Less than 200 miles and two months after the Golden, CO Goodyear store performed routine brake service my brakes began grabbing and grinding. The store said bearings repair was needed, and said they would do this under warranty. Then, after the work was done, they charged me additional fees for the bearings work.
First, the bearings should have been serviced during routine brake service, but they did not. Second, they levied charges for the additional work after they said it would be done under warranty, without my prior approval. This likely violates Colorado state law CRS 42-9-104.
After I paid the additional (unlawful) charges, my brakes failed multiple times, including instances while I drove on the highway, and once while 200 miles from home on a mountain pass. (In that harrowing instance I was stranded and had to pay out of pocket for repairs, towing, etc.) After each instance of brake failure, I returned to the Goodyear store where the store manager claimed to repair it under warranty, offered a variety of excuses, explanations and assurances, all of which ultimately proved to be empty and false. Goodyear in the end never repaired the brakes correctly.
Now, a different repair shop is recommending a complete new brake job to correct the damage caused by Goodyear. They installed incorrect parts for my vehicle, installed parts incorrectly, including installing bearings with no grease. Another repair shop confirmed that bearings had been installed with literally no grease. This guaranteed that the bearings would overheat and the brakes would malfunction, as happened to my vehicle a total of five times since Goodyear performed the routine brake service. This is a shocking example of faulty workmanship, that easily could have had terrible dangerous consequences. It was just dumb luck that myself, my passengers and other drivers on the road were not harmed any of the times my brakes failed.
As a practical matter, the local Goodyear store staff ruined my vehicle by rendering it no longer reliably safe to drive. It never previously had any problem with the brakes.
Now, having interacted with the Goodyear company's corporate people, I am certain the problems encountered at the local Goodyear store reflect the broader corporation's culture. I interacted with George Theodore at the Goodyear corporate Property Damage Claims Team. He was calloused and indifferent. When I attempted to ask questions, he spoke to me with a contemptuous tone and and hung up on me.
Before he hung up, though, he told me to call the goodyear corporate customer relations number with questions about refunding amounts paid for the failed brake service. When I called, I was told the regional manager Jeff Moraine would contact me within 48 hours. He never did; I reached out to him directly, still no reply. Weeks later a customer service rep left a message telling me to contact the Property Damage Claims Team. This was a textbook example of runaround, and additional insult on top of the extant harm caused by this company. These people have no shame, no respect for customers who spend their money and time patronizing their businesses, no concern at all for people harmed by faulty workmanship at their stores.
I will be filing a report with my local law enforcement agency, documenting that the local goodyear store levied charges without my prior approval. But I know this will not effect the corporate actor's conduct. All I can do is resolve to never patronize any business or purchase any brand connected to goodyear, and to communicate the experience to others (hence this review) so they can avoid goodyear repair centers and the goodyear company more generally, to avoid similar harm, damage, and loss. read more