Pep Boys

You guys are the worst. My husband came in for a new battery Tuesday night and today it is with a real mechanic. Your people didn’t put it in right so it wouldn’t start again today. Incompetent. Would never send anyone to you. Really didn’t want to give a star rating but it wouldn’t let me post without one.

I can’t believe I’m forced to give Pep Boys any stars — they don’t even deserve one. It has always taken a ridiculously long time to get a simple oil change at Pep Boys, but I can deal. After my most recent trip, though, I can decidedly no longer deal.
I work long hours and go to school. The only reason I continue to put up with Pep Boys is because of their hours. (Fun fact: Frankford Auto has similar hours, and way better customer service! Go there instead!) On this most recent trip, I made an appointment to get an oil change at 6pm, which I thought was reasonable considering they accept appointments until 8pm. I receive e-​mail confirmation of my appointment, all is well.
I walk in at 5:45pm and let the man at the desk know I had an appointment. He cringes a bit and says «Oh, did nobody call you?» No, nobody called me. «There are no techs working tonight,» he tells me.
I’m pretty much fed up at this point, because my long waits in the past made me question whether making an appointment actually *did* anything. Turns out that no, no it doesn’t. They literally do not give a fuck if you have an appointment, and have no problem allowing you to drive all the way there between work and school just to turn you away because no one could be bothered to call you and let you know that they had to cancel your appointment.
I asked him if it mattered at all that I made an appointment — after all, if no one else was working, who the fuck is supposed to call me aside from the only guy on duty? He pretty much said no, they don’t pay attention to appointments and «the earlier the better — you should get here at like 8am.»
So, yeah, bye forever Pep Boys. I’m done wasting my time.

No surprise this is the lowest-​rated Pep Boys location in the area. I’ve been a loyal PB customer for 3+ years (in my old neighborhood in NJ and while traveling), but I can guarantee I’ll never return to the Aramingo store.
The last time I came in for an oil change, I made a reservation online (as I always do) and when I arrived at the store, I was told I would need to wait at least an hour or two before my car could even be put up on the rack. Why did I even make an appointment?! 3 hours later, I left with new oil and 4 new tires, which were surprisingly quick to install, and everything was fine.
I went in again tonight for an oil change (again with an appointment). I referenced a $ 19.99 weekday oil change special, and Joseph at the counter looked at me as if I were from Mars. Another gentleman, not wearing a uniform or a name tag, told me he could honor the special. I handed over my keys and was told the job would take 30 – 40 minutes, so I went to run some errands in the shopping center. I returned 40 minutes later to find my car in the parking lot. I went to the counter to retrieve my keys and was told that my car hadn’t yet gone up on the rack. I asked for my keys, as I refused to wait another 40+ minutes. Joseph handed them back without so much as an apology.
Pitiful, people.

TERRIBLE customer service. I live in Fishtown so this has been a convenient location for me to take my car. I recently moved to the state and needed an inspection and some other work done on my car, it was easy enough. I went back recently because I needed a tire replaced, again easy enough. The new tire however appeared low on air and I realized the stem on the tire valve was broken. I immediately took the car back and asked to have it looked at. I was told I would need to wait THREE hours to have someone look at it. The rep that spoke to me was rude and unhelpful. I asked if any of their other stores in the area could look and without calling anyone she told me they were all just as busy. She told me she would see if someone could put air in it (I told her that wouldn’t be possible but agreed to try). The tech looked at my tire and said he could not do it and simply walked away from my vehicle without another word. As someone who has spent a significant amount of money at this location and complained about something this location had fixed I find this unacceptable. I have abt $ 1000 worth of work that still needs to be done on my car and Pep Boys just lost that business. Very, very disappointed in the lack of effort and service. Do not waste your time or money with these rude people.

Been waiting 3 hrs (with an appointment) for a simple car inspection. Asked a manager when he finally arrived, why is it taking so long? Only to be half answered while he calls for the guy to get my car. Then the guy who gets my car decides to rip wheels with my car doing 60 to 80 mph into the service entrance. Awesome!!! You guys are the best!!! NOT!!! Horrible service mixed with horrible attitudes.

Don’t take you care here! I took my car in because I needed new break pads and they were only place still open when i got back from work. I get a call that they want to replace the rotors along with bearings and other things I didn’t want. They quoted me at over $ 500… I asked how come so much since break pads are not that expensive for a 1998 Ford F150. They said I needed new rotors as well. I called a good friend to ask if i was being ripped off and he said it shouldn’t cost me more than $ 250 for everything. So I called Pep Boys back few minutes later and asked if they could do just my break pads and the guy said thats not how we do it here. I asked why I couldn’t have just the pads done and come back for rotors or go elsewhere since my truck is barely worth $ 500 itself. Once again he didn’t really have answer beside we don’t do that here. I asked if they already started and he said yes. At this point I felt like I had been trapped. After calling around and doing research I feel I over spend by $ 200. Then I found out they charged me more for the parts then what they sell them for online, which makes no sense. Oh ya to top it off there was a misc charge for $ 35 with the description of use of store tools. So apparently they charge you for their mechanics to use their own tools. Don’t take your car here!

Even after they sent me their boilerplate response, I’ve still gotten no reimbursement.
Eight days ago, I was told by e-​mail: «They have a maximum of 48 hours to reach out and resolve. Should you not hear from anyone within that time frame, please contact us by calling our Customer Relations department»
Obviously I didn’t expect an actual response. I did however, get one hangup call from them. Awesome resolution, thanks for your continued incompetence. I’m not going to waste another second on this excuse for a company with a phone call to them.

Always scary taking your car to a place you’ve never been. Thinking will you get ripped off or get charged an arm and a leg for service. My car shut off and pep boys was the closest to me. I had my car dropped off and the next day they called me and told me what was wrong with the vehicle. I gave the go ahead to do the work which wasn’t so bad. Reasonably priced. Got the car back everything is great. Josh the service who was helping me was very professional. Overall it was a great experience.

Maybe I’m just not a car person, but I felt like an idiot coming in here. It took forever to find someone to help me, and once I did, he couldn’t have been less helpful. He gave me the wrong numbers for my windshield wipers and right after giving me the numbers, he just got on the phone and ignored me. The person I checked out with made it seem like I was completely bothering her. Once I realized I got the wrong wipers after installing them, I went over to the other pep boys on Columbus to exchange for the correct blades. Won’t be going back here.

I had the worst customer service experience with this store. Had my car towed here because of its location close to my house, after an abrupt shut off and I needed a general diagnostic to figure out the problem. Its an old car so I wasn’t willing to spend too much on it. I told the guys this when they gave me a quote, and was leaning towards scrapping it instead of doing repairs. They worked with me a bit on the price, and talked me into getting the work done.
I pick up the care, bring it home, everything is working fine. One day later I go to use the car for its first real trip after the repair. I was not even able to fully pull out of my parking space before the car shut off again EXACTLY THE WAY IT HAD THE FIRST TIME when it initially went in. Obviously I was very upset and called them right away.
They were not helpful with me and didn’t seen to have have much to say other than «well we might have missed a bigger problem the first time around» or «maybe the mechanic missed connecting an electrical wire during the fix» which both sound like an issue with the quality of their work.
They told me I could bring it back in and they would look at it again, but I would need to pay for the tow to their lot.
I was so unimpressed with the staff and the quality of service I received. And I honestly feel like they purposely didn’t tell me there was a bigger problem just to get an initial several hundred dollars without fixing the main issue.
I would never go here again, and I certainly would not recommend them to anyone, in fact, I would deter someone who was thinking about getting their car worked on here.

Rip off, I went in because my car was having trouble starting. I knew it was something with the battery. They called me and confirmed me that it was the battery and i needed a new one. I agreed.
TWO hours later, they called me again and SAID I need a new ALTERNATOR for $ 400 dollars as well. I thought this was a ruse and said no. 3 months later my car is running fine.
Get your money honestly like the rest of us.

Did not honor my appointment or treat me respectfully when I asked why my car had yet to be serviced after waiting in the waiting room for 45 minutes.

There is a special place reserved in hell for thes SOBs (SOB does not stand for Son Of Bob)

Not only did this place claim I needed new brake drums (when I didn’t) but they charged me over $ 120 to replace spark plugs and they didn’t even do the work.
I ended up driving to a family mechanic to have a missing brake pin replaced (I could have DIED, hello?!) due to their incompetence.
To top it all off, I asked for a tire rotation once and ended up getting 1 tire of the WRONG SIZE on my car that completely wrecked my axle and steering. They stole my tire and caused damage to my car!
Stay very far away from these mechanics.

I have lived up the street from this pep boys for about a year. My car has had a lot of problems this year and they have always done an outstanding job. They greet me by name and perform excellent work. Always done within an hour as long as they aren’t too busy. Always reasonably priced and quick to make sure all discounts are known about and always check to see if insurance on parts will cover the work. I would recommend this pep boys to anyone in the area or passing by over any other. Also conveniently placed and easy to find! Don’t believe the haters, it’s easy to get mad at a situation and have spare time to write a negative review but when is having your car break down convenient? I chock up the lack of positive reviews to the happy customers not having the time to write a positive review because their work was completed fast and they are able to continue on with their day as planned. Come to this pep boys, it is your salvation!

First they «lost» my appointment for an oil change, so I rescheduled. When I rescheduled, they said to drop it off the next day at 2 and pick it up at 6 (four hours for an oil change!?!). When I brought it in at the scheduled time, I was told they were too busy and was asked to reschedule yet again.
I’m not too sure why they felt it was okay to not call me before I took the time to drop my car off. Completely unprofessional and will not be returning for service or goods. If you’re too busy, that’s fine, but be upfront. Better than me wasting me time.

It’s interesting to see all the negative comments because I’ve been coming here for 2 – 3 years now and have actually been pretty happy with the automotive repair staff in a dozen or so visits, from oil changes to failed starters to other problems in between.
I’ve always found their staff informative and friendly and, whether this is me being duped or not, usually walk away feeling like they’re telling me the truth.
My only complaint might be, yeah, the $ 90 diagnostics check just to figure out a problem hurts and on busy weekend days, I’ve had my phone call stay on hold for what feels like an eternity, but overall, I now bring my car there by choice, not just convenience.

Hit or Miss. They’re informative and helpful to a point.
When getting repairs, times quoted are never right. Know what you need before going over. They charge extra to diagnose.
They also seem to ask you if you’d like to add additional items. For example you DO NOT need any of those little packets of oil or lubs they try to sell you for your brakes, battery, spark plugs. It’s BS. And the pep boy rewards program isn’t too bad
HOWEVER they quote 2 hours and 3 cars in front of you yet you see 5 cars in the bay and 8 sets of keys hanging. I almost always flip out and leave there to do the repairs myself.
Also take caution when giving the make, model, year of your vehicle. Like myself, they hear what they want to and never get the right part at first. CTFU. I’m not joking either.

Im not sure why my experiences here are so very different from the other reviewers.. . maybe I am missing something or maybe I have just been lucky?
Anyway, I have always received good customer service here. Always helpful and pretty friendly. I never feel like I am being taken advantage of. I have been taking my car here for 6 years for PA inspections and oil changes, and only twice have they found something wrong. Once was for breaks, which I expected needed to be changed anyway due to the milage on my car and once for a issue with a tire. Both times I was called and was told what the problem was, how much it would be to fix it etc. When it was the tire issue, the employee asked where I had gotten my current tires — I replied that I had gotten them there — he asked if it was ok to place me on hold — when he came back he said that my new (ish) tires were still under warrenty with them and the new tire cost me a fraction of what a new tire costs. I thought it was noce that he took the extra time to check on that issue, when he could have just charged me outright.. .
I’ll keep going here as long as nothing hinky goes on, but I guess Ill be on the lookout for weird charges, not that I have noticed any before.. .
On a side note: I had an extra house key made here and it works perfectly well.

I mean, I had a coupon for a free Brake Check and Tire Rotation. I’d be stupid NOT to go, right?
I made my service appointment online. Pretty straight forward and painless. I went to just get my brakes checked and get a tire rotation. Both services free with coupon. Awesome.
I got there on time at 10am and was told I should hear from someone by noon time regarding my truck. I got the call at noon that my car needed new front brakes and new rotors…$ 290. Ouch. They said «its metal to metal with your brakes, you need these ASAP». I told them I could not afford that. They said no problem and my car was ready to be picked up.
When I got there, my car was NOT ready to be picked up. I was left waiting in the landfill that they call a waiting room for an hour! Seriously, it smelled like rotting fruit. I can assure you, there was no fruit in sight.
But…what next? I needed brakes. So I drove over to Mr. Tire in Cherry Hill, NJ for a quote. On my drive there I noticed vibration when braking… thats…new… They threw it up on the lift and gave me a free inspection while I waited in their clean and smell free waiting area. I told the guys there that my brakes were «metal to metal». They took the tires off in front of me and… wow…I had a lot of brake left. They said there was no way they (Pep Boys) could miss that. I looked and could tell Pep Boys was trying to rip me off. The awesome people at Mr. Tire told me to file a complaint, as its a big deal to lie about the condition of a vehicles brakes.
Seriously people, dont think you will be the chosen one and get good service here. I thought that and was left will a sour, smelly taste in my mouth. Avoid this place at all costs.