stonerock

Member
battery went south in the 2011 traverse, wife took it to Firestone for a battery she called and said they wanted 240.00 for batt and install, hell no bring it home.doug around the batt rack found a batt that would fit the hole half hour later everything is ok, sometimes you just think your to bussy to fix things
 
(quoted from post at 10:56:27 01/15/18)
You installed a used battery in the vehicle that your wife depends on?

I was thinking the same thing.

He's a braver man than I!
 
no got about 25 batt all new. neighbor works for interstate, drives his own truck, he rolled it over about
year and a half ago, ins payed for truck and cargo he buy's truck and cargo back, I buy the about fifty
batts all new
 
Well, he will be the one who gets the call, and the tongue lashing. Fortunately for me, wiffy's car battery showed signs of old age, I went and got a new one without the "Hey dumass I thought you fixed this, come and get me going" speech. lol gobble
 
I got into almost the same thing.

My '13 Silverado called for a group 48BCI battery. At the auto supply it was around $150.

Did some measuring, the old stand by group 24 fit perfectly. Slightly taller, but no interference. It was around $120.
 
Daughter was using Firestone and she was telling me what they were charging her to do work. They were way out of line in prices and a number of times the work was not done right.I told her to find another shop to work on vehicles and she did and they charge reasonable prices and work is done right.
 
I?d like to pass on my story! I try to do my own work and when I can be proactive I would replace a car or truck battery in a heartbeat.
Last Christmas my daughter was home from St Louis (Grad School) where she works in the inter city giving eye care and exams to children in need.
As it happened as I was having her car serviced at the Ford dealership the car battery died as I was leaving the garage. The battery was five years old and was definitely dead. I paid $60-80.00 more for having them put it in. I didn?t bat an eye and having it done. In fact I told the service manager it was the best thing that happened to me that day!
I can?t imagine what it would be for me to get a call some evening from my daughter coming out of a clinic and have her say Dad what do I do and I?m five hours away?
 
Our St. Cloud Firestone dealer is one of the trustworthy shops here in town. They do what is asked, and act like My wife and I are not fools. Recommended. Jim
 
Our daughter leases her cars. Normally, I'm not enthused about leases except for businesses that can take it off their taxes, but for a single gal like our daughter I think it makes sense.

She gets new Hyundai's for less then $200 a month, always has a new car within warranty, and if she does have a problem, it's somebody else's worry.
 
Your lucky that your store must have good management. We stopped buying tires from our local Firestone store because they could never keep their billing straight. You pay cash for new set of tires and in a month get a bill saying you owed on them. They did that several times and they were history.
 
NOT! NOT! NOT! You should see the letter I sent to the manager, and the main US office. Brought the letter in later with another failed tire (Under 2000 miles). He accused me of switching tires- 2 were purchased in Galveston TX, the other 2 purchased in St. Cloud. One had 1300 miles, brought in by my son and mgr warranted it as 50% wear! I had all the original paperwork on the tires. When my wife brought the car in, he asked her if she wanted an alignment...she didn"t know, so said yes. There was no indication of bad wear on the tire and I told him that he would not have asked about alignment if I had been there. His alignment results showed over a dozen measurements were well within tolerance, 2 were a bit off, but in tolerance. Unnecessary alignment was $80.

This was about 2 years ago- I have yet to hear from the US office.

Side note- when in Galveston, waited in the office for the tires to be mounted...noticed the car was in the lot in front of the store, for a long time. Finally asked the mgr if it was done, he said yes. We were sitting in view of him, but he called our home number in MN to tell us that the car was ready! We were 20 feet away!
 
My bil works part time at a parts house I get all my parts thru him last battery I bought AC Delco orginal replacement $68.00 the markup on some of the parts is unbelievable.
 
A couple of months ago, my kid was driving the '98 Jeep and the alternator quit on a Saturday afternoon. It left him set on the side of the road. Triple AAA towed him to a Firestone shop because it was the only one open. I would have rescued him, but he was three hours away from me. Anyway, they threw on a new alternator and battery to the tune of almost $700. My kid and I were over a barrel, so we were at their mercy. The itemized bill shows that they charged $50 just to change the battery. JUST TO CHANGE THE BATTERY. There is nothing special about it. It can be done in under 5 minutes and they also broke the battery hold down clamp.
The irony of this was that I had put on a new battery and alternator about a month before this and the new alternator had failed, so nothing that I could have done to foresee this coming.
Stay away from Firestone.
 

It does not sound like you installed the proper battery nor take into consideration they like to get paid for there time...

OE Exact Fit; Battery is vented to outside of vehicle.; Installation may take up to 45 minutes. Battery located behind the passenger seat.; OE Spec: OE Group H6; OE CCA 660; Battery Spec: 730 CCA;
 

i've kinda heard and experienced that rebuilt and Aftermarket alternators are prone to failure.

probably better off finding a lower milage used OE alternator than a "new" or rebuilt.
 
wgm, see you know nothing about batts, there are two dates on each battery, one is date of manuf and date it is installed. these two dates can be two years apart [this isant a loaf of bread, its not made the night before you need it] there are made and sat on shelves for months befor sent to stores and then sets untill sold, then date of instalation is punched out, trying to be a know it all may have taught you something..........p.s. how old is your batt?
 
HOBO, you are right put a 750 cca batt in, better then factory spec, vent tube 1/4'' to the outside, took me
15 mins to change [just like a tractor only carpet on top] batt 80.00 firestone total was 240.00, thats
160.00 to install.....will NOT pay 160.00 for 15 min work..you are the reason why they charge like this you
pay it
 
John, I had a friend (now deceased) whose daughter was going to nursing school at Washington U. in St. Louis a few years ago. She had some night classes, and he was afraid someone would swipe her battery and leave her in a pickle. Her car did not have the internal hood latch. He made a secure battery mount in the trunk and ran welding cable to the front. There was an old flat dead battery hooked to phony cables under the hood. Sure enough, one night she came out to the car and the hood was partially open. She shut the hood, got in and drove off. He said he hoped the thief was watching. She checked under the hood the next day, and the phony battery was gone, with the cables cut.
 

I get it because I can... My kids like nice chit too... The tax man likes his cut also its life if you can do it yourself that's OK its not the man that's trying to make ends meet fraught.

I spec they have enoufh problems and can live without you..
 
When I get a quote like that for something as simple as that I find the time to do the job myself real quick and you usually can end up getting parts than place you took it to will put in anyway because they use the cheap junk and the rest goes for labor
 
(quoted from post at 21:25:45 01/15/18) HOBO, you are right put a 750 cca batt in, better then factory spec, vent tube 1/4'' to the outside, took me
15 mins to change [just like a tractor only carpet on top] batt 80.00 firestone total was 240.00, thats
160.00 to install.....will NOT pay 160.00 for 15 min work..you are the reason why they charge like this you
pay it
FYI and others, Firestone as well as most repair shops, especially chain store types are not going to install an alternate battery.
They will only install what the O.E.M. specifies or is called for in their books. Thus you pay a premium for some odd ball size/style battery.
Some tire shops will now longer sell/install tires that are only one size wider than O.E.M. either. Won't install a 225 if O.E.M. was 215 etc.
 
My wife was in town recently and a windshield wiper came apart. I told her to take it over to autozone and they would sell her a pair and install for her which she did and they did. Brought me the bill and it was 61.00 with tax on a set of 22" blades. I couldn't believe it but one has to be perpetually alert to overpricing.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top