PLEASE tell me....

[Freebird]

that there really aren't people this dumb out there.....

 

[Flyinfool]

Yes there are.

Not only do they drive, but they vote too.

 

We pulled a very similar thing on several female relatives. They really bought it hook line and sinker until one of us could no longer keep a straight face.

[SilvrT]

Saw that one some time ago... still laffing!

[BlueSky]

Years ago, 80s, the Firestone stores in Raleigh were really bad for ripping off unknowing car owners. Finally, a newspaper reporter did an undercover operation and blew up their scams. A young woman in the office took her car that had 20k miles on it in for a cheap set of new tires, advertised for $200. They kept calling her back telling her she needed tie rod ends, idler arm, shocks, etc, until the bill was $700. That is when she came to me and told me what was going on. I was known as the car guy. I told her that she didn't need any of those things and demand they put the old stuff back on and pay $200. They offered to reduce the bill by $200 and she went for it. Still ripped her off unmercifully paying $500.

 

Aamco was doing it too. A guy in the office had a bad diaphragm in the modulator on his transmission in his 74 Camaro. Took it to Aamco. They called him and told him they needed to partially disassemble it to diagnose and would cost a minimum of $135. He came to me and described what it was doing and I told him I thought it was the vacuum modulator and a replacement was less than $10 and it just screwed into the side of the trans. He called back and declined their offer. When he went to pick it up, their mechanic told him he would fix it that night at the gas station across the street for $35 and he let the guy do it. If he had agreed to let them "diagnose" it. The next step is to call and say the bad news is your trans needs a rebuild. The good news is that we have a life time nationwide warranty. I met a trans mechanic who worked for Aamco until his conscience wouldn't allow it any more. He said he rebuilt a lot of transmissions that didn't need it. Aamco was so bad that the Attorney Generals of 12 different states got together and went after them. I'm sure it is still going on at a lot of auto shops.

Edited January 13, 2015 by BlueSky

[Rick Haywood]

That video is made up but there are some people that stupid

[Marcarl]

Did you know that a Spyder has 2 forward mounted tires and one rearward mounted tire. It's important that both forward mounted tires go in the same direction or you might have a problem cornering. If you're not sure about this, it maybe better to have the forward tires replaced,, just to be on the safe side. They are in stock, so for that part you are very fortunate, however, when replacing the tires it is best to do an alignment to make sure that both tires are now turning at the proper speed. We can do a quick alignment and just do the front but it would be way better to do both the front and the rear so to make sure that the rear runs in the same direction as indicated. For this to be accomplished you should have a new rear tire installed as well,,,,, which brings us to the drive belt,,,,, if it breaks you'll be suddenly and completely be left without forward motion and you'll only have the peddles left to work with. Your drive belt has a lot of groves in it, in fact there are grooves all the way around, maybe to be proactive you should have us replace that as well seeing as we'll have it off to change the rear tire.

Oh the COST?? nothing to really worry about,,, if you broke down on the road you would have to wait for a proper tow truck, pay the towing fee, be without you machine for a couple of weeks while we locate all the needed items,,,, but seeing as we have your pride and joy already in the shop and the parts available we can give you a good price,,,, after all, we are here to look after your wallet.

Not a real case scenario.

[pofarm]

Years ago, 80s, the Firestone stores in Raleigh were really bad for ripping off unknowing car owners. Finally, a newspaper reporter did an undercover operation and blew up their scams. A young woman in the office took her car that had 20k miles on it in for a cheap set of new tires, advertised for $200. They kept calling her back telling her she needed tie rod ends, idler arm, shocks, etc, until the bill was $700. That is when she came to me and told me what was going on. I was known as the car guy. I told her that she didn't need any of those things and demand they put the old stuff back on and pay $200. They offered to reduce the bill by $200 and she went for it. Still ripped her off unmercifully paying $500.

 

I know this scam. In the mid 80's I had a Plymouth Duster that needed tires. I was broke, but got credit through Firestone. I was told at that time that, in order to get the road hazard, I would need to bring the car in for a tire rotation and check every 2k miles. At 2k, I took the car in. The mechanic came to me about 30 minutes after taking the car in and told me that I needed a center link kit. Instead of having them do it, I told him I would take care of it. I went to the parts store and told them that I needed the kit. The salesman told me that there was no such animal. The center link was a solid steel bar and didn't wear out. As I drove home I got mad. By the time I made it home I was steaming. I called the Firestone store and told the manager what happened and who the mechanic was. I told him that I would never do business with them again and would tell everyone I knew to stay away from them.

[BlueSky]

I know this scam. In the mid 80's I had a Plymouth Duster that needed tires. I was broke, but got credit through Firestone. I was told at that time that, in order to get the road hazard, I would need to bring the car in for a tire rotation and check every 2k miles. At 2k, I took the car in. The mechanic came to me about 30 minutes after taking the car in and told me that I needed a center link kit. Instead of having them do it, I told him I would take care of it. I went to the parts store and told them that I needed the kit. The salesman told me that there was no such animal. The center link was a solid steel bar and didn't wear out. As I drove home I got mad. By the time I made it home I was steaming. I called the Firestone store and told the manager what happened and who the mechanic was. I told him that I would never do business with them again and would tell everyone I knew to stay away from them.

 

The manager probably made the guy to do this sort of scam.

[pofarm]

I figured as much. To this day, I won't patronize them, and I run Firestone Winterforce directional tires on my S10. I love these tires. They wear well (around 50k) and have excellent traction. When I first started using these tires they weren't Firestone. I guess Firestone bought them out. I used to get them at a local tire shop, but they can't get them any more, so I order them online. They are cheaper online, with shipping, than I can get them from the Firestone dealer anyway.