Firestone AutoFirestone Complete Auto Care Heavy rip off in addition to sales pitching to sell more parts and exaggerated diagnosis Natick Massachusetts

Hello,

As an employee of this company, I do not believe that you were "ripped off" at all. Unfortunately, there are people in this world who are quick to turn to terms like "Rip-off" before understanding what exactly you're being charged for. Let's take a look at the breakdown and perhaps you can understand a little better.

Parts

An integral part of the automotive repair business is replacement parts for the vehicle in question. Parts are subjected to a markup, as this company is in business FOR PROFIT. I can't apologize for that, considering most companies in the American populous are designed around making money. Whether you realize it or not, the little mom and pop garages that you can find still markup their parts. I know, you're thinking that it's unfair for a company to make a profit using your hard earned cash, right? Well, this is America, and things cost money.

Labor

Once again, whether it's bringing you your food, carting your groceries to your car or pumping your gas, the cost of labor is figured into the equation. I know you think that most mechanics are greasy, uneducated simpletons, who should earn minimum wage, but for the most part the job requires a college degree, and several years of study in different related fields to become a successful and trusted mechanic. Terms like ASE, and MAP are starting points and each individual company utilizes it's internal resources to make sure that your technician is on the cutting edge of technology. A car is no longer just an engine and transmission. Realistically, even if you understand electrical engineering, and the combustion engine you are not considered a true mechanic. Mechanics are experts in DIAGNOSIS. They can figure out the most complex problems under the most extreme circumstances. You know who else does that? Doctors, Engineers, Computer Technicians, people with college educations. Therefore the premium that you are paying for labor is warranted. If you want a good technician working on your vehicle then you will pay a premium price. Same with doctors. If you want a shade-tree hack who's principle forms of fixing things are duct tape and bubble gum, then those guys are much cheaper, and they're a dime a dozen.

Shop Supplies

Incidentals. Nuts, bolts, the paper and plastic that protects your car from grease, cleaners that make sure you don't have fluid drips, minor gaskets, etc. These things are readily available in case of a snag when doing repair work. Sometimes they are necessary and sometimes they are not. In order to offset the costs of them on a large basis the shop must recoup by charging for them. Par for the course.

Honesty, Integrity

Yep. I said it. If you want honest people working on your vehicle then you will pay a premium price. How do I know they're honest? Let me tell you a bit about our hiring process. Every Applicant is subjected to a thorough background check (7 years) and urinalysis before being offered a position. We check references and work history through all steps of the hiring process. We abhor any felony convictions and are unable to hire anyone convicted of any felony or traffic violations in excess of three per year. We hire mainly graduates from accredited technology programs, and experienced automotive personnel. Rest assured that any technician you come across in a Firestone store has earned their stripes. Having almost 10 years with the company myself, I can assure you that.

Warranty

As a fellow member stated, you are paying for a warranty that will cover you on parts and labor for a period of at least six months or six thousand miles on any items purchased from a FS location. Most things are 12/12,000 and some are even lifetime warranted. Try getting a mom and pop shop to do that for you. Most of them will laugh at you if you try to get warranty coverage after a 30 day period, and even then you'll probably be paying for something on top of your previous bill. Unless you want to go to court, and then you run the risk of putting a small shop out of business. Hell, they could go out of business before you even get that far. An example: A while back one of my stores replaced a timing belt in a customer's vehicle. After a two week period another problem popped up with the customer's vehicle converning a timing belt tensioner that was not replaced when the job was done. At the time the technician did not see a problem with the tensioner and chose not to sell something that wasn't needed. The timing belt tensioner broke, and caused the engine to sieze. Thus, rather than arguing with the customer our company decided to replace the engine at no cost to the customer. All under warranty. Try getting a small independant to foot that bill. This company does not care if you are right or wrong, they are focused on taking care of the people that chose to patronize it. All included in the cost, of course.

In closing, I would like to recommend that you check your ego and maybe look into some sort of automotive education to combat your ignorance. If you do not understand why you are being charged for something then you need to ASK QUESTIONS. On the other side of the coin, you need to compare prices and warranties between reputable companies before you make an automotive decision. It'll cost a lot less heartache and headache if you decide to call around and see what other people are charging if you feel you're being overcharged. A little insight into that as well. Firestone stores match competitor prices, and honor competitor coupons. If you can bring in a written estimate that is "apples to apples" on parts, labor and warranty then in most cases they will lower the price.

Thank you for your time.

Honestly yes you can go many other places but the fact of the matter is when your dealing with a company like Firestone your getting more bang for your buck too. Where is Bubba going to be when your timing belt brake on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon 500 miles from home??? I can answer this he'll be at home, but with Firestone your getting a national warranty good at any of the stores nationwide along with with stores that are open 7 days a week. Bottom line you may look at it as spending more money, but in reality you're just paying for the perks of a national chain.

Ok i am a mechanic, all the flushes they did were legit, the labor avoidance for the water pump isnt really a rip off, if you replace the belt and not the pump, and the pump goes out a year later then you pay the same labor as the belt to fix the water pump which really makes no sense, but im sure they charged u twice what they paid for the parts and some ridiculous labor rate per hour.

The cv axles are the best part though....OMG $1200 dollars, come on now, you can go to a parts store and get axles for your car for probably 60-90 dollars, and probably about 1-1.5 hours, but im sorry if you have a lift and air tools like they do u can put axles in a civic in less than 45 minutes.

But youre right, they have their strong points, they do have some very good techs, but their sole purpose like any other national chain auto repair is to get you in for something simple, oil change, belt squeak, etc. then tell you u need a belt and a tensioner and a transmission flush, alignment etc.

To avoid this in the future find local small shops that are actually well equipped to service cars, theres not many but they are out there, depends on where you live really.

How did you come to the conclusion every job should cost no more than $300? I ask this because it's not based in reality.

Cat-back exhaust on any Honda will run about $600. The timing belt, water pump and axles for a Honda will run about $1500. Seems to me they charged you what the jobs were worth.