[masraum]

Oh yeah, I'll let you guys know what happens. I waver back and forth between just pick up the car and never go back or pick up the car and explode on them (OK, I don't really have a temper and my explode would probably be more of a fizzle).

many, many years ago, I lived in an apt, and didn't have any of my tools and couldn't do any major work myself due to space and availability. I took my car to a Pep Boys thinking "at least they'll have a 1-800 number to corp that I can call and complain which will get me some relief if there's a problem." (that was a bad assumption).

My car lost a timing belt. Only car, had to get fixed quick, etc.... Took it to pep boys. They gave me an estimate, parts would be $50, etc.... I can't remember what the total was, but let's say it was $300. They call the day that I'm supposed to pick up the car "the car's running really bad, you should get a full tune up for $300." Me - "what's that include?" Them - "plugs, wires, air, oil, fuel filter." "Me - "No way. The car ran perfectly, and that's not more than $45 worth of parts. Just put it together, I'll come get it."

So I get there and they reiterate that there's a problem. Not only that, but the parts were $80 instead of $50 and then they charged me something silly like $5 for a single spark plug. I didn't want to deal with it so I paid and drove off in the car. It does almost immediately start running like ass. I see that the AC is on, so I turn it off. The car immediately smoothes out. I turn it back on and bam, vibration. So I turn it off and drive home with no issues. I get home and see that the mounting bolts for the AC compressor are so loose that I can see 1/4" - 1/2" of threads between the head and where the head should be. I tighten the bolts up (I had a few tools) and by that point, I'm fuming. THe car now runs perfectly, no vibration. I had to fix their crap and felt like I was getting royally screwed. I drive back up there and ask for the manager. I tell him that I need a refund. I try to live by the "catch more flies with honey than vinegar." I explain to the manager that I used to work in a retail parts place (we didn't do repairs, just sold parts). I told him that I'd love to give him the benefit of a doubt and that it could have been an honest mistake, but it was seeming really, really unlikely and far more likely that they were intentionally trying to defraud me. I explained that they tried to charge me $300 for something that I fixed by finishing the repair that they'd done (tightening the bolts). I told him that I'd paid the bill because I just wanted to get out of there, but that the ONLY way that they'd have had to charge me for a spark plug was if their guy had broken the plug while they were working on my car, and it's not my problem and I'm not paying for their problem. I also felt like the price difference in the timing belt parts had also been their problem in light of the other intentional fraud and I wasn't going to pay for that either.

They did refund me the cost of the plug and a few bucks off of the cost of the other parts (I think that probably was a mistake due to incompetence, not malfeasance). I never went back.