PSA: Avoid NTB unless you want your car sabotaged.

[cammeddrz]

^^ what he said

 

[86 slo-vo]

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!

i wish i had that few minutes of my life back after reading this.

learn to change your own oil and all your problems will be solved.

 

[bttlscrs00x]

Wait, I'm confused.. You have a mechanic that did $1400 some odd number of repair to your car but you took it somewhere else to change the oil? Why not just have your mechanic do it?

I also agree with the above poster. You could have politely told the tech that you would have the CV boot looked into. You didn't have to be a jackass and tell him to do as he's told. He's not a damn slave. You're lucky the repair was ONLY $66, IMO.

One last thing, who gives a damn he his GREASY FINGERS got GREASE (which is IN your car's components, btw) on the boot.. Really? I bet you wrote that part in your letter to the CEO and the letter was crumpled up and tossed.

Good luck getting your money, bro.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

First off $66.00 is alot of money for some people, but the two guys got fired and you was reimbursed for your trouble from NTB and offered free oil change. I would be happy. But I do my own work.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i would like to be reimbursed for the time i spent reading this thread. im a slow reader so it took me a while to figure out i was wasting my time... id like a total of $66 to be sent to me since i could not stop reading on my own.

 

[gribly]

So he pulled your spark plug wire off after you swore at him and ordered him around? I would have kicked you off the property and told you not to return. You Sir, sound like an ass.

 

[Jason]

So he pulled your spark plug wire off after you swore at him and ordered him around? I would have kicked you off the property and told you not to return. You Sir, sound like an ass.

We have done worse to a-holes like that at the dealership. lol

 

[bilzy7]

Haha this is awesome. I love it. I was told to stop whining, go to a diff shop, and WTF us wrong with you. Don't cry man, it's 66 bucks. I got Fu*}ked on over 1500. At least wait till after the works done to tell the guy off. I've argued with mechanics before over cost but guess what. Customer may be right as they say, but if you want the Job done right you won't make people mad.

 

[bilzy7]

Lol I've spit in pizzas before. Yell at me about you didn't like your last pizza? Enjoy this Motha fu€ka. Lol. I ran with one of my plugs out for awhile... Not good but... Idk I'm not a mechanic lol I do Internet stuff...

 

[TheTopher]

Hasn't this guy watched "Waiting"?

 

[88_Eddie]

i got my last set of tires from NTB, they have free liftetime rotating/balancing. so i go in there every few months to get that done. EVERYTIME i go in there they try to sell me all this shit, it annoys the shit out of me. so the one time i actually got them to do something, i ended up leaving my car overnight. i go back the next day and all my change that was in my change holder was gone. there was about $3.50 in there!!! $3.50!!!! stupid bastards. well i went back in there and told the damn manager that i wasnt leaving until i got my $3.50!!! he said he coudnt do that and that there was no way to know who took it. that was back in 07 and i'm still writing the damn CEO for my frickin $3.50









































no, no, i kid, i kid. that really happened, but i didnt complain to anyone, i just got in the car and left.

it sounds like you got what you deserved. when you're a dick to people that work in the service industry, you're gonna get ****ed with and they're gonna have the last laugh. my guess is that the 2 techs. didnt even get fired.

 

[bilzy7]

Lol waiting is my fav Movie, Ryan Reynolds is one sexy bastard!!! Lol.
Topher hate me all you want, but hope no hard feelings. Things got out of hand in my thread and too much was said.

 

[bilzy7]

I know alot of people will hate me for something that shouldn't have been allowed to go that far.

 

[bilzy7]

RE: Ranger Dave

Read the first sentence of my post.
Yes, it is $66. Life will go on.
My objective was (and is) to get the word out to prevent others from having to go through a similar event.
Yes, I have plenty to do. Thanks for your concern about my social schedule.

I could bad mouth meineke forever for a 500 dollar rear drum and shoe replacement when they still left my parking brake lines cut. But I don't. Your mad, go touch yourself and think of hurting him and go to bed. That's what I always do.














J/k..... Heh

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Boy. Go away for a day and the thread just takes off.

True story: We had supper at Applebee's tonight when we got back. I am allergic to mushrooms, they make me very ill. I ordered a dish that looked like it had 'shrooms in it from the picture, so I asked: yes, it does. So I ordered it with no fungus, please. Waiter wrote it down, told the expediter in the kitchen, she told the cook.

It comes out with mushrooms. A shit-pot full of 'em.

Now, do I get pissed at the WHOLE of Applebees? Yell at the manager? Call the CEO, and the Wall Street Journal?

(Just asking for direction here from the OP, since he seems to have the whole 'how to win friends and influence people' thing down)

Here's what I did:

Called the waiter over, he was pissed that he was ignored. He went to the manager, she chewed the cook off at the neck. She then came and bought us a round of drinks, and comped my meal, and offered dessert.

See what NOT going off on a tangent gets you?