A couple years ago I had a terrible experience with a local Big O tire shop. Because I had a prior experience were I was a little unhappy and made it kindly known to one of the managers that I trusted, the techs took it out on me a year later on when I went to have my alignment done. The toe was barely out due to an outer tie rod that needed to be replaced. They cranked the steering wheel to the left and really had to change the toe a significant amount. Since then the car had not been driven much due to other issues so until now I wasn't ready to get another alignment.

So today I try the local Les Schwab after going in there last week and making sure they can adjust the caster via the ball joints when Big O said they wouldn't touch it. I put my trust in the workers hands and told them before starting about how I wanted the Camber at .04 (maybe 1/4 of a degree is actually more like .03) as Volvo had advised in later press releases. All seemed promising. Until I watched my car sit in a bay for well over 45 minutes with no one touching the car. It sat with the hood down for a long long time. I got there 5 minutes early too for my appointment.

So as I sat wondering how long it was going to be watching it sit there with no attention when I suddenly was told that it was ready. ????

Should I really go on with the details? In short the toe was adjusted within spec. The camber or caster was never attempted to be changed. The tech is telling me in response to my questions that they would have to "drill out the spot welds on the top plate" to adjust the Camber any more. The camber was in spec when I brought it in (.7/.9) and when they finished (.8/1.0). But the numbers moved uniformly both with the Camber and Castor due to the drastic change in toe because Big O had cranked my steering wheel to the left and then aligned it when it only needed some small toe adjustments.

So here is the kicker. While he sits lying to my face about trying to move the camber and caster with the help of another tech and they really put all their force into it but couldn't get it to adjust any more, its made known to me that he had worked at European Only (a local crappy shop that screwed me over in the past). You most likely don't have time or the patience to hear the story again but for those who didn't wade through it the first time I essential caught one of European Only's employee in a lie while trying to pass off a part they had in stock as one he had special ordered for me and then tried to charge me double for it. The same stop light switch that lasted me maybe 1 year. It lead to a long rattling off of expletives by the employee at me while he attempted to find the order form that would show the owner he wasn't lying. Once the owner figured out he was lying they came out of a back room threatening to call the police if I didn't leave and possible physical assault could occur. So I left. Now one of their former employee is lying to my face. I just about dropped to the floor in unbelief.

We went out to the car and one of the managers showed up soon after to find out what was going on. Cut to the chase I'm heading back in on Friday morning to have it redone. When I say redone I mean to the exact specs I'm demanding or else! Who knows or else what but if your employee is going to lie to me and give me a total BS story after only spending less than 10 minutes adjusting only the toe because opening the hood was going to take too long and make me wait over an hour when I had an appointment and then have me waste my gas and morning going back you better believe its going to be perfect or else? A full refund with a slightly off alignment? Maybe I should expect to waste their time for 2 hours on Friday watching the numbers teeter between .03 and .04. The caster? Its going to be as perfect as it can be. Or else? Who knows maybe the BBB will be hearing from me. Maybe have my credit card challenge the charge? Who knows. But I'm pretty tired of this sort of thing happening when all someone needs to be is honest and fair. When you charge a shop hour to align a car then use the time your charging to do the job.

Alright. So my question is has anyone ever received a perfect alignment? The answer will hopefully be YES after Friday morning.

PS. I kept my cool at the shop and believe in patience and forgiveness. But there is also the need for a little justice. I'd like to see this experience made into one their cartoon commercials. Maybe headquarters would like to use it for a small fee.