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Report: #53924

Report: STS Tire & Auto

Reported By: (Washington New Jersey)

STS Tire & Auto Bad Business Practices Possibly PepBoys too Tri-State NJ, PA & NY

*UPDATE Employee ..inside information... I agree with every word the inside scoop said

1Author 8Consumer 2Employee

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STS Tire & Auto

400 W. Main Street
Bound Brook New Jersey 08805
U.S.A.
Phone: 732-356-8500
Web Address:

Category: Auto Repair Service

Submitted: Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Last posting: Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Stay away from STS Tire and Auto Centers. Either take my word for it or take the time to read what follows.

Sometime in the early 1990s Sears was caught ripping off auto owners on a national scale.

The California Better Business Bureau set them up in a sting operation. What they did was to disconnect a wire from the voltage regulator on five similar cars, and went around to all of the Sears Auto shops complaining that their battery was not charging. In 90% of these visits, Sears repairmen sold the BBB agents a complete charging system including alternator, regulator and battery, rather than tell them that a wire had mysteriously become disconnected.

The outcome was a huge embarrassment in which the CEO of Sears had to fall to his knees before the nation and beg forgiveness. In the end, it turned out that the mass rip-off was not limited to California, but was nationwide.

The root of the problem had to do with the payroll practices set up for Sears mechanics. Sears mechanics were payed well below the national average for their trade, but were given the opportunity to make sales commission on auto parts. The way it worked was that each month the mechanics had to make $2000 of parts sales in order to cross the threshold in which they would then be making a percentage of any further sales that month.

So naturally, the mechanics went crazy in the beginning of the month to get over the threshold, by hoodwinking people into paying for things they did'nt need. Once over the threshold they went nuts in overselling, to make as much commission as possible before the end of the month.

The CEO of Sears put an end to this practice, and Sears began paying its mechanics a normal salary.

STS TIRE AND AUTO models its pay arrangement after the old Sears method of commissions on a monthly sales basis. As a result everone I know that's gone there has had serious problems. In one case the mechanics refused to release a car unless the owner agreed to have the front brakes done, which were done two months prior. He had to threaten them with a call to the local police.

In March of 1998 I sued STS for selling my wife a battery and essentially stealing her good one, when in fact the alternator had gone bad, which they didn't fix. I wound up having to fix it. To make a long story short, I won a $650 award on a bad faith claim.

STS mechanics are going to rip you off if you go there. An it's really not their fault. They're just trying to put bread on the table at $8.50/hour plus commissions.

From what I understand, Pep-Boys has the same type of pay arrangement, but I may be wrong.

The moral of the story is DON'T GO TO FRANCHISE REPAIR SHOPS. Go to your local independent garage. If they give you an estimate and then charge exactly that amount or less, that's the first sign of their honesty. Most private garages estimate higher than franchise operations because they like to stick to their estimate.

Ronald
Washington, New Jersey

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:

1Author 8Consumer 2Employee

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I Hvae A Hard Time With This

Danny - Forked River (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, March 05, 2007 POSTED: Monday, March 05, 2007

HI,

Im not sure what your motives are but i would like to point out a few comments you made that are clearly ficton.

You said:
STS TIRE AND AUTO models its pay arrangement after the old Sears method of commissions on a monthly sales basis. As a result everone I know that's gone there has had serious problems

I have worked as a technician for over 30 years and almost all shops have a pay plan that has some sort of commission attached, even the 3 independent small shops i worked for. also i find it truly hard to believe ALL your friends have had problems unless you only have 1 friend.

You said:
STS mechanics are going to rip you off if you go there. An it's really not their fault. They're just trying to put bread on the table at $8.50/hour plus commissions.

That paragraph speaks for it self.
firstly to condem all mechanics within a company is just plain wrong sounds to me like you either work or own an independent repair shop or your an x sts employee with issues

You also began your post with a problem sears had and applied it to STS which has no such issues or lawsuits (none that i can find online anyway)

Now lets get to your problem shall we.

First off an alternator has whats called brushes, like all things containing brushes that ride on an armature (fan motors, fuel pumps, starters and so on) intermitant failures are very common as dirty or worn brushes can have enough contact now to test fine but lose contach 15-20 mins from now.

if i tested your car and found the alternator working and the battery 4 years old or older i would have replaced the battery as well, what STS probaly did was NOT replace an alternator that tested ok at the time but instead replaced a battery that was 4 years old or close to it (industry standard for expected battery life)

Avg cost of a battery installed in most areas is between 80 and 100 bucks while avg cost of an alternator installed is between 250 to 400 bucks.
if the technician was so money hungry because if his incentive program why didnt he choose to sell you an alternator. probly because it tested ok is my guess.

Dan ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician L1

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Unless it was done at Sears and you knwo for a fact they are doing it again.....

John - Califon (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, March 05, 2007 POSTED: Monday, March 05, 2007

then you accusations are baseless. Also, your lack of make, model, year, mileage, condition of the vehicle, and timeline leave this report to be suspect. For all we know, the battery was replaced last year and you just had to replace the alternator this year thus making the report frivolous. All you have alleged is that you sued them and allegedly won.

Dan's analysis is pretty spot on. And if you knew what was wrong-as you allege to have fix it yourself anyway, why didn't you tell them to just replace the alternator? "when in fact the alternator had gone bad, which they didn't fix. I wound up having to fix it."

STS used to work (as of around 1980/81) on 1% sales/1% doing the job commission. They'd have to rip off ALOT of people to make any money at that rate.

While there may be some questionable diagnostics, it's not necessarily a rip off. You just got an inexperienced tech on your job. There is a huge difference.

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whats being condemned is that "incentive system"

Pablo - Washington (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, March 05, 2007 POSTED: Monday, March 05, 2007

I agree that having a incentive type of pay scale is there to induce the mechanic to oversell or flat out ripoff the customer. Otherwise what is it there for? The customer comes in with a issue, the mechanic resolves the specified item and the customer pays and goes his way.

Those incentive scales are there to corrupt the mechanics since these shops won't offer any basic pay or per repair pay where the mechanic can simply make a living doing what is needed without having to continue to jack up the bill with phony repairs and scare stories. All national franchoses are like that.

I've had a ex midas muffler guy tell me that they were told every person who walks in the store should be a 600.00 job. And, yes, they have that incentive plan to push the mechanics into being crooks.

Consumer Suggestion

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Incentive system, and trying to "sting" the garage.

Mike - Radford (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, March 05, 2007 POSTED: Monday, March 05, 2007

I don't like the incentive system either. It is a recipie for dishonesty. In a perfect world, perhaps it would be useful as it would encourage the mechanic to make a quick inspection of unrelated parts of the car and recommend other NECESSARY work. It would make more profit for the shop but also a more reliable car for the owner.

No one is that honest though.

Speaking of dishonesty, these "sting" operations by the media are a quite dishonest way to stir up things on a slow news day.

Much like a doctor, the "customer"'s report of the history and symptoms of the problem are important for the mechanic to diagnose the problem. Unless the "customer" says otherwise, the mechanic is going to be working on the assumption that the car was driven normally until it quit working, not that someone tampered with it.

When the "patient" is lying, you can't completely blame the "doctor" for a wrong diagnosis.

A car with a seperate voltage regulator, where the wires can be disconnected one at a time, would've been antique even in the early '90s. It is quite possible the people at STS were not very familiar with that type of system.

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Just because that may be the way they're paid

John - Califon (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, March 05, 2007 POSTED: Monday, March 05, 2007

does not warrant any of this as a rip off. Again, you can't claim "rip off" because it was a misdiagnosis-nor can one make a claim without ALL the important information.

As Danny said, if it was a rip off-and based on the incentive pay theory-why didn't the tech just replace EVERYTHING in the charging system? The potential of a whole 2% would have yeilded him what-a whole couple dollars maybe? And at this couple dollars per job, how many jobs do you think he can actually do in a week to make the lack of money that is being claimed?

Anyone who is worth anything does not stay at jobs like these. And if they do, they are not on the incentive plan but receiveing a real salary commensurate to their abilities or else they would leave to make real money. So, this leaves slackers, not-so-good techs, or parts replacers which then brings us back to the poor diagnostics angle.

The only thing that was learned about the Midas example was to not use that location. Doesn't mean that they all are like that.

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ignorance at it's best

Ginger - Freehold (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, May 07, 2007 POSTED: Monday, May 07, 2007

Pep Boys are a true rip off. I found out the hard way and fortunatly they only got me for a few dollars.

STS is another story. When I brought my Buick Skylark to STS for a complete turn up, belts, battery. It cost $695.00. But the car still didn't work right. My husband pulled out a spark plug to find the hole full of oil. It was obvious this car had a blown head gasket. I called STS yelling. They said it was a new guy and yes the car should not have had the work done. My money, all of it was refunded. That was 12 years ago. I trust nobody but the STS in my town. They are honest and trustworthy. Just what I need in a mechanic.

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Not valid

Joe - Atco (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Saturday, July 28, 2007 POSTED: Saturday, July 28, 2007

If you pulled the spark plug out of the vehicle and it was covered in oil chances are you need valve cover gaskets. Usually pulling the plug out and seeing antifreeze under the plug is one of the signs of a bad head gasket, oil is usually related to a bad valve cover gasket.

Ex-Employee

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The inside scoop

Blex - Paterson (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Saturday, October 18, 2008 POSTED: Saturday, October 18, 2008

As an automotive tech that worked there for couple years I am happy not to be there anymore. Got hired at $10 hour with empty promises of an increase. Never happend even after working there for 2 years. There ESOP ( employee ownership ) program only benefits people that make $45k or higher because its based on a % of your anual salary and you have to put in 6 years to be able to keep that. The only perks of working there was the classes they had at there career center witch I attended many time because I was told it would help me get a raise, so I attended them even if I knew the material. They hire techs fresh out of school starting at $8 because they are so eager to work again with empty promises. They expect there mechanics to do level A tech work with a level C salary. Oh and yes I am ASE certified tech. For those thinking about applying at STS do your research really good and ask alot of questions at the interview. In my opinion working for FireStone or Midas was a more pleasant experience and the pay is way better. For the customer that is planing on taking your car there, be careful with all the flushes they are going to try to sell you. Most times the tech would not recomend them but the service writer will. Happend to me many time when I saw the car did not need it or the fluids would past the tests and the service writer would still try to sell it because the company holds many competitions between every store and the winners would get some kind of incentive. I laugh every time I read STS its a TRUST thing. Do not TRUST this company!! One thing is the tech recomending work because they looked at the car, another is a service writer trying to sell a Run Right with out even checking the car out. Remember the mechanic gets blame for everything not the service writer. So we look like the thieves and we get a bad rep. Im sorry to say but my honor is everything to me and thats why im happy not to be employed there. Im not saying all of them are like this but in the few stores I had worked in, they were the same.

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Pep Boys Commissions for service writers and assistant service managers

Aldadnjson - Pennsauken (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Sunday, January 11, 2009 POSTED: Sunday, January 11, 2009

I work for Pep Boys and starting Nov. 30, 2008, my hourly rate was cut by $5.00/hr. with a commission pay set up to make up for the $200.00 weekly pay cut. To earn back the $200.00, one has to sell about $11,000 of installed parts, labor charges, and tires. Commission rate is 2.5% for installed parts and labor, tires except the cheapest tires (Cornell 1000) is 2% and commission rate for the Cornell 1000 tires is 1%. There is a modifying factor which can reduce the rate, Pep Boys has a customer survey which can reduce the rate. On all receipts there is a web address where customers can go to do a survey. If the customer rates the service or store transaction a 9 or 10, it is positive for the service writer, 8 or 7 is neutral and a 6 or lower is a negative for the service writer and they rate the responses by taking all the 9 & 10 ratings then subtracts any 6 or lower rating the divides the result by total responses to get a rate and if rate is over 50, no reduction to commission rate but is the rating is below 50, commission rate goes to 1.5% for parts and labor dollars, 1% for tires except Cornell 1000, and Cornell 1000 rate goes to .5%. A good thing is the difference is banked and if the NSP (Net Service Promoter) go up over the 50 rate by the end of the quarter, the banked commissions are paid at end of the quarter.
Talking to other service writers at other pep boys stores, everyone has had a pay cut of $75 to $150 weekly since the commission went into effect with a few exceptions, busy stores like Marlton and Pleasantville stores have had an increase for workers. Every other store has had pay cuts for service writers and assistant service managers.
The NSP also included mystery shopper calls made by an outside company to rate how the phone calls are answered by service people and store people.

#10

Employee

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I agree with every word the inside scoop said

jrod - sparta (United States of America)

SUBMITTED: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 POSTED: Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Low pay,unnecessary services,If you don,t sell over priced unnecessary parts you will only make your base pay which is crap. That is why techs do that. And if you don,t do that you are thought of as a non-producer.Then are told to sell flushes. oh and struts well customers are told at the drop of a hat they are needed big$$$$$$$.oh and another thing technicians who are not on top of there game make out because when they are diagnosing problems they just throw parts at it til they find problem then the customer gets to pay for all the unnecessary parts trying to find the problem and the tech gets paid commission for those parts.And the managers love that because there numbers look good it,s all about the numbers not the customers. Bottom line is it,s a mess. I can go on for ever.That ESOP Plan is all on paper they tell you it,s part of your pay, your retirement fund.But if you leave before your vested they get to keep that part of your pay. Good for them bad for you.In the same breathe they refuse a raise and then tell you if you want a raise sell more.It,s all about them and there numbers meetings about numbers,meetings about contests,meetings about it,s never enough.But ask for a quarter and you here nothing but excuses and rubbish.Man I can write a book about this stuff.I,ll leave it at that.Done for now.