Firestone Complete Auto Care — Local services in Springfield

I dropped my car off at this location many times over the years. The past year I haven’t driven as much. I dropped my car off on 10/8/24 for breaks and rotors, a wheel alignment and oil change. They called me and said they did a full vehicle inspection for free but on the receipt I was charged $9.99. However, they contacted me to tell me I needed ball joints and tie rod on left front. The work was quoted at $2400-$2600. I told them o did not have that kind of money and asked what could wait. The spanish looking guy who called me seemed angry with a bad tone yelling about how everything needs to be done. After I explained that normally they would tell me what needs work today and what can come back later he started talking about all these discounts and the brake brakes can wait. Now the price is $1819 for oil change, 1 ball joint, 1 tie rod, and both from breaks and oil change. I believe this was way too much for this work that I’ve had done before. I picked up my car on Thursday evening 10/10/24 and I made 2 stops on the way home which is 6.7miles. I pulled out of my driveway on Saturday 10/12/24 and noticed a small puddle of what looked like oil in my driveway. I thought maybe it’s not that big a deal, then on that following Wednesday 10/16/24 I pulled out the driveway again and the puddle was just a tad bit bigger. On 10/18/24 I pulled out to go to my second job and the puddle was even bigger. On 10/19/24 the puddle was huge so I contacted Firestone in Springfield and was told my gaskets could be bad. I proceeded to go near Firestone for something else but the car started putting hysterically and the car was smelling like fish and I had no AC any longer. I lifted the hood when I pulled over and it was oil leaking out the engine it seemed and sprayed all over the inside of the hood. I immediately took my car to them. I get there and ask why my car would be doing this and the Spanish looking guy again said that the gaskets might be blown. Then I said why wouldn’t you detect bad gaskets if you did an overall inspection. Then he tried to coerce me to agree “to get into a mind-set that it happens”. But I was not buying that because I told him before I couldn’t afford $2600 of work and I believed they did something to my car to get me back there for more work just to keep charging me more money. After about 1 hour this guy calls me back and says “you need a new radiator and condenser totaling close to $1500 of work”. Now I’m trying to figure out how I go from gaskets to a radiator and condenser. Then he goes into saying that I must’ve it something and I told him I did not because I work 3 doors down from my house and I work to work my car barely moved the entire week. Then he went on to say someone else may have access to my car. He was laying it on think. So I told him no one else has access to my car because I carry my keys with me everyday. Then he tries to blame the issues on the front bumper damage which I had on this car since August 13, 2022 and they have done oil changes and work on my car since the. And never have I had any issues with my radiator or condenser. I believe these people destroyed my car all because I refused certain work so that I could afford the most critical work back on 10/8/24 when I initially dropped off my car. I will be contacting the BBB and Consumer Affairs because these guys even Kennis were names in several bad reviews I’ve already read. Now I can’t even drive my car and it was driveable and not doing any of this prior to me dropping my car...

Brought in my car for some warranty repairs and maintenance services and when I dropped off the car I let the employee know of the things I needed, which he wrote down so it seemed everything was fine. I was not in a rush to get the car back, but I didn't hear anything from Firestone for about a week. I called approx. 1 week after dropping it off to ask about an update and they said, "Didn't someone call you? It has been done for a day or two." A little annoying as I received no calls and have been waiting, but that's fine. They said the warranty company covered everything, which I thought was strange because they wouldn't normally cover an oil change, which was one of the requested services.

I arrived at the Firestone to get the car a few days later and I was given the receipt. I saw that the lifetime wheel balance, the flat repair, the TMPS diagnosis and oil change I requested all were not done or acknowledged on the forms. The employee at the front desk was very polite and apologized for the inconvenience. I don't live very close to this Firestone so I was hoping something could be done same day, at least the oil change. It is difficult for me to drop the car off and swap to a different car, so taking more time to coordinate this would have been a major inconvenience.

I asked if a manager is available to discuss. The manager came out and things started amicable, but his demeanor quickly changed as I tried to recount my experience of not being called back and having listed the requested services, to which he said he doesn't care what happened prior. He said I can leave the car with them during this upcoming week, but I've already been without the car for over a week. He offered to take in the car for only the oil change and I tried to ask about the TPMS / flat repair as a quote, but he maintained that since the warranty company is closed on Saturdays, they won't touch anything else, even though I tried to ask for a quote for me to pay it instead since I really can't leave it for more days.

From there, the situation escalated. I definitely was upset and this manager did not employ any de-escalation skills. Instead, he began to use vulgar language such as, "I don't give a s*" - mind you, though I was clearly very upset and angry at this point, I used no vulgarities towards him or his colleague. I was appalled by his demeanor, dismissiveness and attitude.

Ultimately, there were multiple points of failure here, including the requested services not being properly written up, the lack of a phone call to advise the car is done, and finally, and worst of all, the manager's mishandling of this situation.

Honestly, I have been going to various Firestones for years with this car because they are one of the few places that my warranty company works with, and the benefits of lifetime alignment, wheel balancing, etc. as well as other deals are nice. But no amount of savings is worth the combined stress of the last few years because of there always being a problem with Firestone, whether related to the vehicle services or the customer service.

For anyone visiting this Firestone, I'm sure their service is fine, especially for maintenance, but if you need to work with their manager on anything serious, be prepared that he...

WORST Experience Ever at Firestone – Wrong Diagnosis + Rude Manager

I just had the WORST experience of my life at your Firestone location. The manager not only treated me like I was dumb, but also gave me a completely WRONG diagnosis on my car.

Two days ago I went in because my check engine light came on. They scanned it and told me my crash sensor was broken. I drive an older car – I knew immediately that was impossible because my car doesn’t even HAVE a crash sensor. I told the manager right away, but he couldn’t care less. He told me to take it to a body shop to replace it and charged me $130.18 for that nonsense.

I left Firestone and went straight to one of the best body shops around. They confirmed what I already knew: my car does not have a crash sensor. They told me to wait for the light to come back and then scan it again at a different shop. That’s exactly what I did, and the new code showed up immediately – my shutter grille is broken. This makes sense, because I replaced that part about 6 months ago. Shutter grille and crash sensor are two TOTALLY different things.

I went back to Firestone today with proof from the other shops. Instead of listening, the manager was unbelievably rude – basically yelling at me, telling me to leave, and refusing a refund. When I showed proof that my car doesn’t even have a crash sensor, he insisted that a crash sensor and a shutter grille are “the same thing.” That’s just absurd. He refused to look it up, refused to admit the mistake, and acted like I was stupid.

I cannot believe a company as big as Firestone has someone like that running a store. This is beyond unacceptable. I have all the proof and will be attaching some below. • Firestone’s wrong diagnosis • Correct code for the shutter grille from another mechanic • Documentation showing that crash sensor and shutter grille are completely different parts

I expect this to be taken seriously. I want a full refund for the $130.18 I paid for a fake diagnosis, and I don’t want to ever deal with that manager again. This was absolutely outrageous, and I will go after all my rights if this is...