Hump Day – Camel Cigs
April 21, 2011Setup and ready to rehearse for tour.
May 27, 2011BEWARE WHEN BRINGING YOUR VEHICLE TO SEARS AUTO CENTER IN BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER!
Big and fucking bold so when someone searches for this place full of assholes, I hope my page is the first one that comes up so that people are warned!
My mom decided to bring her car into Sears Automotive at Boca Raton Town Center Mall. Normally, she brings her car over to Sil’s Transmission in West Palm Beach since they have done a great job in repairing her car but lately she’s been having a problem with her turning signals flashing and she didn’t want to be patient and wait for Sil’s shop to find the replacement switch for her turning signals. They were trying to avoid grabbing the parts from the dealership since they could possibly be found a lot cheaper from someone else. My mom figured since she used to bring her car to sears for normal maintenance, that she would try leaving it with them to repair the issue with her turning signal switch. Once she dropped off her car with them, they immediately ask her to come inside to view some damage in her car. They show her that two hoses are busted and tell her she needs them replaced. (These are hoses that were just replaced a couple weeks before hand, but regardless she decided to let them put new ones in.)
They also tell her she needs an alignment, and that her thermostat was bad (which she also just had replaced two weeks prior). She decides to go ahead and fix whatever they say she needs just as long as she gets her car back in working order. Once she’s ready to pick up her car, I called her and decided I would go with her to make sure they did everything properly on her car. They ended up charging her around $600 for the work they did and she asked if her car was completely finished, to which they agreed yes, the car was ready. She just handed them her card and paid without complaining about the price and we went on our way. She let me drive in case I’d notice anything that she wouldn’t normally and the first thing I notice is that the car is pulling to the right. This obviously meant the alignment wasn’t done properly. She tells me to immediately turn around because they charged her $75 for the alignment. I put my turning signal on to turn and that’s when we notice the signals weren’t fixed either. I knew everything was downhill from here.
We headed back to Sears Automotive in Boca Raton and they ask us what the problem is. We explained to them that the turning signals still weren’t working and that the alignment needed to be checked once again. A technician entered the car with me to take it for a ride and immediately started feeding me excuses on why the alignment wasn’t done properly. He first stated that her tires were bald so the alignment wouldn’t be perfect. Then after driving the car for a bit he kept trying to tell me that it was pulling because we weren’t on even road, then he found a flat piece of road and same thing. Then he stated the ball joints on the XTERRA were bad and needed to be replaced. Regardless, he took it back in to re-align the car. I asked him how come he didn’t tell my mom that the alignment wouldn’t be perfect because of those issues? She would have never agreed to pay for an alignment if they told her they wouldn’t be able to get it 100% because of her tires being bald, her ball joints being bad, and the road not always being flat. Then I asked why the turning signals weren’t working and he began to fiddle with the switch. They then told us it was an electrical issue and that they would have to contact the dealership in order to have them fix the issue. This is complete bullshit because if they would have told my mom that in the first place, she would have never left the car with them. I then began looking over all the paper work and noticed they charged my mom for 5 hours of Labor when they only really worked at most, 2 hrs on her car. After they finished fixing the alignment for the second time and went for another test drive, it was still a bit off. They said we’d have to speak with a manager but he was gone for the day and we’d have to come back tomorrow.
I asked why they charged $85 coolant when the most expensive coolant you can possibly find on store shelves are about $17 at most. They said, “Sorry sir, that’s sears prices, not my fault, we don’t make the prices.” They also charged $125 per hose they changed out on top of the cost of the hose itself which one was about $35 and another was around $55. I asked about the thermostat and they told me it was all rusty from someone possibly putting water in the radiator. The thermostat was changed out two weeks prior, even with the filthiest water in the world, a thermostat would not rust and break within two weeks. I asked to see it and they told me they would get it for me but it had been disposed of and they never went and got it.
After all of this mess, we decided to leave and just contact corporate and then try to do a charge back. It was not fair and I feel they took advantage of my mom. There’s no way she would have gotten any other work done to her car had they notified her that they would not be able to fix her turning signals. Also, had they warned her about the ball joints and her tires being bald, she may have even agreed to have them fix that as well so that her alignment was done properly. They also mentioned her tire balancing was free of charge, but they never balanced the tires.
The next day, My mom spoke with the manager at the Sears Automotive in Boca Raton and he was completely rude to her. Even after explaining this whole mess to him, he said all he could do was give her the money back for her alignment which they agreed they couldn’t do properly. I can’t grasp how changing two hoses, a thermostat and an alignment would come out to over $600. It’s a complete rip off and they definitely took advantage of her being a woman and not knowing anything about cars. I mean c’mon, $85 for coolant? WTF?
I spoke with corporate and they called me back the next day. They mentioned that no one was responding to them at the Sears Automotive Center in Boca Raton and that it usually takes up to 48hrs for these cases. It’s been a week now and I’ve already called Corporate again 3 more times to find out what they’re going to do for us and even left them voice mails with my number, case number, and name and they have yet to get back to me. I hope everyone can take something from this and realize to be super careful when dealing with places like this. I know everyone has heard many horror stories about auto technicians taking advantage of their customers. I’ve seen it first-hand many times and have even seen guys who will purposefully ruin something in your vehicle so you have to come back. Just be careful and always try to have someone a bit more knowledgeable with you so you don’t have this happen to you. Also, if possible, always keep an eye on your car when they’re looking it over.
12 Comments
I needed a front brake job. Hyundai was too expensive, Sears at Boca was quite a bit cheaper. So that’s where we went. When they bring the car into their garage, they immediately pass it through a Mickey Mouse wheel alignment machine. Told my husband ? I that we needed a wheel alignment. My husband said “no way” and said that it was not sounding legit. While they were working on our car, my husband stayed around the service desk and noticed that every car that comes in goes through the wheel alignment machine, and most cars need a wheel alignment. Before they finished the brake job, they came and said that the back brakes were leaking, and it could become dangerous. My husband said he had checked the back brakes a week before and they were fine. This was just another scam.
We will never go back there and we will never buy anything from that store and possibly all Sears stores since management must know what is going on and must therefore agree with their tactics.
For anyone who reads this post, they never solved the issue. We never got a call back from Sears no matter how many times I called them and no matter how many voice mails I left for management. Basically they took our money, and ignored us from then on.
[…] SEARS AUTO CENTER IN BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER IS FULL OF SCAMMERS … BEWARE WHEN BRINGING YOUR VEHICLE TO SEARS AUTO CENTER IN BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER! Big and fucking bold so when someone searches for this place full of. I then began looking over all the paper work and noticed they charged my mom for 5 hours of Labor when they only really worked at most, 2 hrs on her car. After they finished fixing the alignment for the second time and went for another test drive, it was still a bit off. They said we'd have to speak with a manager but . […]
Same place, similar situation! My mother took my car there for an oil change when we couldn’t get an appointment with our usual mechanic, and of course, they told her it needed an alignment done. Guess who’s driving a car that now veers dramatically to the right? I was told that the employees were having a heated argument at the desk with another customer who’d expected a refund. I have a feeling that this isn’t an isolated experience.
Thank you, good to know how crappy Sears Auto is, I have had similar experiences with them.
MM
[…] SEARS AUTO CENTER IN BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER IS FULL OF SCAMMERS … BEWARE WHEN BRINGING YOUR VEHICLE TO SEARS AUTO CENTER IN BOCA RATON TOWN CENTER! Big and fucking bold so when someone searches for this place full of. I then began looking over all the paper work and noticed they charged my mom for 5 hours of Labor when they only really worked at most, 2 hrs on her car. After they finished fixing the alignment for the second time and went for another test drive, it was still a bit off. They said we'd have to speak with a manager but . […]
It’s fucking bullshit and not fair. I’ve been a victim of it before I learned about cars and when I see other people going through this it makes me so fucking pissed off. Esp. when it’s family.
Fuckers. As a woman who has experienced this sexist shit (especially in south florida) with other mechanics, this infuriates me. Once you find a good mechanic don’t go to anyone else.
What a nightmare and gets worse when corporate doesn’t help. I’ve done a lot of repairs myself and every time I need a mechanic I get a little worried. At the end it seems like finding a good and trustworthy mechanic is as hard as finding a good friend. Good luck next time and FUCK Sears Auto Center.
that is fucked
…..man that’s fucked up
That’s so shitty.