I should've read the reviews before doing business with Firestone, but you'll see why if you read on. Disclaimer: I'm sitting here in the Firestone lounge and have time to kill as I write this review so feel free to skip to the end if you just want the summary.
Long story short, it took almost 26 hours to get my truck back and all I needed was ONE tire changed due to a nail in the sidewall. I would've went to Costco but they didn't have the same tire I needed. Lex Brodie's doesn't sell Bridgestone tires. That led me to Firestone. Since I didn't want to drive a lot with a nail sticking out of my tire, I called the Aiea Firestone to ask if they had the tire in stock first. The person I spoke with asked me for specific tire information while he checked the computer so I believed him when he said they had it in stock and to come on down.
I got there a little after 3 PM Saturday, and Erik was the customer service agent who helped me in person. He was really nice; he came out to my truck to check the tire damage and model. I showed him how the nail was sticking out from the sidewall surface of the tire that faces inward. He laid on the concrete to get a better look and asked me how my tire pressure was. I told him that it was fine, that my tire pressure light hadn't come on. He said, "Are you sure the nail punctured all the way through? Maybe it hasn't." Mind you, three other tire people had previously told me not to mess with the nail. But anyway, Erik went ahead and fiddled with the nail and all of a sudden I heard a psssssssssssss sound. He made the sound stop by shoving the nail back into my tire. Well now that's how you make a sale I guess because I really didn't want to drive my truck around anymore until I had a new tire on there!
We went back inside the store and come to find out THEY DID NOT HAVE THE TIRE. Erik tried to sell me another tire that was cheaper but I hadn't even heard of the brand name before. Plus, the reason why I went to this Firestone in the first place because they said over the phone that they had the same tire! Anyway, Erik called other Firestone locations and the only one that confirmed they had it was Kaneohe. He asked me if I would like to drive over there and have them change my tire out in Kaneohe. I said no (because hello, you just released air out of my tire when you pulled the nail out)! So Erik said he could drive there, get the tire, drive back, and they could put the tire on for me at the Aiea location where I was at, all that day. Wow, that's what you call 5-star service I thought. So I gave the okay and was going to do some errands in the meantime. Not 15 minutes later, Erik called and said he miscommunicated about the timeframe and they wouldn't be able to finish my truck that day after all. But, he reassured me that he would personally pick up the tire first thing the next morning and get it onto my truck asap.
Next day. Sundays they open from 9-5 but when I called at 9:45 a girl said they were leaving in about 30 mins to go pick up the tire. At 1:45, Erik called to say he picked up the tire and asked if I needed my truck back by a certain time. I know it must've been a hassle to get the tire so I just said no problem, that I needed it back that day for sure but time didn't matter. In my head though, I was thinking that my truck should've been first in line for maintenance since it was there since 3:30 PM the day before! I got no call after that, which made me nervous because it was already 4:30. My boyfriend drove me down there and I checked my truck first before going inside the store. MY TIRE WAS THE SAME ONE WITH THE NAIL INSIDE IT, just moved to a different parking spot. I mean, seriously? I went in to inquire and Erik said that my truck would be the next one pulled in to get worked on. My truck finally got done at 5:18 PM one day later. On the up-side, it was really nice that they tested my battery and topped off my power steering fluid after noticing that the cap was loose. I honestly feel bad for the customer service agents who have to keep apologizing to customers for the long wait; I know I wasn't the only one. Something needs to be done from an organizational standpoint, or Firestone is just shooting themselves in the foot.
If you read that whole story, my guess is that you're killing time in the Firestone lounge, too. The 2-star rating is because of the multiple instances of miscommunication and the ridiculous wait. Here's the breakdown though:
Friendliness of staff: 4 stars
Communication: 2.5 stars
Value: 3 stars
Speed of service: 0 stars
Quality of work: TBD but even if it's awesome I don't think I'll be back... read more