Tim Birbeck

Review of Pep Boys

Updated review based on my most recent experience:...

Updated review based on my most recent experience: I scheduled an appointment at 8am for my car to get inspected. I dropped the car off, but I didn't hear anything back by 5pm, so I gave them a call. I was told that they didn't know if my car had been inspected yet and they would call me back. At 6:30pm, I called them because nobody had contacted me. I was told that the car was currently being inspected and that it should be done in 30 minutes if I wanted to head over. I'm glad I didn't because I got a call at 8:30pm telling me that the car failed inspection. I was told that it had something to do with the brakes, but the person I spoke with couldn't tell me what needed to be replaced or how much it would cost. I was told they would call me back the next morning.

The next morning, I didn't hear back so I called them. The phone rang for about an hour and then someone finally picked up. The person that picked up told me that he was actually from a different Pep Boys and that the call was automatically routed to his store because nobody at my store had picked up. He said that he couldn't tell me anything about my car, and he recommended that I head over to the store that did work my car and talk to them in person. At 10:30am, someone from my store actually called me. They told me what work needed to be done, and I told them to go ahead and do it. Later that evening I was told my car was ready for pickup, but by that time it was too late for me to go get it.

The next morning (2 days after I had dropped off the car), I went to go get it. I waited in line for 15 minutes to get the car. When I got to the counter, I was told that I could only pay cash because their system was down. I pointed out that the store has signage that they accept credit cards and that I dropped it off there with the anticipation that I would be paying with credit card. The guy at the counter apologized and just said that he wouldn't give me my car back unless I came back with cash. Like most people, I don't carry $300 in cash on me, so I had to drive to an ATM and get money out to pay for the car. I'm just lucky that I have the cash on hand to pay the bill and that I had my wife drive me as opposed to getting an Uber.

I would consider this one of the worst retail experiences I've ever had.