Firestone Complete Auto Care

The short version is long waits, over priced and immoral business practices.



I have been living in the area for 12 years and have tried several different businesses. Dunbars Automotive off Rancier is a long time favorite of mine. Sure the shop isn't anything to look at and the employees don't have pretty uniforms, but they are honest and have very reasonable prices.There was a repair that the mechanic at Dunbars had guess wrong twice and repaired it on the third try. Since I had to pay for parts and labor on all three repairs, I became disgruntled and looked for a different repair shop. So I tried the Firestone in Harker Heights.



I found that everytime I went, there were recommendations for expensive repairs even when I went for just an oil change. I handed over about $4000 before issues with what felt like a front end alignment issue. When I brought it in, they said it needed $1600 of work to fix the issue. I couldn't afford it and told them I would bring it else where. Three of the employees then gathered in a huddle and spoke in hushed tones. Since I had purchased the lifetime alignments program, they did the alignment for what ended up being free and the problem was fixed. At first I was happy that I had avoided such a hefty repair bill, but as I had thought about what had transpired, I realized that they had lied to try and get me to purchase a repair that I didn't need. The other repairs that I had been duped into probably weren't needed either. It is these predatory practices aimed at customers that don't know any better that guarantees that I will never go to that Firestone again and I recommend that anyone considering it look to a more honest shop like Dunbars or Running Right Auto Care (right down the expressway from Firestone).

DO NOT GO HERE: This Firestone Complete Auto Care and its people are DISHONEST as they make up false repairs, probably make no repairs, as you pay a few 1,000 dollars for unneeded parts and labor.



I went in for an alignment and the firestone courtesy inspection resulted in almost 3,000 dollars of trumped up parts and labor charges. I knew based on routine past dealership services, and the parts that had been replaced in the past I did not need all the parts and labor. They attempted to paint me in a money-spending corner as they stated, "They could not do the requested alignment without doing the rest of work". I walked out denying all firestone services on the vehicle and paid nothing.



I then took the vehicle to the dealership where they checked all and completed the alignment and gave me the print out of the alignment. The alignment was the only labor needed while none of the parts firestone identified as needing were not needed. This led me to believe that the firestone location would not have replaced any parts or completed any labor while I would have paid them it.



So the questions are "Was the firestone mechanic dishonest in an attempt to rip me off or was the mechanic inexperienced?" The consumer should not have to pay for inexperience or dishonesty.



In closing, I have two invoices to confirm my theory on the local firestone I visited - the firestone invoice is almost a 3,000 dollar invoice which is completely false and I have the after dealership work order invoice proving the firestone's location dishonesty or the mechanic's inexperience.



In the last few days I have confirmed that they were caught with there pants down as the company was notified of the situation but the area manager never made an effort to reach out. What a bunch of dishonest people.



AGAIN, DO NOT GO TO THESE PEOPLE, you may be thinking you are getting a good deal but you are NOT!!!!!!!!

If I could give them 0 stars I would. I have only been to this Firestone and they have destroyed any future hopes for any other Firestone to receive business from me. I also tell others to not mess with them. I was in Afghanistan and they took my non-mechanically inclined wife to the cleaners. They did about 300 dollars worth of repairs and charge my wife almost 2000 dollars. When I got home I had to redo the work. Being a military town, I would highly advise military folks to tell your spouses to steer clear of them if you need mechanical work done. I could say a few other unfriendly things about them, but I will just say, karma is a B!tch.

OMG I have had one terrible experience here! Had an overheating problem and took it there to them to diagnose the problem. The charged me $60 to tell me the water pump was bad. I told them to replace the water pump. $513.00 and ten minutes down the road the car overheated again. Called them back they told me to bring it in again. They rediagnosed it and then told me that I needed a new radiator! They claimed that the day before I was told of their recommendations to replace the radiator and the paperwork I have the day before had nothing about a radiator but did recommend to replace the top hose and I did at the time they did the water pump! I argued with them cause they wanted to charge me $900 more dollars to put in a new radiator and another thermostat (already replaced two days before seeing them) and another coolant system flush! I told them NO. I called corporate and they came down in the manager that was there at the time this being in October 2010 when all this happened to start off with first. They finally agreed to do the additional work for $361.00 tax and all out the door! I told them I would be back in a few weeks maybe even a month or two as I had no more money to be slapping down on parts when they made the mistake of telling me I needed a new water pump and then now I need a new radiator!! So the manager said it would be no problem for me to come back when I was ready as the quote was in the computer and would be honored when I came back to get the work done! I waited till first of February when tax time came around to get this back up car that I did not drive since then to get it fixed at the agreed $361 price! Well come to find out there was a new manager there and he looked it up and he has a different price than the one I was quoted. We went around on this issue for several minutes on the phone and at that time became rude and over stepped his boundaries and began to attack me on a personal level even to the point of talking mess about my parents and how they raised me and if I was told how to scam and get my ways and ect ect as it was bad. I hung up on him and called corporate again and they told me they would call the district manager to call me back. I called back that store manager at Harker Heights location and this time I recorded the call which was 14minutes long and I recoreded him acting up with me once again and talking mess and attacking my personal side of life and slandering my family and myself!! I told him and corporate I have the call recorded and saved to a disc. I would have uploaded it here if it would have allowed me to for ya'll to listen to a real unprofessional business and manager on how they treat and talk to their customers the way they want to! So after talking to the district manager they decided they didnt want to mess with my car anymore and offered me my money back from the water pump and diagnostic and so I took the deal and went to another shop in whom I wont mention but they are doing a great job! They found the problem for me and guess what, after replacing the radiator cause I told the shop that is what Firestone said it was, he found out that they once again lied and it wasn't even the radiator!!! OMG are you kidding me! He found out that the resistor in the cooling fan assembly was not making contact and was broke and ordered me a new one and it will be installed and ready come later this week! Firestone misdiagnosed my car not once BUT twice! I listened to them and their so called diagnostics and they were wrong and costed me $1000.00!! DONT GO THERE FOR ANYTHING unless you want to be run around and lied to! These people are no good at least in the Central Texas area as I know other Firestone locations I have been too back in the Houston area to be high class and high quality standards but not around Killeen FT. Hood or Temple area! STAY AWAY OR PAY like I did. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND them to anyone not even my worst enemies! Firestone should be ashamed of themselves! SAD