Tires Plus Total Car Care

My husband and I have been taking both of our cars to our local Tires Plus for a few years now because they're close and open on Sundays, which is very convenient. We took our 2000 Chevy Malibu for a routine oil change in early August. They also recommended a coolant system flush, and we went along with it. However, the next day my low coolant light came on and stayed on while I was on my way to work. Luckily I was almost there. I purchased coolant and added it. The light did not come on again on the drive home.

Two days later, it was on again. We took the car back to Tires Plus, where they claimed that the problem was caused by 'air in the line.' All was fine for another few days, then once again the low coolant light came on and stayed on. So back we went. This time, we were told that the low coolant light was malfunctioning and that there was plenty of coolant. My husband confirmed that the car was not in any danger of overheating. We were not charged for either of these rechecks.

Tires Plus estimated that the repair for the low coolant light would cost around $250. As we did not think we were in any danger, we decided to hold off a bit on that repair. They did not state that we needed to immediately get the problem taken care of. A week and a half later while on an interstate, the car overheated. Before I could even get it onto the shoulder, the car cut off completely. It was a very frightening experience. We had the car towed to the local Chevy dealership.

The dealership diagnosed the problem as a gasket leak and charged us $800 to fix it. Admittedly neither of us know much about cars. But we had no problems with the coolant system prior to Tires Plus flushing it. They told us that we were in no danger of overheating and obviously that was not the case. So either they did something, or they failed to catch something. My point is that I should not have had the car overheat and have to pay nearly $800.

I have gone back and forth several times with Customer Relations and the store manager, explaining this story repeatedly. I got no apology at first. When asked what I wanted, I told them that I wanted reimbursement for the cost of the repair at the dealership. Finally after speaking with HIS manager twice, the store manager apologized and offered me $100. I wasn't pleased with that amount, but was frankly sick of the back and forth and didn't have time for it.

Of course that was two weeks ago and I haven't seen anything. I'm now considering small claims court.