Tires Plus Made a leak to see if I have a leak!! Lilburn Georgia

For a few years now I’ve had good experiences with Tires Plus in Lilburn GA.  When something wasn’t done correctly they corrected it at no additional cost.   The management and team there have always been great to work with.  Unfortunately, my experience there last week wasn’t so great and this time I don’t feel comfortable taking my vehicle (98 Pontiac Trans Sport) back to be corrected because the apology for the mistake was, “I do apologize for my technician doing his job”.  His job??  

I took my vehicle in to have the rear brakes looked at and because my cruise control was turning off on its own.  I park on an incline in my driveway, and my rear brakes weren’t catching as well as usual.  In April, Tires Plus had done a complete front brake job, in May, Kauffman Tires installed 4 new tires with an alignment and in June, Tires Plus did my normal oil change.  With all that work being done on my front end no one informed me that I needed a rack and pinon replacement. 

On 7/6/16, when I took my vehicle for the rear brake check and cruise control issue (which they ignored), the technician noticed wet spots under my vehicle.  I did not have any visible leaks in my driveway, but yes, it was wet under there.  The technician advised me in order to determine where the leak was coming from; he had to puncture the left tire rod boot, which of course began to leak.  Ah-hah!!  You have a leak and to repair it will cost $938.78!!  I took my car in for the rear brakes and the cruise control.  I appreciate his thoroughness, but now I have a leak in my driveway that I didn’t have before!  I was laid off over a month ago so I can’t afford the $938.78 “fix”.  I’m not having any obvious front end issues, none of my fluids are low and yes there may be a minor leak somewhere, but it wasn’t leaking in my driveway, but now it is! 

Tires Plus agreed to replace the boot they punctured, but I no longer feel comfortable taking my vehicle there.  This is the type of tactic you hear about on the news about auto shops scamming people.  I don’t feel comfortable taking my vehicle back there because no telling what they may puncture the next time to see if I have a leak!!  I advised the management going forward, if they would consider advising the customer that we need to make a leak to see if you have a leak and do you approve of us doing that, instead of performing tasks that the customer didn’t even come in for and they coming up with expensive repairs!!  It’s good to advise of possible issues, I appreciate that, but don’t manipulate my vehicle to do so.  This was only 3000 miles after they’d done a complete front brake job and there was no front end issues noted then and only a few hundred miles after I’d had new tires installed and an alignment.  Yes my vehicle is old and has some issues, but I keep the maintenance up on it and get repairs as needed, not as sabotaged.  If sales are low, this is a really poor tactic to bring in the bucks!!

After I declined the $938.78 job, they did a good job on fixing the rear brakes.