Sears Auto and Tire Center Sears mounted flat tire putting us in near fatal drive home PLUS lost our keys! Orlando Florida

On June 4, 2013, my family and I dropped off our Toyota Corolla at the Sears Auto Center located at The Florida Mall for a tire change. We had our own new tires in the trunk for the Bob Parr serivice supervisor and his staff to put on the car. I drove the car into the car bay, as I was instructed by Bob Parr Carlos. Before leaving the driver's seat, I asked Carlos if I should leave the keys in the ignition, and he said that I should leave the keys in the ignition. I did.

At that time, my keys were intact. The keychain was a two part keychain that could not be unclipped. The keys that were on the keychain were: the manual car door key, the car key fob, house keys and valet car key. There was also a huge, heavy blue metal clip attached to the keychain.

We were told that it would be between an hour to two hours for the tire change. We left. When we came back and I was handed back the keys, The only key they gave me was the valet key. The rest of the keys and the keychain were missing. My manual car door key, my car key fob and my house keys were missing along with the second half of the keychain and the metal clip. I asked them where was the other half of my keychain with the rest of my keys.

This started a 3-hour search for the keys. We checked our purses in front of the staff, in front of police officers (there is a police report) to make sure we did not have the keys. We, my mother and my sister and I, personally searched through trash cans, mechanic uniforms, the mechanics' stations, walking over the lifts and other maintenance areas of the Sears auto garage, as well as the vehicle inside and outside and the parking lot.

We had to file a police report because the mechanic who was working on the car could not be reached, and there was fear someone was going to break into our house since Sears has the home address on file, and the keys were missing. We had to leave the auto center without the keys that Sears misplaced. At one point during the key search, Melanie presented us with a set of keys asking, "Are these yours"? We stated no, and she replied, "Well, these must be another customer's keys."

As we are driving home, the tire light came on in our car but the auto center was
closed (it was now nearly 9:30 pm), so we could not go back. We had to be escorted to our house by the community security to make sure that no one had broken into the house.

       
Less than 36 hours later, when we went to run errands, the tire was completely flat. We have pictures of the tire. We had to calls Sears Auto Center to get a tow truck to tow the truck back to the Auto Center. We have dated pictures of the Ace Wrecker tow truck, tow truck driver and the tow truck company.

Bob Parr Service Supervisor as well as manager Cody admitted that they did not check the tire pressure on the car when they first put on the tires. They stated that it is Sears policy to NOT check tire pressure when mounting tires that a customer does not buy from Sears. Their staff will just drive the car around the lot once or twice then park it. If the tires don't pull, they consider them good to go. Sears still had not found our keys and still did not know where the keys went.

They sent us home on tires they mounted but did not check which are clearly losing pressure. As Bob Parr stated, the put the tire on but the tire may have been faulty -- but they put it on anyway, sending us on our way and what could have been a fatal situation due to their complete negligence. When the car was towed back to Sears (with proof on record), Bob Parr could not find our original tire so he put someone else's old discarded tire.

In telephone conversations with Sears Corporate, Bob Parr, Melanie, Joe Oakes, Moises and Carlos who worked on the car and were working the evening of June 4, 2013, lied multiple times about what transpired over the flat tire and stolen/misplaced keys.

In their false case report in a Sears “investigation,” they stated that we refused to our bags. In fact, we opened our purses three times in front of staff Melanie as well as Deputy Ventura to show we did not accidentally have the keys. Sears denied that we returned a day later with a flat tire. Instead, they lied and reported that it was a week later. There are other false statements in the report filed by Sears personnel in this “investigation,” which Stephanie read to my mom over the telephone. It should be noted that this "investigation" by Sears was completely one-sided - theirs - because we were NEVER questioned before they closed this "investigation."

We have been extremely patient, making attempt after attempt to resolve this with Sears simply cost of replacing our car keys. We had costs associated with replacing house keys, of which we did not ask. At the last point in July 2013, Alyssa A. Sears executive offices offered to reimburse us for key replacement should we provide an estimate. When we provided that written estimate, she ignored our telephone messages, never returning our calls.

When we attempt to email district managers, they ignore us. We open a complaint but they immediately close it without any notification. Their one-sided “investigation” by which they have loaded their reports with false statements by employees to cover their negligence. Never once did Sears try to contact us in their “investigation.” I tried to get in contact with Sears over Twitter but they blocked me from contacting them and have ignored my problems every step of the way.