I'm not a freakin' idiot!

>> Friday, July 23, 2010

***THIS IS LONG BUT WORTH THE READ***



My car inspection sticker expired at the end of June and I forgot about. So on July 1st I went to work like any normal day and my boss said she was leaving to get her car inspected. I immediately thought OMG....I forgot all about mine, and being the awesome boss she is she let me leave to get it inspected. I arrived at Firestone, the place where I used to buy all of my tires. I sat there for an hour and half waiting (thank goodness for my iPad)...when the manager finally came to inform me that my car failed inspection because I needed both front and rear brakes. He said he would cut me a deal and could do them for around $500 and asked if I wanted to get them done that day. I said no only because I had a meeting to get to and I wanted to speak to my husband about it. I told the guy I would be back Saturday morning.

Fast-forward to Saturday morning...I ended up going to a mechanic that was closer to my house. I told the guy what Firestone said about my brakes and told him to put on both front and back brakes. About 20 minutes after he pulled my car into the garage he came out and said that after inspecting my car he found that my car should have passed inspection! My front brakes were perfectly fine and my back brakes were close but should have passed. Needless to say I was PISSED! I called and chewed the manager out at the Firestone store that performed my inspection, he talked to me like I was a complete idiot and basically told me to just deal with it...in the words of Michelle Tanner "How Rude!" Well he messed with the wrong one because I cannot stand when people try to take advantage of me, much less treat me like an idiot! The guy at the good garage said that I could actually contact the state police about the situation and the trooper would come to inspect my car and if he found that my car is ok then the inspector from Firestone would be fined. Since my back brakes were borderline I went ahead and payed the good garage to put on new ones.

Monday morning I called the state police and they came out to inspect my car and found that my brakes were passable and the mechanic from Firestone was fined and written up. Someone from Corporate Firestone called me and apologized, they ended up giving me my money back for getting my back brakes fixed at the good garage.

So my lesson to you ladies is to never let an a-hole mechanic get over on you and always get a second opinion.


5 comments:

Krista July 26, 2010 at 2:14 PM  

Good for you for following up and reporting the dishonest mechanic!

And doesn't it feel good to know the second mechanic was a good person? I mean, he could have just made his money and changed your brakes, but he spoke up and told you they're okay.

Nicole-Lynn July 26, 2010 at 3:48 PM  

Aw, that stinks you had to go through that!

Is it mandatory for you to get your car inspected? I've never heard of that before..

Nicole-Lynn July 26, 2010 at 3:52 PM  

Nevermind! I just did a quick search on this and apparently Florida doesn't require inspections.. very interesting and lucky me :)

Faith July 26, 2010 at 6:54 PM  

wow, you go girl! that would def. make them think twice of thinking they can get away with lying! can't believe the nerve some businesses have! but then it is also nice to see that there are other decent mechanics out there!

Unknown July 28, 2010 at 11:01 AM  

Good for you! I never trust car inspection places for this exact reason. I always feel I am being taken advantage of!

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