BIG O TIRES Free brake inspection. If You dont have them fix it YOU GET TOWED???WTF

Today My Niece comes and gets Me says her son Sean took His car to BIG O tires for a free brake inspection. The store manager tells Sean it will cost $500.00 to fix His brakes. He tells Him He does'nt have that kind of money but thankyou anyway (He's 18). Then the guy says I cant give You your car unless We fix it now. If He doesnt fix it Now He will have to get the car towed away cause He says its dangerous and He ( BIG O TIRES) can be held responsible. So I go down there ask for the Manager at the front desk Kinda loud. The manager comes up I say , does Sean owe You money? He says no.
I say did Sean sign any paperwork giving permission to work on the vehicle? He says NO! I say did You tell Him there would be a charge for inspecting His brakes? He says NO. Does Sean owe You ANY MONEY---NO So I say GIVE HIM THE ****IN CAR !! The room is full of customers and He wants Me to go outside I say NO He says He will call the police! I tell him do it ****ing NOW!!
CALL 911!!. The cops show up they talk to Him then Me.Im telling the cops they are Hijackin His car to get a brake job. The cop says its a litigation thing and He cant do nothin WHAT????? Long story short the cop gets the Guy to park the car out front then gives the keys to the cop then the cop gives em to Sean.He then tells Sean if I see ya driving the car Ill give ya a $128.00 ticket for defective equiptment. I sat in the car stepped on the brakes, they were low but with one pump they were up top. I have had many cars with way worse brakes and drove them for months. We took the car across the parking lot to FREDMEYER and left it till the tirestore closed then He drove it home. I will help Him with the brakes But this was TOTAL ********!
BEWARE BIG O TIRES AND FREE BRAKE INSPECTIONS. --FEDER

 

Wish I could have been there Fed!!! A few years ago, you'd still be beatin on him! Glad to see you mellowed out! LOL.......OLDBEET

 

Damn.......sounds like the kid wasn't even gonna get a reacharound! Thats horse****, glad you called his *** on it.

 

Wow.

That manager was way the **** out of line. He has no legal right to deny a customer access to his own car.

The cop was out of line, too. Why is the service writer's word taken as gospel? What was the 'defective equipment' on the car? The brakes? Did the cop test them himself?

I've worked as a service writer, and told people that their car wasn't really safe to drive away. And a couple times had 'em sign an invoice (without charge) saying that I'd warned them - and explained I just didn't want me or my employer to get dragged into court if they got in trouble. Gotta' CYA or some s******* will run to the phone book and tell a personal injury attorney that "some mechanic looked at my brakes, then they failed..."

But this is just abject ********.

Kind of knocks the 'free' out of free brake inspection. And five bills is a bunch of bread for brakes; what did they want to do? Dip 'em in gold? I would expect to pay that for four brakes for my Benz. If I went somewhere fairly expensive.


-bill

 

NOW THATS THE REASON I DO ALL MY OWN WORK! I have worked for brake shops befor and we NEVER did this to ANYONE! There were cars that were unsafe and we took the customer out to the car and showed them what their brakes looked like and then showed them the new shoes and parts it needed. I NEVER had to scare a customer into brake work with horse**** like he tried to pull! But I never have liked their tires anyway Just one more reason to stay away from them.
R.R.

 

When I was managing a brake shop, I did this exactly ONCE.

but, it was a minivan full of kids-with no seats! I don't mean no car seats, NO SEATS!!!!

the guy driving had let it grind for so long it had cut a rotor completely from the hub!!!

the piston had finally ground to the point it fell out of the caliper, and was just missing!I told him he had at least 100 bucks worth of parts missing or destroyed and he gave me an incredible ration of ****. so, I called the cops.

but yeah, if it was stoppin' when it came in, it should go out just as easily.
don't get me wrong, I have your back. The manager was the kind of guy I used to love, the kind that brought so much business to my shop!

but,in Texas at least, unless there is a bill, the shop owner has absolutley NO CAUSE to hold or demand a vehicle be towed. It's just thier way of bullying a customer into getting work performed.

now go throw a used rotor through thier window.

 

I've killed managers for less

 

you should have shoved a big o'l tire up his ***

 

thats entrampment, thats f*d up.

almost happend to me with my 62 caddy last summer, took it in for a ****** flush and they do a free inspection of everything, guy call me and tells me that my brakes are shot tells me its gonna cost at least $1200 to fix because the brake parts are "hard to find". it was hard for me not to laugh at him but i told him no i can take care of it. year later still havent done the brakes and it stops just fine.

just have to think of how many people just dont know any better and fall for that kind of highway robbery

forgot to mention that i got all my brake parts and a new master cylinder for $250 right after that.

 

Yea I was totally beside Myself. I havnt been so pissed off in a long time!
He called a towtruck and the guy was cool. I explained to Him what was going on so He kind of procrastinated untill the cops got there. Thank god cause it would have got ugly. Thing is If He towed the car from the inside the shop to outside there parking lot it was a minimum $75.00. Thats a total of 150 feet. If the kid couldnt pay they would take the car to the impound lot and stayed until he had the money, meanwhile the storage bill is climbing.
Well I know I will NEVER-NEVER- NEVER GO TO BIG O TIRES !!!!
-----FEDER

 

BTTT....Everyone needs to see this.....Total ********........OLDBEET

 

Wow - that's freakin ********! You handled it perfectly though man.

 

There is just so much wrong with that. Here the only people who can legally have a car towed are police agencies or the owner. Everything else is unauthorized use of a motor vehical. Looks like upselling at BIG O has gone haywire. Now that you have calmed down a bit it is time to write three letters, One to the local Better Business Bureau, one to the Big O company headquarters, and one to your state Attorney General's office. Last I knew no chain stores were deputized enforcement arms for motor vehicle enforcement.
We all know those counter guys and managers work off commissions and take advantage of cherries, and women, and other vehicular cirgins who suc***b to the "FREE" thing, then get caught is thier web of deciet, lies, threats and predicitons of eminent doom. These guys obviously have a thing witht hte tow company going on and they should be mentioned in your letters.

Also one of our local TV stations has a your stories segment that deals wit this kind of stuff all the time. They would take a veicle in with known flaws, have them do their free inspection, then go in with a camera crew when its time to pick up the car. It is amazing how many people get so easily fleeced by automotive repair chains.

Here is my list of do not visits;
Firestone, Goodyear, Midas, Mineke, Sears, Kost Tire, Pep Boys, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Wally World.

Unfortunatly most of the local mom and pop repair shops are going the same way as family restaurants all replaced by chains, my list don 't go list for them is;
Applebees, Chilis, Bennegins, Dennys, TGIF, Ruby Tuesdays, Fuddruckers, well you get the point, would you like one or our overpriced, stale, frozen dessert, with your buck and a quarter coffee??????????

 

if this just plain pisses you off like it does me, click here: http://www.bigotires.com/index.asp?PG=1&Sub=10&StoreID=000000

and tell them what you think about it and how you will make sure no one you know will ever service a car there.
don't just talk about it here, tell those ****ers about it too, and make a difference...

that is complete ********!

 

Thanks TREDBOY Im all over this ---------FEDER

 

Just sent off a comment to the site that tredboy listed. Hope everyone else that reads this thread does the same.

 

i don't care what the cop said. i don't think that is legal. you'd be surprised how many cops don't know jack about what the laws REALY are. no offense to any cops on here, thats just been my experience.
i'd be torn between shovin a brake drum up his *** or talkin to a lawyer and reporting them to the better business bureau or something. slimy *******s.

 

I've always thought of that outfit as Big Zero Tires.

 

These crooks run a store in Renton, Washington. I will complain online at thier website! Shouldn't we all? From all over the world!........OLDBEET

 

i bought tires at Big O exactly once, and will never be back. my problem was some monkey who had NO CLUE how to install shouldered mag wheel lug nuts, he just hung the wheels, and ran the nuts on my astros with the impact gun!

i've been having nothing but good experiences now at Peerless Tyre. they do nothing but tires, so won't try to sell you on other ******** service.

 

If some one can they should send the pertinent details to head quarters.

 

You would be surprised but they do read those surveys. One time we were eatling at a LJS and it was really nasty. It was so bad we decided to leave, and on the way out there was so much grease on the floor, that my daughter fell on her back.

I made one nasty email, nasty but professional. By the time I got home from work the next day, I had 4 messages on my recorder. 1 from the store mgr, 1 from the regional mgr, 1 from the district mgr, and one from the customer service troubleshooter.

Fire off an email. See what shakes out.

 

**** like this makes me glad I can fix most anything on my cars and when I can't a long time friend is on of the best mechanics I've ever met. And he's honest enough to never screw anybody. What a concept, treating others as you wish to be treated...

 

About the chain stores, dealerships, in general. They aren't in business to give good mechanical work, just "quality" service and sell you **** you don't really need, because honest mechanics never get rich. I haven't had a car in "the shop" for over 35 years, except for the one occasion, stupid on my part, where I bought a new one a few years ago. Took it in for the required stuff to keep the warranty up, and they ended up adding on a whole bunch of other "warranty" work, to screw the manufacturer.

 

My brother's girlfriend took her Malibu in to get the tires changed on it at a KalTire up here, and while it was up they did a brake check on it and told her that it needed 500 bux worth of work. Little did they know she's a car chick and knows her car inside and out and just recently her and my bro did a brake job and changed the rotors and all on it. So she never holds anything back and told the guy where to go, and why he was out to lunch, as well told him she was gonna tell all the guys in the car club of this and they will likely lose business becuz of BS like this.

 

That's the worst advice I've ever heard. You think the kid should have threatened to beat up the manager or to vandalize the manager's car?

The kid got his car back without getting screwed on a bogus brake job and now there is opportunity to get this guy in trouble with the Better Business Bureau and to report it to their head offices. That's what needs to be done. Kicking someone's teeth in or slashing their tires, or even threatening to do so, is only going to make things way worse.

 

I have owned an auto repair shop for 16 years & try to bring our black eyed industry up daily by treating my customers how I would want to be treated, all they would have to do is wright an invoice with a statement on it that the vehicle was unsafe to drive until repaired with a list of things needed then have the customer sign it, that would release the shop of any liability.

I see every once in a while a car that is totally unsafe to drive on the roads come through & I do think to myself what if this ***hole crashes into my wife & 3 kids but legally I cant do anything about it other than cover my shops ***.

I see both sides of the fence to a point but never heard of anybody not returning a car to the customer exept by towtruck.

 

I said it wordier, but you said it better!

-bill

 

And which Big O tires was this? I would love to take one of my cars in for a free brake inspection. They had no legal obligation to hold the vehicle. They did not perform any repairs. I can bring them all the legal do***entation for releasing vehicles to customers. What a bunch of *****s! They give the repair industry a worse name than it already has.

 

how about a phone # for this place? or an address....this guy needs to lose his job for power tripping.