Les Schwab General Manager Complaint

I recently(09-15-06) went into the Les Schwab off of

Watt AVE in northern California to get a car battery.

I chose that Les Schawb because I know 4 out of the 7

employees personaly and I figured I would receive

excellent customer service. Boy was I wrong! All the

employees were great on adjusting the price to meet

competitors and very friendly, but as the sale was

going to be rang up, the general manager, Chris,

walked in and told his employees they could not do

that. Now, Chris didnt just say they couldnt discount

to match a competitor.. He was flat out rude to not

only his employees but mysef, a paying customer, in

front of other paying customers. Long story short, I

called Napa Auto Parts (whom only charged me $63.28

including delivery verses Les Schwabs manager special

of $95.00 and some change) down the road to deliver me

a battery and I installed it myself in their parking

lot. Chris, the manager, came and asked what I was

doing. So I polity explained I was installing a

battery myself from Napa because he was not at all

helpful to me and that he treated his employees

poorly. Needless to say, I will not be going back to

that store. Not because of the employees, they were

awesome, but because of the man running the store,

Chris.

--Cherylynn of North Highlands, CA

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Somebody give her a brake!

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I recently was having low battery issues - dim lights, longer than normal cranking. I assumed I it was my battery so I went to Les Schwab for a replacement. 45 minutes later I left with a new battery and $111.13 less in my wallet.

I had no issues with this new battery until this morning. I went to start my car and the battery was completely dead. I used my roommates car to jump it and it started fine. I had no problems driving to work. Later this morning I went to start the car again and the battery was completely dead again.

I called the store I purchased the battery from and informed him (Jeremy) of my dilemma. He advised me to bring in the car and they would take a look at it. I had no way to jump start the car and asked if he would provide that service, seeing that the battery was under warranty. He said he would have to charge me a service call to provide that service. When I told him that my company has a service contract with Les Schwab to maintain our fleet tires and we have nearly 150 trucks he complained that I should have told him that first.

After hanging up in disgust, to think that different customers get different levels of service, I went out to the car and was going to remove the battery to take to another store. I found the main terminal of the battery heavily corroded. This did not make sense to me since I just had the new battery installed two weeks prior. Now I wonder if the original battery I replaced was fine and Les Schwab sold me a battery when I didn't really need one. The other question I have is why did they not clean the terminal when installing the battery? Would that have been an additional charge?

After I cleaned the post the car started fine. This is not the first problem I have had with Les Schwab. I have had issues with their brake service and their tire replacement (not aligning the car and causing the tires to go bald in less than a year). Rest assured this will be the last time I use this company and will strongly urge my company to find another service vender.

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My recent experience with this facility was awful. So much so, that it still bothers me at night when I try to sleep. I just keep thinking of the way I was treated and flat out LIED to.

This started with me making an appointment to get all my breaks replaced. I made the appointment about 3 weeks in advance and was quoted the price of $380. I was told at the time I made this reservation that my parts could be used before I came back, so I should call a week in advance to make sure my parts were available. I found this rather odd so I stated my confusion and the employee quickly said never mind, he would take care of it and all would be fine. Sure enough, when I showed up for my appointment, my breaks had been used for another vehicle. This wouldn't have sent me into my "pissed off" mode, except for the fact that I had changed a furniture delivery date, rescheduled a meeting, left work early, and planned my entire weekend around the fact that my breaks would be done on this particular day. Okay, so they got my breaks in the next day and squeezed me into a one o'clock appointment. I then had to go back to my office and try and fix my schedule, which resulted in my furniture being delivered two weeks later.

The next day at my appointment I expressed my frustration to a manager. He was patient and listened, but when I asked what would be done about this he simply replied that he liked his crew. Not only did that comment make me feel like the most non-important customer in the world, it also made me feel like this was no big deal and it happens all the time. So what about the other customers that have to deal with these kind of errors? Obviously the system they use when ordering parts doesn't work. Obviously they don't care either.

The last straw was when I paid for my breaks. My bill was $386 and I asked the girl at the counter if I was going to get any sort of compensation for the obvious error. She asked the manager and he said he gave me an eighty dollar discount. No he didn't. I was clearly quoted $380 when I made the appointment. This manager was just hoping I was dumb enough to walk away from it not noticing. I noticed, but at this point I was so furious I had to either leave the store or start throwing punches.

I can understand the mix up with the parts, it happens. I was angry because I had a very busy schedule I had to re-arrange. The thing that really gets me is how unprofessional, demeaning, and straight our rude the manager was towards me. Since this experience 4 days ago, I have managed to persuade 4 people that needed break work and 2 people buying custom tires to go anywhere besides les schwab and I will continue to do so as long as I can.