Extremely angry and will no longer have my car serviced at any Firestone or TiresPlus chain, ever again, after the treatment I received at the
10761 E Colonial Dr, Orlando FL Firestone Complete Auto Care branch.
1. Went in at around 12:15pm to have a "grinding" noise, that I initially believed to be a mechanical failure, diagnosed. The first customer service associate, Matt, told me that they would diagnose the vehicle within an hour, so I dropped my keys off and walked to a retail store within the plaza. 15 minutes later, I received a voice mail message from Matt, wherein he notified me that one of the shop floor mechanics BROKE the door handle of my 2001 Toyota Corolla, then, he OFFERED to have it repaired at a cost of $184. That's correct, a technician at this branch, BROKE my door handle, then I was told that it would cost ME $184 to fix it, if I decided to have it fixed (I am keeping the voicemail recording for proof). I respectfully declined the offer and told him that I would simply repair it myself. I returned to the shop and pondered about this a bit more, then realized that my response was a bit too passive, so, I spoke with another sales associate, Ricky, and detailed to him the bizarre offer that was made to me, and he apologized and assured me that the repair would be on the house, as it should have been initially.
2. Ricky, another technician, and I walked over to my vehicle as it was suspended in the air to observe the proposed diagnosis of the "grinding" noise that I heard from my car. The technician pointed to one of my axles that sat flatly on top of an intersecting axle, and, he also lifted the hood of the car to show me where the strut had been completely dislocated from the upper joint, which held that axle suspended. I figured that it made sense, two iron rods up against each other, that would surely produce the grinding, rotary, noise that I kept hearing, so after a bit of price haggling, I agreed to a $400+ axle/strut repair.
3. At around 4:20pm, I received a phone call from Matt, he claimed that my car was "ready", so I paid half of the cost in cash, and had the other half transferred to my Firestone credit card, then left. While I drove out of the plaza, what do you think I heard coming from under my car? Correct, the same grinding noise that I paid $400, 10 seconds prior, to have resolved. I turned my car around and returned it to the shop, and the technician that worked on my car came out to greet me. He asked to come into the vehicle and we took it for a spin around the shop so he could hear what I heard, sure enough, the grinding noise returned, but this time, the diagnosis was different, the technician told me immediately that the issue, this time, was due to a leak, I believe around the transaxle area, which reproduced a sound similar to that of grinding gears, however, it was actually the sound of the air rapidly exiting the pneumatic chamber, as explained to me by the technician. When I asked whether or not the leak could be fixed, Matt told me that, due to the nature of the welded joints that connected the transaxle/transmission/catback, the job could not be done at this shop.
So, the next question that came to my mind was; If the technician knew what the real issue behind the grinding noise was, why did he work on an unrelated, expensive, issue that I would not have asked to have repaired that day? To pad their pockets, of course! Harvey would be ashamed to see his slogan of honesty trampled underneath the feet of these swindlers! But it doesn't end there....
4. Remember my broken door handle? Well, out of the kindness of my heart, I gave the technician a spare, driver-side, door handle that I had in my car . While I sat in the waiting area, I saw the technician working on the passenger-side door, when the driver-side door was clearly broken, and the replacement door-handle was clearly contoured for the driver-side door, so, after about 15 minutes of watching him dismantle the incorrect door, after having explained to him the correct door to be fixed, I walked over to him and told him that he was working on the wrong door, naturally, he claimed that he was working on the right door, so I took the door handle and placed it over the driver-side door handle and made him understand that he was incorrect. He said that he would complete the job promptly. Thirty minutes later, Matt drove my vehicle to the front of the entrance, and what do you think I saw? A broken driver-side door handle. Matt attempted to correct me in saying that the passenger side door was broken, and, that the handle was for the passenger side door, so, again, I took the door handle from him, PLACED IT OVER THE DRIVER SIDE DOOR HANDLE THAT WAS BROKEN, and made him understand that the driver-side door handle was indeed for the driver-side door. So, he drove the vehicle, BACK INTO THE SHOP and made the same, incompetent technician work on it again. Lost $400, and the noise is still in the vehicle. 0/10. read more
