Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Tdbo
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
- Messages
- 35
- Vehicle Year
- 2003
- Transmission
- Automatic
Hopefully, this will save someone that hassle of what I have been through.....
NTB stands for National Tire and Battery. They DBA in other areas of the country as Big O Tires, Tire Kingdom and Merchants.
PREFACE: This happened in September, 2010. I have spent the last six months dealing with a store manager, a regional manager, and have written two letters to the CEO of the company. They have been given ample opportunity to make this situation right and have not completely fulfilled the promises for compensation that they have made to me. Therefore, I am sharing this experience.
I had gone to this location on and off for years and on this visit took my 2000 Ford Taurus in for an oil change. The vehicle at the time had 211,235 miles on it and had been thoroughly inspected the month before by my mechanic and had $1,456 worth of repairs on the engine and suspension.
What I got in this visit was the worst example of professionalism that I had ever seen exhibited in an auto service facility. The tech in question came out of the building and got in the car. I am standing outside about ten feet away and the technician rolls down the window and yells "Is this your car?" I answer "Yes." He turns the wheel from right to left and yells "steering rack." He then takes the car to the rack. Both he and another gentleman spent 20 minutes under the hood. One of the gentlemen had a screwdriver in his hand the entire time (as one who has done numerous oil changes, there was nothing underneath the hood within the scope of his mandate that would require a screwdriver.)
He then put the car up in the air and proceeded to scrutinize the undercarriage. When he could not find anything, he went to the front of the car and put his thumb (which was greasy) on the top of the CV boot. When he removed his hand, a grease spot was present (where his thumb was, surprise!) He then excidely called me over (I was standing outside the bay in the parking lot) and told me I needed new CV boots. Since this process had taken much longer than necessary and had become nothing more than unnecessary drama, I told him politely to change the oil. He continued to argue with me until I told him rather tersely to "Do what you are directed to do and change the **** oil." At that point, he finished the oil change and I paid and left.
When I got the car back on the road, I noticed a slight miss that was not present before. The miss continued until the CEL came on. I checked codes and got a P174 and P303. I took the car to my mechanic who found that the vacuum hose had been removed at the air intake and a plug wire was removed and propped up against the EGR tube. Cost=$66.19.
I wrote a letter to the CEO of NTB who referred it back to the store and regional manager. The regional manager promised me reimbursement for the mechanic bill and the oil change. The store manager called (to his credit: he is new, appears to be a nice guy, and is trying to clean the place up) and after hearing my story, fired both techs and insisted that I come in for my next oil change free. After going back and forth and after he promised to do it himself, I did and it went well. So I did get reimbursement for the oil change.
As for the monetary reimbursement, that's another story. After providing four copies of my mechanic's receipt (three through the mail and one hand delivered,) they can't seem to come up with the $66.19. Both the store manager and the regional manager swear up and down that they have filed the paperwork twice but still no reimbursement. On February 28, 2011, I wrote another letter to the CEO with the fourth copy of the receipt, pointing out that according to both of his managers, the problem is with corporate and since he is the CEO, he should be all about corporate functions and that I am sure that he has more than adequate power to liberate my reimbursement. As of today, still no reimbursement.
Beware of NTB!
NTB stands for National Tire and Battery. They DBA in other areas of the country as Big O Tires, Tire Kingdom and Merchants.
PREFACE: This happened in September, 2010. I have spent the last six months dealing with a store manager, a regional manager, and have written two letters to the CEO of the company. They have been given ample opportunity to make this situation right and have not completely fulfilled the promises for compensation that they have made to me. Therefore, I am sharing this experience.
I had gone to this location on and off for years and on this visit took my 2000 Ford Taurus in for an oil change. The vehicle at the time had 211,235 miles on it and had been thoroughly inspected the month before by my mechanic and had $1,456 worth of repairs on the engine and suspension.
What I got in this visit was the worst example of professionalism that I had ever seen exhibited in an auto service facility. The tech in question came out of the building and got in the car. I am standing outside about ten feet away and the technician rolls down the window and yells "Is this your car?" I answer "Yes." He turns the wheel from right to left and yells "steering rack." He then takes the car to the rack. Both he and another gentleman spent 20 minutes under the hood. One of the gentlemen had a screwdriver in his hand the entire time (as one who has done numerous oil changes, there was nothing underneath the hood within the scope of his mandate that would require a screwdriver.)
He then put the car up in the air and proceeded to scrutinize the undercarriage. When he could not find anything, he went to the front of the car and put his thumb (which was greasy) on the top of the CV boot. When he removed his hand, a grease spot was present (where his thumb was, surprise!) He then excidely called me over (I was standing outside the bay in the parking lot) and told me I needed new CV boots. Since this process had taken much longer than necessary and had become nothing more than unnecessary drama, I told him politely to change the oil. He continued to argue with me until I told him rather tersely to "Do what you are directed to do and change the **** oil." At that point, he finished the oil change and I paid and left.
When I got the car back on the road, I noticed a slight miss that was not present before. The miss continued until the CEL came on. I checked codes and got a P174 and P303. I took the car to my mechanic who found that the vacuum hose had been removed at the air intake and a plug wire was removed and propped up against the EGR tube. Cost=$66.19.
I wrote a letter to the CEO of NTB who referred it back to the store and regional manager. The regional manager promised me reimbursement for the mechanic bill and the oil change. The store manager called (to his credit: he is new, appears to be a nice guy, and is trying to clean the place up) and after hearing my story, fired both techs and insisted that I come in for my next oil change free. After going back and forth and after he promised to do it himself, I did and it went well. So I did get reimbursement for the oil change.
As for the monetary reimbursement, that's another story. After providing four copies of my mechanic's receipt (three through the mail and one hand delivered,) they can't seem to come up with the $66.19. Both the store manager and the regional manager swear up and down that they have filed the paperwork twice but still no reimbursement. On February 28, 2011, I wrote another letter to the CEO with the fourth copy of the receipt, pointing out that according to both of his managers, the problem is with corporate and since he is the CEO, he should be all about corporate functions and that I am sure that he has more than adequate power to liberate my reimbursement. As of today, still no reimbursement.
Beware of NTB!
