The Pep Boys
Reviews and Complaints

I bought a doodle bug 30 mini bike from pepboys. The salesperson started it and rode it out to my pick up. When I got home and checked the oil it did not have any so I added oil to it. A few hours of use it the engine started knocking loudly so I called the pepboys manager and told him when I got it home it didn't have oil in it and that it had been ran by his sales person. And no better way to say it other then he just told me I was lying and it had full oil on it so now I have to still pay for it.

I purchased CV axles for the left and right side of my autombile and they were installed by my personal mechanic.
The same day, the "clicking" noise came back. Pep Boys informed me I would have to have a suspension evaluation to determine if the axles were defective which I did. Pep Boys admitted the CV axles were bad and they would replace them for $261! I told the manager why should I have to pay my own mechanic $125 for installation and then pay you $261 when it was your products that were defective! I'm unemployed and took them to my mechanic to save money and if CV axles are put in wrong the car won't run so it's a matter of giving me 2 new axles, pay the core, let my mechanic put them in again which I will still have to pay money for Pep Boys defective products.

Please allow this correspondence to serve as a complaint against PEPBOYS store #106, Marietta, GA. Below is a letter sent to the PEPBOYS Corporation in Philadelphia, PA.

'Let Us Install It For You! Service Department->>>’ (en Espanola todos) states a sign hanging in the retail area at PEPBOYS store #106. In the Service Dept. a sign states 'Installation, Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed'. While Scott Hendrick (Service Manager), was out on vacation, a 1.5-hour installation of a backup camera sold in this store for my 2007 VW Passat became a 12-day nightmare that continues.

• $120 in groceries discarded at location after waiting 5 hours;
• Dirty & greasy leather, dashboard, & carpet due to Service Technicians inept;
• Car taken to a VW service center for repair to the electronic relay system and mechanical deficiencies from PEPBOYS ASE Certified Technicians dis-repair;
• Camera, to date, is not installed and advised by PEPBOYS that they have discontinued service of installation to the camera backup system;
• Car is at the body shop for repairs due to physical damages incurred including dents/scratches/scrapes to body and a screw hole in dashboard while at PEPBOYS property #106.

I have been in PEPBOYS #106 on 5 of the past 12 days. I have witnessed numerous other clients’ complaints, anger and frustration over the lack of customer service & ineptitude of the service department. Several of us have asked this question, ‘If they (the Service Technicians) didn’t know what they were doing, they shouldn’t have started the work.’

The damages to my 2007 VW Passat include dents and dings to the body and a screw hole in the dashboard. Store management at all levels, in both the retail and service areas, including the Area Manager of the Orlando, FL district (Frank) assigned to the #106 store for approx. two weeks, and Service Techs admitted to and apologized for all damages. Damages to both the body and to the electrical system as a result of malfeasance.

Godfrey (Assistant Retail Manager), Al Jaramillo (Assistant Service Manager), Bill Purdy (Retail Manager), Scott (not Hendricks), Paul, and Omar all apologized for the damages and the lengthy installation time. All stated that it was the PEPBOYS policy to make things right and that the project would not be complete until I was satisfied. Bill Purdy and Frank (Area Manager), delivered the car to Jim Ellis VW and scheduled service with David Kreafle (Jim Ellis VW Service Advisor), stating, 'we will make this right. Take care of this car.'

When Scott Hendrick became involved with this incident, he refused to start a claim for the damages. Scott Hendrick refused to obtain property damage estimates for the damage caused by his Service Technicians. He demanded I drive all over town for three estimates. I advised that pursuant to the Georgia Department of Insurance one estimate is sufficient and legally prescribed. I requested from Scott the name and number of PEPBOYS insurance company. He refused to give it to me stating that was not PEPBOYS policy. I made numerous phone calls to PEPBOYS corporate offices and opened the claim as a direct result of my research.

I have been without a car for 12 days and counting. I requested a rental Friday, 09/11/2009. Scott Hendrick refused to give any information on whom to call nor to authorize a rental. After many phone calls to PEPBOYS Customer Service Center, I was given the name of a Claims Representative (Rebecca). I called Rebecca, [protected] ext. 9692, as she is now assigned to my claim (#27395). To date, she has not returned my calls nor those of Robert Sims, Claims Supervisor, GEICO Insurance Company. Please note, GEICO represents my auto policy coverage.

PEPBOYS now refuses to install a working backup camera. I informed PEPBOYS of the necessity and severity for purchase and installation of a rear backup camera. I selected PEPBOYS for this product and installation based on my previous experience with PEPBOYS products/service.

The gravity for this purchase is as such from an experience my wife encountered. She was physically assailed in the parking garage where she works as an Intensive Care Surgical Nurse. The assailant was crouched low behind the car. She didn’t see him and he attacked her as she exited the car. With a rear camera, she will see an assailant before exiting the vehicle providing her with some sense of reliance for her safety/security. As a Retired/Disabled Federal Law Enforcement Officer, I am concerned for future attacks and was hopeful for some peace of mind.

I selected PEPBOYS to purchase this device including hope for quality installation as provided in the past and noted throughout their signage in the retail and service areas.

This vehicle was detailed the day before I entrusted service installation by PEPBOYS with a PEPBOYS product. Now, this car is dirty, greasy, damaged and still without a rear camera. I do not have a car to drive.

Where is the integrity? Where is the customer service?

Took my van in for sparkplugs and check engine light and was given estimate of $200.00. All day they kept calling trying to sell me brakes, (just done by me) fuel filter, (done by me 2 months ago) new plug wires which I agreed to.

Upon going to pay I was advised there was $24.99 shop charge (what is this) and an extra $99.00 for installing ths sparkplug wires. ( avery easy job on my vehicle) which brought the bill to %376.00.

After much protesting they agreed to give me a 10% discount (big deal).

Beware that they think all customers are unaware of their vehicles and they will rip ou off big time. I will never deal with Pep Boys again and am also filing a complaint with the BBB on them.

Pep Boys installed an engine in my 1998 Oldsmobile Cutlass and I have a 3 yrs warranty on the engine and was told I can go to any Pep Boys if I have any problems within the 3 yrs. My engine light has been on now for months and I have went to several Pep Boys and they continue to tell me I have to take my car back to the Pep Boys that installed my engine. I have called and emailed Pep Boys Corporate Office and no one will return my calls or respond to my email. It cost me $2800.00 for my engine and labor. Pep Boys is a rip off and they really treat women bad and I just want some one to help me in this matter, because I need to get my car fixed correctly because I will have to get a SMOG soon and it will not pass due to the enging and oil light on. I have taken it to other mechanis who said don't allow Pep Boys to put my car on another diagnostic machine because I have an engine problem and not an electrical problem because they also keep charging me $100 to continue putting it on the diagnostic and the problem isn't getting fixed.

Three years ago I had my alternator replaced by Pep Boys. For a little more money I got the "lifetime" replacement deal which covers the part but not labor.

About a year after i had the work done I needed a new alternator. I took it to Pep Boys and it was replaced for $120 labor.

A couple months ago I started to hear a very loud rattling sound from under the hood. I determined it was the alternator and when I had time took it back to Pep Boys for replacement.

It turned out it was indeed the alternator which cost me another $120 in labor to have replaced.

So far I have paid over $300 in labor for this lifetime warrantee.

Not my idea of a good deal.

I re-write this because the responses are simple. I've made an error. I paid for 4 tires, not 3. To get the 4th tire free, I would get the rebate for the 4th tire, thats why I paid for all 4 tires to begin with. I still have not received any thing from them and now, they just got one on me. Being a business man and working in customer service, I do know how to handle the type of situations that are presented to me. I guess "Pep Boys" have some internal troubles with their rebate programs. To lose $54.00 won't kill me but, in all fairness, they should honor these things. I like PepBoys, but, one person says anything bad about a business, 100 people will not buy there. It's not business worthy. Truth be told...I'll never buy there again.

Please do not use Pep Boys ever. Not even if they are the last option. They will make it worse than it is. Their repairs are so bad. They do their work so roughly and are not even bothered if the thing is working properly again. I had taken my car in for a simple oil change. That was the worst mistake I made. I can't understand how they can make mistakes like they do.

They did not get it done properly they left some part loose. I had to get it done else where. Also once when I had gone to get some part fixed they said that they would have to put another one. They did. But that got ruined quickly. They have all cheap parts. Do not go to them they will do anything to get you back so that they can make more money. Stay away form Pep Boys.

Pep Boys has the worst service you can ever imagine. They do not know what to do. While fixing something they mess something else up. They are very careless and irresponsible. I wish I had never gone to them. They put me in loss and screwed my vehicle too. I had taken my car in to get my starter replaced as it was old and was giving me a lot of problems. They replaced my starter but while in process they messed up some wires. It caused a lot of damage. On my way back home I smelt something burning, some plastic. So I went to the nearest garage and was told that they did a blunder with the wires that caused my battery which I had recently purchased and my alternator which was new too to go bad. Please don't trust them with your vehicle. They will mess things up just coz they don't get business and want you to come back. That's what I believe. They do substandard repairs and are dishonest. Stay away!

Pep Boys think they offer the best auto repair service but actually they are the worst I have encountered. I used to take my car here for repairs earlier because they were the closest repair service centre. Once I had taken my car there this one time and left it there for repairs for almost a week. When I got my car back it was worse than what it was when I had given it to them. They buggered it up totally and I couldn't get it repaired at any other service centre other than the dealers which I knew wouldn't come cheap. I wish I hadn't gone to them in the first place. I wasted extra money going to them when I should have directly gone to the dealers or any other service centre. Please avoid Pep boys at all costs.

Purchased 4 tires 6 months ago for Volvo v70 Cross Country. Noticed a bad vibration over 65 mph, went back to have tires balanced, was told both front shocks had blown out, they gave me an estimate of $950 to replace them. I opted to go to Branford to a mechanic who worked on my MG's and other foreign cars. They road tested the car then put it on the lift. shocks were perfectly fine, a sway bar linkage was broken, $57 for the part plus$85 labor. Big difference from $950... These idiots at Pep Boys are either incompetant or sleazy rip off artists, or both...

The short story is as the following: after a smooth drive of about 30-minute (about 20 miles) from a Pepboys store to my home, all four wheel covers on my Honda were missing. The store insists that this was not the store’s responsibility. Sounds unbelievable? That’s what has happened to me. I record the whole story in the rest of this complaint.

On 7/15/2009, I had some repair/service work, including brake check for my 1996 Honda Accord at the Pepboys Laurel Maryland store. At about 9:45pm we (my wife and I) picked up the key of the car, which was parked immediately outside the workshop’s first bay and was heading to the bay. We walked through the bay to the car from the front and thus didn’t notice if the wheel covers were on or not. It was approximately a 30-minute and 20-mile drive from the shop to our home and the car was parked in our single home garage, with garage doors locked. The next morning, I found that all four wheel covers were missing. I drove the car to the store and spoke to the technician: “you forgot putting on the wheel covers yesterday”. To my surprise, he replied “No, I did put them on”. He also said something that it was not easy to install them and he actually spent some effort getting that done. Well, we had this car for more than 13 year and had driven it for more than 150K miles. The car had been left for services in different shops, including another Pepboys’ store. We never have experienced one single occasion of losing one single wheel cover. How could it be possible for all four to fall off in such a short drive. I spoke to Mr. A at the service desk on this (Note: I know his first name but hide this info for now). Mr. A helped to check the workshop but didn’t find any unclaimed covers. He said he would think about this issue and asked me to contact him in an hour. He gave me a business card and wrote his first name on it. I called him after more than an hour. He said that they didn’t have the spare Honda wheel covers and asked me if I would accept other covers. I said that other covers would be fine because the car was pretty old. I told him that I would be in the store after work. However, I later learned that there are different types of wheel covers, some clip-on type and others screw-on, and that my Honda uses the screw-on type. I then called Mr. A in the afternoon asking him what type of covers he had. He told me that the store only had clip-on type. I then said that I would want the screw-on type so that they wouldn’t fall off. He said that he needed to order the covers for me and asked my vehicle’s identification number (VIN), for ordering purpose. He said that he would call me once the covers became available. I waited for more than a week and never got any call from the store. I then called the store on 7/24 but the agent answered the phone said Mr. A was not in. I called again today (Monday 7/27) and reached Mr. A. He told me that he actually didn’t work on this issue and apologized. He said that he would talk to Mr. B (I know this persons first name but hide it for now), who checked in my car on 7/15. He said that he’d let Mr. B call me. I waited for about three hours but no body called. I then called Mr. B. To my surprise again, Mr. B insisted that the technician had put the covers on. I asked if the technician put the covers on appropriately and he answered yes. He said that because I didn’t check the wheel before I drove off the car the store would not be responsible for the missing covers. This was not a good logic. Even if the covers were on when I took the car, they shouldn’t have fallen off in such a short drive. I ask him to explain why the covers were missing in a 30-minute drive. He said that he didn’t know. I told him that there were only three possible scenarios: a) the covers were not installed; b) the covers were not installed appropriately so that all of them fell off in a 30-minute drive; and c) I stole the covers myself. Since he insisted the first two cases were not true, the only conclusion seemed that I had stolen my own car’s wheel covers and tried to cheat the store. No kidding, this would be a criminal act and would warrant a police report (which I probably will need to file if the issue cannot be resolved with the store). I asked to speak to his manager, Mr. B said that he was the associate service manager and that the service manager had known this and shared the same opinion with him. I asked to speak to his store manager. Mr. B said gave me the manager’s first name but said that the manager already went home. He said I could call Pepboys’ corporate 800 customer service number. I found the number from the Pepboy’s website and filed the case. I’ll report more on this later.

I had take my car for inspecyion and they told me it need a tire. But I took it to pep boys and end up paing $598 for 4 tires that my car do not need, and they did not give me a recipt. I call the headquarters they did not solve, I call the manager he answer (Pep boys this is) when I start telling what happened he pass the call to a arab that cursed me out and treatned me so bad, I had got so sick and trew up. Other day the manager making like a victim call me to apologised he sooposed to send me the recipt and 15 days passed and I have not got the recipt. Please someone tell me or help me they robed me.

Pep Boys' advertising tag line is "Pep Boys does everything for less" - but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Customers walking into a Pep Boys auto service center will see a prominently displayed sign, comparing the Pep Boys store price for common auto services, such as oil changes, wheel alignments, brake jobs, etc. - about 10 services in all - with nearby chain-store competitors. The sign board will show that Pep Boys prices are slightly lower than the competition for these services.

However, what customers aren't informed of with equal prominence is that for all other types of services, Pep Boys bills on a time and materials basis. And Pep Boys' hourly shop rate is approximately the same as the rates charged by new car dealer service departments, which are almost universally regarded as the most costly place to obtain service for a vehicle.

This practice would seem to clearly contradict the claim "Pep Boys does everything for less." Pep Boys' prices are competitive only for a small selection of services. For all other services, their prices are typically about the same as a new car dealer, and significantly higher than independent auto service providers.

It doesn't take an attorney or auto repair expert to understand that Pep Boys engages in deceptive advertising practices. On top of that, as a survey of various consumer review web sites and Better Business Bureau reports reveals, Pep Boys has a consistent track record of providing poor service, charging for repairs that aren't effective, and using questionable techniques to upcharge customers for unnecessary parts and repairs.

Unfortunately, I learned these facts for myself the hard way. Pep Boys charged me for over $500 in repairs, including $90 for an "in-depth" engine diagnostic. But this work did not accurately diagnose or repair my original problem, which was later corrected when another mechanic simply changed my fuel filter.

Any consumer interested in obtaining high-quality and effective auto repairs at a reasonable price can do much better than Pep Boys.

Purchased seasonal snow tires due to travel for child's ice hockey team, first season no problem, although they insisted smaller tires were okay and not being a tire expert I trusted them only to find out later this really screws with your mileage and odometer. This past year, only second time tires were on car I started hearing a squeaking from back of car, had tires checked and removed since it was early April and found that the rear passenger tire had split from the rim down! I see this as a faulty tire, end of discussion, the tread is fine on all the tires. I want all four tires replaced. Their story is that they will replace the single obviously damaged tire but all the tires need even treads so therefore I need to purchase at the pro-rated price the remaining three tires. I don't think so. If one tire from this lot is defective odds are the other 3 are. Also, what a scam, place a defective tire and get the purchase of 3 more from them. Run around by customer service, the store claiming they called us 3 times and we never returned call then oops they had the wrong area code, puleeze - the number on all of our paper work is correct - next stop is Kanook, the tire manuf., BBB, then magistrate as I took a child with me when traveling and this was a major safety issue. On top of using too small tires (although I hear conflicting views of this and it's not the primary focus of this complaint.

Everyone, watch out for pep boys anaheim hills ca.! Took my jeep grand cherokee in for a radiator check and repair if possible for a leak. Radiator was not repairable and agreed to replace. Also at the advise of the service rep, replaced thermostat because of the mileage on vehicle. After work was complete, got vehicle home and found fan shroud cracked and "gluded" back in place. Took it back and problem was handled by manager. Steve kennedy. He told me that they did not break the part but would replace it free of charge. Hu? Why would they replace it if they did not break it? He had to order part and would take a couple weeks. Part arrived and was wrong part number. Would have to reorder.in the same conversation, steve kennedy asked if they could fix it to make it look good so he would not have to eat a $675.00 fan shroud? Told him no. He said he would call me when the part arrived. Well, it never arrived and he never called! Steve kennedy is never available to answer my calls and continues to avoid me. After filing a complaint with the bbb, they also have failed on returning an answer to my complaint! What is going on here? Does steve have a brother at the bbb? Next stop, dept of automotive repair! Steve kennedy and the mechanic should be terminated for unethical business practices! (If they haven't already been). If I conducted my own business like this, I would be out of business in a heartbeat.

I took my car in for starter problem on May2, 2009 at 9AM. Before I took the car in I called in Pep Boys and talked the the service department. I was given total price of starter and labor $608 out the door by Jonathan. When I took the car in, it was taken in by Cruz. He quoted me the the same price of $608. I got a call back in the evening that it is going to cost over $1389 to install the starter 'cause they have to extra work. Finally they came down to $825, which we gladly paid. When we went to pick up the car, it was making loud noise by the engine.

I was told by assistant manager Cruz, he will take care of the problem. I called back Tuesday 5/05/2009 and was told by service manager John, it will cost me another $450 to fix the problem.

These people need to get the act together and need to have knowledgable people who know about cars and customer service.

My wife made the mistake of taking her car to Pep Boys at 215 E. Katella in Orange, California to have her brakes checked. She received no call from them regarding the repair costs so when she went to get the car at the end of the day it had new brakes front and rear and two new Futura GLS 185-65R14 tires. Knowing she had gotten screwed and having failed to consult me first she just paid the $500+ dollars and didn't mention the incident. I'm over that part but since then we've had three "side wall" flats on those tires. I've worked in the automotive industry and I know that this is a product issue. Two of the flats occurred while I was using the car and I didn't run over anything to cause this. We have had this car for over five years and no other brand of tire has had any sort of flat let alone a side wall flat. Even with the so called road hazard coverage each replacement was at least $35. That's for a tire that's only $45 brand new! I would also like to point out that my attempt at discussing this with the manager led to him angrily pointing out that only my poor driving could cause this. I do not expect any help with this matter from Pep Boys, I just want everyone to avoid this sort of thing happening to them.