Firestone Complete Auto Care ripoff Went in for cheap oil change ad came out with vandalism Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

The real problem is when consumers go price shopping for auto repair. Get the cheapest service you can and then blame the shop who pays their people minimum wage and expect expert quality.

I recently worked in a Tire & Lube for big trucks, I have formal education (A Degree), ASE certifications in all areas of that discipline. We are trained to look for additional work needed to the customer's vehicle because 'discount oil changes' is how the shop attracts their customers.

Most automotive ball joints are sealed (non greasable) the seals often fail from normal conditions allowing the grease to dry up and the parts wear out. This requires replacement and it was also covered on my ASE exam.

If you expect an expert to repair your car, take it to a real shop and avoid the "Cookie Cutter" approach to auto repair.

first off--if it is your girlfriends car and story-why are you writing the rip off report??--by the way--please tell me that when you went back and spent the 210 on the ball joint seal this included the ball joint itself(which is 1 unit)--you cannot buy just the seal--also--you noticed the problem when you left cause it was pointed to your attention--most people do not know they have problems with there cars--you cannot just break the ball joint to claim sabotage--however--if you spent 210 on new ball jointS(which includes the dust/grease boot/aka the "seal") good for you--you saved your girlfriend some money-you may have accidentally done something right

I had problems with this very same place a few years back.  They replaced (?)(which was a joke) my brake lines.  They did a horrible job that I paid A LOT of money for and I also got the run a round with corporate Firestone.  The lines were hanging down only a couple inches off the ground.  And then (of course) they found all kinds of other things wrong with my car. I took it to another place to get a second opinion about all this other work that needed done and that's when I found out about the cheap break line job they did.  I think they took advantage of me because I'm a girl and I don't know to much about cars.  I will NEVER go to Firestone again!

Dear human:

I am currently a service manager of a Firestone in the Pittsburgh district.  If you are going to put lies on a website, the least you could do is sound intelligent.  To all of the people reading this.  There is no such thing as a ball joint seal.  And one of the most common front end failures on any ford taurus is the lower ball joints.  So, go bs someone else.

Let's pretend there is a seal on the ball joint that could somehow be replaced, firestone won't do a job halfway, either fix it right or ship it out. That shadetree mech took your money and didn't help your cause. It's ashame that so many people trust small shops over national chains, what does firestone need your 500 for and why would they want bad publicity over 500 dollars.

I am ase certified in suspension and steering....the ball joints are a very important part of the suspension and if they do come apart while driving, especially at high speeds, can cause serious injury to u and the car.

And, like matt said, taurus ball joints are horrible, the old taurus like yours will go bad with 60k, if they werent replaced before 100k they were more than likely falling out, and had up to an inch of play.

The real person you should be conserned with here is your shadetree mechanic, YOU CANT REPLACE A SEAL ON A BALL JOINT!. A ball joint is basicall 3 parts, a socker, a stud with a a ball end that sits on in the socket and pivots, allowing suspension movement.

Call any parts store....ANY, IN ANY CITY ANYWHERE.. and see if you can buy a grease boot for that car, you will not find one, because they dont exsist, to replace them, you have to BUY AND REPLACE THE BALL JOINT NOT THE BOOT.

First off a Ball Joint is an integral part of the steering and suspension system of most vehicles. The Ford Taurus line is notorious for having ball joints wear out at 60,000+ miles. If a ball joint has bad wear it can come apart from it's socket causing a serious safety hazard. I am an ASE certified Master technician and I have seen a number of cars that this has happened to. There is no such repair as replacing a seal on a worn out ball joint. If someone did this for you then they are lacking intelligence.

The mechanic did nothing to your vehicle. He tried to show you a situation where your vehicle was in need of repair and you took that information and jumped at all kinds of assumptions.

The fact is you let your girlfriend drive around in a vehicle that was not safe for her to drive or safe for other drivers on the road and you wasted your time.

First off a Ball Joint is an integral part of the steering and suspension system of most vehicles. The Ford Taurus line is notorious for having ball joints wear out at 60,000+ miles. If a ball joint has bad wear it can come apart from it's socket causing a serious safety hazard. I am an ASE certified Master technician and I have seen a number of cars that this has happened to. There is no such repair as replacing a seal on a worn out ball joint. If someone did this for you then they are lacking intelligence.

The mechanic did nothing to your vehicle. He tried to show you a situation where your vehicle was in need of repair and you took that information and jumped at all kinds of assumptions.

The fact is you let your girlfriend drive around in a vehicle that was not safe for her to drive or safe for other drivers on the road and you wasted your time.

First off a Ball Joint is an integral part of the steering and suspension system of most vehicles. The Ford Taurus line is notorious for having ball joints wear out at 60,000+ miles. If a ball joint has bad wear it can come apart from it's socket causing a serious safety hazard. I am an ASE certified Master technician and I have seen a number of cars that this has happened to. There is no such repair as replacing a seal on a worn out ball joint. If someone did this for you then they are lacking intelligence.

The mechanic did nothing to your vehicle. He tried to show you a situation where your vehicle was in need of repair and you took that information and jumped at all kinds of assumptions.

The fact is you let your girlfriend drive around in a vehicle that was not safe for her to drive or safe for other drivers on the road and you wasted your time.

First off a Ball Joint is an integral part of the steering and suspension system of most vehicles. The Ford Taurus line is notorious for having ball joints wear out at 60,000+ miles. If a ball joint has bad wear it can come apart from it's socket causing a serious safety hazard. I am an ASE certified Master technician and I have seen a number of cars that this has happened to. There is no such repair as replacing a seal on a worn out ball joint. If someone did this for you then they are lacking intelligence.

The mechanic did nothing to your vehicle. He tried to show you a situation where your vehicle was in need of repair and you took that information and jumped at all kinds of assumptions.

The fact is you let your girlfriend drive around in a vehicle that was not safe for her to drive or safe for other drivers on the road and you wasted your time.

i had an issue with another company, that i also reported on this site. i went through bbb (joke), consumer affairs (another joke). i eventually went and filed a small claims suite and the company knew that i had a case and we had to go through arbirtration. i didnt get all of my $6,000 back, but i did get $2,000...better than nothing i guess.

Your story is not adding up. The ball joint seals wont cause the front end to shake or cause ill handling. Nor will replacing the seals only repair those issues. It is not uncommon for seals to be shot after multiple lube jobs because many untrained technicians install too much grease and blow the seals out.

At 109k miles it is very likely that yours are bad. Some seals are designed to pass grease by when lubed. Others are not. These are the type that can be ruined from over lubing them. This still would not cause your complaint.