4 Wheel Parts in Austin rant
dtrojcak
Jeeper
Avoid them unless you have deep pockets and love to throw away money for unnecessary repairs.
I sent the following as a direct facebook message, long read, but here goes:
I write this message to inform you of my poor experience with your Austin location.
My driver’s side axle bearing failed and caused the tire/axle to slide out of the axle tube. On Monday, July 14, I made an appointment for the following Monday, July 21 at 10am to replace the rear axle bearings in my CJ7 . I informed the guy on the phone that I had a 1978 Jeep CJ7 with an AMC20 rear end with 1-piece axles. The sales guy looked up the necessary kit, quoted me $45 each for the bearing kit and $100 each axle for labor. The $45 price matched the kit that I had already found on your website for an AMC20 1-piece axle. He required a 50% deposit to order the parts and to set up an appointment. I live 2 hours away, so I made the appointment for 10am to insure plenty of time for me to drive there. So far, everything is fine.
I arrive at 9:15am on Monday, July 21 to drop off my jeep. At this time, I was unsure if the axle could be reused or if it was damaged by the failed bearing. I remind the front counter guy of this and my 2 hour drive time home. I asked them to call me ASAP, if the axle would need to be replaced as it would have to be ordered and the job would not be completed on Monday. At 1:00pm, after receiving no phone call, I call the shop back to check the status of my repair. This is where the problems began.
The guy who answered told me the mechanic had a long list of parts that needed to be replaced in addition to the axle bearings, and that the tech would call me within 30 minutes to inform me of the new list of repairs. I started driving toward the shop and arrived 35 minutes later with no phone received.
When I walked in, the front counter guy told me that my differential had been run dry for a long time, which caused the gears to become rusty and pitted and they needed to be replaced. He also said that the spider gears were missing and I would need new ones. At this point, I almost lost my temper. I informed him that I had drained the oil myself 10 days prior to this, and the jeep had only been driven onto my trailer at my house, and then unloaded at their shop, so I knew for a fact that it had not been driven for more than 100 feet without gear oil in the differential case. I then asked him if he actually knew what a spider gear was, since it would be impossible for the jeep to be driven at all if both of them were in fact missing. Apparently he was trying to cover up the fact that the bearing kits that I had ordered and paid for over the phone were never actually ordered. When I questioned why the bearing kits were not actually ordered, I was told they didn’t know what kind of rear end/axle combination my jeep had, and they had to wait to inspect it before ordering parts. I told him that I gave all of that information on the previous Monday when I made the appointment. He stated the info never got put into the system because a new guy took my order. I stated I could understand that, but I questioned why no one had bothered to call me in the last 7 days to ask me for more info, instead of me driving 2 hours to drop off my jeep for them to look at, driving 2 hours home, only to do it all over again tomorrow. He only made excuses and attempted to move the blame to me for not giving them the necessary information. I then asked why I had to pay a deposit up front if no parts were actually ordered. I received no intelligent answer. I then asked why no one bothered to call me in the last 4 hours to inform me of this problem. I received no intelligent answer. All he kept saying was they did not have the necessary parts in stock and could not complete the job as scheduled on Monday. He did offer to refund my deposit and allow me to take the jeep home unrepaired. I informed him that I wanted the job to be completed and reluctantly agreed to return on Tuesday to pick up the repaired jeep.
What concerns me the most is the apparent lack of ethics of at least some of your front counter people in the Austin location. If I had no mechanical knowledge, they would have sold me several unnecessary parts along with charging me for the unnecessary labor. They tried to sell me a ring and pinion gear, 2 spider gears, and all the necessary bearings, shims, etc. that are required to replace these parts. All of these unnecessary repairs just to cover up the fact that someone made a mistake and did not order the parts that I had paid for 7 days prior.
If you would like, I can send you pictures of the inside of my differential case to show you that the spider gears are in fact installed, and that there is no rust or pitting on any of the gears because they are still coated with gear oil.
Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Dennis
I sent the following as a direct facebook message, long read, but here goes:
I write this message to inform you of my poor experience with your Austin location.
My driver’s side axle bearing failed and caused the tire/axle to slide out of the axle tube. On Monday, July 14, I made an appointment for the following Monday, July 21 at 10am to replace the rear axle bearings in my CJ7 . I informed the guy on the phone that I had a 1978 Jeep CJ7 with an AMC20 rear end with 1-piece axles. The sales guy looked up the necessary kit, quoted me $45 each for the bearing kit and $100 each axle for labor. The $45 price matched the kit that I had already found on your website for an AMC20 1-piece axle. He required a 50% deposit to order the parts and to set up an appointment. I live 2 hours away, so I made the appointment for 10am to insure plenty of time for me to drive there. So far, everything is fine.
I arrive at 9:15am on Monday, July 21 to drop off my jeep. At this time, I was unsure if the axle could be reused or if it was damaged by the failed bearing. I remind the front counter guy of this and my 2 hour drive time home. I asked them to call me ASAP, if the axle would need to be replaced as it would have to be ordered and the job would not be completed on Monday. At 1:00pm, after receiving no phone call, I call the shop back to check the status of my repair. This is where the problems began.
The guy who answered told me the mechanic had a long list of parts that needed to be replaced in addition to the axle bearings, and that the tech would call me within 30 minutes to inform me of the new list of repairs. I started driving toward the shop and arrived 35 minutes later with no phone received.
When I walked in, the front counter guy told me that my differential had been run dry for a long time, which caused the gears to become rusty and pitted and they needed to be replaced. He also said that the spider gears were missing and I would need new ones. At this point, I almost lost my temper. I informed him that I had drained the oil myself 10 days prior to this, and the jeep had only been driven onto my trailer at my house, and then unloaded at their shop, so I knew for a fact that it had not been driven for more than 100 feet without gear oil in the differential case. I then asked him if he actually knew what a spider gear was, since it would be impossible for the jeep to be driven at all if both of them were in fact missing. Apparently he was trying to cover up the fact that the bearing kits that I had ordered and paid for over the phone were never actually ordered. When I questioned why the bearing kits were not actually ordered, I was told they didn’t know what kind of rear end/axle combination my jeep had, and they had to wait to inspect it before ordering parts. I told him that I gave all of that information on the previous Monday when I made the appointment. He stated the info never got put into the system because a new guy took my order. I stated I could understand that, but I questioned why no one had bothered to call me in the last 7 days to ask me for more info, instead of me driving 2 hours to drop off my jeep for them to look at, driving 2 hours home, only to do it all over again tomorrow. He only made excuses and attempted to move the blame to me for not giving them the necessary information. I then asked why I had to pay a deposit up front if no parts were actually ordered. I received no intelligent answer. I then asked why no one bothered to call me in the last 4 hours to inform me of this problem. I received no intelligent answer. All he kept saying was they did not have the necessary parts in stock and could not complete the job as scheduled on Monday. He did offer to refund my deposit and allow me to take the jeep home unrepaired. I informed him that I wanted the job to be completed and reluctantly agreed to return on Tuesday to pick up the repaired jeep.
What concerns me the most is the apparent lack of ethics of at least some of your front counter people in the Austin location. If I had no mechanical knowledge, they would have sold me several unnecessary parts along with charging me for the unnecessary labor. They tried to sell me a ring and pinion gear, 2 spider gears, and all the necessary bearings, shims, etc. that are required to replace these parts. All of these unnecessary repairs just to cover up the fact that someone made a mistake and did not order the parts that I had paid for 7 days prior.
If you would like, I can send you pictures of the inside of my differential case to show you that the spider gears are in fact installed, and that there is no rust or pitting on any of the gears because they are still coated with gear oil.
Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Dennis
The good thing you had going for you was/is that you have mechanical knowledge.....hard to rip you off..lol Hopefully all will turn out good for you and by the way...I had the same failure as you did...dang wheel and axle popped out a bit while making a turn in my drive way...some scary stuff! 
