Pep Boys York PA price boosting /parts busting scam York Pennsylvania

Made a service reservation thurs nite for a waterpump, belts, and timing belt change, got price and details etc. for a friday morning dropff. bring in fri AM and now there is nothing in the computer, so they ran it all up again, both were under $500. OK, a little time lost, not a biggie, we all got thru it and agreed to go on with the work. I had already bought a gallon of antifreeze for them to use because they didnt have that on the service ticket - a small convenience but I spent many years on the end of a wrench - every bit of courtesy and respect helps. 2 hrs later I get a call that they cant do it and it costs another 2 plus hours labor. I declined that "offer " once and they called back a bit later and said they would still do it but now costs another 2+ hrs labor, and the WP job is now $360 by itself if I want only that and their MANAGER had already confirmed it (so no use complaining to anybody else). The WP is right beside the timing cover, it takes a real mechanic a VERY few minutes to pull that timing cover off and replace the timing belt since there are very few obstructions once the other belts are off and the auto tensioner is spring loaded - it was already part of the paid job to replace these belts. theres not even a gasket on the cover. the service writer had even made up the ticket to show the work was not duplicating the access to the timing belt- he knew how the work was done already when he made the ticket. they called back to get paid for stacking the flatrate labor payments for these jobs; they knew that they were only doing part of the work of both jobs and demanded getting paid twice for it. when a mechanic replaces belts he can just cut them off and remove them, then just put the new ones on. he doesnt have to worry with loosening adjusters etc. to save the old belts when taking them off so there is a measure of economy in doing the belts all at one shot especially when they are in the way of the other work, and it cuts the access time to get to the WP and timing cover considerably. working around the old belts to save them is always time consuming so I gave them an easter egg to replace the belts and save time twice on their work-cutting them loose to get access and enjoying the freedom to get the WP off quickly as well as not having to wrestle the old ones back on. their callback and demand for more money is like saying that a tire change costs $10 so we gonna charge you $10 for one tire off the rim and then $10 for a new tire on the same rim so the cost is $20 since you got 'two tire changes'. Are you willing to pay for that?? Do you wanna buy some "oceanfront land in Arizona"??

I declined their offer respectfully and then I go back later to their parts dept to see about just getting the parts- that were supposed to be there already for the work. So there its found they had already parts-pulled the cheapest grade low-warranty belts for all three items even though the service ticket showed the longer warranty items at twice the cost for the ones thay had pulled, and they didnt have the highgrade ones I specified in stock and wouldnt get them until monday, this job was promised to be done on friday PM and they promised they would use the high grade belts. There was no phone call or any mention in all this discussion about the belts not being there when needed at all. I wonder what was going to be on there when I went to pick it up - can you guess??

theres a reason I hate to go to these kind of service shops- some are incompetent to do honest business or just plain cheaters and crooks and its easy to see why people think that way. I used to relate OK with their parts people for lots of items but their service dept is just unsuitable for honest business dealings. Plan on taking your lawyer with you if you expect to get what you paid for honestly because thats what is would take to get it. call and tell the manager what you think of his service dept. the "manager" they have marked was frank steinheimer and he's not listed in the phone book here- I wonder if they ever really did talk to him at all. their store is 717-843-0908 so feel free to tell them what you think.
I try to do business with honest firms and I take my business where I am treated with honesty and respect that any customer is due, this makes me shudder to think what they do to people who know less about their cars. File this under corruption, bait and switch, scams, swindles, and outright liars.

Im almost glad they didnt do the work - I would have been stuck paying for whatever they did and who knows what it would have been. I wear a white shirt and tie to work now and I believe that to some tradespeople thats a mark of stupidity and a sign of being a sucker - especially when they expect to be paid doubly for treating other people like this. I never treated the service clients like this - I would have been fired three times for it and two more if the client was the one who told my boss about it because I was stupid enough to think the client would put up with that, and I had tarnished the company name and reputation by doing it. why is it tolerated today?

Exmechanic
york, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

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