My going on 11 yr old Geo Prism started to show electrical problems right before the holidays--when I drove it one evening, the lights dimmed when I came to a stop. Not fun--either the alternator (which I had replaced five years ago) or something between the alternator and battery was decidedly unhappy. When it completely crapped out the next afternoon, I left it in the Big Red A garage, and Chuq and I picked it up, jumped it, and hauled it off to Pep Boys in San Jose.
They proceeded to tell me that it was obviously the battery draining while I had it sitting for two weeks, ignoring the symptoms that I wrote down and told them. Apparently, the local linearity of time meant nothing to them. So, they allegedly (we'll get back to this later) checked the electrical system, charged the battery, and sent me on my way.
And by Sunday, the battery had drained again. Jumped and took it back to Pep Boys for a make good.
Well, this time I get a different guy at the counter, and he tells me that the machine they use to testing has been sent back to corporate, since it wasn't working right. They go ahead and check the battery, just to make sure that it isn't dying prematurely, and leave it at that.
Oh yeah, did I mention that they were supposed to call me both times, and I ended up having to call them?
So, I come in this afternoon, while they are dealing with more than one pissed off customer who either hasn't had their car worked on yet, and were told anyway to come pick up their car, or who had a repair botched. Lovely.
I get the same idiot who tried to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about on Friday, and after I tell him I'm going to go to the dealer and have them tell me what's going on, he tells me to bring it back in to them tomorrow, when their "master technicians" are on duty.
And what the heck are they going to test it with--a dead chicken?
So, tomorrow I call the dealer (unless someone out there can point me to a killer electrical mechanic in the Santa Clara/Sunnyvale/Cupertino area), and get the car in to have *them* figure it out. I will invoke the name of my oldest brother, who manages a bunch of service areas for the LA Chevy people, and we will see where we go from there.
But it will be a long time before I ever deal with Pep Boys again...
Update: The dealer's mechanics found a 3amp drop across the system, which is something the Pep Boys people should have caught. However, it's not any of the usual suspects, so the dealer's mechanics are now playing "find the pinched wire", which will triple the estimate on the fix, as it's a much more manual process. This is something the Pep Boys crew can't even attempt.
I wonde how many times Pep Boys would have told me I was full of shit, and recharged the battery again--and likely start accusing me of keeping the lights on?
Posted by lsefton at January 4, 2004 05:12 PM