Ketchup Chips doesn't rant about personal issues and occurrences because KC would be ranting all day, but today Big OW tires needs then attention of my sharp pencil.
You suck.
I could end it there, but I feel compelled to record the details for posterity.
I took my SOs Land Rover in for an oil change. Groupon on special - $19.99. One hour later TinWhistle Norm calls to tell me that they can't rotate the tires because (in his professional opinion) the lug nuts were too tight. I'm not kidding you. So says KC "fine then, don't rotate the tires, I will have my 80 year old father in law do it in his spare time, he could use the exercise." TinWhistle doesn't get the sarcasm and soldiers on in his chosen field of mechanicing. (Although I made that word up, I kind of like it!)
As many of you know KC is an avid car guy and knowledgeable to a fault about vehicles. I am also lazy to a fault, and leave the menial upkeep to the service centers. Change heads? Tune a Barry Grant Demon Carb? That is something I do myself. Change oil? Not worth the effort or the boredom.
Another hour later TinWhistle calls and says there is a leak in the upper radiator hose because they can see coolant leaking under the car. I tell him, funny story, I went on a road trip last week and topped up the coolant, overfilled it and it ran down the engine. Not to worry, the excess has bled out on the highway.
He tells me that in their zeal to attempt to tighten the clamp that holds the three way T, they kind of "broke" it off and now coolant was leaking "a lot". Again, I am not a certified mechanic, but the highly technical terms being tossed about like "a lot" and "broke" got my attention.
I asked him what he suggest as the corrective course of action and he tells me this: (this is an exact, verbatim quote!!!)
Well, we checked with Land Rover and the clamp we broke off can't be bought by itself and comes in the entire replacement of the upper radiator hose assembly kit. The price is $170.00 To install it will take 2 hours and that will run you $140.00 and because of the leak, we recommend a total flush of the radiator for another $80.00. All in taxes and shop fees will set you back $450 bucks or so......and we need three days to get the part.
After a bit of hummina hummina from KC, I blurted out that the part they "broke" was a 3 way hose adapter. Total cost about $5 and since they broke it, wouldn't it be all "socially responsible" that they fixed it? They said it can't be fixed, and if I wanted it fixed it was either pay them $450 or they would push it onto the street.
I told them don't touch anything more on the car. Don't do anything. He then says "how are you going to get your car home if it has no coolant?" and then HE suggests that they call a tow truck to bring it to me and toss it into my driveway. M'fuggin, corksoaker, azzmunchin sonhoffa beach!
I'm so pissed at this point I send the wife to get it, and she drives home with no problem (after all, it is only 3 blocks!) I assess the damage - the boneheads tightened the little bleeder valve so much that the plastic nut split. I take out the T piece, head to Lowes (home of the best auto parts!) and buy a 92 cent nylon bolt and washer and use epoxy to thread them into the hole (poor man's Loctite!) and wait five minutes and place a gallon of water in the rad (KC has learned that when working on rads - don't waste coolant until you can be sure your lame-ass repairs work!) and fired it up. No leak.
Here's where my head explodes. I look down at the driver's side front wheel and notice that the Land Rover center cap is missing. I call Big Ho and say - hey you lost the piece from my wheel, which I know was there yesterday because I washed the car myself! They said that can only be removed if the tire was removed - I said "are you saying that I lost it on purpose, and am coincidentally calling you on the very same day I took it to you to have the tires rotated - the ones you said that you couldn't rotate?!!?!??!" After five minutes the manager comes back on and says "funny story, we noticed it was missing when we tried to take of that same tire, but we didn't lose it, nor is it here".
So they did $450 worth of damage and lost a $80 center cap. I fixed the leak in 3 minutes for 92 cents.
Let's see how it goes getting a center cap out of them - although the pleasure of having my readers see this not probably outweighs the costs.....I will follow up.
Big O Tires
14625 Desert Hills Parkway
Ahwatukee, Arizona
480 460 6319
Check out their stellar consumer ratings:
http://big-o-tires.pissedconsumer.com/big-o-tires-suck-20110208220630.html
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