Firestone Complete Auto Care

DO NOT take your vehicle here for repairs unless you know EXACTLY what needs to be fixed. Firestone will do whatever it takes to get your invoice to at least a $1,000 total. 

I took my car in to have tires rotated, oil changed and car looked at for rough idle. Firestone ran a diagnostic and said I needed new spark plugs (the car only has 76k miles!). On top of this they assured me that I was in dire need of front brakes and rotors, but that the back brakes looked good...I thought, wow, how nice that they were honest enough to not scam me into all brakes and rotors being replaced. I went ahead with changes and my bill came to a little over $1,600.

I drove off, the car still idled rough. I went back and got the fuel injection cleaning, but it still did not seem right. Only after a few full tanks of Chevron gas w/Tektron did the car seem to run smoothly. (Because of this, I question whether the $800 for spark plug replacement was necessary).

A few months later (and only a few thousand miles later at best) the check engine light came on. We took car to local Advance Auto Parts who obtained code for us free of charge. We took the car to Firestone, gave them the code and also asked them to take a look at a rattling noise coming from exhaust--the heat shield. Based on the code they said we needed a smoke test. Once test was done, we received a call from them stating we needed Solenoid and Fuel Cap replaced. They also said bill would be around $300. We said ok.

Once solenoid work was done, we received another call from Firestone who strongly recommended replacing rear brakes, rotors and Axle seals! I said, let me guess, this will total about $1,000. They gave me break down and sure enough, $1,000. I told them no thanks, to only fix engine light problem. They proceeded to call us back 2 more times stating it was dire we had these additional repairs made. We smelled something fishy and kindly declined the recommendation again and again. 

When we picked the car 

My car was leaking oil and I took it to Firestone at the S.Fry location in Katy to have the oil gasket fixed. Soon, it started giving me problems where by it would not start occasionally and then, one it would not start at all. I had the car towed to Firestone. They had the cam and crank sensors replaced. 

Again the same problem started recurring. After about 2 weeks again it would not start at all. So, I took it back to Firestone. Now, they give me an additional sheet of  “recommendations” that includes changing the oil gasket, something that was done about a couple months back!!!

Now, thoroughly skeptical I went to the dealer. He had the problem fixed (it was something totally different). He also suggested and fixed the oil gasket. The car has been running fine for more than 6 months now. 

I went to the local Firestone manager and then escalated the matter by lodging a complaint on the web site. The District manager too insisted that it is not Firestone’s problem despite of having the proof - the problems being fixed at the dealer. And more importantly, even after seeing the written proof of the location recommending oil gasket change when they themselves had changed it about a couple of months back!!!

The District manager said that he was not going to pay and our last conversation ended by him saying “if you talk lawyers, my Lawyer will meet you in court”. 

Having a strong case, I filed a case in the small claim’s court. Firestone wrote to the court saying that they denied “all charges”. Then they contacted me to pay me all of the $1000+ dollars that they had charged me for the services to “fix” the vehicle. As per my prior e-mail agreement with them (I refused to sign any other waiver), I had the court case against them dismissed. 

I DO NOT RECOMMEND the FIRESTONE AT FRY ROAD whose disgusting employees so openly cheat their customers. NOR DO I RECOMMEND FIRESTONE whose Corporate overseers (district manager) shamelessly shield such thieving empl