Passing on Pep Boys
by John Weckerle
This seems to be our week for panning businesses – perhaps because the experience of a car accident and subsequent flat tire on the remaining family car at an inopportune time can push one to do business with enterprises whose services are not part of the everyday need. As previously mentioned, we ended up with a flat tire at the Wildlife West Music Festival late afternoon Saturday. It was too late to bring the tire anywhere local, and most places are closed on Sunday. Given that we had to go car-almost-shopping Sunday, and we didn’t want to wait until Monday to get the tire fixed, we decided to take the tire along and drop it off at Pep Boys to see if it could be repaired or, if necessary, replaced.
A little background: We’ve been having our work done locally since we moved here, but when we lived in Albuquerque, we at one point took our cars to the Firestone on Juan Tabo for pretty much everything. After a while, under the leadership of a manager named Al, things went downhill. Typically, we would drop a car off, get an estimated time that it would be ready, come back somewhat later than the estimated time, and find that the car had not even been looked at yet. This got to the point where we decided never to do business with the Juan Tabo Firestone again.
When I went into the Pep Boys service entrance, I spoke with the representative closest to the door. He estimated that it would take thirty to forty-five minutes to have the tire examined, at which time he would call me if it could not be repaired. As I turned away, I noted, to my discomfort, that there was a guy behind the other counter who looked suspiciously like Al, except that he was bald (Al had had thinning hair back in the mid-nineties). We set out for a three-hour-plus visit to several dealerships (we had already visited Rich Ford, and may well end up with something from there). As I waited, the maybe-Al answered the phone, and my fears were confirmed – his accent gave him away.
Sure enough, the tire had not yet been looked at, and the representative (who now looked suspiciously like another guy who used to work at Firestone) could not give an estimated time for examining it.
So, we ended up waiting until Monday anyway, and took the tire to our usual mechanics at Under Car in Edgewood. Fortuitously, they had a used tire with nearly the exact amount of wear as those on the car, and had us on our way in short order. We’ve been getting great service from Under Car, and this was just another example.
As for Pep Boys – we consider them a “warn off.” In our opinion, their management was incompetent at Firestone, and they have brought their signature disregard for service and customer satisfaction across the street with them. Save your money, protect your blood pressure, and go somewhere else.