Firestone Complete Auto Care Wheel Alignment Ripoff Williamsville, New York

You had the alignment done in February.  11 months ago.  

No alignment shop can guarantee that a vehicle stays in alignment for any specific period of time.  They can only offer to realign under warranty.  Potholes, curbs, worn struts, bad tie rods- all of these can contribute to misalignment.  

11 months is a long time.  I check my alignment every 3 months.  It's almost always out.  That's why I got the longer warranty (cost per alignment is much lower).  

can you prove no alignment was done? Can you prove that your daughter did nothing to knock the alignment of her car out of whack? It doesnt take much to screw your alignment up.

Sorry Martin I said she, I don't know where I got that from.

Once again Iputon, you astound me.  Thanks so much for dumbing down your comments so that I can understand them.  Just so you know, Im a mechanical engineer with a Masters degree (do you know what a Masters degree is Iputon?) and 40 years of experience. 

As a former mechanic, I hope you graduated from high school, although Im sure thats not required in your field, so Ill try to keep my comments simple so you can understand.  The tires were replaced before the second (first?) alignment, only because I wanted to return the car to my daughter in a safe condition, and didnt have time to take it to an honest mechanic before returning it to her.  I have had other questionable encounters with this particular Firestone shop (gas filters that supposedly needed replacement on two consecutive visits, and other recommended work that was confirmed to be unnecessary later by honest mechanics) but I omitted some details in my original missive for brevity.  (Sorry Iputon, do you know what the words honest, missive, and brevity mean?  If not, look them up.) 

If youre not a Firestone flack, Iputon, you really should get a life, you disgusting cretin.  (You will probably need to look up the word cretin too, I expect.)

   I'm what I consider a parts changer,but there is nothing on a car that I can not fix.

   This is disturbing for a couple of reasons and clues that have not been addressed.

   The one that bothers me the most is she takes the car in for an oil change with what she describes as new tires on the car and they tell her she needs an alignment.Mr Mechanic,for argument sake,say I just had new tires put on across the street from your shop,and then I came to your place for and oil change,are you going to check to see if the car is out of alignment.The answer to this question would obviously be no.Simply because you see new tires.But because there are alot of theives in your industry just like any other and they know most no nothing about a car and more so women,you then get this scenario.I see you just had new tires put on,did they bother to check the alignment?Well no they just put the tires on.Wow it looks like it's way out to me,you better get that done or them new tires are going to be wore out in a month.

   So why Mr Mechanic did they tell her she needed an alignment when she had what she describes as new tires?But I do agree it don't take to much to knock your front end out of alignment.Mr Mechanic,you are assuming because you are honest that everyone else is,not to mention,I'm sure you work on your own vehicles and don't have to find out the truth.

   Also,here is my adventure with Firestone,I went to one for an inspection and they told me I need shocks,so I said go ahead and throw some on.I was sitting in there waiting room and 5 minutes after I had told them to put the shocks on the guy at the counter tells me the mechanic wants to talk to me,so I go out there and he tells me all of the lugs on one wheel was stripped,not one or two but all five.I'm the only one that ever worked on that pick-up and it never had an air wrench on it.Needless to say,I was beside myself and this mechanic is the reason I don't get a carry permit,because if I had had a gun that day that boy would have been dead.It wasn't to long after that,that store went out of business,I wonder why?

   I have a few more mechanic stories if you would like to hear them.

   I wish everyone nothing but the best and God Bless.

   mrtmrsh@gmail.com                        Marty

but I know that if you have an alignment done on non-new tires that it doesn't work very well. I also know that all it takes is one good bump over a curb or a pothole to knock your alignment out. If anything, the shop was irresponsible in suggesting an alignment with old tires.

Let me put this in terms you will understand. I don't work for this company, nor am I defending it. I am a former mechanic that is sick of people that don't know what they are talking about complaining and blaming everyone but themselves.

I did not say that faulty or worn suspension components were the only way to cause alignment problems. If there was nothing wrong with the suspension, there are 3 other things that could have caused this.
1. Daily driving on bad roads, or a random pothole will knock an alignment out of place.
2. An alignment should only be done with new, or recently replaced tires. It is completely pointless to align a suspension when tires already have improper wear.
3. Under/over inflated tires.

Considering all of these things, it seems to me that you did not replace the tires and had them do the alignment anyway.(I assume this because you didn't mention replacing the tires). If these tires were already bad, the alignment isn't going to help a whole lot. If you did replace the tires when you got the alignment done, why didn't you go back to firestone and give them the paperwork you have? Any company would be stupid not to honor their work if they did the alignment and tires at the same time.

You can complain to the state all you want, but you will get nowhere if certain things weren't done on your part.

Wow Iputon, youre really on the ball.  This complaint was barely listed before you slammed me.  Are you a full time Firestone employee, or just a low-life contractor paid to defend the indefensible.  Im guessing the later since you dont seem to know that any legitimate mechanic will check for defective suspension parts that would compromise an alignment before performing the service. 

The car in question had relatively low miles and neither wheel alignment report suggested the stability of the work would be affected by suspension part issues. 

Please send me your name so I can include you in my formal complaint to the NYS Attorney General.

Ok, first off how old was this car and how many miles did it have on it when the alignment was done? It does not take a whole lot for alignment to get messed up even if you just had one. A pot hole, very bumpy road, and many other things can take the wheels out of alignment. Also, worn out suspension parts can cause the alignment change right after it has been done.

Before you start to spout off accusing a company of not doing what they charged you, do a little research before you get diarrhea of the mouth.