weeks and my oil gauge is on empty. This is odd since I just got the oil changed. I don't see any oil stains in the driveway but I know previously oil was being burned quickly but not lost. So I take it back to pep boys and ask them to check it out because they were the last ones to touch it. they said it will be $45 to do a different kind of test involving oil pressure and things like that so I just left it with them to look at.

When I picked it up I was told that the pressure sensor and a couple other parts needed to be replaced to solve the issue of the low gauge and burning of oil. I declined the service to shop around a bit. Fast forward about a week and a half. I'm noticing oil stains in the driveway now which weren't there before. In addition to that, there's also a coolant leak from somewhere that wasn't there before.

Instead of taking it back to them I took it to a Jiffy Lube and had them look at it. The technician literally yelled "whoa!" From under my car. She explained to me that in addition to the oil filter being extremely loose, the oil pan gasket was loose as well as something else. They couldn't find where the coolant was coming from though. I called the store and spoke to Jimmy (Manager) and let him know what was going on and he actually tried to get me to bring it in. Told him I would not be coming back.

Sorry for the book but just had to be as detailed as possible to let people know to not take your car here! Either they are grossly incompetent or they're creating problems as they go to get more money. Either way you don't want this headache. Go somewhere else.