So, is your car fixed?

no its not. i still need a new waterpump thanks to firestone..

also I suggest you before you go to a court, go and visit different lawyers to get legal counseling on what are your choices. Hush up and take it as a loss or fight. As wilwren has said you could end up snowballing this out of control and be in deep trouble yourself...either way talk to some lawyers who know the laws...good luck

i made my choice and im going to listen to (willwren). im going to swallow this one. that is one smart man with some real words of wisdom.. i will look at is a $700 spent to better my car with some new peices.. but just to be known. every time i went to aamco i got execellent service and treated like i owned the shop.. i was invited in tothe back so the mechanic can pinpoint out my problem to me and they even let me watch them do the work if i want... they do it all ( not just transmissions anynore) and they are fairly cheap ($79 an hour) labor and they warrant all their labor and parts for 1 year for $19.99 extra. they were also very busy at the time so i went to firestone..

I've had the Firestone experience, too, except mine nearly cost me my life...
Went in to get the Taurus'* front brakes done, and asked them to inspect the rear brakes, too. When I got the car back, the brakes felt a lot better. A couple days later, though, I blew the right front brake cylinder, which should not have resulted in what happened. I plowed through te intersection like I had no brakes at all. When I looked at the skidmark, I realized there was only ONE. Only one wheel had had any breakes at all. Sure enough, I took it to a dealer and when he checked the brakes, BOTH rear cylinders were blow, and all the gunk and crap built up in the drum indicated that they had been blown for a long time. Which means that Firestone never even touched the rear brakes.
If that happened to me now, I'd have immediately called a lawyer. Back then, I didn't know crap about consumer protection laws, and I let it drop.
You were right to be upset, but you went about things entirely wrong. When they refused to let you have the car, you should have immediately called the cops yourself.
But spitting on the guy really screwed you. I know you're dropping it, and that'* the only thing you can do. I guarantee that if you pursue anything, they'll press charges. The only thing that kept them from doing so already is that the tape of the confrontation would show them approaching you, which would throw their case into dispute. That'* the only thing saving your ***.
Next time, step back, open the phone and start dialing. Copsfirst, if it'* a big wad like that, or BBB for smaller problems.

When I hear the word Firestone the first thing that comes to mind is "Crappy"


They have crappy tires (Ford Explorer Fiasco), crappy mechanics, and crappy service

Hell ya man good job! maybe not the best way to handle it but you got the job done!

wren....I wanted to chime in, but willwren said it all and proved my point....
Nice job

Some of us are getting a vicarious chill from this, hearing you did what a lot of us want to do sometimes. But you know better now, right?

Hopefully next time, just insist on seeing your authorizing signature, and then tell them you will call the police to sort it out if/when they can't produce that. I had to do this once with my wife'* car, but it wasn't firestone. Some places just think they can jack you around whenever they like. But you need to keep on the right side of the law if you hope to get it straightened out.

So go have yourself a time out. And a beer...

By the way, the way I see it, the responding officers called it self defense, which carries a lot of weight. From what I understand, each of the instances would be a separate count in a complaint.

They'd have to prosecute based on your spitting and punching (battery charges, most likely). You'd have to prosecute based on their effort to gang up on you (assault charges) and the claims for unauthorized repairs.

Their claim of battery is seriously diluted by the self defense call on the part of the responding officers, which would be shored up by the video tape. I don't think you have too much to worry about. Whatever they would hope to gain would be too small to be worth it, since they've got to expose themselves to a counter claim of crooked buisness practices.

I doubt most lawyers would want anything to do with this case, and if they did, most judges or jurists would probably consider the officer'* call not to arrest you to be more influential than anything they would assert, especially in light of their trying to fleece you.

So again, "Shame on you". Now gimme a high five... Now, none of you other mugs had better try anything like this, or WillWren will come to your house for a re-orienting, motivational speach...

Ok so all is said and done, my opinion means nothing on the matter...

BUT... in my expierence when I have moved to a new area I go find the nearest NAPA auto parts store and talk with the guys there and ask their advice on what shop to use. Of course they always steer me to a place that uses their parts but I haven't had a problem yet.

Quick note on this.... I was out of town.. had never gone to the place before and my wife'* car broke down.. I had gotten the name of a place jfrom NAPA just down the street so I sent my wife... Now this is what is important.. my wife knows very little about cars and they DIDN'T screw her over... they fixed what was wrong and I have brought every car there since. I send my friends and co-workers there and they are all satisfied. The big chains all seem to be out to get your money and their hourly rate is more than a smaller place too. I have been outta town and had my car break and gone to the local NAPA for a recomendation and it'* been great.

Anyhow this is just my advice for the future on getting your car fixed.