$1,000 + oil change. or NEVER TRUST PEPBOYS

[Pepboyssuck]

I took half a day vacation the other day to spend some money on my car. I bought 4 new tires and had them mounted, etc. Then I went to pepboys to get an oil change. They had so much of a problem getting the oil plug out; they stripped the inside of the oil pan. For the next hour, they left me sitting there and did not even mention what was going on. I finally went to the service manager; Melvin (service is a stretch), and he told me that they could not find a larger plug to put in it, and that "it had worn out over time". I don't think I need to explain this to anyone (although he didn't get it), but the oil plug is not exactly a moving part, so how it managed to wear itself out over time is anybody's guess. I tried to explain to them that it takes an idiot with a wrench to mess up a plug, but they still didn't accept responsibility. They instead insisted that the responsible party would be whoever had changed the oil the previous time, and I agreed, since it was the same place!
Finally they called the district manager and he told them to have the car towed to the dealership and nothing else. They left me stranded across town, late for work, without a car, and absolutely furious. They said they would not even pay for my cab fares to work, home, the dealership tomorrow, etc., more or less get me a rental car. In fact, when I asked about a rental, Melvin laughed at me. I was without a car for a week. The dealership had to replace the entire oil pan, at a cost of $961.12. I also ran up over $200 in cab fares for the week I was without a car. After numerous calls to the regional manager, who, by the way, was far too busy to return my calls, pepboys finally agreed to file a claim on their insurance. Then they changed their minds (and their story).
They now say that they replaced the plug when they changed the oil the first time, therefore it was already damaged. They claim that since I signed off on it, I acknowledged that it was already broken. They claim that this absolves them from any responsibility. However, I feel that I signed off on a repair that was supposed to fix the problem, not cost me over $1,000 just a couple of months later. I also feel that they obviously increased the damage, or the same plug should have fit, and I should not have had to get a new oil pan.
I spoke with an attorney today, and he suggested I stop dealing with them and just take them to small claims court.
You can bet that I will be changing my own oil from now on.