Firestone MasterCare my ass....

Jngrbrdman

Jngrbrdman

New member
I just had a terrible experience at Firestone. I thought I'd share the email that I am sending them. I will be contacting their corporate offices tomorrow.

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I have just had the worst experience possible. I just had to find out that your Firestone store #010413 allowed me to drive my car away with lug nuts that were FINGER TIGHT on my wheels. Two of the passenger side front wheel nuts were finger tight and three of the driver side front wheel nuts were also finger tight. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you what happened.

I purchased two tires for my winter wheels that I needed to put on. I brought the wheels to Firestone on Friday 11/5/04 and came back on Monday 11/8/04 to have them put on my car. As I drove to work on the morning of 11/9 (today) I noticed a squeaking while driving. It was kind of like the sound that I would expect if my wheel was rubbing something. I drove over to Firestone on my way home from work to have them take a look for me. They put it on a lift and did their examination. They said it was my CV boot squeaking. Apparantly it was dry and needed lube. I thought that they were pulling my leg and joking around. I thought CV Boot Lube was something like Muffler Bearings or Blinker Fluid. The technician said he greased it with what they had there, but suggested that I go to Jiffy Lube to get their special CV Boot Lube on it.

I drove home thinking that the problem would be solved with whatever grease the technician put on the boot. I still couldn't figure out why my CV boot would be squeaking audibly at freeway speeds. The sound came back almost immediately. I pulled into my garage and called Firestone back to confirm with the manager that CV boots really do squeak and this wasn't just the joker tech pulling my leg. He suggested again that I go over to Jiffy Lube to get their CV Boot Lube and that should fix the problem. So I got back in the car and drove to the nearest Jiffy Lube.

The techs at Jiffy Lube sprayed the boots with their famous CV Boot Lube and had me roll forward so they could see if that fixed the problem. It was still squeaking. So they did some checking for tire rubbing and other things. They popped the center cap off on the passenger side to check something and that is when they saw that the lug nuts were barely on the bolts. They were even less than finger tight. Its like two of the bolts got torqued down and those two weren't touched. They checked the other three wheels and found that three lug nuts on the driver side were in similar condition.

I called Firestone right there in the parking lot and told them the situation. They advised me to drive back over and they would make sure they were all torqued properly. The manager offered me a couple coupons for a free oil change. The Jiffy Lube techs (I have their information for when I need to contact them) torqued the front bolts down so it would be safe to drive the vehicle. Amazingly enough, the squeak was now gone! Here is my question... Why didn't the tech check the lug nuts when I brought it in this afternoon complaining about a strange sound? He greased the CV boot and didn't even check the lug nuts???

I sat at Firestone for about five minutes while the tech there went out and double checked the torque and then I left. There were customers in the store and I didn't want to make a scene. I'm a civilized guy and I'm not going to take advantage of anyone like that. There wasn't anything that the manager could do to change the fact that I've been driving for 24 hours on wheels that were ready to fall off.

Here are the problems... Firestone is supposed to be a wheel and tire store. How in the world did a wheel and tire store allow a customer to drive out off the property with lug nuts that were barely holding the wheels on? Your negligence put myself, my infant son (who was with me in the car from the time I left work today as well as yesterday when they put the wheels on), my friend who I drive to work on Wednesdays, and everybody on the road between Firestone and my office and home. I am sure that you don't need to imagine what would have happened to me if both my front wheels would have flown off at freeway speeds. I don't have to tell you that my family would own Firestone right now if that would have happened. The risk you people put my family in is absolutely unacceptable. The offer for a couple of free oil changes is utterly insulting. What makes Firestone think that I would ever let them near my car again? I wouldn't let Firestone change my wiper blades. You could have killed me today with this act of absolute negligence. Free oil changes??? That was the solution??? What would you have given me if my wheels had actually come off? Would you have thrown in an air filter in that case?

I am a paralegal for a law firm here in Salt Lake. The first thing I am doing in the morning is meeting with some of my attorneys to discuss Firestone's liability in this matter. I don't want oil changes or air filters. I want Firestone to take some responsibilty for the danger that you put me, my son, and everybody else on the road in today. I would expect some very very bad press for Firestone in the coming weeks if I were you. You could have killed somebody!! The damage that you could have caused everybody else on the freeway during 4:00 traffic could have been terrible. It has been raining all day and the destruction would have been pretty serious on an accident like this. Advise your legal department to be expecting contact from my attorney. This whole thing is absolutely unacceptable and insulting. My life was put at risk and I was offered oil changes. I would expect oil changes if I had to wait longer than expected to get my car serviced. I don't expect a deal like that when someone put my life at risk through serious negligence.

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I can't wait to tell my attorneys about this tomorrow. They are going to die. lol I am actually pretty pissed off about this whole thing, but yelling and screaming in a store wasn't going to fix the problem. This is a legal issue and there isn't anything that could have been resolved in the store. Someone is going to get fired over this one...
 
I got my headlight fluid topped off today :)

But in all seriousness, I am sorry this happened. It is absolutely rediculous...It's like a detailer giving an owner back a muddy car.

You bring a lot of good points to the table in your letter and I wish you good luck with this dispute. Please keep us posted.

BTW: I am very glad no one was hurt :)
 
I was 5 seconds from asking on TI if anyone had ever heard of needing to grease their CV boots... but then I thought about how stupid that would make me look and just drove over to Jiffy Lube instead. lol I'm really a lot more ticked off than I sound or have acted today. It has been a really long week so far and I've had some high stress cases at work to deal with. I just don't have anything left in me to explode with today.

Just think about it.... if my wheels had flown off, then that would have meant that I would have seriously scratched my car. Somehow I don't think that would have buffed out. I'll never find another GSR sedan if something happens to this one. I'm going to bring that up in my case. I'm driving my business card here. They can't mess with my business that way.
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but thankful nobody got hurt.

FWIW, better check out your wheels because driving on loose lug nuts can damage the seats on the wheels where the nuts tighten down.
 
Glad to hear you and your son and friend are ok. When I lived in Sacto, CA in the late 70's - early 80's the BBB checked out alot of complaints about the Firestone down the road from the Air Force Base I worked at. They where ripping people off left and right including myself, not performing the work right, alot of stuff. This eventually got on the local news (and I thought nationally, but I could be wrong). Firestone had to pay alot of people off and were eventually closed down I believe. Ever since this happen I stay clear away from all Firestone stores and tell everone I know to stay clear as well. So hearing this, I'm not surprised at all. Again, glad everyone is ok.
 
Thank god everyone is ok. That manager is just a complete a$$ hole. To suggest that a 19.95 oil change will make it better is just stupid on his part. If you change something and have a problem shouldn't that be the first thing you look at? I think they call it a starting point.
 
i agree with kimwallace, take that car to have it checked out asap, loose wheels can cause damage to the studs or the wheels or both, for your safety as well as the rest of your family get it checked
 
Trust me.... Getting those wheels checked is definitely going to happen. I'm sure my lawyers are going to require it to show any damages. So far a visual inspection seems to be fine. I put probably 35 or 40 miles on the car in this condition, so I'm sure something isn't right somewhere.
 
Glad to hear no one was hurt at all :kneel . They offer you an oil change you know what I would of told him to do with that oil change :doubleduc . That is one reason why i like to as much work on my car as possible and not let anybody else touch it. I have to bring in my car to the stealership for a recall and dreading doing that. That is one thing that you don’t want happened to you is your wheel falling off at thruway speeds that would be real ugly. My dad’s wheel almost fell off his truck and when we finally realized it was his wheel that was loose it coasted him 200 bucks for a new rim. We think someone loosened those lug nuts while he was in the woods hunting and his truck was parked on the side of the road. Well hope everything works out heavily to your benefit. Go get them!!!!!!!!! :moon:
 
I dated a chick from Firestone once. Worst date of my life. After that I never went back. A place that hires women as unsmooth as that can't be good. Besides, I heard that firestone tires are what broght the Concorde down. :naughty

concord-firestone.jpg
 
Most tire shops have a "doublecheck" system in place. That is, one tech does the work (tighten the lugnuts, oil drian plug, etc.) and another checks the work and signs off on it. Check your receipt to see if they have such a thing listed on the work order and if someone did in fact "doublecheck" it. If they missed that, that would show even more neglegence on the stores part.

That was very civil of you to warn the company in advance of your intentions. :)
 
I don't want to rain on the parade or anything, and I am sure you have already thought about this, but the problem lies in proving damages. If they "almost" caused a problem, then that isn't the same thing as actually causing one. Unless you can show how you have some sort of damage, then there is no tort here. It sucks what they did and everything, but unless you can show that you somehow have injury either physically or financially, then you really don't have a cause of action. The bad press you can cause for them should prompt some sort of corporate compensation, but they probably aren't going to give you a thousand bucks or anything. Maybe you can squeeze them for a new set of tires on your summer wheels. Just tell them that you want the tire shop across the street to put them on your car for you. You might get something that way. It would be good customer service considering how respectful you were to the business while on the property. You could have really caused a stink and yelled at the manager in front of a store full of customers, but you didn't. That should be worth a set of tires at least. Like you said, the bad press this could cause would not be favorable for that store.
 
I work in a shop at a stealership, I've never heard of lubing the boot. You may remove the boot and pack more grease in the joint, but the boot itself doesn't get lubed.
 
Anthony, that sucks about the danger they put you in. I have never trusted them since the whole Ford Explorer thing went down, since that is my daily driver.

You gotta wonder why they got into Wine making and reality shows then :dunno
 
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Things like this really make you reel like there is no one you can trust. I'm also sorry to say that I agree with Fuzz proving liability when something almost happens doesn't alter the out come. Unfortunately this type of situation isn't uncommon or limited to just Firestone. I used to be involved in managing a couple of districts of tire stores for one of the nations largest retailers of tires. Though my stores didn't have this happen (at least while I was there), we saw it all the time. We were often the place that cars were sent when other repair facilities couldn't find the problem they created or worse the ones who actually made repairs when tires came off (hubs, lugs, studs, brakes). Often times there is major body work involved. You might give them some bad press but you likely won't get much more than an appology and it won't phase them in the least. It's a shame. It still might be fun with legal counsel close to you to give them a headache.
 
Couple of quick comments on ths...

1. Cv boots don't squeak. The boot covers the CV joint to protect it
from moisture, grit, and dirt getting in there. The lube (grease) is packed
in the boot and covers the joint. If you have a problem, it will usually
come from the boot tearing, but you wont hear it. What you will hear
after some time is a clicking sound when you turn the wheel. When you
start to hear that sound, it means the boot is either buster or grease
somehow managed to seep past the clamps. In any case, once the
sound becomes loud enough to hear in your car, it is time to just
replace that axle (a good time to invest in some high-grade performance
units that will not degrade if you like to pound on your car). Ironically,
I learned this from one of the technicians from a Firestone I used to
work at when I was younger. Sadly though, this was back in the
day when they had good folks that i would trust with my car. Now
a-days, unless I have tires to replace, they will not touch my car.
I'll do the work myself, or take it someplace else.

2. As mentioned, this is not exclusive to Firestone chains. In fact, I
had car come into our shop several years ago after one of it's wheels
came off. Apparently, the customer wanted some chrome rims that did
not quite fit the car. It appears that the person doing the install did not
insure that the rims were the proper offset. As a result, when the lugs
were torqued in, there was insufficient run-in on the studs. So after the
car hit a bump, or took a hard corner (just speculating here), the rim
sheared off the studs, the wheel went zig, and the car went zag. It's
a miracle that no one was hurt, or that the car didn't loose all its
wheels. No doubt, a lawsuit followed right after, and the place
that did the wheel install settled out of court.

In another case, I had a car come in that the customer could not
get the wheel off. After about 5 mins of trying to remove the lugnut
(by hand, by impact gun), I had no choice but to force it
off with a torch and an air chisel. In this case, the lugnut was cross
threaded on the stud, and then forced on with an impact gun. I spent
about an hour on that car, because I had to find another stud and lugnut
to replace the damged ones. The poor job courtesy of a Strauss store
in my neighborhood.

3. If you can get a suit pushed through, then good for you. Unfortunately
In my neck of the woods, and like Fuzz mentioned, the courts will simply
look at it as a matter of "no harm, no foul". Unless there was damage done
to your car or personal injury incurred as a result of their negligence, you
may not get much of anything (at least not enough to justify
what it may cost you in court costs). But being a paralegal, I am sure
you can work something out. Hit your Westlaw, Lexus or whatever legal
tools you have, and research what courts have done in regards to situations
like this. And be sure to file a complaint with your local BBS, Dept of
Commerce, or any any other agency that may help you.
 
Jngrbrdman,

Now you know why they call it "Mastercare". They are the Master (at causing car problems rather than fixing them), and you are the Slave (you have to do your own detective work, as they are inept).

Charles
 
Here is their oh so non helpful response:

Mr. Elgan,

I'm very sorry to hear of the potentially serious situation you had with
one of our Firestone locations. The safety of our customers is very
important to us as well as the quality of our work. I would like you to
know that I have addressed this situation with our store team. As a
company we have quality assurance processes in place in our stores. I'm
sorry that this unfortunate situation happened. I'm very thankful that
no one was hurt and appreciates the fact that you wanted me to be aware
of this.
Thnak you,

Mike Morse
Assistant District Manager
InterMountain West District
Bridgestone / Firestone
[email protected]

I've already alerted the local investigative reporter at the news station to the matter. I need to get with him and give him more details. I'm obviously not going to bring down Firestone with this matter, but I'll make sure that store gets some bad press. I've already responded to him and asked for the location of a non-Firestone shop that can inspect my car for any damage that this problem might have caused. I don't want Firestone anywhere near my car unless they are paying bills.
 
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