I have a company pickup truck (2018 Chevy Colorado) that was due for a 20,000 mile oil change. The Company that I work for has partnered with a company called ARI and because of that we have few choices in where we can take our rigs for service.
On 11/10/19 I stopped by the Firestone located at 4502 South Steele Street in Tacoma, Washington and arranged to have an appointment for an oil change on my work truck on the date of 11/16/19 at 1:00 pm. On Saturday the 16th I dropped the truck off at the store around 11:00 am. I signed the forms and specifically gave the gentleman helping me my full contact phone number.
The store contacted me around 1:45 pm and told me that they were done and that I could pick the truck up any time. My wife and I arrived at about 2:30 pm and I got the keys back for the truck. My wife left and I hopped in the truck to head directly back home....
I made it one block when the truck suddenly went to very low power and an alarm signal generated from the dashboard. On the screen of the dash an error popped up that stated, "Low Power Mode" Then the engine died, leaving me stranded in the middle of a very busy intersection in front of the Tacoma Mall entrance. I was able to get the truck into neutral and push it 20 feet into the actual mall entrance. I set the parking brake and flashers and then tried to re-start the truck. The engine would not start. This is a 2018 pickup truck with just 20K miles on it. It ran perfectly fine before the oil change.
I locked the truck and walked back to the Firestone store. When I arrived, I explained what happened and this is where I got offended. There was a lady there who made the decision to hand me a business card. On it she wrote the phone number for a local towing company. She instructed me to call the number and wait by the vehicle for the tow truck. The card has the name of a Sara Carey /Store Manager. I do not really know if I was dealing with Sara or not as she didn't introducer herself. This person had very short hair with the sides shaved and arms with visible tattoos. She was abrasive, hostile, and of very little help. The phone number she gave me was 474-0511. No prefix, so I had to guess.
I went back down to the truck, called my wife for back up, and then proceeded to call Lakewood Towing. I spoke with a dispatcher, and she told me to sit tight. About ten minutes later a guy named Mike called me to confirm location. He told me he was 15 to 20 minutes away... It began to rain, hard. Then mall security showed up and started to give me a hard time. People were honking at me, Security was pushing me to get it moved, I was getting cold and wet.... Not one person from the Firestone store bothered to walk the one block to come and see how it was going.
Mike showed up and towed the truck the one block back to Firestone. I asked the people at the front desk what the plan was? They told me that they would dive into it when they had a chance. I informed them that I needed to be at work the next morning and needed the truck. I asked them what time they close in the evening and they told me 6:00 pm. By this point I had wasted nearly 90 minutes dealing with this and it was nearly 4:00 pm. I asked them if they could get it fixed before 6:00?
My wife and I departed and went home. At 5:30 I still had not heard anything from Firestone. Knowing that it would take 15 minutes to get there I called them in the off chance they had good news. I spoke with the same guy that was helping to maintain the front desk and he told me he was glad I called because they had fixed the issue within 5 minutes of my departure at 4:00 pm and that he didn't have my phone number.... He called me at 1:45 pm to tell me my truck was ready.... It turns out that the technician that performed the work, failed to put the cover on the air intake properly which triggered a sensor with the throttle body. I was able to get the truck by 6:00 pm and home in time to pack it for work the next day.
I do not mean to be rude, but in all honesty, that was the last time I do business with Firestone. I have given a written copy of this to people in charge of our fleet, I have shared this with my friends, and I intend to share this on yelp as well.
I realize that mistakes happen, I get that, and I make plenty of mistakes as well. What truly bothers me is the absolute lack of caring or help extended by the staff at Firestone for my trouble. No one checked on me, no one took any sort of responsibility, not even a "Here's freebie oil change for next time," In my opinion that speaks volumes about the character of the company in whole. As a consumer I have many choices and as a consumer with multiple personal vehicles, I will choose to go to a company that takes responsibility and shows compassion for their customers both present and future. read more