Horrible Sears Rapid City,SD Automotive experience

Hopefully in the next day or two Sears Cares will contact you (maybe longer because it's the weekend). Sears has been very good about solving problems through this website. 

Hi livesimply2live-Welcome to MySears. This is such a disheartening story to read.  I am so sorry.  As a long time Sears Automotive customer, you know these are not the standards of Sears, and not how Sears wants their customers to feel.  I have sent this along to SearsCares.  Rayman, above, is correct, they will reach out on this thread on Monday or Tuesday to see what they can to make this right. 

Please hang in there, and wait for their response. 

Join the club ! I still haven't heard back from customer support on my issue. Im with you on contacting the BBB. Also go to consumersaffairs.com and file a complaint.

To livesimply2live,

My name is Brian and I am part of the Sears Cares escalations team. First allow me to apologize that you've had this experience with the local automotive department. I am very concerned by what I have read here. There should not have been such a lax attitude towards this issue. Brakes are such an important part of the safety of the vehicle that a full inspection should have been done when you first requested it. I am very happy that no accident resulted from this. You and your family's safety is paramount and we are taking this very seriously. We would like to look into this for you. We need to step in to determine what happened and what needs to be done to resolve it. Please be assured that this is not normal Sears standards of service. It is unacceptable that the work was sub-par and that you could not speak with a manager on this issue. Please, at your convenience, contact my office via email at searscares@searshc.com and we will be happy to get to the bottom of this situation. In the email, please provide a contact phone number and the phone number the automotive service was done under (if different than the contact phone number) and we will call you directly. Also, please provide the screen name (livesimply2live) used to post here for reference to this issue, and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,

Brian J.

Senior Case Manager

Sears Cares

I am a former Sears employee. I actually worked for National Tire and Battery before Sears sold it to Tire Kingdom. I was a Tech III for NTB and performed all types of mechanical repairs. I was also ASE Certified in the 3 fields of service NTB provided, Brakes, Steering and Suspension, and Electrical Systems. Every customer should know, not ALL Sears technician's are as well educated or trained to be automotive technicians. Some of them are promoted from tire changers to techs. The only course of training they receive are one to three day classes at Sears' main shop in your area. Then they work side by side with the technician at their store. The technician they work with may have been promoted in the same fashion. I am not trying to knock Sears at all here, just simply trying to educate their customers. I myself went to a trade school for two years and was a dealership technician for 4 years.

The hardest part of working on any vehicle is diagnosing a customers complaint. For example, alignments. A vehicle that is out of alignment will ALMOST NEVER cause a vibration. A poor alignment will cause the vehicle to do one or more of the following; pull to the left or the right, hard steering, and/or premature/uneven tire wear. I say "almost never" because depending on the make and/or model vehicle, there are rare instances it may cause a vibration, but it is very, very rare.

The main cause for vibration is "usually" poorly balanced tires and/or faulty vehicle components (which includes the tires themselves). This is where diagnosing becomes the difficult part. Anyone can be a parts changer, an experienced technician will look for the cause of a vibration and go from there. I did work with individuals who simply changed parts (if it needed it or not), and came up with all kinds of excuses as to why the problem wasn't solved. This was the main reason why I left the automotive business. Too many untrained, greedy grease monkeys out there ripping people off.

Why didn't I go to management about this problem you ask? I did. At that time management didn't care. They were paid salary plus bonuses. We as technicians were paid hourly plus commission on labor only. A good incentive to make a technician work faster. Also another incentive to make him sell you something you may not need.

Every good auto shop will post their technicians ASE Certifications somewhere on location. You have the right to choose who works on your vehicle. You also have the right to be shown your vehicles bad components BEFORE they are removed from the vehicle. If getting an alignment done, you have the right to be shown either a print out of the alignment BEFORE it is performed, or be shown the actual alignment screen while your vehicle is attached to the equipment.  Now most places will tell you that you are not allowed in the shop area because of insurance reasons, which is true. If they want your money, they will hand you a pair of safety glasses and escort you to your vehicle and show you what needs to be repaired. Sears used to do this, not sure if they still do (been out of the business for 6 years now).

The best I can tell people is to ask a lot of questions. Ask to see exactly what needs to be replaced. Have them show you (if possible) what a new part looks like compared to the faulty part. Not all parts will appear faulty to the look, have the technician explain to you why the part is bad. Most of all, GET A SECOND OPINION. I know it's a hassle going from one place to another but, it may save you a ton of money. When you take your vehicle elsewhere, DO NOT tell them that another place said "X" part was bad. Let them inspect the vehicles general area. For example; Sears claims your brake rotors and calipers need to be replaced. Take your vehicle to another location and ask them to do a brake inspection. If Sears claims you need new tie rod ends (suspension work), take it elsewhere and ask for a suspension inspection. If they tell you everything checks out good, THEN tell them another shop claims "X" part is bad, please check it again. If they come back and say, "Oh yeah, it is bad!!" Take it elsewhere again, because now, either they are trying to rip you off, or they were too incompetent to see it in the first place.

Again, I'm not trying to knock Sears, just trying to educate the public. I take my vehicles to Sears for all my tire and battery needs. Obviously if I need additional work, I perform it myself. There are a lot of GOOD technicians who work for Sears, then there are the bad ones. Ask if they have ASE certified techs. If they do, request those techs to perform your repairs.

I just wanted to add (in Sears' defense). When employee's are trained by Sears, they are trained by highly experienced instructors. Each trainee is tested in both classroom work and hands on work. Learning to become a good technician takes time. Diagnosis of a vehicle is not always easy. Some of the most experienced technicians have a hard time diagnosing particular vehicle problems. There are times that diagnosing a problem is only learned by trail and error. Even a highly trained dealership mechanic will have comebacks of the work they performed. Technicians are human as well.

So, what did "Dodge" have to say about the vehicle's seals and prior work?

I noticed you were "recinding" BEFORE the Dodge appointment could determine anything.

Dodge repaired the seals and stated as well as wrote documentation that the axle was NOT bent.  There is still more to the story as Sears refused to fix the brakes still stating the axle was bent.  They suggested we go to Midas to get them fixed.  Does that make sense to ANYONE?  What are we to do.  We thought that at least we would have another opinion on the brakes and the axle.  Midas refused to even look at them when they heard the Sears had recommended them.  We go back to Dodge.  Do you have any idea how awful it feels to be so helpless?  Dodge tells us they can and will fix the brakes and are certain the axles are not bent.  We would need to leave the vehicle overnight.  We had to find a way home.  We return the next day, trip number 7.  Again feeling sick and stressed beyond reason.  I drive the Durango before allowing myself to feel exhiliration.  There is no vibration!  None.  We speak to the Dodge manager and  he again tells us the axles were not bent. (We have all this recorded and written) They merely "turned" the rotors, which is what should have been done in the first place...by Sears. We suffered unnecessary expense because Sears did not know what to do.The additional $500 it cost us to get this resolved is not right.  We suffered unnecessary stress because of the situation they placed us in because they were ignorant of what they were supposed to know to do.  We have had to miss work, spent a minimum of 6 hours a day waiting for them to NOT do what they were supposed to do.  WASTED gas having to return again and again asking them to be responsible.  Shame on you Sears!

Brian

We will be in touch with you and appreciate your response.

Well. Not to purposely point you in another direction.

However, my wife has a Caravan that needed Dodge Dealer service and we had about the same level of "difficulties" that you've communicated you've had with Sears.

So, maybe it's not "just" the company name on the sign, but, the people working at each individual site.

Different training, experience and insights into automotive repair issues.

I hope Sears Cares can make things right for you folks.

I also would like to recommend that you get all the documentation from Dodge that you possibly can.

It is rather unusual for new rotors needing to be cut, and even more unusual for them to cause a vibration, unless you are stopping.

If these rotors were not true and straight "out of the box", then you also have a case for the damaged seal, as the vibration will do such a thing.

In addition, at your mileage, I would definitely inspect the calipers.  If they are not free, they will overheat new rotors, and warp them.  The undue heat from the pads not separating from the rotors after the brake is no longer applied can warp brand new rotors.  New, or machined rotors MUST be broken in properly, and gently.  From the mileage you describe driving to and fro, it may be a possibility that they were warped by heat from a caliper "hanging up".  If you don't have the calipers checked, you may cause yourself further problems on down the road.

This is just an educated guess, mind you, but possibly accurate.

If it were sticking calipers, the vehicle would tend to pull very noticeably without applying the brakes to the side of the sticking cup(s). The pads have a wear indicator (metal to metal tang) that will alert you when the pads need replacing. The newer materials void of asbestos can have a tendency to squeak also. When brake work is being done of this nature I suggest keep it clean (grease free on all braking surfaces), inspect bearings, correct  bearing pre-load, replace grease seals, bleed system as neccessary, and always torque wheel lugs w/in specs.

I agree with Torque, the original concern you had (squeak) when brakes are applied was probably a "normal charachteristic" of semi-metalic disk brake pads. If you had a bent axle there would be a wobble or vibration at all times, not just when the brakes are applied. I think there was a mis-diagnosis from the start, then the situation was compounded when an inexpierenced repair technician began to service your vehicle. If you use a pneumatic or air powered impact gun to install the wheel lug nuts, you can and usually will overtorque the lug nuts. For example a "typical" lug nut specification is 100pound feet of torque. A typical air impact gun can produce 250-500 pound feet of torque, depending how long the repair tech stays on the trigger after the lug nut has stopped turning. SO WHAT??? Why is all that important? Because when the lug nuts are overtorqued it causes the brake rotor to warp, or distort and become out of round, this in turn causes brake pedal pulsation or vibration when the brakes are applied. Sometimes you may also feel this vibration in the steering wheel. I always hand torque the lug nuts back on with a torque wrench (a masuring device). Some shops utilize a torque stick with an impact wrench to save time. I do not like those because I want to make sure the job is perfomed accuratly, and that you can remove the wheel if you get a flat tire.  Thanks, Dave. :-) This is all based on the facts present here in this article as I was not at the repair facility when the work was performed.

i have to agree with dave3365 and torque and as a master tech. i am also trained with a 2 year associates degree in automotive repair in the shops aroundi have heard rumors of people selling new rotors on low milage vehicles and clean them and turn rotors witch is wrong but things like this happen the tech that did your work could have cut a warp in the rotors if this is to be the case witch in turn would give you the vibration that you explained about and would happen only after being driven for a while and the rotors start to expand from the heat. just so happen that it really cant be proven unless you have the old parts and measure the thickness of the rotors with a micrometer.

I've had hanging calipers not pull, so I can say it doesn't happen every time.

I've even seen strut bearings be the cause of vibration, which was assumed to be the tire out of balance.

I worked in a heavy duty brake shop for quite a few years, and we did domestic, and foreign as well, so I hope I know what I'm doing too.

Great input, gents...

I have machined rotors, drums, flywheels, and worked on everything from a Ford Galaxy, to a Case tractor.

I am not at all suprised on your comments about the automotive manager at the Rapid City Sears not coming out of his office.  My experience with him was very similar and left me with the same thoughts of wanting to sue him and Sears.  He is incompetent and needs to be terminated.   Good luck with your lawsuit!

You should not take your car to a place that sells shoes shirts and underware and trust them to repair anything well maybe wiper blades sears is not a good outlet for auto repairs never has nor never will