Other people wrenching on my vehicle - Rant with Parental Advisory

It all started six weeks ago, just a few days before Halloween. I purchased a 1999 Chevy CT 1 ton dually with a 16foot cube on the back. 222k miles on the odometer. Pretty much the exact same as a U-Haul truck but in Chevy form.

Paid $2k for the truck. Not bad. It's an AZ truck so ZERO rust on it. Drove it around for a few days and I noticed it would wonder around on the road a bit and the left front tire was severely worn on the outside edge.
Because of my still current living condition I am unable to wrench on my own cars like I did back in WI when I had my own very well-equipped garage. Plus, I am under a very tight time squeeze because of what's going on in life at the moment.

So I took the truck to a local tire/alignment shop. They told me over the phone they could align it no problem. When I showed up, they told me, "holy crap, we can't do anything like that." So, a couple of days later I take it to another place. They say, "yep we can do that, and we'll get done today for ya no sweat. It'll be $149.95 lifetime alignment." I said let's do it. I also told them that if they find anything unusual do not proceed until talking to me. I'm in the waiting area for what seemed to be an eternity (3-1/2 hours only). Guy comes into the waiting area and says, "that'll be $1,280 and we'll have done by the end of this coming week." (this was on a Saturday)

After taking a knee and picking up my jaw off the floor I asked the guy how in the world he came up with such a number. Well it was clearly obvious he was just blowing smoke up my ass and he was under the assumption that I was just some clueless jughead when I called him out and told him to take me out the shop and show me. He then proceeded to give some bullshit line about insurance that I can't go out in shop, but yet at that very moment there was a woman standing right next to one the lifts with her car up in the air while one of the other service guys was showing her something under her car. I told that ass clown he picked the wrong to try and screw over and I demanded my keys back right then and there. I also told that guy just because business was slow, he didn't have to try screw me in the ass and try to take advantage of me, hoping I would just say yes to it all. For the record, this donkeys claim was both sides of the rear axle were leaking gear oil into the brakes and said the axle seals would have to be replaced. Now the truth, the axle seals are NOT leaking, period.

Now I'm on hunt for yet another place to do my front-end alignment. Find some guy a few blocks away from my work that said he was able to do it. Great! I left the truck there the following Monday morning. This guy said he'd have it done by weeks end. Still no call on Friday. Go to the shop on Saturday at noon (5 days after leaving it). He had this surprised look on his like, oh yeah, “I was supposed to do something wasn't I?” He completely forgot the truck was there!
Get me my keys so I can get the hell out of here!

Same day a few hours later I'm down the street from the last place and I find a guy who claims he can do the front-end alignment.
I told him the same thing, check it all out, but call me before you do anything. He calls me the following Monday, says I better get over to the shop and have a look at what's going on. I get over there and every ball joint is ready to fall apart. I told him just do what you gotta do to make this front-end right. This truck is going long distance I need it in top condition. Calls me back the next and says it'll be $400 for parts and labor. I'm like, yeah, make it happen. I'm thinking as long as this is getting done fairly cheap I told him to get me two brand new front tires, as long as you’re in there. He says, "no problem".
Two days later he calls me and says it's all done come pick it up. I get there and the $400 is now $1080! I'm like what the fu...! He says, "well, the steering box and the power steering pump and all the steering links AND the upper control arms were all junk. Cold hard fact of the matter is he was telling me the truth. The power steering pump I'm not so sure about, but it was amongst the cheapest items on the list. But here's the big slap on the back side of my nuts... I still don't have the front end aligned nor are there any new tires on the front. Yeah, I'm royally pissed because of the extra money spent but now I know the whole front-end is good and tight for the long haul.

Now this brings me up to just this last Monday the 10th. I call Discount Tire on the phone to make an appointment for Tuesday the 11th to get all 6 new tires installed. The guy on the phone was a superb guy. He got me all hooked up and ready to go. Even gave me my 'out the door total' of $741.45.

Tuesday morning rolls around and I take the truck into Discount Tire and said, "I'm dropping off the truck for all new tires." The guy behind counter gives me that deer in the headlights look. After all the crap I’ve been through the last couple weeks, why should I be surprised. I just told the guy behind the counter, "I've got a time slot scheduled for today, I don't give a rats fat pink ass how it gets done, but I need it done". I tossed the keys on the counter and walked out.

At 4:30pm yesterday I go over to Discount Tire and ask where my truck was? I never got a phone call or text message saying it was done. The guy behind the counter says, "we tried calling you." You tried? Whatever.
So I then I asked the guy to close me out because I got somebody waiting in the parking lot. He says, "it'll be $961.71, will you be paying that with credit today?" Now I'm ready to freaking lose it. I mean I'm on the cusp of just going plain mental. I pull a copy of my e-mail confirmation out of my pocket with my 'out the door price' of $741.45 from Monday night. without saying a word, this ass clown just turns around and walks into the shop area, stops, then turns around and looks at me through the glass. Just then some other donkey walks out of a door right behind the register I was standing at and asks me if I've been helped. I said, "no not helped, just fucked in the ass".

Now I admit that kind of response from me was totally unnecessary, but I must hand it to the guy that was now the brunt of my verbal assault regarding the guy that just walked away. This guy took everything I said, and it just slid off him like he was a strip of Teflon. What baffles me is that they could not come up with a reason on why he tried charging me the extra $220 and change. The guy simply said, "well that's the number you got from our other guy, I'm going to have to honor that." Finally, a half assed ounce of justice.

The whole brunt of this rant boils down to (2) things. The first thing being, I absolutely hate having to rely on another person or place to wrench on my vehicles, especially when it’s something I’m more than capable of doing. Even though my current situation doesn’t really allow that luxury, I still would have been better off finding some back alley and just mettle through this thing. The pain and agony of being mildly ill prepared still would have been much easier to deal with and at half the price.
The second thing being, the whole general customer service experience has gone straight to hell in a hand basket! And WTF is up with all this scamery (yeah I just made that word up) going on? Is that the only way to make a buck these days, by corn holing you right in the ass and then they expect you to smile and just sit there and take it like you’re enjoying it? All the while all these too gooder fucks wonder why people go on shooting sprees. I’m am so tired of getting drilled from behind over and over again by the general practices of corporate America and its now common practice of fuck-overism and sticking it to the man.
So for those of you who wonder why I pull engines and transmission just because, It’s my therapeutic way of keeping my sanity in check.

Rant finished