Firestone Complete Auto Care review: Inadequate/unsafe service

This past Saturday my van lost fluid for my power steering. I made an appointment and turned my van over to the Firestone 2522 S Academy Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80916 on Sunday 10/29/2023. They then didn't examine my van until late Monday and determined that it was a failed hose line for the power steering pump. They ordered a new one Tuesday morning and after it was delivered that afternoon they assured me that they were working to replace it and it would only take a couple of hours. After enough time had passed, I called and found out they had done nothing as they couldn't figure out how to unlatch my hood. After explaining how to open the hood, I then was assured that they'd replace the hose first thing the following morning Wednesday 11/1/2023. After waiting until noon, I called and was told they had not gotten to it yet and would be working on it soon. Nothing happened that day and the following day Thursday 11/2/2023 they were waiting for a new hose they had to order as they had ordered the wrong one first. By 6:00 PM I got a call that my van was done.

Walking the 1mile trip down to the Firestone shop I entered and spoke with the mechanic who told me he just completed the test drive and it was ready for me to take it back. Paying the repair fee I then left and got into my van, starting it, I began to drive through their parking lot when I noticed how strange the transmission was feeling, it was not accelerating smoothly, nor shifting right, I then also noticed that the Check Engine and Wrench warning light light was on in the display. Stopping I reentered the shop and told them about the indecator lights that were on and the strange way it was acting. The Mechanic told me that is was fine. That the problem had been fixed and that the wrench indecator only meant that it needed a oil change. When I pressed about the check engine light the mechanic grew irritated with me and said that it was on when he had pulled it into the bay. I told him that there was no indicators showing when I had dropped it off and asked him if he was sending me home with a vehicle that is indicating that something was wrong. The Mechanic then raised his voice at me saying that the wrench light only meant that it needed an oil change (wrong, the light means Drive train, transmission problem) and that the engine light was already on when he drove it into the bay so it was not his problem and that he was not going to argue about this. I was then offered by the manager to bring my van in the next morning on Friday so the lead mechanic could run the computer code and find out why it was displaying the warning lights. Fed up with getting the run-around, I went home feeling the van shifting oddly the entire way.

The next day on Friday, I took my van to another shop and after looking at it for less than 10 min, found that the Mass Air Flow Sensor Connector was disconnected, and that was throwing the computer for a loop and in turn affecting transmission controls. Once he plunged it back in, the warning indicators vanished and my van shifted smooth again.

The Firestone mechanic lied to me several times. He lied that after giving my van a test dive that it was ready even though it was displaying two warning lights in the dash, then he lied about the meaning of one of the lights telling me it meant it needed an oil change when it actually meant that there was a Drive Train/Transmission issue. Both are major issues. Even if Firestone does not fix those things, those are things that he should have informed me about and let me know that it needs to go to the correct shop to be looked at, instead, he told me the van was ready to be driven home with was irresponsible and dangerous. Even thought the true cause turned out to be a simple sensor cable he forgot to plug back in, it could have been much worse.

So in short it took this shop 5 days to replace a hose they assured me would only take 2 and a half hours and in the end were willing to send me home while the van was indicating dangerous warning lights that he was ignoring. I am very angry about the service, I have been to this shop several times in the past and now will not return. You have lost me as a customer.