Are you looking for a reliable auto shop to service your vehicle and you laid your eyes on Classic Tyres, you may need to reconsider?
My recent encounter with an indecent service at a local auto shop has prompted me to share my story with your readers if you think practices of local businesses matter to our community and the American culture. Please feel free to publish it, should you find it worthwhile, as I have a feeling your readers would. I would like to be informed if any substantial changes are made to the article. Thank you.
On July 11, 2005, I contracted Classic Tyres to replace the front brake pads on my car Nissan Sentra 2002. The shop supplied the new parts and installed them on my car. All their parts and service were covered with the standard one-year warranty on parts and labor.
About two months later, I noticed that the front brake on the passenger side occasionally started to make a "knocking" noise at the last stage of brakinging. As it was affecting the brake Classic Tyres serviced just a couple of months earlier, I scheduled an appointment with the shop to repair/adjust the problem, which is a safety condition to me and other drivers on the road, under their warranty. On the appointed day, Sep 22, 2005, my husband brought the vehicle in to the shop and left it there for an inspection and necessary repairs. After a few hours, he was told there was nothing wrong with the brakes and sent home with nothing. Because my husband was persistent on my request to get the problem repaired, he again left the car at the shop for a second test on the same day. Because the technician claimed he could not hear any noise during a test drive, the shop adjusted the rear brakes instead, at a charge, claiming that this was the problem. The very next day, I took the car for a drive and sure enough the noise in the front brake was there, caused by the faulty parts or/and labor the shop delivered a couple of months before.
So I went to the shop after the weekend and inquired how they wanted to handle this situation. I do not deny I was frustrated at that time. They were not much of help and more than unwilling to invest their time in parts and labor they would not be paid for due to the warranty. Therefore, I suggested that because they had installed on my car the least expensive generic brake pads they could obtain on the market, I would order genuine Nissan brake pads designed for my vehicle at my own expense and would have them merely replace the pads they put on my car to the pads supplied by me. The representative at the front desk agreed to it.
A week later, once I received the genuine Nissan brake pads I ordered, I called the shop to make an appointment to perform the brake replacement. The person answering the phone made the appointment for me on Sat, Oct. 8, 2005 at 8:00 a.m. When I came in to the shop on that day, I was told by the front desk staff my name was not on the schedule. All he saw on the schedule was a note "has brakes" written in the space between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Since there was nobody else with brakes to be serviced at that time, we both agreed it must have been for my appointment. That person told me, however, he had many other people to serve and would have no time for me unless I just waited until he had time to take my car in. So, I sat in the shop from 8:00 a.m. to about 9:35 a.m. and nobody had time to replace the brake pads on my vehicle. Then, I had to leave to meet my other appointments. I asked the front desk staff to reschedule my appointment to a date and time they would have time to service my brakes. I also stated I wanted to watch the service the shop would perform on my vehicle and would keep all parts the shop was going to take off of my car since I had already paid for them and was delivering my own parts this time around. The representative received my statement with no comments or concerns, which to me meant an agreement.
The next appointment was set a week later, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2005, at 4:00p.m. When I walked in the shop at the scheduled date and time, I was immediately "greeted" at the front desk with a statement that if I wanted to keep parts removed from my car, I would have to pay for the labor. Moreover, when I refused to pay for something the shop should do under their warranty, I was told they would not service the brakes at all then. As I was adamant not to leave the shop until my brakes were replaced, the staff put a call through to the owner of the shop. The owner listened to my concerns and desire (I believe it is my right) to keep the parts taken off of my vehicle. Afterwards, he said the shop would not install parts supplied by me on the vehicle; they would only install their own parts, which nobody of course had told me before. After I told him it was fine with me, he informed me they had no parts do the job on that day; I would have to come some other day. My appointment was scheduled a week earlier, so if it really were the shop's policy not to install parts supplied by customers, they would have ordered brakes to meet my appointment. They did not order anything because they had no intentions to do anything on my car on that day but never contacted me to cancel the appointment. Moreover, the owner stated that if I wanted to take the parts removed from my car with me, I would have to pay them for their labor. Therefore, despite the shop's warranty on labor and parts, I was being forced to pay again for labor I had already paid once. The current service was needed only because either the parts the shop supplied and/or the labor were failing.
I do trust I have the right to have those brakes repaired at no charge under the warranty so they pose no safety and life threatening hazard to me and other drivers on the streets. I also believe I have the right by law to keep whatever parts the shop removes from my vehicle as I paid for them. I strongly believe they do not want to give me the parts because they are afraid I could use them against the shop, in case the brake pads were not suitable for my car, but the shop had installed them anyway. When I informed the owner of Classic Tyre that as far as I knew the law gave me the right to keep whatever parts were removed from my car, he told me he did not care what the law or the police said and if I wanted to keep the parts the shop had supplied in the initial service, I would have to pay for their labor the second time too.
What Classic Tyres is doing with me is not only unethical, but it also is against the law I assume, as they put my and other people's lives in danger by forcing me to drive with faulty brakes. The shop's staff, namely Jason, and the owner of the shop seem to think that they can do whatever they feel like with a young-looking woman having an accent, which they gave me a good feeling of with such statements like: "You don't understand," or "I was born here and I don't care what the law says."
Apparently, when you use the service of Classic Tyres the warranties you are given are non-existent. Once you pay for their invoice, there are no laws the shop is subject to, and there is no decency anymore.
I have invested my time in telling this story because I think other customers like me have the right to know what they are getting into before they walk in the door of Classic Tyre. I didn't know, so now I have to pay for it.
I have contacted a couple of consumer protection agencies. While waiting for their response, my brakes are getting louder and I am really concerned to drive this vehicle but have no alternatives. I only hope that you make better choices when it comes to choosing a shop for your vehicle maintenance.
Anna