Alignment ordeal

Well I went and got my truck aligned today.

I picked this particular shop because they gave me a set price to do the three axle alignment. I called a bunch of shops near me and no one would give me a set price and I know if you go into a shop and they tell you it's 350 but then it's just time if we have to shim your Rears or do your Toe in and it might be hard to get apart we may have problems... That $350 could turn into $1,000.

So the price was $420 plus the cost of The shims. Included in that they would torque my u-bolts set the steering wheel straight and set my ride height.

They kept me there all day from 7:30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon just for an alignment.

About an hour before I left the mechanic came out and said I had an air leak on top of my airbag and the fitting needed to be replaced. So I said okay go ahead. It is a fitting. Big deal.

So at the end of this colossal day that my price was $420 they hand me a bill for $640.

I said where does all this extra money come from? They said the shims cost $40 which is 460 so I said well what is the rest of this price?

He said oh well you had an air leak that is something separate.

So at that point I kind of started getting a little loud. I said you're trying to charge me $180 for a $5 fitting? After I've been here all day waiting for my truck?

He said well that's a separate thing from the alignment.

So I said it's an.... Air fitting... That is right on top of the airbag... there's nothing to take apart... you literally unscrew it... and screw a new one in.

So finally he said I'll just charge you $6 for the part.

Then I go out to my truck and I take a look at the mileage. Well the mechanic had been telling me how great my truck runs and he kind of went on and on about it.

So part of the time that I sat there all day waiting for my truck he took my truck out and took it for a joyride.

There is no reason on Earth you take a truck anywhere after alignment. Set it according to the specs and the owner takes it home.

By that time I was too tired to even go back in and argue with them.

I will tell you this though. I will never ever ever take my truck anywhere that I can't pull it into the garage myself and take the Fn key.

And the hell of it is the truck rides worse now than when I took it there. They gave me no computer printout for the specifications which I sent them an email to send it to me.

I think the vibration I feel is that they did not set the ride height to the correct height so I'll reset it tomorrow and we'll see. The front end does feel good and the wheel is straight.

The Mechanic did Tell me that Freightliner said that truck had a different specification than what I had it set to when I went there.

But the back end was way smoother before I took it in there.

My dad was right. He said to never take your stuff anywhere to anyone at any time. Find a way to do it yourself. They are out to rip you off.

Very true words.

 

Maybe the mechanics that do this every day could respond.

To the best of my knowledge the alignment has to be aligned according to the specifications.

Once it is aligned there is no joy riding.

On top of that my truck has a terrible vibration. If the purpose of the test ride is to see how it is he should have felt the vibration and fixed it.