In today's economy it really amazes me how little people pay attention to the details that keep one in business.
On Thursday, I dropped off my pickup truck at a local tire shop with instructions to do a front end alignment and rotate and balance all the tires. I have to say that when I called for an appointment on Wednesday I was impressed when they said they could get it in the next day. I don't think that had ever happened to me before.
When I picked it up on Thursday evening, I paid the bill, just short of $100 and was told that it was good I had come in as the alignment was so far out that it was almost not recordable. Having driven vehicles for 35 years, worked in 3 dealerships and a couple of other automotive oriented establishments, I found that kind of odd because the vehicle was still tracking almost dead on when driving and removing the hands from the wheel for a short time. But, I was happy and in a bit of a hurry so I didn't question it.
On Friday, I finally got around to looking at the work. The original reason I took it in was because the front left tire was wearing more than the others and especially on the outer most part of the tread. Well, the left front was still the tire that had that type of wear. I thought to myself, they forgot to rotate them I'll just get it myself in the morning. Even though I'd paid them $40 to do the rotate and balance I figured it would just be easier to do it myself.
On Saturday after lunch, I gathered up the jack, stands, and four way wrench and got to it. I popped the caps, loosened the lugs, jacked up the left side and proceeded to remove the lugs. I did the front first without hassle. The rear however was frozen to the axle hub confirming my suspicion that they hadn't been rotated. Now I was wondering if they had even been balanced since they would have had to remove them to get them on the balance machine. Then I noticed that the break dust was still evenly distributed except what I had just disturbed. I went back to the front tire that I'd already removed and looked at the back. The weights on the front and the back hadn't been removed. They hadn't balanced that tire. I moved to the right side and jacked up the front and again, the wheel came off without incident. The weights and dust were the same as the left front. This wheel hadn't been balanced either. At this point, I didn't even fool with the right rear but I was now wondering if they had even done the alignment that was supposed to be so far out that it was almost off the scale.
Inspecting the tie rod ends and the steering hardware I noticed that there were no shining threads. They were all still full of rust. Looking at the crown nuts and cotter keys, they were also still all rusty and no signs of any wrench ever touching them. My blood pressure is starting to rise.
Grabbing the phone I call the shop and inquire of the man that answered. He was all alone and would call me back. A little later he truly did call me telling me that he had found the alignment sheet and that my truck was already dead on so they did not alignment. But it was supposedly so far off that it almost didn't register? I'm confused, but restate my position that they still hadn't done the balance and rotate. To top it off, when I put everything back together I discovered a nail in my right rear! What a day. Had they just took off the tires to balance them; they would surely have found the nail and got a few extra bucks for fixing a nail hole.
In this day, age and economy there is just not much of an excuse to give this bad a service. After all they were the ones that told me they had the time to do it that day. I know that everyone makes mistakes, but this is on top of the same place taking 3 times to fix the same flat on my wife's car last fall. It seems that the flat was the fault of a corroded aluminum rim. Maybe so the first time, but what about the other two - I took it to them to fix it, couldn't they have fixed the corroded rim one of the first 2 times?
I get my money back on Tuesday.
Did I mention that the Thunderbird below is for sale? Contact me at alook@alanlook.com if you are serious.
2002 Thunderbird - Images by Alan Look
On Thursday, I dropped off my pickup truck at a local tire shop with instructions to do a front end alignment and rotate and balance all the tires. I have to say that when I called for an appointment on Wednesday I was impressed when they said they could get it in the next day. I don't think that had ever happened to me before.
When I picked it up on Thursday evening, I paid the bill, just short of $100 and was told that it was good I had come in as the alignment was so far out that it was almost not recordable. Having driven vehicles for 35 years, worked in 3 dealerships and a couple of other automotive oriented establishments, I found that kind of odd because the vehicle was still tracking almost dead on when driving and removing the hands from the wheel for a short time. But, I was happy and in a bit of a hurry so I didn't question it.
On Friday, I finally got around to looking at the work. The original reason I took it in was because the front left tire was wearing more than the others and especially on the outer most part of the tread. Well, the left front was still the tire that had that type of wear. I thought to myself, they forgot to rotate them I'll just get it myself in the morning. Even though I'd paid them $40 to do the rotate and balance I figured it would just be easier to do it myself.
On Saturday after lunch, I gathered up the jack, stands, and four way wrench and got to it. I popped the caps, loosened the lugs, jacked up the left side and proceeded to remove the lugs. I did the front first without hassle. The rear however was frozen to the axle hub confirming my suspicion that they hadn't been rotated. Now I was wondering if they had even been balanced since they would have had to remove them to get them on the balance machine. Then I noticed that the break dust was still evenly distributed except what I had just disturbed. I went back to the front tire that I'd already removed and looked at the back. The weights on the front and the back hadn't been removed. They hadn't balanced that tire. I moved to the right side and jacked up the front and again, the wheel came off without incident. The weights and dust were the same as the left front. This wheel hadn't been balanced either. At this point, I didn't even fool with the right rear but I was now wondering if they had even done the alignment that was supposed to be so far out that it was almost off the scale.
Inspecting the tie rod ends and the steering hardware I noticed that there were no shining threads. They were all still full of rust. Looking at the crown nuts and cotter keys, they were also still all rusty and no signs of any wrench ever touching them. My blood pressure is starting to rise.
Grabbing the phone I call the shop and inquire of the man that answered. He was all alone and would call me back. A little later he truly did call me telling me that he had found the alignment sheet and that my truck was already dead on so they did not alignment. But it was supposedly so far off that it almost didn't register? I'm confused, but restate my position that they still hadn't done the balance and rotate. To top it off, when I put everything back together I discovered a nail in my right rear! What a day. Had they just took off the tires to balance them; they would surely have found the nail and got a few extra bucks for fixing a nail hole.
In this day, age and economy there is just not much of an excuse to give this bad a service. After all they were the ones that told me they had the time to do it that day. I know that everyone makes mistakes, but this is on top of the same place taking 3 times to fix the same flat on my wife's car last fall. It seems that the flat was the fault of a corroded aluminum rim. Maybe so the first time, but what about the other two - I took it to them to fix it, couldn't they have fixed the corroded rim one of the first 2 times?
I get my money back on Tuesday.
Did I mention that the Thunderbird below is for sale? Contact me at alook@alanlook.com if you are serious.
2002 Thunderbird - Images by Alan Look
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