Bad day at Sears rant!

[94TAGT]

Since I currently have a shoulder injury from work and the Trans Am was due for some routine maintenance, I decided to let someone else touch my car. I never let anyone work on any of my cars unless it was under warranty due to the fact I never “feel” like it was done right and I end up triple checking their work done. After calling around I found Sears was running a special on service. Buy one get $10 off, two gets $30, and three gets $60 off. I needed a rear diff fluid change and an antifreeze coolant exchange. BAD IDEA!!!!!

First they broke one of the diff bolts and blamed it on the bolt being rusted. My car has under 68K miles and the only rust is the common surface rust on the underneath from a 1994. No bad weather driving! They said they got a replacement bolt and the car was good to go. The next morning there is a couple drops of fluid. I take it back and the bolt they used backed out. IT WASN’T EVEN THE RIGHT SIZE!!!! Two days later and the right bolt is in and no leaks.

Secondly, when they did the coolant exchange they overfilled the overflow! After the first day back I smelled antifreeze and assumed it was left over spillage as there was no fluid present leaking. Well when I pulled the car out of the garage there was a nice green stain on the floor of the garage.

Moral of the story, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!!

[Joe 1320]

Sears



Sometimes we need a reminder of why we work on our own cars. I couldn't even entrust them to do a simple alignment.

[Joshu]

That's why I found a place where I can watch what they are doing at all times and they don't care. I'm even a "hawk" (booya pun!) when they are working on my van.

[94TAGT]

Sears manager called me today and is hooking me up on another dicount on the tires I am putting on next week. They already took $50 off a tire when they matched Tire Rack and took 10% off after that. Then Discount Tire matched Sears and bumped another 5% off. I called Sears and they price matched Discount Tire and took another 10% off of that. I am getting BF Goodrich Super Sports for $475, mounted, balanced for life, and road hazard. I have never had a problem with customer service once you make the right calls.

[raroZ28]

Sears manager called me today and is hooking me up on another dicount on the tires I am putting on next week. They already took $50 off a tire when they matched Tire Rack and took 10% off after that. Then Discount Tire matched Sears and bumped another 5% off. I called Sears and they price matched Discount Tire and took another 10% off of that. I am getting BF Goodrich Super Sports for $475, mounted, balanced for life, and road hazard. I have never had a problem with customer service once you make the right calls.

wow thats a deal

[Trash man]

BFG Super Sports? they a new tire?

[94TAGT]

[IMG]

BFG Super Sports? they a new tire?

Yeah they are new with in the last 2 years. Here is the link:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....utoModel=Trans Am&autoModClar=

[Trash man]

ahh ok cuz i know the sears around us uses BFG but some knock off names for the same tire, they call a Traction T/A a Weatherbeater thats why i asked

[formula_gramps]

94,

I feel your pain man....

About a year or so ago, I took my 94 formula into Sears for an alignment.

Now, normally I don't trust anyone to work on my car, but they were having a special price, and I thought, what with the fact that it's all computerized now with lasers, that even a monkey could align my car with that kind of equipment. The car felt o.k. after, but still not the way it should have, and the difference was barely noticable.

About a week later, I went to have my annual state inspection.........FAIL!

Seems I needed a lower ball joint, passenger side. The tech that inspected it, asked me over, because he knows me and knows I work on my car. We put the car on the lift. I moved the wheel around, and sure enough, there was a tiny amount of slop.

So, I replaced the ball joint --- that was sure fun....then back to Sears a couple of days later. I told them I needed another alignment. I showed them the previous alignment specs and the inspection report with the dates circled. My question to the service manager was this:

"You claim that the first part of the alignment process is a safety inspection of the vehicles suspension components. If the car fails that inspection, then the alignment is not done. With the ball joint being bad enough to fail a state inspection, how about explaining to me how in the hell the tech did a credible alignment on this car."

Well, after a little further discussion, he finally saw things my way, and re-did the alignment free of charge. Different tech this time....and the car felt great after that.

That's the problem with Sears service. They'll usually have one tech that knows what he's doing, and he'll be the one to work on your car if you take your car back. But the first time through, you're more likely to get the monkey.

[raroZ28]

The people at sears were always nice to me, but when you get your tires check to see that they're installed correctly. I got a pair of kumho's on the front of my car once and I don't know how they did it but they put it on backwards. It was a directional tire so it made quite a bit of noise.

[Steel2686]

I can only speak for the Sears around here, but I know a couple people that work and/or have worked at the Sears Auto Center.

Needless to say, I wouldn't trust them with an oil change.

Glad everything ended up working out.