That's like a $9.99 oil change. They give you something to get you in the door then hit you with everything they can.
Anyone get a firestone lifetime alignment?
- Thread starter The motor guy
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There's no reason to refuse to do the alignment. I get that if it has a few worn components it may not stay in line, but no way it could be worse off than before.
I have had my accord and crv aligned a few times with mine. Quality of work is questionable but they have always done it when asked.
Oh my sweet summer child.
When they recheck the alignment at Firestone you get charged again each time. That’s because “you hit something and caused the problem”. The best you’re going to get at Firestone is set the toe and let it go but you pay for their “exclusive expertise and precision alignment “…..sarcasm. Firestone stores are about as crooked as they come. I had a state inspection done at a Firestone location only because it was 3 miles from home. The tech drove my 2 year old GMC truck into the shop and manually turned on the bright headlights and walked away for 30 minutes. The service advisor gingerly walked over to me in the waiting area and said “I’m afraid I have some bad news, you need a battery. It’s showing only 11 volts”. I said go turn my headlights off, finish the inspection, and then we will discuss why you are trying to sell me a battery with a vehicle that has a 3 year bumper to bumper warrant especially after your tech purposely tried to drain my battery. He just walked off and the folks waiting in the lobby area all began saying that they were told they needed batteries as well. I just laughed.
Gave up on Firestone way back in the 721 days...Garbage tires...Garbage service....
About 10 years ago, my college kid was driving his girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon drive when the alternator went out on a '98 Grand Cherokee. I was a good four hours away, so I couldn't help him. He managed to get it to a Firestone service center where they diagnosed a "bad alternator AND a bad battery". They quoted me a price to replace both. I told them that the battery was probably good because it was less than a month old and just needed a charge. Nope. They wouldn't do the repair unless both would get replaced. Okay, I told them to replace both. (Remember that this was a Sunday afternoon and nothing else was open) A couple hours later the repair was complete and I was going to pay for the repair over the phone via a credit card. I asked them how much they charged for a battery core. They told me $10. I told them "Fine. Throw in my old battery in the back of my kid's Jeep and put an extra $10 on my bill." There was a long pause. They finally agreed to it and I told my kid to watch them put the 1-month old battery in the back of his Jeep, which he did. He went back inside to finish the paperwork and to pick up the ignition key. After a few minutes, he left and drove home.
When he got home, there was no battery in the back of the Jeep. Somebody, in the parking lot of the Firestone store, with just a couple minute window, took the one month old battery.
I'll let you decide what happened.
This is also the same chain (different store) that without telling me, he had them replace ball joints and one of them was of such poor quality that the ball joint came apart less than a year later as he was driving it.
You now know what I think of Firestone, their work ethic and the quality of the parts they use.
When he got home, there was no battery in the back of the Jeep. Somebody, in the parking lot of the Firestone store, with just a couple minute window, took the one month old battery.
I'll let you decide what happened.This is also the same chain (different store) that without telling me, he had them replace ball joints and one of them was of such poor quality that the ball joint came apart less than a year later as he was driving it.
You now know what I think of Firestone, their work ethic and the quality of the parts they use.
I have Firestone Lifetime Alignment "agreements" on all my vehicles and I have never had any problems with Firestone trying to get out of checking/realigning any of the vehicles. I guess I have been lucky.
I do agree that they will try and sell me some other service, but I simply say no and stand my ground. About 10 years ago they wanted something like $85 to change a cornering light bulb that had burned out (found during a courtesy inspection). I thanked them for noticing it and telling me about it, but I did not give them the go ahead. I picked up a two pack of the bulbs at a local auto parts store and changed the bulb myself in about $15 minutes.
I do agree that they will try and sell me some other service, but I simply say no and stand my ground. About 10 years ago they wanted something like $85 to change a cornering light bulb that had burned out (found during a courtesy inspection). I thanked them for noticing it and telling me about it, but I did not give them the go ahead. I picked up a two pack of the bulbs at a local auto parts store and changed the bulb myself in about $15 minutes.
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What were you going to do with the battery?About 10 years ago, my college kid was driving his girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon drive when the alternator went out on a '98 Grand Cherokee. I was a good four hours away, so I couldn't help him. He managed to get it to a Firestone service center where they diagnosed a "bad alternator AND a bad battery". They quoted me a price to replace both. I told them that the battery was probably good because it was less than a month old and just needed a charge. Nope. They wouldn't do the repair unless both would get replaced. Okay, I told them to replace both. (Remember that this was a Sunday afternoon and nothing else was open) A couple hours later the repair was complete and I was going to pay for the repair over the phone via a credit card. I asked them how much they charged for a battery core. They told me $10. I told them "Fine. Throw in my old battery in the back of my kid's Jeep and put an extra $10 on my bill." There was a long pause. They finally agreed to it and I told my kid to watch them put the 1-month old battery in the back of his Jeep, which he did. He went back inside to finish the paperwork and to pick up the ignition key. After a few minutes, he left and drove home.
When he got home, there was no battery in the back of the Jeep. Somebody, in the parking lot of the Firestone store, with just a couple minute window, took the one month old battery.
This is also the same chain (different store) that without telling me, he had them replace ball joints and one of them was of such poor quality that the ball joint came apart less than a year later as he was driving it.
You now know what I think of Firestone, their work ethic and the quality of the parts they use.
This whole thread is troubling.....my local Firestone used to be really reputable. Recently it's been sold to a different franchise owner and seems to have really gone downhill. They of course target the gravy jobs like shocks and brakes, bulbs, wipers etc
Like most national franchised chain stores, your experience will vary based upon the quality of the management, the technicians they employ and the standards they enforce.
Unlike most here on BITOG, my local Firestone store is competent and reliable when it comes to performing an alignment. I purchased their lifetime alignment plan approximately 12 and 8 years ago for two Hondas and get a realignment every 9 to 12 months. The only up-sell they tried to push was for the adjustable camber bolts on the initial alignment many moons ago. I declined and installed them myself and took it back a month later to have the alignment redone. I always request them to provide the printout showing the before and after settings and occasionally, I will scribe a reference mark on the bolts and locknuts as evidence the adjustment were actually performed. I have yet to be disappointed or paid a penny since purchasing the lifetime alignments.
Unlike most here on BITOG, my local Firestone store is competent and reliable when it comes to performing an alignment. I purchased their lifetime alignment plan approximately 12 and 8 years ago for two Hondas and get a realignment every 9 to 12 months. The only up-sell they tried to push was for the adjustable camber bolts on the initial alignment many moons ago. I declined and installed them myself and took it back a month later to have the alignment redone. I always request them to provide the printout showing the before and after settings and occasionally, I will scribe a reference mark on the bolts and locknuts as evidence the adjustment were actually performed. I have yet to be disappointed or paid a penny since purchasing the lifetime alignments.
I had planned on using it. If, by small chance, the battery was defective, I had planned to get a new battery from where I had purchased it.
At the time, I had two other Jeeps that could use that same size battery.
Don't you see what their goal was? They wanted to get a one-month old battery for free and they actually succeeded.
I tried to get my battery back, but it got stolen while my son was in the store getting his key back.
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Oh. I didn't know you had something else it would fit. I think they just took it back out as soon as he went inside. It wasn't stolen by some random person.
I figure, if it sounds too good to be true... then it is.
Lifetime anything? It can be done... but it'll be lots of money up front as nobody works for free. If it's only $20 more to prepay for hundreds if not thousands of dollars later... then I know it's not going to be honored later. It just can't be, businesses don't work that way. Nobody works that way.
So no I've never tried it. I pay for the alignment when I get tires, sometimes I'll go every other tire purchase (if the tires were wearing ok).
Lifetime anything? It can be done... but it'll be lots of money up front as nobody works for free. If it's only $20 more to prepay for hundreds if not thousands of dollars later... then I know it's not going to be honored later. It just can't be, businesses don't work that way. Nobody works that way.
So no I've never tried it. I pay for the alignment when I get tires, sometimes I'll go every other tire purchase (if the tires were wearing ok).
I have over 200K on my Rav4 and I probably had it aligned twice. I've never seen any unusual tire wear and I'm on my 4th set of tires now.
They're hoping to upsell stuff later. It's the old retail adage of "just get 'em through the door."
In the case of LT alignments I don't think it worked out quite like they thought, but this is also why places offer "free safety inspections" of course. They're hoping to upsell brakes, shocks, wipers and blinker fluid. I see my Grease Monkey do it when you go in for an oil change and they bring a "sample" of dirty [insert some other fluid] to a soccer mom in the waiting room. She's got a deer-in-headlights stare as the very competent tech explains, "Ma'am, your transfer case fluid is pretty dark......"
That's why I have done what I can to just avoid chains whenever I can. Any place is only as good as its crew, but it seems chains are under higher pressure to upsell or do shady things. I can't do as much DIY as I would like to but this has saved me and the family a bit, no doubt.
It's hard to find a good shop. I sometimes feel bad as I don't give to them "a lot" of work as I do most of my own--but I want to make sure they stick around.
Same here. My 258K-mile Caravan has only gotten aligned after I've done steering or suspension work, such as tie rods or struts. I think it's been three times in 20 years of ownership. Just got almost 70K miles out of my last set of tires.
My 2008 Charger - bought new - has never been aligned. Then again, I don't drive like a nut or bounce my cars off curbs...and I rotate tires every oil change (~6K miles).
I bet TX has nice flat roads... right now ours are turning into paved single track. The frost heaves are coming out in force and anything that was a pothole before is now a cavern.
We do have nice flat roads; however, we returned to TX only two years ago after I retired from the USAF. My vehicles all lived in TX, AZ, CA, LA, and IL.
I do sympathize with you in the northeast...lots of roads resemble the lunar surface.
I do sympathize with you in the northeast...lots of roads resemble the lunar surface.
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