I have been a loyal customer for many years with Pep Boys from buying parts to accessories. I have always liked the cleanliness and selection therefore when my car shut down on me out on I-95 and had towed to my house. You were the first people that I called for some help. I am somewhat knowledgeable on cars and decided to pull back the timing cover thinking my timing belt had broke on a 94 Geo Metro. It has a non-interference motor so nothing with valves etc. is harmed if the timing belt breaks. Sure enough it was the belt, I called to see how much to get it fixed and to bring to you for repairs. I spoke with Ken in service and tried to explain what I am telling you now, but as soon as I said I took a whole 7 bolts out, just enough to inspect the timing belt before I brought it to you, I was shut down an told in his exact words " I wont touch it! " I said what do you mean? I was told that I started something and he won't get involved ??? You have to be kidding me...with today's economy and me stranded, you mean to tell me, sorry about your luck! not going to help? So, needless to say, I have been driving my car for the last 2 days with a smile on my face after taking it to the dealer and paying $250.00 I bought the car for gas purposes and love it! I will tell you this, you and everyone else by word of mouth that I know or come in contact with, won't go or be referred to you because of the lack of customer service!! I was glad to take it to the dealer, they get a bad wrap for being over priced, but I tell you what! At least they care !!
Paul / Jacksonville Florida

I have a statement issued today by Pep Boys, CEO Mike Odell announcing how profitable Pep Boys has been this year, and how much more money we (Pep Boys employees) are being paid. Trouble is, it is all politics, subterfuge and propaganda (lies for the lay folk). I am a Master Technician of 20 years experience. I am smarter, wiser, and faster at my job than ever before and yet I am making less money this year than ever before regardless of my competency and qualifications.

Is it the economy you may wonder? The answer is yes though indirectly. Pep Boys has had issues with inventory (and still does…though it is better than before), operations streamlining, and uncontrolled spending for some time. Our last CEO Jeff Rachor was paid a compensation package of approximately 14.5 million US dollars for less than a year of service with us, and from the service bay perspective, his ideas were not sound to say it very politely.

Now we have Mikle Odell (again) and while there has been progress made in some areas, what progress there has been has been very over-rated. Is the company back in black (AC/DC rip-off anyone?) this year of 2009, though it has come at a grave cost to many of us (employees). We lost a lot of money and time training for something called drive up service.

We have lost money (locally) because of equipment that was repaired over and over again, was inoperable for more than half the year only to finally be replaced with a new piece of equipment that works at half the cost that was already spent on repairs, not to mention service tickets lost during that time. Pep Boys is taking advantage of the economy to shaft their own employees and pay them less, pocketing the cash to pay off debt, and open 25 new service centers this year alone.

I work in a shop that is not busy enough to support all of the technicians that currently are employed and they just hired a new one this week we’ll have fun splitting 100 labor hours a week between us just so we don’t have to make any customer wait on anything ever that’s the plan at least it’s the Pep Boys way.

An example of this fraud on the part of Manny Moe and Jack towards their flat rate employees is their packages. Flat rate as defined by Pep Boys is that we are compensated at an hourly rate as provisioned by the Pep Boys labor guide or Mitchell equivalent. Two shocks as per the package pays 0.5 hrs to replace a set (2) shock absorbers no matter what the year make and model of the vehicle is, and Mitchel indicates 1.4 hours for a set (2) front shocks on a Chevy Astro 4×4 van.

What this means is that the job is realistically going to take at least an hour, but I will only be paid for 0.5 hour. Does this sound equivalent to anyone? I have addressed this with my service manager, as well as his boss (our DM) and his boss as well. To make this matter more complicated, other labor times have been increased beyond what Mitchell reflects as an appropriate time estimate.

It was explained to me that these increased labor times are intended to offset the other labor times that we are being screwed on trouble is, that comes at the cost of now defrauding some other customers by over charging them to offset the losses for the other customers whom Pep Boys intentionally under charges. I say keep it simple if we really want to be the We do it all for less leader in the industry, just drop the labor rate charged to customers up front and pay us what you agreed to pay us employees instead of over complicating everything and defrauding both your own employees and customers in some fancy dance of financial doom.

As for folks at the service desk being paid more, it’s only true in busy stores where much more customer traffic is present. The new concept of trying to turn us into a quickie lube is also dismal service writers doing service and lube techs (installers) answering phones, writing up customers and doing more intensive service work like front end work and brakes with no training or qualifications. I have to ask where the communication breakdown is occurring between the real world and our leaders in the Pep Boys organization this is insanity.

Feel free to ask questions or otherwise respond to this post, I’ll check back weekly and respond appropriately.

I made the mistake of taking my 01 BMW 325I to Pep Boys, they changed my alternator. What I didn't know is they didn't
tighten one of the two bolts. On 3/7/11 my supertine belt broke because. Now I have to replace half of my cooling system. I am gonna file a complaint with BAR in CA

I was with a friend whom had a car at pep boys. while we were waiting for it to be finished i saw 2 employees come out from bays 2 and 3 and get in gray truck and go around the building an pulled up to Chucky Cheese and i walked over there cause its in the same parking lot pep boys i was in. and i saw these 2 men smoking pot. i dont want someone working on my car if they are under the influence of any drug and working on my car. please look in to this or you will loose quite a few customers!!!

I live in PA and drive a truck which requires a special emissions test due to the weight rating. In anticipation of my need to have it inspected, I called the local Pep Boys in Quakertown, PA (early in January) to inquire as to whether or not they had the equipment to do the test. I was told yes they do, and that they do not make appointments. No problem, I was waiting until later in the month to come in as I was traveling for business until then. Fast forward a couple of weeks to this Saturday. I went to the Pep Boys and registered for the state emissions inspection. After about an hour, I inquired as to the wait time, and was told that it would be about 5 hours, and they were now not sure that they could perform the test that I needed. Not sure ? How can the "trained mechanics" not be sure ? I was mad... I then called the store in North Wales, PA and asked them if they could do it. Again, they checked and said yes. The wait was two hours, so I immediately drove down, dropped my truck off, and had a friend pick me up to grab lunch. An hour after we left, I get a call from them that I can come get my truck. Guess what, they don't have the equipment to do the test either - they didn't think my truck required the test (AFTER I called to specifically inquire about their ability to do it). I was told that their Norristown store had the right machine. By now, I was seriously pissed ! I called Norristown, they confirmed that they have the machine, but they were booked solid and could not do it on Saturday. They suggested I come in Sunday morning. Fine. I got a sitter for my daughters and made the hour drive to Norristown this morning. When I get up to the service counter, I explain what happened yesterday, and told the man I need the emission inspection done. His reply was "not today"... NOT TODAY ? REALLY ? Who the *** teaches these people how to talk to customers ??? I've now lost two days to running around because Pep Boys ***, and I have to *** tomorrow, cross my fingers, and PRAY I can get in somewhere. I'm in an emergency situation because I believed that the morons who work in the service department of Pep Boys might actually have some idea of what they are doing. I cannot begin to tell you how pissed off I am about the situation I am in, and how it's been created because pep Boys ***. I will NEVER go there again once I am done with this.