Firestone After $2000 in repairs, car breaks down in under less than 100 miles, facing another $3000 in repairs Palm Harbor, Florida

I brought my car to Firestone for maintenance in preparation for a long trip. Firestone does the requested general maintenance and notes a few needed repairs. One of the repairs is the front right CV axle. I pay, and my car breaks down on the highway in a very dangerous section endangering myself and my girlfriend. This happened less than 100 miles after I left Firestone.

My car then gets towed to a local mechanic. The new auto repair shop owner states that my front right CV axle was improperly installed and now I need a new transmission on top of that. Estimated cost of repairs exceeds $3000. They advise me to contact Firestone to file a claim as they improperly installed the front right CV axle. The claim is filed at 9:30AM EDT 6/29/12. Firestone mentioned to me that it would take 24-48 hours for a claims inspector to come out to my vehicle.  It is now 11:30AM EDT 7/6/12 and Firestone's Claims department is not even answering my calls.

I've asked the new auto repair shop to halt work so the claims inspector can see the damage they caused first hand. I don't know how much longer I can wait. The "long trip" I stated before was me moving from Florida to New Jersey and my car broke down during that move. I am inconveniencing friends of the family for a place to stay as I no longer have a residence in Florida. I also have a temporary arrangement at my place of work to allow me to work remotely as I'm now based out of the NJ office and have no way of getting up there (on top of leaving my car in Florida). This is not permanent and this whole situation may cost me my job or at the very least upset my manager.

Let this serve as a warning that if Firestone improperly installs something on your car, their claims process is horrible and the folks at their customer affairs department and claims department have no empathy or compassion for someone stuck a horrible situation; all I've asked for is for them to expedite my claim given my horrendous situation and they have done the complete opposite.