A few weeks back I had a small accident late on a Friday afternoon. The immediate issue I was aware of was that the guard/shield under the front of my Altima was hanging/dragging (in a manner to where it was undrivable). Being as I was very motivated to try to address the damage before Monday, I decided (against my better judgment and against several prior bad experiences) to have my car towed to the Firestone Complete Auto Care in Beaumont and have them assess and repair the damage. I regret this decision so very much. The whole situation was a massive headache, rife with horrible quality and disgusting customer service.
Despite being told it would take three or four days to get the vehicle back, I did not receive my Altima back until a full week later. Even then, the work was not done properly or as I requested, and I had to take the vehicle back on two separate occasions to have the work (mostly) completed. Each time, the work was not finished in a timely manner, causing both my wife and I to miss time from work.
On a more general note, the staff at this Firestone (well, at least this one) is very unprofessional, uncourteous, and lackluster. I received more calls from them where I did not receive a voicemail than where they did leave one; this seems like gross negligence from a business. Every person I dealt with from this Firestone either fits a categorization of apathetic and unengaged or rude, confrontational, and argumentative (about mistakes and errors their own company made!).
Then when I went to provide Firestone with feedback regarding this poor experience, I was met with further frustration. First off, the online submission form was not nearly long enough to properly detail my experience. Secondly, it apparently did not even transmit all of the content I submitted, even though I was clearly under the stated character limit. Lastly, upon receiving a reply email from Firestone (even though in my online submission I specifically asked to be called to further discuss my experience) where I was asked again for information I had already taken time to give, I responded saying that I did not wish to further spend time typing my account of or feelings about this experience; I wanted to be contacted via phone as I requested in my original submission. To this I received a reply saying that the specific representative was unable to do this. If Firestone, as a company, had any level of competence or degree of commitment to quality customer service, that agent would have been trained to forward my information to someone who could call me. But instead, I am left to air my grievances on the internet as it is abundantly apparent that Firestone does not care.
In a way, I am glad I had this experience. It has, with much resonance, reminded me of why I had stopped using Firestone many years ago. The Firestone "triple promise guarantee" is either a mean, sarcastic joke or a nominally rhetorical sales tool with no muscle to back it. This most recent blunder echoes of prior terrible experiences I have had with this company, and I will never spend another dime with Firestone again! read more
