Firestone Complete Auto Care

Before our trip down to Florida I noticed the pulsation in my rear brakes were getting worse. It was an issue that started earlier and I ordered and received new brake shoes and a caliper and parking brake shoes and rotors/drums which were not worn but were rusted as I dont drive the truck daily and found out local shops dont turn rotors anymore like the old days after calling several places and a few that do only under the condition they are doing the entire brake job. I had also noticed one front brake caliper was not hot, but was not as cool as the front caliper on the other side. I suspected it was starting to bind up. So I ordered and installed the caliper.

I also received new brake pads. Unfortunately the new drums/rotors did not arrive.

Something went wrong with the order so I did not have them in had to install before the trip.

I noted the rear discs were pitted from rust which is a common thing in PA but also that my rear parking brake actuators were sticking keeping my parking brakes engaged from being rusty as well which was causing heating of the rear drums causing risk of them warping and no doubt ruining the parking brake shoes.

They would not correctly release on their own. I backed off tension on the parking brake cable and manually released the actuators and let them remain that way with parking brakes disengaged and disabled so it was fine for the trip down til we get to a shop in Florida near our stay.

This worked fine for the trip down. No more engaging and sticking parking brake shoes. Just had the slight pulsation when braking at a red light or stop sign etc. which I simply went easy on braking and actually I always drive was on throttle and braking to protect transmission etc from todays powerful diesel motors. This is a Ram 3500 dually with Cummins diesel.

We could leave it at a shop in Florida shop as we ride motorcycle and ride it to go snorkeling etc or fish on the lake we were staying at.

We then decided to call a shop in Florida to replace the brake rotors/drums at the end of our drive down. I prevented the brakes from overheating and causing damage but knew the pulsation will just have to wait along with having parking brake cable loosened with slack til the rotors/drums are replaced and new parking stuck rusted brake actuators replaced but that is ok.

I called Firestone local to our stay in Inverness but they were getting their heavy duty truck lift replaced and told me we had to call Oxford Firestone an hour away as they have a large enough truck lift for my dually. . (we also have a Firestone credit card so we were going to save vacation cash and use the card thus chose Firestone)

Oxford Firestone phone call making appointment I called I while driving to Florida from PA and James (manager at Oxford store) answered and we discussed the work we wanted done:

Replace brake rotors/drums

Replace parking brakes

Replace parking brake actuators

Install new shoes and pads I am providing which I had with us.

Adjust parking brake cable back to its proper tension.

Rotate all tires and set pressures

Change oil and filter. Use Rotella T oil and if they dont have it I will provide it.

Add 1 qt of Hotshot Ant-stiction treatment to the engine oil in place of 1 qt of oil they would add.

Its well known it keeps injectors clean for optimum performance and engine components better lubricated and it literally makes diesel engines smoother and quieter. Diesel engine rebuilders recommend it as well. He said company policy doesnt allow adding the additive and I said ok but it would have saved me the hassle of the messy draining 1 qt by simply putting in 1 less quart or Rotella in during the oil change. Also I am not asking to add a product I am not sure about and I am happy to pour it in myself if you just leave the oil 1 quart short so I can fit it in. He said no to that as well so I thought guess I am going to pay $8 or so for a quart of oil I will simply have to drain myself later.

Change transmission fluid and filter

Replace fuel filters

I discussed the sticking P brake actuators and mentioned it requires pulling axles out of the way because the hub flanges (where tires bolt onto) are in the way of accessing the actuators so I offered to bring the actuators and axle seals myself picking them up on my way down there and James said not to worry, a quick phone call to Autozone or Advanced Auto which both are literally across the street from his shop and they will deliver the parts.

I had already called Autozone and Advanced Auto pricing the actuators and seals and several had them in stock.

We of course would be driving by many on our trip down from Pa.

He said it would be an all day lengthy job

. I said I expected it to be so because of the actuators and we planned to bring my motorcycle in tow on a small trailer with us to spend the day site seeing if its ok to park the trailer out of the way there somewhere. He said no problem, extra space over by the dumpster.

Firestone appointment

We arrived, in the parking lot. James came out and told us they are hammered and very busy and he was speaking in a very sour moody tone. He said it will be quite a while before they can take my truck in and asked if we still want it done.

I said yes because we drove almost an hour ad a half or over an hour anyway because our local shop was replacing their truck lift and as long as he can have it done later that afternoon or end of day etc as we have anticipated the long day and brought the motorcycle per our previous discussion on the phone.

He gave me instructions where to disconnect my bike trailer and pushed it out of the way near their dumpster to avoid using an extra parking spot.

Karen was waiting near the customer waiting area so I drove the bike around the building from dumpster area to waiting room area and went inside and gave James the keys to the truck and said see you in the afternoon. We put on our jackets etc. and got on the bike and when I went to start it, it appeared to lose battery power. I tried catching in gear but the battery was just too low. (electronic ignition bikes need at least 10 volts). Apparently winter time in PA sitting in the garage killed the battery even tho I had charged the battery days before leaving PA.

Karen and I agreed this is just a small setback. We have 2 auto parts stores across the street and should be half hour max and be out site seeing. Not difficult to change battery on this model.

I told Karen I will just call the 2 auto parts stores across the street and see if they have a battery. Only takes about 10-15 minutes to replace and the tools are in a tool set in the motorcycle.

Unfortunately neither store could confirm they had one but the Advanced Auto store told me there is Luckys Motorcycle shop 2 miles away and gave me the number.

I called and they said they had 4 batteries in stock for my model bike. If I want he can set one out for me and reminded me to bring in the old battery to avoid a core charge. I said thank you and I will head over for it, just got to get the keys to my truck and fly over quick and get the truck back to the parking lot waiting for its repairs which according to Jim wont be for a few hours. It is only 2 miles to Luckys.

This is when things went bad.

I went inside Firestones lobby and James was out in the garage so I headed to the garage and asked him if I could get the keys back and take the truck for about 15-20 minutes.

Told him the situation and a new battery was only 2 miles down a quiet rode literally waiting for us on the counter. The store clerk is expecting us.

He said Oh no I cant let you take the keys! We are very busy! said this in a moody tone.

I said you just said 5 minutes ago it will be quite a while before you can pull my truck in cuz you are slammed and you just opened.

The dealer is only 2 miles away and basic math tells me at 60 mph that equates to 2 minutes each way and the battery is on the counter waiting for me. So add another 2 minutes to pay for it. That is ideally only 6 minutes but lets say 20 minutes max.

He said no I cant do that. We are too busy. I said I dont see a single car on any lift ready to come down and moved out freeing anyone to work on my truck (remember we were in the garage at this time).

By the time they even so much as put a wheel on or simply lower the lift and back a vehicle out and park it then run the keys in and write down their repair notes on the invoice I would be back anyway.

.

I asked What happened to It will be quite a while?

He then unbelievably said Ok I will give you a choice, an ultimatum,

(he grabs my keys off the wall dangling them in front of me like a dog having a steak dangled in front of it) and says you take these keys right now and I will push your truck all the way back to the end of the day! Being very arrogant while saying it. I said excuse me, we drove well over an hour to get here and its a full day job.

It is my truck and I only need to drive it 4 miles round trip to save our day and you just gave me an ultimatum for an appointment I made days ago?.

He said well do you want the keys or not? (dangling the keys)

I said fine WE WILL WALK THE 4 MILES! We NEED the truck repaired today as we are over an hour away from this location!

Well we ended up spending 2 hours walking around the local stores such as Walmart etc hoping to find one closer. (I wish I thought of Uber at the time. Karen usually does as well but was also so shocked and upset and humiliated and overheated from the sun we werent thinking clearly).

After no luck at any local stores I called Luckys again.

Fortunately I mentioned Autozone had a model battery that sounded close to mine but not exact same number so it might or might not fit and I couldnt buy it and try fitting it in and be forced to keep it if it doesnt fit as it is an electrical part which is the policy for electrical.

He asked if I knew the model battery Autozone has, I did and told him the battery model and he said Oh you are good to go, it is the exact same battery, Duralast uses 2 model numbers for that battery. It will work. So we could have save hours of humiliating walking around town on large busy fast moving traffic streets dodging traffic etc carrying a battery, sweating etc..

Great so I ran back over to Autozone carrying battery (ag ain4 long blocks from Walmart) as Karen sat in the shade under a tree resting and I got the new battery then carried the new battery the 4 long blocks abck to the bike at Walmart.

Installed it and it was now 12 noon. 2 hours had passed.

We were tired and hot from walking from store to store, running back and forth across the 4 lane to 6 lane highway from shopping strip to shopping strip in the hot sun. We are from PA winter and were not used to this weather.

We decided to sit for a while to rest up and cool off in the waiting room where it was cool and drink something being thirsty at this point. So much for the fun site seeing ride on the motorcycle. To tired to deal with traffic on a bike. Not safe. Maybe in an hour or so and then take a ride as we did not expect to be done for maybe another 4 hours.

To my total surprise 20 minutes later James suddenly pops in saying the truck is done and the mechanic is test driving it and should be back in a few minutes.

Few minutes later mechanic drives in briskly into the parking lot and jerks it to a stop grabbing the keys closing the door a bit hard. James then headed out to the mechanic in the shop.

I thought wow, I wouldnt drive someones $80,000 truck (or more these days) like that but didnt say anything.

I also had the bad sense hit me and thought and said to Karen That seemed too quick to do all that?

Either he is really good and fast or he took shortcuts. And got a knot in my stomach.

James then returned in a brighter mood and said the truck is PERFECT! You are all set. I asked you put Rotella T in for the oil right? He just gave a quick Yup. Its all done!

Suspecting it was too fast I asked if I could see the old brake parts as I was just curious how bad the rotors and actuators were as I also wanted to see how frozen the actuators really were compared to what I was suspecting.

He said ok and that one break adjuster was replaced as it was extremely rusted and froze up and badly damaged. I said ok and glad the mechanic took care of it but raised my curiosity that he didnt mention the frozen actuators as he knew that was my biggest concern because they can cause overheating and destroying the $1000 in new parts just installed and are the biggest part of the job requiring most of the day to replace as they require removing EVERYTHING to access them and I made sure I expressed that was the urgent part of the job during our previous phone conversation days ago. Now I began to think here we go, another job not done right cuz James is not answering my specific concerns of the actuators in detail, just vaguely.

I went to the lift where my truck was repaired and saw my old rotors and saw they were indeed pitted beyond repair (beyond turning on a brake lathe as they are very expensive to replace on duallies).

I saw the brake adjuster on the floor next to the lift. To my surprise it was in perfect condition. Threads had no rust which is amazing for a PA. No stripped threads or marks etc, while holding the adjuster up in my hand I just quickly asked James and the mechanic My old adjuster? and he and the mechanic nodded yes.

I wondered why he replaced it but didnt ask not wanting to get into an argument and see more of the whole picture looking for the other parts.

I immediately put it in my pocket when they looked away talking to each other knowing there is some bs going on here.

Now I was most concerned to see the old parking brake actuators.

The $28 parts that are at the heart of the system requiring removal of entire brake system, wheel bearings, axle seals, and axles to replace them.

THE VERY PARTS THAT IF LEFT IN WOULD DESTROY THE ENTIRE $1000 JOB THAT WAS JUST DONE! THEY WILL FORCE THE PARKING BRAKES TO STAY ENGAGED COOKING EVERYTHING EVEN RISKING FIRE! The parts we had an extremely detailed conversation about over the phone.

I looked on the lift, in the truck, on the floor, in the garbage cans. Could not find them. This is the most important phase and very reason for this appointment. REPLACE THE ACTUATORS which was expressed IN GREAT DETAIL over the previous phone conversation!

Replacing the drums/rotors and parking brakes as they were compromised by the stuck parking brake actuators without replacing the actuators is pointless.

I could not find them so I asked James and the mechanic where the old actuators are hoping he brought them into the office knowing I already mentioned I would like to see them per the phone call.

James says oh we didnt replace them. I said in total shock, Are you serious? You just did $1000 worth of replacing parts and left the very parts in that will destroy the entire job??? You had ALLLLL this apart, tires off, calipers off, brake pads off, brake drums/rotors off, parking brake assemblies, shoes, springs, retainer all off, axles pulled, axle seals, with those rusted solid damaging actuators totally exposed now only requiring one small bolt and slide off of cable and slide new on and new rubber boot and put one bolt back in BUT DIDNT, but replaced the parking brakes and everything else WHILE YOU KNEW VERY WELL IN ADVANCE DAYS AGO PER OUR DISCUSSION they are rusted solid and will lock these new parking brake pads against the new drums and I even offered to provide new ones along with providing the necessary axle seals in case you didnt have them or could not get them in time and you did not replace them installing EVERYTHING back on over them??? Are you kidding me?

He said We didnt replace them because they are a dealer item only and we dont go to the dealer to get parts so we dont do dealer item only part jobs. You have to go to the dealer now and have them replace them.

Then the lying mechanic backed him up seeing I was upset and could tell I knew I was being lied to by James and said yea, they are only available at the Dodge dealer and dealers have to replace them. First I asked what happened to that lengthy extremely detailed discussion we had over the phone about the actuators and axle seals and you telling me NOT to pick them up and you can get them across the street and even discussed the price of them with you getting them vs me getting them and you saying no problem we got it when I expressed how important it was to replace the actuators, not polish the rust off them as someone might be tempted to do to save cost on replacements just to have them rusted again in 6 months and replace the axle seals taking no chances re using the old seals? What happened to THAT conversation James???

I said are you kidding me? The dealer will have to rip ALL this apart again!

You do realize the cost right? What $200/ hr. for a dealer??? To RE DO 4 hours or more of what you just did (and was at that time questioning exactly what did he do in such a short time and now the lies) and then another 10 minutes to replace the now exposed actuators you decided to ignore???

Also these ARE NOT DEALER ITEM ONLY PARTS!

I then said watch how long it takes me to locate these parts without sourcing from any Dodge dealer!

Then the mechanic jumped in and repeated trying to convince me Yes they are dealer item only parts. We cant get them and Autozone and Advanced Auto wont carry them nor anyone else but Dodge.

I said WRONG they ARE NOT dealer item only! I said let me show you!

First look at my phone, I will pull them up at BOTH Autozone AND Advanced Auto in a matter of seconds!

I did just that. Even showed them the price at each place. $4 dollars difference between them and then added As a matter of fact I spoke with Advanced Auto and they said they didnt have them in the Oxford store but can get them there in 2 hours from the next closest store toward Ocala.

That was while I was there searching for a battery that morning and I actually had a gut feeling about this manager and his mood and attitude just in case he forgot to order them himself.

I typed in 2016 Dodge Ram 3500 dually parking brake actuator in Google search and instantly had countless results pop up with pictures and prices of them from many autoparts stores and websites such as Rock Auto Advanced Auto, Autozone, NAPA etc.

I then said As we discussed earlier on the phone one store has them for $28 and the other across the street sells them for $32. I realized the brake pads, shoes and drums and hardware were all very common and always in stock thru my experience but that the actuators are not as common and I am counting on the assumption this manager had the foresite of ordering them 2 days ago when we set up the appointment.

I said YOU HAD since last FRIDAY to get them AND I OFFERED to pick them up on my way down! So now you just wasted all this work and 3 hours round trip and fuel plus all this morning of our time and the brake adjuster looked perfectly fine. Not stripped, worn and not even rusty, and turns smoothly and was not even a problem and if you disagree with that show me what exactly is wrong with this brake adjuster. Neither said a thing to defend their lies. They both walked away back into the waiting room.

So we got in the truck and loaded up the trailer and motorcycle. Drove out the parking lot and before we got to the first traffic light saw all the warning lights, check engine lights, front and back parking sensors not functioning warnings, ABS light, Traction control light, see dealer for DEF system servicing message, see replace fuel filter message, TPS system malfunctioning. Parking sensor switch led lights blinking not turning on after several tries to turn them on.

Fuel filter change warning, tps system saying a rear tire. I forget which but was a rear tire (not a coincidence as that is what this butcher worked on.) New check engine light.

New "Have dealer service def system" warning. etc etc etc .

We immediately did a u turn and went back amazed the mechanic had the conscience to drive it with all these warnings, lights. Codes etc and say its perfect Got back to the shop and asked what happened.

James put a scanner on the truck and said the right rear abs sensor is erratic. Might be bad or maybe a piece of debris or rust got caught in front of it.

He then said he reset the computer and erased the codes after reading one saying Right rear abs erratic signal, (again not a coincidence its the rear abs sensor or reluctor ring etc. If they come back on bring it back in 2 days..(Thursday).

I said you cant work on it now? Parking lot is empty and so was the shop. We drove over an hour to get here and now its worse!

He said maybe rust got in the sensor mounting hole blocking its signal.

Come back Thursday, thats all I can do. I am off tomorrow.

I said that seems like sloppy work, Ive replaced abs sensors in the past many times over decades and you always clean the area and look in the sensor mounting hole first and had only one not work properly upon installing it in all those years and it was because it was a defective sensor Rock Auto parts sent me, but I guess its possible. I suggested he look for a loose connector etc. Maybe the mechanic forgot to connect a wire harness connector with all these new computer lights and warnings and it could save us another 3 hour round trip especially with todays fuel cost.

This mechanics garbage work was really showing itself now and his word.

I also ASKED James how the ring tones were cuz a cracked ringtone (especially from a sloppy heavy handed hammer slinging mechanic) will cause an erratic signal) when he scanned my trucks system because of the sudden new abs light and he said "oh the rings were fine". (Yet another lie I later discovered).

Right rear abs erratic signal, (again not a coincidence its the rear abs sensor where the mechanic just had apart but lied saying everything is perfect.)

He then again said well I cant fix this now, ( I think realizing all the computer messages and warnings and lights blinking etc etc) you will have to come back.

I said ok I guess. (we had no choice). Then he went back inside.

We pulled out and on the way to our bnb. I kept thinking what a disaster. Cost over $1000 for parts that are now just going to get overheated in a matter of how many miles, this *** humiliated us not letting me use the truck for 10 to 20 minutes causing miles of walking and sweating in the sun carrying a battery feeling like a couple of bums on the streets, ruining our day, then he doesnt have the mechanic do the most important work the entire job depended on using a lie (dealer item only) as an excuse compromising the entire job and risk of fire, he lied about the additive creating the messy task for me plus I now paid extra for oil I now need to drain. (I called THREE Firestone shops in the area including Inverness and Ocala and all said yes of course we will help with the additive,one of which said its not a big deal. I even called the Oxford store the next day knowing James was off that day and another manager AT THAT STORE on that day answered and also confirmed they would do it.)

Now to add to matters my rear brakes start squealing. Brand new brake job and squealing! How disgusting! Minutes and maybe 10 miles after a $1000 brake job and brakes are squealing!

I knew they had to be heating up from stuck new parking brakes (found out later NOT REPLACED!) compromising the new expensive drums, shoes and even caliper seals including the new caliper I had pre installed!

I was furious more and more as we were driving away I noticed the whitish blue smoke billowing in my exhaust in my passenger side mirror now too!!! I constantly check my mirrors watching any trailer/camper I am towing as I was now towing our motorcycle. I suspected it had to be a wiring connector and its got the computer misfiring and with the service def system warning maybe its dumping def fluid heavily in the exhaust cuz of broken control or exhaust sensor signal wires or forgotten connector by the mechanic. Smoke was whitish blue, not black or dark blue like from diesel fuel or engine oil. Probably either coolant or def fluid.

James was arrogant and said no to anything we asked and lied about everything and a mechanic that really messed up everything and lied as well. The garage from ***

He we are 1200 miles from home too. Weve got a $1000 bill on our Firestone card and who knows how much in new damages!

I was so furious, Karen extremely upset, I couldnt wait 2 days to call. I decided to call immediately.

James answered.

I said this is not acceptable. You just wasted $1000 of our money and I have who knows how much more damage now with my engine, my computer, my exhaust def system, brakes annoying squealing and who knows what else?

He immediately said ok I will drop the charges right now if you agree NOT to bring that truck back to MY SHOP! I never ever want to see that truck again.

I said ok, but we have more problems but of course I DO NOT WANT YOUR SHOP NEAR MY TRUCK EVER AGAIN. Karen agreed immediately.

I told him you and your mechanic do nothing but lie about everything and I cant trust anything with you or your mechanic. So trash the $1000 charge on the card but I still need to get my truck fixed properly. I will take it to another Firestone to fix whatever your mechanic messed up and redo the brake job correctly.

We see it as recoup some of the loss by deleting the $1000 charges right now at least but now we need to start on the damages created by this clown.

He said fine I will send an email showing its cancelled and hung up.

Back at our BnB

We got back to the BnB in Henrando from the really long nailbiting drive praying my motor was ok with this new whitish blue smikey exhaust and hoping no further damage happened on the long driveback to our BnB.

I Felt like a total idiot driving it like this from a perfectly equipped garage that created this and should be able to resolve it before it causes catastrophic damage causing 10s of 1000s.

Karen went inside to look up Firestone customer support and I proceeded to unload the motorcycle and unhook the trailer.

I could smell the overheated rear brakes and hear the metal clinking from expansion, contraction as they were slowly cooling thinking about the shame and waste of cooking brand new brakes and brand new rotors/drums.

I also smelled burnt oil. Looked underneath and saw axle oil or brake fluid dipping down the inner sidewall of the drivers side rear tire and hitting the bottom edge of the overheated drum. I was furious.

I realized we cant even rent a truck set up like mine to carry kayaks and haul a motorcycle and is of a mega cab design with large cab fitting our cargo and a watertight truck box retractable cover to carry and protect even more cargo in the truck box we have. We packed for a month long trip! We have to leave the bnb we are at with OUR truck.

Customer support

Karen and I immediately called Customer support when I got done outside and went inside.

We explained everything and what happened in detail over an almost hour long call.

The woman apologized profusely several times saying how horrible this was and definitely not acceptable to Firestones standards and she promised to get the entire problem resolved at no cost and also apologizing for the now extended ruining of our vacation and time and stress.

She said the district manager will call us in 1 to 3 days.

We said thats not good. We are on vacation 1200 miles from home and are only at our present location for 5 more days and desperately need our truck. We have to leave the bnb we are at and really hoped to use our truck during our vacation while down here.

She said it is the only option available, I will express your concerns and your situation to the district manager and the field manager

.

We waited 3 days. Nothing. No calls. We are now down to 2 days to leave our bnb. No transportation. Situation is now even more dire let alone driving a motorcycle in freezing temperatures Florida was experiencing that week. Nights were 27 degrees and days 40s and just hitting 50 on the warmest day of that week limiting our list of things we had planned for that week down to just a few miles away and no kayaking at a few natural springs which was the main reason for our trip.

I called tech support again getting a different person and spent an hour explaining everything from scratch all over again along with the fact we just lost 3 days of precious vacation and truck repair time waiting for that call to get our truck fixed before we have to leave and we are 1200 miles from home and family help and still dont even have so much as an appointment to bring our truck in yet or even a future date set.

He said same thing as the 1st person. It will take 1 to 3 days to receive a call and I will put a high priority on it. I asked to simply allow ME to call the field or district manager direct myself since they are not calling us because WE ARE OUT OF TIME!. He said cant do thatl Ugh.

Ok we had no choice but to hope to get the call and get this moving.

We again waited and now til the LAST DAY of our stay and not a single call yet again.

We exhausted our searching for a viable rental truck for a last resort option. I called again and also out of desperation filled out several complaint forms on Firestones support website. Described everything all over again in the emails and on the website support site. Not a single response via phone yet again nor any messages or email FROM EITHER the website or the phone call!

I called yet again not expecting anything but had to do something, leaving a message with the district managers number that I finally retrieved and explained the dire situation this has become and we are out of time.

Again no return calls or emails!

Nothing!

They obviously could care less.

Just communicating with paid actors saying what they are paid to say til the customers finishes stating their concerns and frustration and shuts up and goes away.

Karen called the BnB owners who live in Miami and fortunately was able to extend our stay for a few days costing us much more here because they said they will have to get their cleaning company they use in our area in on overtime or over a weekend at higher rates since we would be there at their scheduled cleaning day and they have their routes preset ahead of time. Of course this means paying extra here and losing our next accommodations we have already paid for.

We are now losing money 3 fold!!!

Higher rates for a place we are supposed to have left along with extra fees and days, losing accommodations we already paid for at our next stop!

We now decided to simply call the local Firestones ourselves rather doing it Firestones managers way waiting for these terrible district and field managers who dont seem to exist to call.

I called a local Firestone shop and fortunately (so we thought) told me there is a Tires Plus shop close to us that can handle a dually and informed us they are part of Firestone so they will take care of it.

I was grateful for the news as I was afraid to drive the truck more than a few miles in fear of destroying my engine with the smoke billowing out the exhaust and burn up the rear axle or differential with the oil leaking.

I was also in fear of having to drive home to Pa at the risk of driving thru a snowstorm since now thanks to Firestone my 4wd is now nonfunctional and the possibility of catching it on fire from overheating squealing brakes. What a mess.

Tires Plus appointment

I called Tires Plus and they said to bring it over and they can look at it right away.

We went over and waited a few hours. Ended up being hours wasted and more possibly damaging miles on my truck!

Manager came out and said we cant get to it now, can we bring it back Thursday?

We had no choice considering our BnB time was extended but only for a few days along with the rest of our schedule.

I said ok being very polite holding in our frustration.

That night I again filled Firestones complaint form online hoping to hear back.

Never did.

Brought the truck over Thursday with motorcycle on trailer in tow so I wasnt trapped there all day. Unloaded the bike and pushed the trailer out of the way.

Brought the keys in to the manager and reminded him of all that had happened. He said he called James and said James mechanic didnt do anything wrong. I was shocked and asked to explain the sudden flooding of warning messages, check engine lights, smoke, parking sensors not functioning. Def system needing servicing and so on.

He said it all has nothing to do with a rear brake job. It is not possible for any of that to come on from doing a brake job.

I immediately strongly disagreed explaining the abs light for example, traction control are part of the brake system.

Also the mechanic may have bumped a connector loose for any of the systems. Parking sensor harness for rear bumper for example has to run past the rear in the frame etc.

He also changed the oil.

I said he may have bumped the main harness near the filter, the main computer is mounted on the side of the engine block not far from the oil filter too. Maybe slipped with a wrench hitting the computer. Anything IS possible.

He said You know what, I am not going to work on a truck for guy that wants to argue, take your truck and leave.

I said so you are going to believe James and his mechanic who already lied constantly and were proved lying immediately and you are going to ignore the fact the truck got to their shop in perfect shape other than a pulsating brake pedal and left their shop with all these new problems and even a newly leaking axle seal and smoky exhaust and trouble lights and the fact that James cancelled the fee admitting guilt?

You are going to believe a pair that did not even install the most important components rendering the entire $1000 job useless?

And now you are going to leave us stranded here 1200 miles away in a bad situation Firestone put us in which your shop is part of?

He said I have been doing this for 40 years and I know what I am talking about. A brake job cannot cause any of those problems! Now take your truck off my property!

I said you wont even fix the axle leak? I could burn up my differential at any time. My brakes are overheating and can catch fire, my smoking engine may cause serious engine damage yet you are ordering me to leave with my truck like this?

Its not my problem, take it to dodge they can work on the computer issues too cuz we dont do that work here.

Take your truck off of my property.

I replied Oh so NOW you DONT work on computer issues here but you act like an expert on computer issues claiming the brake work can in no way cause this? Which one is it?

So you admit you don't work on computer systems but you somehow have these God like powers and positively know a mechanic an hour and a half away did not bump an electrical connector, have a ratchet slip and slam the computer which is mounted close to the oil filter or do something wrong with the brake system and have no doubts even though I now have a leaking axle seal or brake caliper and truck is smoking and dash full of warnings and things suddenly not functioning in THEIR parking lot and their word is worthless because we caught them red handed lying about the most important part of the job not being done under the lie that the parts are dealer item only parts and they still put all the new parts on anyway knowing full well the parts will simply be ruined or compromised quickly!

I have a strong electrical background even electrical engineering career and mechanical and very strong understanding of automotive systems and I absolutely know you are either wrong or are lying covering for your partner in Oxford!

Also that you apparently did not pay much attention for 40 years to electrical systems if you cannot understand the possible causes such as abs systems, loose connectors, broken wires, slipping with a large ratchet and hitting the computer mounted nearby, heavy handed work with a hammer beating on parts to remove if done improperly.

I loudly explained to him driving the truck more miles with the leaking seal could cause enough axle lube leakage causing the differential to burn up and i am now hoping my motor doesnt burn up as well with the new symptom of blueish white smoke coming out my exhaust.

He repeated it is not his problem and not going work on someones truck who wants to argue his point that a brake job cannot possibly trigger computer systems. Well I will take your advice and go to Dodge since your company apparently seems to be a bunch of liars. He said well its your lucky day they are only 2 miles down the road. So I said thanks for the advice but no thanks for wasting all these precious vacation and BnB days waiting for this appointment. I am off to Dodge.

I did ask as a last resort attempt, would you at least consider fixing the leaking axle or caliper or whatever the mechanic damaged to avoid damage to my rear axle since your shop should at least do that kind of work?

Told me again to take my truck off the property. He won't work on someones truck who wants to argue. He said thats your problem not mine.

I said so to be clear, you wont work on my truck unless I agree with these false statements you are saying which I know are wrong?

He said nothing so I left.

Dodge Appointment

I immediately went to Dodge with motorcycle in tow.

Met the service manager Deanna Pelletier. Explained the entire situation and also asked her and another service manager and a mechanic that came into the room about what the Tires Plus manager said that it is not possible to get all these symptoms from a brake job. All 3 responded the same way. Rolling their eyes etc. and Deanna asked the question, did he really say that? I said yes and he refused to work on my truck unless I agree with him rather than argue my opinion of the truth and then simply get my truck off the property, period.

Dodge IMMEDIATELY disagreed with Tires Plus Manager.

One diesel mechanic (dodge trained and certified)

And two service managers also very knowledgeable ALL DISAGREED WITH WHAT FIRESTONE AND TIRESPLUS SAID AT THE SAME TIME.

Even rolling their eyes saying its obvious the work was done by non technician level shop mechanic and these managers are lying or also are not trained at all with the computer system and no doubt did NOT follow the proper SPECIFIC procedures such as connecting to the computer and temporarily programming BEFORE tearing apart the system.

Now, one said it is a complicated mess and will take several hours or days to track down any shorts, wire damage, damaged connectors, clear out many codes in the proper order, then likely a complete reprogramming and fix the axle leak and take rear brake system completely apart and reinstall anything not compromised from heat and replace compromised parts such as the possible over heated caliper piston seals or damaged axle seal or whatever the mechanic may have damaged.

I had to of course leave the truck so I parked my trailer at Dodge which also suddenly since Firestone shop was missing the license plate and trailer lights were torn off???

Yet another odd thing.

They were all new and only a few days old and securely and safely fastened to the frame etc. out of harms way from road debris, or parking lot curbs etc. mounted up higher than the trailer bed and frame.

Took the cold ride back to our place on the bike. Was low 50s or high 40s out most of that week.

Dodge inspected it and called me. The mechanic who is called their diesel expert claims Firestone did exactly what i asked after they spoke to Firestone.

I was shocked!

He believed Firestone!

I noticed this " diesel expert" made some illogical statements.

He said they did everything i asked which is incorrect.

I said "no they did not install the actuators which would destroy the entire brake job and new parts they just installed.

The expert said my truck has no form of electronic parking brake actuators to replace and i said they are mechanical actuators and were not replaced per my request and the entire basis of the job was based on replacing them before anything else

.

The service manager Deanna reminded i am speaking to their diesel expert and arguing with an expert.

I said " PLEASE both of you do me a favor! Look up 2016 Dodge Ram 3500 parking brake actuators on your smartphones RIGHT NOW and when your phones do indeed show these actuators on Autozone and Advanced Auto among other websites go out to my truck.

Follow my parking brake cable along the drivers side of the truck back to the rear wheels.

The cable splits into 2 cables. Each cable ends at and are connected to THE PARKING BRAKE ACTUATORS on each wheel.

Now look at your phones images and you will understand what you are looking at.

Now engage the parking brake and release the parking brake pedal while observing the actuators. They will NOT release keeping the parking brakes engaged. Why? They are rusty and this is a common thing in Pennsylvania with road salt covered winter roads.

I informed them that i asked Firestone to replace them not polish the rust off as some mechanics do because the rust comes back within 1 or 2 seasons. I said please remember the seals will need replacing even if the mechanic did not damage one and it is the caliper that is leaking rather than the axle seal, because the axles have to be pulled out a bit to make clearance to remove the actuators as the axle hub flanges are in the way so the seals will probably get damaged.

So CAN YOU OR WILL YOU REPLACE THEM??? (asking Dodge this question) and he now understood the actuator system and answered yes we will take care of it (I think he just got part names mixed up).

.

Then Deanna says well Firestone says you only asked to work on the brakes and i asked did you just listen to everything i just said? The actuators ARE part of the brake system and I KNEW THEY WERE STICKING AND WOULD CAUSE OVERHEATING NEW BRAKE COMPONENTS and what mechanic would install $1000 of new parts and intentionally leave 2 parts worth $28 in, that will in VERY short time destroy the new parts ESPECIALLY when the customer THOROUGHLY discussed the problematic parts and SPECIFICALLY asking to replace them via phone call when setting up the appointment ALONG with asking them to please replace the seals as well for the reason the axles need to be pulled out several inches and order them and the actuators if they did not have them in stock?

I am asking YOU now, will you or can you replace them?

Diesel mechanic said oh uh yes we can replace them, not a problem at all, we will order the parts.

Hours past then the mechanic called me.

He said ok Mike we pulled the rear end apart and got a good look. He told me my tone ring was chewed down to nothing by the disintegrating parking brakes and probably damaged the axle seal so the Firestone mechanic did not cause the abs light to come on.

I disagreed again because logic and common sense tells a mechanically knowledgeable person, the abs light would have already been on when i arrived for my firestone appointment if the tone ring was already worn down.

You cannot drive ANY vehicle 50 feet with a bad tone ring and NOT have the abs light come on immediately as the computer will IMMEDIATELY sense the wheel rpm count is zero or dramatically different from the other wheels. Thats how they work. He then immediately agreed saying of course, that is exactly right this had to happen in their shop. Now I understand what you are upset about. I will get back on the truck and see what else might be up. I then added in my experience as a retired shop mechanic from years ago and 40 years of mechanical repair and design and building and electrical engineering design career highly doubt disintegrating very thin soft material parking brake pads can chew up a steel tone ring or reluctor ring. He again agreed.

And now i suddenly have an axle leak as well?

Adding more I said I bet and am sure the mechanic did something wrong with the ring gear upon assembly. He damaged the seal and that gear got chewed up the second he test drove my truck around the block coming back telling the manager everything was perfect even tho the second i got in the truck and started pulling out of the parking lot all my dash lights came on, abs, non functioning parking sensors, def fluid pump malfunction, tps system malfunction BEFORE I EVEN GOT TO THE RED LIGHT WHICH IS 100 FT FROM THEIR STORE.

The dodge mechanic and service manager can't explain why my abs light, traction control lights etc were all normal if i had a badly destroyed tone ring. So I could see they were not yet sure what caused the ground down tone ring teeth before we discussed it in logical detail.

I said if you can't logically explain the impossible from Firestones explanation then you are being lied to by Firestone and letting them influence your thinking or you are missing something to make all of this make sense.

He said ok he was going to get back on the truck.

3 days later on following Monday (it sat there for the weekend).

I get another call and now pictures sent to my phone by Deanna. They found the answer. The mechanic had improperly reinstalled an original break spring damaging it leaving it loose to fall out.

One end or both ends of it fell out of their fastening locating holes and it fell down into the teeth of the tone ring chewing the teeth off and then getting bent and shoved into the axle seal tearing up the axle seal.

This now made sense, a hardened steel spring could chew up a tone rings teeth!

That Firestone mechanic and the Tires plus manager and Firestone Manager were all just yet again proven to be liars. ALL of them!

This failure to properly replace and install the brakes spring destroying the tone ring caused the abs light to come on, check light to generate trouble codes (DTCs), traction control light, 4wd light, and disabled parking sensors. The dodge mechanic also explained this now too.

I said its so amazing, the butcher at Firestone replaced a perfectly good brake adjuster but not the actuators.

Also another shocking message from Deanna. She said Firestone didnt even replaced the brake shoes! The mechanic immediately noticed the old shoes as he was tearing it all apart only because he previously saw the paperwork I received from Firestone and handed it to Deanna where I explained I had PROVIDED FIRESTONE NEW SHOES smf it was noted in Firestones notes on their invoice! I had ordered my favorite brand in Pa and brought them with me on the trip and handed them to James for installation at Firestone!

Great, now that part, the abs light and cause of ground down tone ring and oil leak is solved so making progress but I still have this smoky exhaust, replace fuel filter message, and Service DEF system at dealer message. The def system message and smoky exhaust were very serious issues rendering my truck still non roadworthy especially for a 1200 mile drive back home in Pa.

During the second day of Dodge doing the brake work taking the truck apart my son who previously paid for a flight to come down and join us for a week was on his flight to Orlando airport. Almost 2 hours away. We were stuck and couldnt find a rental at all affordable. What a disaster! I also felt like a total failure to my fiancé and my son. Could not do the wonderful experiences I had planned for my son and we waited 3 years for the opportunity! He has no free time off the rest of the year!

He has another vacation coming but its already reserved with his friends.

Out of desperation yet again I called someone I had met that came through our store where I work part time in Pa. I didnt even meet him in person. Just spoke with him on the phone about some fishing lures and set aside some for him to pick up a few days later on his way to Satsuma Florida to a small winter home he has.

On that call he invited me down either by vehicle or fly down and he has an extra vehicle for guests if we flew down and is happy to meet us and wants us to stay at his 2nd home he has there for guests sometime for being such a help over the phone.

We were in a horrible situation so I called him starting with a hello and you wont believe what happened to us with Firestone conversation. He was very concerned and happy to help in anyway possible.

He was 2 hours from the Orlando airport but in the opposite direction toward St. Augustine. He and his wife actually made the 4 hour round trip drive from his place to the airport plus waiting for baggage pickup time etc late in the evening getting back to his place with my son at 4 am. 2 hours away from our location. My son stayed with someone I never even met in person (which he informed me of) but seemed like a kind person.

That person (Charles Lasicky) even lent my son his Ford Explorer to use to head to us knowing the situation we ran into. This took over a day for my son to finally get to us. We managed to take the explorer for one day snorkeling and the engine light came on. Of course I took responsibility and diagnosed and bought the parts and repaired it for him.

During this repair I lost yet another day of vacation and with my son working on that car.

We had now sat for 8 days only taking short trips on the motorcycle but unable to bring kayaks, snorkeling gear and bicycles. Total loss of vacation plans we saved all year for and wasted my sons vacation as well that he paid flight tickets etc for.

The def system is hopefully the last obstacle. This symptom can at anytime cause my trucks computer to go into limp mode allowing the truck to only go 5 mph til resolved. Cannot possibly have this happen on Interstate 95 heading home!

The smoke could be serious symptom of something internal that can destroy my engine.

Deanna and the mechanic said they will keep working on it.

Next day they called and said brakes are all done and rear axle etc all back together with new seals etc. The bill is climbing daily and is about $6000! And they are still not done!

Also we are trapped at the bnb with no truck losing our entire vacation! There was not even a comparable rental rig available to haul bike, kayaks, bicycles and cargo.

Another day passes, they did a $900 computer complete reprogramming to try to get rid of error messages and update the truck.

Didnt work but that enabled them to locate one problem, the smokey exhaust

. They discover 1st my def injector is leaking.

That is very possible if someone banged it. It was always fine along with when I parked the truck at Firestone and zero smoke in the exhaust.

I immediately asked if they were sure and did they check if the def pump is working properly and at the correct pressure as I did previously mention the exhaust appeared more white like steam than like oil or diesel fuel usual black or blue signature.

They said they did and it passed pressure and leak down tests and was fine. Had to be the injector leaking causing the smoke. I commented it is EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS it literally started the minute Firestones mechanic worked on my truck. Especially with my truck only having a little over 59k miles on it. He said he didnt know but yes it is strange.

They had to order a def inector from Miami but it wouldnt arrive for 4 days!

That ended that day and another day of vacation lost, now losing future plans we paid for.

I searched for an injector calling all over Florida. Finally found someone that could overnight it but that dealer wanted a substantial markup in price as he said he has to pay extra due to the shortage to get them.

I agreed to the higher cost and asked he hold it til I get confirmation from Dodge to accept it, I had no choice.

I Called Deanna to see if they could accept the injector from the other dealer, she transferred me to the parts department. They said its complicated paperwork and billing wise and rather not get one that way and to wait and hopefully they will find one sooner.

Hours later they called and had a part on its way.

Just before closing they got the part and installed it.

Bill was well over $6000 now!

Next day bad news, the def pump for some reason very weak. Dont know why.

I find this too overwhelming to be a coincidence that all this happened at the very same exact time at Firestone and confirmed my asking about the pump the day before and was the injector really bad or not.

They had a pump in stock and replaced it and now the bill is over $7200! OMG that would be an engine replacement!

Also we are paying for extended days at the BnB!

We now lost yet another pre paid stay we had in Cape Coral for after Marathon Key!

Finally on the last possible day at the bnb that they allowed us to extend our stay paying extra.

Next morning Dodge called and said it is finally done.

Immediately ran and got my truck back from Dodge.

Repaired just in the nick of time as Dodge was very concerned about the situation Firestone put us in and was barely able get my son to the airport literally minutes before his flight home after Dodge finished my truck.

To this day not a word from Firestone. Not an apology from Tires Plus or James at Firestone.

-----

PHOTOS AND FINDINGS BY DODGE

Dodge took in my truck and found the following over the next 7 days.

OIL CHANGE NOT DONE or OIL FILTER NOT CHANGED:

Dodge sent me pic of the oil filter which firestone said they replaced oil and filter and its printed on firestones bill and invoice.

Dodge informed me they discovered it still had old filter on it and the photo Dodge sent me shows aged dirty paint on the filter.

Also my truck says oil filter and oil service is due AFTER Firestone supposedly changed it.

I took a picture of that truck message as well to date it showing it is after Firestone had the truck.

Dodge would message me as they were discovering the work by Firestone or lack of.

Other pics sent to me by dodge shop included:

DESTROYED TONE RING:

DESTROYED OLD BRAKE SPRING in same wheel where Firestone replace a perfectly good brake adjuster but didnt replace shoes.

Picture original perfect condition brake adjuster needlessly replaced.

An incorrectly installed brake spring

Torn up axle seal

Left in stuck brake actuators causing overheating of new caliper and brakes from stuck parking brakes.

Picture of old parking brake shoes on both sides event tho I provided Firestone replacements

Check engine light on:

2 codes:

P020e8 def pump low reductant pressure

U0001 (can bus system bad connector or wire or short)

Fuel filter warning now comes on.

Parking sensors not working

Abs system light on left rear erratic signal

Traction control malfunction light on

Tps system malfunctioning left or right rear tire

Heavy blue smoke coming out of the exhaust!!! this morning while driving it to Tires Plus and when leaving Firestone.

Issues discovered myself upon leaving Firestone

Oil change service due warning

Check engine light on:

2 codes:

P020e8 def pump low reductant pressure

U0001 (can bus system bad connector or wire or short)

Fuel filter warning now comes on.

Parking sensors not working

Abs system light on

Traction control malfunction light on

Tps system malfunctioning indicating left or right rear tire, dont remember which rear.

Heavy blue smoke coming out of the exhaust!!! this morning while driving it to Tires Plus and when leaving Firestone.

Truck had zero computer issues when dropped off at the shop.

Also zero leaks and absolutely no smoke and ran like new. It should, being a diesel with only 59k miles on it and zero commercial use.

Only issues were pulsating brake pedal from rusty rear brake drums

Frozen brake actuators which I had backed off leaving brake cable loose with a small amount of slack to prevent parking brakes from applying which worked fine on the trip down along with simply not using the parking brake pedal.

Our losses due to Firestones lying incompetent manager James and his lying incompetent mechanic

This Firestone appointment and service damage was a disaster in many ways!

Ruined our vacation

Cost us $7200!

The high fee on our Firestone credit card dropped our credit by over 50 points or more!

This is now costing us on other things.

The monthly payments we are now making on that card now limiting our activities to this day

Cost us double on our BnB accommodations

Lost accommodations we prepaid for months in advance over many payments

More fees paying higher rates for last minute BnB accomodations

Lost a LOT of kayaking especially in Natural Springs we have basedour vacation on

Lost visits to several locations we had planned that weather was too cold to take our motorcycle to while truck was either sitting broken or in the shop

Lost day caused by James not letting me borrow my truck for 10 to 20 minutes MAX to get a motorcycle battery even tho he just told us it would be several hours before they can work on it, so we could use the bike for the day to make a nice site seeing/shopping day out of that day as planned which I previously discussed we would bring the motorcycle along to use as his shop took the day to work on the truck

Wasted my sons vacation with us that I personally had the 1st chance to have with him in over 3 years

Cost of parts, fuel, 2 days traveling etc.fixing and returning a kind friends vehicle we had to borrow

Cost of fuel and full day lost for wasted trip an hour and a half to Firestone while he refused to let me save that day

Our losses due to Tires Plus lying incompetent manager

Lost a day wasting time and fuel waiting at the shop for him to take our truck in as promised just to turn us away hours later saying we need to come back another day.

Lost 3 days with truck sitting broken in the driveway as we waited for the new appointment his lying proves he apparently never intended to keep.

Lost another half day and fuel bringing the truck in on the new appointment day just to have him lie about possible causes of the abs system and other computer codes generated etc etc. refusing to work on the truck unless I agree that his lies were true which my 50 years of mechanical and electrical experience made me well aware of his completely wrong statements.

I knew they were most likely lies as no one with his claimed 40 years of experience could possibly believe what he was saying and possibly not know improper work on modern 2016 fully loaded Dodge Ram Longhorn brakes could cause at the most basic symptom a basic mechanic even knows of abs warnings and a professional in a shop would be aware it disables traction control and a Dodge mechanic knows it also disables parking sensors.

I can understand maybe not knowing the parking sensors but the most basic mechanic knows abs sensors and tone rings are quite susceptible to brake work.

Our losses due to Firestones lying customer support

We lost 5 days sitting WAITING for Firestone to fulfill their promises to have their field and or district manager call to set up an appointment!

Even lost almost half a day total wasting time reporting to support agents the details over lengthy phone calls with no results

Bottom line

If we are not contacted in resolving this financial loss and any consideration for a destroyed vacation which we invested thousands into along with my son investing in as well and the humiliation, cold insulting degrading treatment including attempted theft by deception not installing components and even stealing the components I PROVIDED that they did NOT install, or oil and filter not done and not doing work as promised with actuators and not informing me til I forced them into a corner not asking but demanding to see the old parts and lies saying all work was done and its perfect by James and the mechanic, lies saying parts are dealer item only and not done there AFTER discussing that work in GREAT DETAIL days before hand, the damage by the lying mechanic, the degrading treatment by Tires Plus manager, the damage to our credit, the wasted monthly payments to cover repairs to Firestones mechanics incredible amount of damage, the money that we send in every month just to protect whats left of the credit rating then we will file a lawsuit and take this public as well!

We have bent over backward making phone calls, patiently waiting days of precious limited once a year vacation time to no avail, filling out forms on your customer support site, calling field and or district managers directly who never answer thus leaving messages in detail of the gravity of the situation we were put into with not a single return call.

Then to bypass that waste of 7 days time trying to do as instructed by customer support waiting for managers to no avail and then getting in touch directly out of desperation with other shops to find out there is a Tireplus nearby just to be lied to yet again and left stranded with the chance of destroying my truck much further risking driving it to him on an empty promise let alone driving an hour and a half with it in extremely vulnerable condition from the Oxford Firestone who refused to fix it or even attempt to fix it even tho his shop was empty at that point and he was open for another 4 hours. We honestly didnt know if the truck, my expensive diesel Cummins engine, expensive brake job etc would make the long drive back to our BnB. Ridiculous.

EMAIL ME AT Bosshoss98@***.com

OR text message (NOT VOICE CALLS) AT 570-931-****

I trust text messages as they are kept on the phone to alert me someone messaged and I get the contents of the message as well. Voice is not as reliable. I expressed this as well with customer support while we were going thru this mess waiting for customer support even tho we literally monitored our phones every minute waiting for that important call while we were in such a desparate situation. Of course Not a SINGLE message arrived or call over several requests and pleas.

I have had four oil changes at two Nashville locations. After each one, I had the oil light come on well before I was due for an oil change. My first oil changes were done at the dealership (included with purchase), with which I never experienced issues.

9/24/22: The oil light would turn on randomly; sometimes after 10 minutes of driving, sometimes an hour. I called to bring it back to the location to have it inspected. When I brought it in, the light had not turned on yet, so I was told everything was fine (with an 'oh, sweetie' tone, which I brushed off). I just kept dealing with it until my next oil change 5,500 miles later on 2/2/23.

2/2/23: Everything was fine for the first couple of months, but again, the oil light turned on. When I called the shop, they told me to bring it in. When I spoke to the man at the desk the next day, he said they could not work on my car, and that it was likely an oil pump issue. I needed to take it to the dealer for liability and warranty purposes. Odd, but okay. A couple of days later, I took it to the Mazda dealer, advised them of what had occurred, and asked them to look out for anything odd during the oil change. They conducted a full inspection and oil change and did not notice anything wrong. My car worked perfectly with no lights turning on, and I took it back to the dealership for its next oil change on the schedule.

On 10/29/24, I took my car back to Firestone, ready to give them another chance, since they are more conveniently located than the dealership and less expensive. They recommended a battery replacement and a few other services, most of which I accepted. They were unable to change my wiper blades 'because of special hooks'. (I replaced these myself very easily later. It was not different than changing the wiper blades on my previous cars.) Everything was fine until mid-January 2025. At this point, a pattern had been established. I decided to purchase some oil to top it off; due to the freezing weather, I looked up my invoices to see what was used, 0W-20. I bought a bottle, popped the hood, and to my shock, the oil cap clearly had 5W-30 inscribed on it. Upon some research, Mazda 6s can typically take either type of oil, but since my engine has a turbo, 5W-30 is needed, which is probably why it is on the oil cap.

I called the shop on 1/21/25, briefly explained the history, and described my concerns. He directed me to bring in the car the next morning. I came in, and they clearly thought I was overreacting or didn't understand anything about cars (possible sexism?). The only thing that seemed to make my situation believable was that the oil cap specified 5W-30 and the records stated 0W-20. He got approval from his manager, who also clearly thought I was overreacting. He told the technician (without acknowledging me or even making eye contact) to do it and just put a note in my file for the future. They said they would change the oil for me, but if I continued to have issues, I needed to take it to the dealer. I agreed and dropped off my car. When I picked it up, they charged me $59.79 for the oil change (50% off, which still seemed somewhat absurd for having used the wrong type of oil originally), and again, reminded me to take it to the dealer if the light turned back on. I was irritated that I had to pay for anything, but didn't want to argue, especially since the manager had already been involved (and I am pretty sure that is the same person who on 2/2/23 had advised me to go to the dealer). As I drove my car from the shop, I noticed that the car drove slightly better and seemed to have more power.

On 2/4/25, the light turned back on. I have put 1,800 miles on it since 1/22/25. I will be taking it to the dealer, but I am seriously concerned about my engine and/or oil pump at this point, as I know that this car has run with the wrong oil for at least ~15,000 miles of its 70,000-mile lifespan. I never approved using a different type of oil, and when my service has been recapped to me in the past, they simply specified that it was synthetic oil (which I knew it needed and approved). It is beyond me why anyone would choose to use a different type of oil than what is on the oil cap, especially when the substituted oil is the same price.

Needed 2 tires-they said 1.5 -2 hrs. Excessive but ok.

End up taking close to 5 hours. With time change it was now dark when I left. Not until morning did I see damage to lug nuts NOT Covers actual lug nuts. Went back that evening to see what they were going to do.

Could NOT get response from *** poor Manager Jesse Zeigler when I phoned and emailed picture to him. Next morning I left for work and low and behold I broke down positive battery cable was NOT secured on new battery THEY suggested I needed. Had to wait for 2 hours for my son to come secure battery. Once I arrived at *** POOR location I showed Jesse damage to lug nuts and video of battery.

He proceeds to tell me this is what we will do, I said NO this is what you're going to do because you will NEVER work on my truck again. Being the *** Poor Manager he is he proceeded to tell me "I did not work on your truck they did" great manager there Firestone. Received $130 refund for the *** poor work performed. I am looking for the FULL REFUND.

I know with this poor excuse of Manager they write off more than $312 in a day. FYI if you decide to STILL use them be sure and investigate your entire car-check battery connections before leaving.

Good luck to anyone who still uses them. I will NOT be this stupid EVER again.

Contacted Corp office waiting for response.

Firestone refuse to reimburse me 1,500 dollars for installing a catalytic converter that was under manufacture warranty they said I should have told them that it was under warranty Im 73 years old .. do they really expect me to know that. They said they dont check If parts are under warranty..

I took my car into store #314892 on 12/21/24 and got it back on 1/4/25, spending the amounts below. I had been given a 15% friends and family discount from Mark Ferner, an employee with Firestone Tech. The store manager would only honor it on a battery replacement that cost $250. I wasn't even going to do the battery replacement until they assured me the discount was good on everything that I was having worked on. I agreed to go there only because of the 15% discount they said I could receive to repair coolant and oil leaks.
I won't get into them fixing the wrong thing the first time and still charging me for all of it. I simply want what's right here, and I was done very wrong for this.
I am looking to have this corrected before I file a lawsuit in small claims court.
The friends and family discount I received was only $42.45.
Costs
Parts: $2,206.70
Labor: $2,395.47
Shop Parts: $35.00
Total = $4,822.21

Firestone Complete Auto Care, I am VERY dissatisfied, I have been a happy customer since 2006. I have never felt so ripped off by a business as I felt when I concluded my transaction at the Firestone on Airport Rd Huntsville Al.

location. My check engine and stop/start service lights came on so I stopped at a parts center nearby and they checked my vehicle. The fault code indicated that I needed a tune up, plugs and coil wires changed, so I decided to use firestone complete auto care. I drove the vehicle to Firestone 1020 Airport Rd Huntsville Al.

I explained to the manager the situation and he agreed I need a tune up plus a fuel line flush. So, I agreed to have firestone fix my vehicle and I left the business.

After a few days I had not heard from the business so I called to check on my vehicle, after being put on hold for over twenty minutes then disconnected, I decided to stop by the business. When I arrived, my vehicle was in the maintenance bay and it appeared they were fixing it. As I was talking to the manager another employee enters the lobby advising the vehicle should be fixed in a few hours so I left the business.

The next day I received a call from an employee of firestone that my vehicle would not start and that firestone does NOT have the equipment to fix my vehicle and that the mechanics DO NOT know what is wrong, why it no longer starts. He continued stating I would have to have the vehicle towed to another service station or the dealership.

I called a wrecker company, who responded to Firestone to pick up the vehicle, when he arrived the manager and or employee refused to release the vehicle until I paid $786.00 for the REPAIRS. The wrecked driver called me, explained the situation, and left the business. I called Firestone and after a long conversation with the office employee the price was reduced to $486.94 for the so-called repairs, which I paid so they would release the vehicle to the wrecker company.

The vehicle towed to another service station in the Huntsville area.

That service station repaired my vehicle in less than a day and called me when it was finished. The repairs had to be done because of the damage, neglect, and incompetence of the firestone mechanics. They had shorted out the vehicle's battery, blown fuses, and damaged the can bus which cost me another $483.13 to have repaired plus a wrecker tow bill.

After driving the vehicle home, I looked under the hood and I'm not sure they replace all the spark plugs. A tune up kit for Jeep Wrangler JL comes with the plugs and Ignition Coils, mine are still dirty and several do NOT look like they have been touched.

(still covered in dust with no finger prints) They are defiantly the original ignition coils so I know they have not been replaced. Also, multiple wires and secure ties were loose or completely disconnected.

In closing, I received poor service, over charged for repairs that may or may not have been done, and then I had to pay to fix the damages they caused by neglect and incompetence.

Update to my previous review, Oct. 14, 2024 updates; On 9/16/24 I took my 2018 Jeep Wrangler to Firestone 1020 Airport Rd. Huntsville Alabama 35802.

On or about 9/18/24 Firestone called me to inform me that my vehicle would not start and they do NOT know why, keep in mind I drove the vehicle there for a tune-up, advising me that I would have to have it towed to another mechanic to have it repaired. Also, I will have to pay $973.58 before Firestone can release the vehicle to the wrecker company. After a long conversation the price was reduced to $486.94, I reluctantly paid the bill so the wrecker company could tow my vehicle to another mechanic to fix the damage caused by Firestone mechanics.

After writing the first review a Firestone management contacted me on September 27, 2024. This manager (Joesph?) asked about my experience with Firestone, so I explained what had happened.

After I finished, he asked How can I make this better? I told him he could give me my money back or at least he should give me the $486.94 minus the parts (spark plugs) $113.94. He said he would have to speak with the district manager and he would let me know if there was a solution to this situation.

Honestly, I think Firestone should repay me for the damages they caused $483.13 (Rocket City Off Road repair Bill), the wrecker bill, and repay me the $486.94 they charged me to damage my vehicle then hold it hostage until I pay it so it could be towed to Rocket City Off Road to be repaired.

As of today, September 14, 2024, Just as I expected NOTHING, NOT A WORD, GO FIGURE!

Resolution In Progress??? LOL

I contacted customer service via email on January 7, 2024, about a complaint requesting a full refund from location 600 Pavilion Dr, Chesapeake, Va. I received a response (same day) requesting my contact number, so I could be contacted by the area manager.

Furthermore, I indicated in the email that my contact information could be found on the attached invoices. Nevertheless, I responded with my number, January 8th. I never received a response by email or a phone call, so I sent another reply on January 12th, indicating that I had not received a response or call, never received one.
On January 16th, I called the corporate office, my complaint was heard, and my contact number was left with them. January 17th @7:33am, I received a voicemail from Brandon, manager at the abovementioned location.

I returned Brandon's call @10:15am after arriving at Atlanta airport, I was traveling. Brandon's response to my complaint was, his location does not do faulty work and does not see how I am owed a refund. I explained that I brought my vehicle twice to his location, November 17th and 26th 2023, and both times I was told there was no issue with the brakes, and they did not hear a sound, but they were making a sound, and black residue was on the hubcaps the first time. The second time the noise began to get louder and black residue continued to cover hubcaps (see invoice #115108, 115306).

I informed him that I was not a mechanic, but I am not ignorant either because I am a woman. I further explained that I was being proactive to prevent other issues from occurring and becoming expensive. He was adamant about not giving me a full refund and they were not responsible. I thanked Brandon for his time and for calling me as corporate instructed because that is what he did.

I am confused why they're not responsible, but new brakes were put on my car. Not only were brakes replaced, but the front rotors also overheated due to calipers dragging. This work was done by another Firestone location #001910, (453 Battlefield Bld N, Chesapeake, VA) on January 6th (invoice #255388). As I mentioned before, I am not a mechanic, so when someone brakes are checked on a vehicle, do you not check rotors and calipers as well?

This is like visiting a doctor's office for bad chest pains, and he looks at your chest and says, you are okay, there is no bruising and never check blood pressure or give an EKG. I was told there was not a problem with my brakes twice and the mechanics did not hear a sound. Had my car been examined correctly, I would not have been out of pocket over $500. Please see attachments and pictures of residue on tires.

Invoice #107787 shows work that was done on my vehicle January 15, 2023, at Brandon's store. Yes, the brakes were replaced.

My name is Latisha Edwards 407232**** pattersonlatisha@***.com

3315 Danny Boy Circle, Orlando Florida, 32808

Acct ending: 2517

On Thursday, March 28, 2024, I was speaking with Cierra Brown (AKA Cee Cee} my husbands cousin because her vehicle broke down and she was stranded in Macon Georgia at a Firestone store 14915. She asked if I could use my Firestone credit card to repair her tire and she would repay me in 2 weeks, so I agreed.

The Store manager Mike Magnum of 14915 **** Eisenhower Pkwy, Macon Georgia said he needed to speak with me to be able to properly and legally authorize the charges for repair and to get my approval, so he called me, and I gave him my social security number to verify my account and agree to charges of $279.03 in which I agreed. A month later when I was making my monthly credit card payment, and I noticed that my usage balance was over $2300 so I called CFNA to inquire why and I advised them that I did not authorize the purchase of $2240.10 and filed a dispute. The dispute came back denied because it was for the same person I approved a purchase for on 03/28/2024. I filed a police report pressing charges against Cierra Brown, but my dispute was still denied.

When the store answers the phone, it says that the calls are monitored and recorded so I am requesting that store 14915 provides a copy of the recording where I approved the usage of my credit card for a second purchase for repairs in the amount of $2240.10 for Cierra Brown on 04/09/2024.

I spoke with the representative who processed the payment Sheena, and I waited months for Mike Magnum to return my calls. Then I reached out to Gary Garfield in August 2024, and he was very rude and unprofessional to me and never called me back. I would like to file a complaint against the actual store for allowing someone to use my credit card without my approval, without the card being present for a $2300 purchase when I have never used an amount that high on my card, without verifying that I agreed to the charge and without even contacting me personally. Just because I approved services for this customer two weeks prior does not mean that I would approve any future repairs for Cierra Brown.

During my personal investigation with store 14915, not one employee could confirm ever verbally or written speaking with me or getting my approval for this charge. I think the store has been very unprofessional and did not follow any fraud protection measures in ensuring the card members safety or privacy. I also believe that the credit card finance company CFNA has not done a fair investigation for their customers and adjudicated my dispute bias and unfairness with a denial. I have had my credit card account for multiple years and have never charged over $300 to my card and I only have 3 vehicles that only receive regular oil changes on my account so a purchase that large without the physical card and identification should have raised a red flag.

I always retained a good standing account with a zero-balance due, no late payments, a balance paid with 90 days so why would I all of a sudden ruin my account and not make on time payments.

This has dropped my credit score over 80 points and is ruining my 100% on-time payment schedule and I am very disappointed in Firestone as a company. I am attaching the messenger emails between myself (Latisha Edwards and Cierra Brown as proof).

Rocky Mount, North Carolina store. I've been a customer at this store the 16 years.

Since the retirement of the store manager Greg that customer service has just been terrible.

They have very talented technicians who can do the job right the first time.

But since the retirement of Greg this store and it's management of has gone consistently downhill.

On Sunday March 2nd I attempted to be at the store for its 8:00 opening in an attempt to get my car serviced. I waited for an employee to open the store until 8:15 when the employee arrived who appeared to just get out of bed. I spoke with him in an attempt to get a service and he said it would be impossible as they were already appointments made. The service writer had not even opened the computer yet took my information and scheduled an appointment for March 5th at 7:30.

I made arrangements for a ride and to drop my vehicle off which I did at 7:15 filling out it tag with instructions as to what needed to be done and when I needed the car finished by.

What a shock, to arrive at 11:00 a.m. and find my car had not even been touched or moved. I spoke to the service writer you said he looked at my tag and assumed he had all day to work on the car. This service writer is the reason that the minimum wage in North Carolina $7.25 an hour, if they paid him what it was worth it would be less than that.

I took my key and left.

The bottom line is there are many Firestone stores in the Nash County Wilson County Wake County area to get your car serviced.

This particular Firestone store has just gone significantly downhill since the retirement of Greg the store manager. I myself will be moving to another Firestone location, and we'll give the new Wilson store at the intersection of Raleigh parkway and airport road a chance to earn my business.

Firestone Complete Auto Care: Beware getting your car serviced in Sheboygan at Firestone. I had my car (2018 Lexus RC 350 F Sport) serviced at Firestone Complete Auto Care on 1/20/2024. My car was there for a little over a week. They replaced my water pump and thermostat. On April 6th, 2024, I took my car in for an oil change at Take 5 Oil Change. Prior to this date, there was no reason to open the hood of my car. As I was watching them do my oil change, I saw the engine cover was cracked. Please note- at no point during the oil change did they need to remove the engine cover to service the vehicle.

I drove home and opened the hood of my car with plans to clean my cold air intake and further inspect the engine cover damage I had seen. It appears someone unfamiliar with how to remove the cover either had a hard time removing the cover or putting the cover back on and damaging the cover while doing so. The cover had multiple cracks and some of the fasteners were broken. I immediately called Firestone and was told there would not be anyone available until Monday. I then filled out the contact form on the website notifying them of my complaint and provided photos.

I received an email back asking me for additional information so they could submit the info to their claims department. They asked what I would like for resolution and I stated I really wish someone would have just said something when I picked up my car. Everyone there was incredibly nice and helped me get my car fixed while I was 2hrs away from home. I was super appreciative and approachable, and I dont know why someone felt they couldnt tell me. Im not an angry person. Stuff happens, I understand.

On 4/10/2024, John from the Bridgestone Retail Operations Claims Team contacted me. He asked when I noticed this damage and who it was reported to. I emailed him back with the info he requested.

John then emailed me back stating they pulled a CarFax report on my car and it showed Take 5 Oil recently performed an oil change and they cannot accept responsibility as they were the last to touch the cover.

I emailed back, informing him that the oil change was done Saturday with me watching. That is how I knew I needed to clean my cold air intake and that there were cracks in the cover. I also let him know that an oil change does NOT involve removing the cover. I told him If his position for the damage they caused was still a hard no, then I would need to reevaluate my approach with this as Im 100% certain this was caused by Firestone.

I had not heard from John after that. I called the claims department on 4/16/2024 and was told John would get back to me. I then received an email from him stating, I do apologize for your troubles but at this time we cannot accept liability for another service facility has performed work on your vehicle after we did.

I responded in frustration, Quite honestly that is a load of *** for a lack of better words. You can see in the pictures that the dust is still on the cover and nobody in their right mind needs to remove the cover to do an oil change. Not to mention the fact that I was right there while they were doing it. Im quite disappointed that Firestone wont do right by something they did and the damage they caused. I guess it serves me right for bringing a luxury vehicle to a place like Firestone. I wont be accepting this without making a lot of noise everywhere I possibly can. Thank you for not accepting responsibility.

I have not heard back since. At this point, I felt I had no other choice than to file a claim with the Better Business Bureau and voice my concerns via reviews on Facebook and Google. The Better Business Bureau stated the store has refused to respond to the complaint.

Firestone social media reached out to me on 5/2/24 and said they would look into this. No one has contacted me since.

I went to Firestone for the diagnostic on my f150 pu because it had a vacuum leak, they replaced the valve cover and gaskets called me and said that they fixed the problem, I picked the truck up and almost did not make it home so they had my truck towed back they discovered that it was miss firing and showed me a broken spark plug and I said how did that happen, the manager said i have no idea, so me being mechanical inclined said your mechanic must have broke it while trying to fix the problem after all that Firestone called me and said that the truck is all set, 2 weeks later the engine light came back on, hesitant to take it back to Firestone i thought it would be under warranty, they did another diagnostic and said it was a minor vacuum leak, i said well that should be covered under the warranty and they said no we don't do that kind of work here. So my question is should I dispute the the bill?n

I went in to get a tire pressure sensor tested and/or replaced, Slow leak in a tire repaired, Annual inspection, and an Oil change. I left it overnight.

I got a call saying to pass inspection I needed: a new battery, windshield wipers, 2 new tires, and new left front tie rods. I approved all of that and made it 4 tires.

When I returned the tire pressure light was still on, and the windshield note for next oil change was still the old one. They replaced that and told me to drive 5 miles and the idiot light would go off. They billed me $1,500 dollars on my Firestone credit card.

I drove 10 miles, tire pressure idiot light was still on, and noticed the inspection sticker had been removed but not replaced. No Inspection Sticker!

I returned, was assured it had been inspected and that was just an oversight. They spent over an hour putting the Inspection Sticker on, testing and replacing the tire pressure sensor. Then they billed me $250 to take the tire off, replace the sensor and put it back on. I hope it was balanced, and the alignment was still good.

I told them to go to *** The first thing I asked for was the tire pressure sensor tested, which they had not done thus creating the need to redo their work. I ended up on the phone with the manager who threatened to call the cops if I didn't pay immediately. I told him to go to ***

When I got home I found a new invoice with all the charges reduced to zero.

They should have recognized their many errors and not put me through this.

I visited Firestone in Winter Park, FL on 8/29 for an oil change and 60K scheduled maintenance. After spending $1200, more issues were caused than I initially had.

I brought my car in without any problems and was informed that the battery needed to be replaced along with the brakes, and a fuel system cleaning and brake fluid exchange were due.

I stated that my brakes were squeaking from time to time proceed with that, although I felt the battery was not faulty as it was less than 2 years old, and they likely overcharged me for this.

When I departed from Firestone, my car was shaking and veering to the right.

Upon my immediate return, I was told that the alignment was not done and they would rotate and balance the tires. I left three hours later. The following day, I had an unavoidable trip in the morning; while on the interstate, the car shook when going 60-65 MPH. This necessitated exceeding the speed limit to cease the shaking.

On the return journey, the shaking intensified. So much so, we had to locate the nearest Firestone which, inconveniently, was 45 miles away from the interstate in Albany, GA. Upon our arrival, they mentioned my tire was separating and that Winter Park should have recognized this issue when my car was there on 8/29. Relaying the story of my return visit took 3 hours out of our drive time, delaying our Orlando arrival.

I contacted the Winter Park Store Manager, Will, who said he'd look into it; however, I received no follow-up call.

I then called your Corporate Services and the issue was escalated to the Area Manager, who also promised to follow up but failed. On 9/13, I called back your Corporate Services and was told it was being escalated to the District Manager. I have yet to hear from him. I contact the Area Manager again on 9/17 and left a message.

The next day, I received a call from Will, the Store Manager. It seems your Area & District Managers aren't interested in addressing customer concerns. They seem invested more in sales and how much they can extort from customers. After further investigation, I informed Will that his location had already changed my brake fluid & performed a fuel system cleaning back in April 2023, despite I had only driven 8k miles since.

He agreed that they should have noted this.

Firestone in Albany, GA was the only location that righted the wrongs made during the first and second visit, and a brand-new tire was purchased. The neglect by your Winter Park, FL shop endangered myself and my passengers by failing to detect this issue, especially during my second visit when I indicated it was shaking and pulling to the right. I informed Will & the Area Manager that a solution needs to be devised to compensate me for the hardships I endured due to their negligence. His reply indicated that the tire which was replaced wasn't procured at Firestone.

I reiterated that this has no bearing on his shop identifying a separating tire and repairing it during the initial visit vs sending me off, thereby endangering my life.

Firestone needs to propose a plan to rectify this matter. I was offered a fuel system cleaning & brake fluid exchange refund on my Firestone card but have yet to see it. This should have been already handled, in addition to compensating the overlooked separating tire issue. I am very disappointed with your services and the lack of managerial follow-up to correct this matter.

My Firestone credit card membership was cancelled since I no longer want to associate with your company after your mistreatment. When a friend of mine needed new tires last week, I referred him to Goodyear.

I am happy to share my experiences with everyone and demonstrate that your company is unreliable and compromises safety. It also fails to address issues.