Firestone Complete Auto Care — Local services in Montclair

TL:DR: Firestone took $1,300 to "fix" our car only making it worse over the course of weeks and didn't even fix the original problem.

I've been coming to this Firestone for over 15 years to get my car serviced and unfortunately this will be our last time. We brought our car in on a Thursday because of a check engine light and wanted to get it checked out before a big weekend we had coming up. The car was running fine with no issues but wanted to make sure it was safe. They called us that day to let us know that the repairs were going to be $1,000+ and we trust them so we agreed to it.

We got the car back and it was undrivable. It was roughly idling, wouldn't accelerate, and the check engine light immediately came back on. We called back and asked if we could bring it in the next day, as clearly something was wrong that was not happening before we brought it in.

That afternoon they called us to let us know that this new repair would be another $300+. When I asked them if the repairs the day before were necessary, they told me our car had pulled "7 different codes", looks like they immediately went with the most expensive and it wasn't even fixed.

After $1,300 of repairs we expected the car to be ok. The minute after we drove it home, the check engine light came back on, and the car was worse than before - roughly idling and not accelerating sometimes at all at times., kicking me into the stop light on Bloomfield Ave.

I brought it back in for the third time on that Saturday morning at 7:30am. The guy at the desk didn't even let me finish talking before asking me for our phone number, no empathy, and said "well, he didn't fix my car." I told them I had to stay there because this is the 3rd day without our car and I won't pay for any more Ubers home. 3 hours later, I asked for an update, and was told that "it would take a while." What would take a while? I hadn't approved any further work and had no one idea what they were even doing. At 12:30, after 5 hours of being there, I was told that they test drove it and found nothing wrong with it. 5 hours for them to tell me nothing was wrong with the car. I drove it off the lot, check engine light came back on, and the car is driving exactly the same. Anyone who would have test drove it for 30 seconds would have been able to see that, let alone 5 hours. They had us drive back for a 4th time and took the car again. This time it was the ignition switch, which they fixed at no charge.

That night the check engine light comes back on. I reached out to customer service and we got a call from Firestone on Wednesday. THEY asked US when we could bring the car in (for the 5th time) and my husband told them he could bring it in the next morning. He brought it the next day around 11am and they called us 20 minutes before closing telling us they couldn't get to it and that it would have to stay overnight. We took our 6th Uber back because we could not go into another weekend without our car.

$1,300 later, 6 uber rides to and from this Firestone, AND our check engine light is still on! I've spoken to customer service twice and asked for an Area or Regional manager to give us a call with no follow up so hopefully this stands as a word of caution at...

Update: There is an average price mark up of 68.4% between what the part actually costs versus what Firestone charged me for the exact same part. In total I was unnecessarily overcharged 178.03! The excessive mark up they justify is normal in the industry and has nothing to do with any shortage or demand in goods. Don't even think about bringing your own parts it is against store policy.

Article 7015241- Penzoil 0w20 $75.00 Price at Home Depot (pick up today) $23.97 103.122% difference in price $51.03 overcharged

Article 7001880- PXD1114H brake pads $113.99 Price at Advance auto parts (pick up today) $66.99 51.9394% difference in price $47 overcharged

Article 7020435 YH421754P rotors $199.98 Price at Advance auto parts (pick up today) $119.98 50.0063% difference $80 overcharged

After contacting the Social team below the manager Cesar wrote back. He stated honestly "As far as cost there is a mark up on parts absolutely". I had no idea how bad the mark up was until now the social team only really wanted to document my complaint and pass it on to the manager. The manager was somewhat dismissive as if this was standard practice and totally okay. No one really seemed to care about making things right or doing a better job explaining themselves. On top of all of this every time I bring my car in I never get back any of my tire caps. Very Poor.

Original post: I went in for brake service and almost immediately felt like I was getting fleeced. They tried to charge me for a brake inspection fee of $21 despite them having already checking my brakes on my previous visit and recommending that I change my rear rotors and pads. I told the cashier Martin to not charge me for it as all I wanted done was the recommended work and an oil change. I received a phone call later that day stating that my parts would need to be ordered and would be arriving the day. The next day after the work was completed I came to find out that I was charged $324 for the parts alone. AutoZone, Rock Auto and every other part store only charges 220 for all the parts (high quality plus 3 year warranty). I wound up paying over $520 for the work and the inspection fee which I did not want also appeared. When I asked for that fee to be removed the manager waived $10 off the total $21 and refused to give me the inspection report that they had already performed. All in all I was Ripped off for at least $110 dollars. I do not even know the name brand or quality of the parts used and am highly suspicious this is an ongoing issue. I'm hoping regional management could look into this. 1 star for lack of honesty. I don't really want to get into the Snotty in person attitude displayed by first rep...

TL;DR - Firestone charged me for an oil change that they either did not perform or did not perform well.

I have been at Firestone twice in the past two months. The first time was an emergency situation where I had a tire blow and Felix helped me to get my tire changed in time to get to work. I give Felix 5 stars, he absolutely saved the day for me. The second time I went was for an oil change and to get a second tire. The woman I spoke with to make the appointment was amazing and I give her 5 stars as well -- she helped me to make sure I got all the discounts available to me and was very lovely to chat with.

Now the issue -- I drive a Honda Fit and had a B14 indicator on. I knew I wanted to take my car to my regular mechanic in a few weeks for the larger service items like new spark plugs but I was in immediate need of an oil change, which is why I brought it to Firestone. After my service at Firestone I noticed the B14 indicator was still on but I wasn't bothered by that because I knew my mechanic would turn it off. I figured they had left it on because they had only partially completed the service.

I brought my car to my regular mechanic yesterday (whom I absolutely trust -- he has dozens of 5-star reviews and is well-known for his integrity). I explained the situation to him, that my B14 indicator was on but that I already had an oil change 3 weeks ago so I didn't need him to do that part of the service. When I came to pick up my car this morning he told me I absolutely needed an oil change, that I was way overdue for one, and that my oil was basically sludge.

I called Firestone to double check that I had in fact gotten an oil change and the man I spoke with insisted that I had and that I had been taken advantage of by my mechanic (who, again, is known for being trustworthy). I pointed out that my oil life indicator still read 0% after they "changed my oil" but he insisted they just forgot to reset it. I think it is very likely that they did not actually change my oil, and if they did they did a very shoddy job. I'm very appreciative to Felix for saving the day back in March but this oil change situation is completely...