Tarah D.
This store will sell you services you don't need
This store will sell you services you don't need, and then they won't stand behind their service when they do something that causes your car issues. I brought my car in at 68,000 miles, and they told me I needed new spark plugs. I didn't know at the time that spark plugs were supposed to last 100,000 miles. And a mechanic was telling me I needed it, so I listened. 8,000 miles later, the end of a spark plug (that this Firestone installed and told me I needed) broke off into the 4th cylinder because a technician tightened it too much, and the end of the spark plug cracked. I drove around for ~8k miles before the spark plug finally broke off, and now it has ruined my engine. So, I wouldn't even be in this position if they A) wouldn't have sold me a service I did not need for another 33,000 miles and B) if the technician would have done their job correctly. My dad is a mechanic and worked at the highest-grossing (and privately owned, aka, not corporate) Firestone in North America for over 20 years as their head mechanic. One reason they were the highest grossing is that people from all over our state would come BECAUSE my dad is an honest man and because he wouldn't sell someone something they did not need. I would not recommend this Firestone location to anyone, knowing what I know now. I am also a woman, and the woman at the front desk said to me, "Maybe you can talk to your dad and he can explain it in a way that you can actually understand." I know I am a woman, but I am not an idiot. I have a degree in Physics and understand mechanics very well. I also understand that something can crack, but it won't actually break until enough force has been applied over time. Again, I wouldn't be in this situation if I wasn't sold a service I did not need. I have had issues with this store before, but because it was "under new management," I decided to give it another try. After they came "under new management," they installed windshield wipers wrong; when I went to use them while it was raining, the rubber part flew off, and then the plastic part scratched my windshield. They also forgot to reset my oil life (I thought maybe they didn't change my oil, but I checked it and they did). And they have not rotated my tires before and claimed they did. I know they also have to reset the tire sensors, but they didn't even rotate them, and I knew that because of a mark I put on one of my tires. Another thing I think people should know: A corporate Firestone works like this: a mechanic recommends replacing x fluid. Then the person upfront will type that into the software, and the software will give them a bunch of other recommended services related to replacing fluid x, to add to your ticket. So now your mechanic only recommended "replacing x," but the person upfront (who earns commission) will also tell you, "You need a flush of x as well." So now, you think you need this done in conjunction. Now let's add another layer: mechanics and technicians work on a set estimated time per service; a.k.a., billed labor time. So, for this fluid replacement, the mechanic only gets paid for their labor time. If a service takes longer than the set standard, the person doing the labor doesn't get paid for the extra time. So there is this value system that has been cultivated in corporate Firestone that ends up being mutually beneficial between the person upfront and the person in the back. This also drives up how much the store itself makes. All of which screws over the customer for the benefit of a billion-dollar company. You may want to say, "But at least the employees are also benefiting." Let's do a thought experiment on that: Remember how I said my dad ran a non-corporate Firestone, and it was the highest-grossing location in North America for 20 years? Well, they didn't do things the corporate way. They paid their technicians, mechanics, and service members fairly, and it cultivated a team of awesome professionals who wanted to do right by the customer. They were not incentivized to screw over the patron. Thus creating trust and community, and that is EXACTLY the reason that this store was as successful as it was. Corporate Firestone ended up purchasing that Firestone, and they implemented the "corporate way" of doing business, and within the year, it was no longer the Firestone it was. My dad ended up leaving because he hated screwing people over. He opened up a shop and took all of his loyal customers with him, and he is now the proud owner of an amazing shop with loyal customers across state lines.


