PepBoys Incompetant mechanics left my car unlocked--guess what happened? ..We don't give a damn about our customers, & we can screw them all ..Garland Texas

On the night of January 4th,my car broke down driving home from work. Since they were not only closest to where I broke down, but also close to my home, I had the car towed to Pepboys. I had previous repairs done to the same car at the same place, and was satisfied with the outcome. I left the car overnight, and Saturday morning, the mechanic called and told me that the alternator had to be replaced. I said fine, do the work, I would be able to pick the car up first thing Friday January 11th, as I did not have the money to pay for it right away. The gentleman told me that was fine, they probably wouldn't be able to get to it right away anyway. It was then if I asked them if my car would be safe on their property. The mechanic said it would.

On the morning of January 11th, I paid for the repairs, got my keys and headed out to the car. When I tried to unlock the car, I noticed that it was already unlocked. When I got in the car, the center cosole was broken into about 5 pieces, and my $500 CD changer was gone. I checked the other doors, only to find 3 out of 4 unlocked (I had locked all the doors the previous friday when I had to leave the car and call for a tow).

I returned to the inside of the store and blew up at the mechanic. I demanded to see a manager, and the mechanic told me to lower my voice, and took his time calling a manager. When he didn't show, I tracked him down myself, explained the situation (none too quietly), and asked him what he was going to do about it. He told me that if I didn't be quiet, he would do nothing. He looked at the car and then said he would file a claim. When I asked him for a copy of the claim form he refused to give me that as well as any other documentation. He calmed me down by giving his word that he file the claim that day, and would call me later on that evening to give me a claim number. He also gave me the number to his regional manager.

Exactly one week went by, and I heard nothing, so on January 18th, I called Larry, the manager. He apologized and said he hadn't filed the claim, but he would do it first thing Monday morning. I called again on the 22nd to check on things. That is when Larry informed me that he had indeed filed the claim and that their insurance company had denied the claim! According to Larry, the insurance company said they denied it because nobody knew who broke into the car! (No shit--if I knew, I'd be dealing w/ the police and not Pepboys) I reminded Larry that the car was NOT broken into, that HIS mechanics left the doors unlocked to be burglarized. He said to give him a couple more days, that he was going to take this to his regional manager, and see if they could get something worked out.

I called again on the 26th, and Larry told me that his regional manager was standing behind the insurance company and they would not be replacing the damaged/stolen items in my car. I thought about suing, but I figured that I would pay more in Lawyer's fees than the total cost of repairs and replacement of a new CD player. Not once did anyone ever call me, not even the regional manager, with whom I left 2 or 3 messages. I was always the one to call them and check on the status of my claim. I wonder now if there was ever a "claim" filed at all. When I mentioned to Larry that I would probably be contacting a Lawyer, his response was, "Go ahead, your lawyer can talk to our lawyers and we can fight it out that way--Pepboys is a multi-million dollar corporation" Translation: We don't give a damn about our customers,and we can screw them all we want because we have enough money to drag this out until A) You run out of money and can't fight any more, or B)You get frustrated and give up. I went to their website where I found not one single phone number, only an E-mail address to write a complaint. When I hit the send button, I received a message saying that the E-mail had been sent to the very store I was having problems with. This place is a joke, and I DARE someone to try to defend this place!

Lori
Garland, Texas