Dodge Dakota ForumDodge Dakota PhotosDodgeDakota.net Membership
  Forums   Forum Tools
03:42:52 - 03/29/2024

General Dakota Board
FromMessage
Ky_man
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


7/30/2008
01:44:11

Subject: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
Maybe it's just the ones here in San Diego, but the Sears Auto
center has very unreliable service. Sorry, this is just kind of a
rant and the stuff they have put me through....

#1 - They don't allow you to do a drive with a mechanic. (just a
pet-peeve)
#2 - Somehow, they left a spacer off of my control arm when
they re-greased the control arm bushing and aligned the truck.
#3 - They "forgot" to grease the ball joint when they replaced it.
(this was a few years ago)
#4 - They sat and told me one of my rear brake drums had to be
replaced when I got my brakes done, so I did it. The break job I
had done worked great for a while, then slowly it kinda became
weak.
Finally found a place and took my truck to a family-like
mechanic. He discovered the front brakes were worn out
because of the rear brake issue, then when he actually looked at
the rear brakes, both of the bearings on the wheel were literally
exploding their oil all over the rear brakes.
So, Tune-Up, AC inspection, Tire rotation, and Brake service will
now cost $1300... Fun stuff...

There were a few more things about Sears' service too, but I
don't know if I am in the mood to write them down or you're
actually in the mood to read them. So I'll just leave it at that. I'm
never going to Sears again...

Sorry, just thought I'd share...


1997 Dodge Dakota SLT Club Cab
5.2L Magnum V8 2WD



RadioMan
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

7/30/2008
08:06:45

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
I feel for you, Ky_man. Don't even THINK about
going to Wal-Mart for anykind of service either
and that includes a simple oil and filter change.

You get what Sears, Wal-Mart and all the other
fly by nite service centers pay their people for.

Stealerships are not any better either. They *may*
know a tad more about what they are doing but you
gotta take out a bank loan to get anything done.

Simplest way to deal with the problem/s is, do it
yourself. Even if you screw it up, you did a
better job than "they" could have. lol





Bob Lincoln
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


7/30/2008
08:07:39

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
http://boblincoln.com/sears.htm

I'd burn my vehicle before I'd take it to them.



Lee
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


7/30/2008
11:28:51

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
"Maybe it's just the ones here in San Diego..."

Nope, it's all of them. Well, maybe there's one or two mechanics among the whole bunch who are ok, but the consensus is they are terrible. I've never had any work done by them, but a friend had his '68 Cougar aligned by them in Orange County, CA when he bought tires. The idiots didn't really know how to align an older car, so they missed one adjustment entirely. They also never tightened the upper control arm bolts, which could have caused an accident! Luckily, I have a friend who has an alignment rack (and knows how to work on older cars), so we got it done correctly.

I do what RadioMan said. The best mechanic for YOUR ride is YOURSELF. It really helps a lot if you have alternate transportation such as a beater car or a motorcycle. That way, you can take your time and figure it out. Nothing's worse than wasting an entire weekend killing yourself to get the truck going so you can go to work on Monday. I have had very few things go wrong with my Dodge (knock on wood), but this group has been able to help me with just about everything. For the things we cannot do ourselves (smog checks, AC service), just try to find a local INDEPENDANT shop and stick with them.

Lee



Kowalski
GenIII
 User Profile


7/30/2008
17:50:49

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
That's why they're call "Spears and Rebukes" !
As most of us are DIY guys, I'd like to pass on something Sears is good for though - finding the parts to fix all kinds of stuff we own that isn't automotive, through their parts sources. I think it's searsparts.com. For example, the drain pump in our Fisher & Paykell washing machine recently failed; searching for the part through google yeilded results over $200, and no pictures ! Being aware of Sears as a parts source, I checked and found it there for less than half of that. And they had an exploded diagram showing the part that the other sources didn't, so that I could see it included the electric motor.
I agree with you guys about the vehicle service though.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way

Jess
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


7/30/2008
20:52:05

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
Sears was bought by K-Mart some time ago.
That may explain some of your troubles.



Curly
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


7/30/2008
22:26:59

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
Sears has been hauled into court so many times over the years its a wonder they didn't fold sooner. Even prior to the Kmart merger. Just 2 years ago the Sears closest to me got fined big, Once again they got caught using the "Bait & Switch" .



jimmy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/02/2008
09:41:32

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
I find Firestone Service center to be pretty good for an "automotive repair chain." I do most of my own work, but if not I bring it to them. After about 10 years of service, and several vehicles, i'm satified with them.



RadioMan
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/02/2008
17:53:53

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
Jess, it's the other way around.. Sears bought
K-Mart.. K-Mart is now starting to sell Sears
junk from its stores.





Dan M
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/03/2008
05:52:38

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
No, k-mart bought sears..

http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/index.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6509683/

when k-mart emerged from bankruptcy they were much stronger financially. They had a lot tied up in physical buildings. When they closed/sold many of those due the bankruptcy they were able to cut back on costs drastically.

- Dan M






Jess
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/03/2008
09:43:04

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
And Cingular bought AT&T, and now uses AT&T's name because of Cingular's bad reputation.




Dan M
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/03/2008
23:59:08

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
depends which AT&T and what time period you're taking about jess.

AT&T wireless was sold to cingular (join venture between SBC at 60% and bell south at 40% - both baby bells). The cingular name was still used and 6 months after the acquistion, they dropped the AT&T wireless name.

sbc would later buy AT&T corp and rename to AT&T Inc - they dropped the sbc name. At this point AT&T Inc owned 60% of cingular and 40% was still owned by bell south.

AT&T Inc (new name after sbc acquisition) then bought bell south thus the remaining 40% of the original cingular wireless. So AT&T inc now owned all 100% of cingular.

a lot of acquisition going on. So in the beginning cingular bought AT&T in the end AT&T bought the remaining shares of cingular.

welcome to corporate america.

the cingular acquisition was big news at the time and then the AT&T acquisition of bell south was huge news here in Georgia since bellsouth was headquartered in Atlanta.

- Dan M




Jess
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/04/2008
00:31:40

RE: No more Sears
IP: Logged

Message:
That's a wee bit more info than I had.
Thanks for the details and the clarification.



   P 1


Post a reply to this message:

Username Registration: Optional
All visitors are allowed to post messages


Name:
Email:
Notify me when I get a reply to my message:Yes  No

Icons:            

          

Subject:
Message:
 



Home | Forums | Members | Pictures | Contact Us

This site is in no way affiliated with Chrysler or any of its subsidiaries.