Pep Boys won’t release my car even though I paid them to fix it?
Posted by jwal1992@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 31 comments
Long story short:
- Car breaks down out of town
- Insurance will only cover tow to nearest Pep Boys
-Pep Boys quotes me $1.7k for a new fuel pump. Not much of a choice so I tell them to fix it.
-Pep Boys fixed fuel pump. Sends link for online payment.
-Pay the bill. Money comes out of bank, but Pep Boys link says they had an issue running the card.
-Call the store. They confirm they have not received payment. Call bank to flag charge. Call Pep Boys cooperate who pretty much say “I don’t know, man”.
-Waiting for someone to do something, or at least for charge to get out of pending.
Is this normal? They won’t let me pick up my car until THEY receive the payment. But I have never paid for a car and had THE CAR PLACE have issues receiving payment.
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
I guess this isn’t clear? This isn’t a me issue. This is PB issue. Where do they get the gaul to offer a service where the funds are released from my bank AND they don’t release my car? I’ll be paying for repairs in person for now on. But for a company that wanted me to pay an $800 deposit for a fuel pump, super shitty of them to have a payment system inferior to competition.
floydbomb@reddit
This is absolutely a you and your bank problem. I actually had some sympathy for you until I read this entitled ass comment of yours
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
Could you imagine asking me to fix your phone and I fix it. Then you run your card, the money comes out of your account, but my interface doesn’t show the payment. So I decide I can’t release the phone because of my poorly operating interface.
Great. Now imagine that with a car. What’s missing?
floydbomb@reddit
You accepting responsibility.
wide_right100@reddit
If I was in that situation I would tell you to pay again because the payment didn’t go through. No one cares the money left your account, it didn’t reach the right destination.
You need to deal with this, call your bank and figure it out.
If you were selling an item on marketplace and someone Venmo you the cash but it didn’t show up in your account would you let them leave with the item. Or would you hold onto the item till you can confirm you got payment for the thing you sold.
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
I would have given the buyer the correct Venmo account.
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
So bippity boppity boo magically my bank is suppose to *check notes* control PB’s IT and billing process? My bank released the funds and sent them to PB. Why didn’t PB receive the payment? I’m entitled to this opinion because I worked my ass off for my money and chose to spend it on the service the promised to provide.
These jerks cannot hold my funds AND my car at the same time. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. How am I the outlier here?
wide_right100@reddit
Maybe your bank sent it to the wrong location and they messed up.
Maybe your bank flagged it as a fraud charge and the funds didn’t get refunded to your account yet
Maybe you paid a scam link and not actual pepboys
How are you so sure this is a 100% pep boys problem?
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
I guess they could have sent it to the wrong location? Unlikely considering both the bank and PB’s presence in the economy.
They did initially flag it as fraud. I jumped through those hoops and ran the card again. The band released the funds and PB’s said “error”.
Pep Boys sent the link from a number they were previously communicating with me on. So a hacker hacked their phone number used to text me?
I guess I’m not it’s not the banks problem. But I’m having a hard time finding a logistical reason how it’s the bank’s problem and not PB.
wide_right100@reddit
This is a you and your bank issue. Pepboys has not gotten paid for this, despite what it says on your end pepboys made it clear that have not gotten the money you sent.
They are completely in the right for holding a vehicle that on their end has not been paid for. You need to figure this out with your bank
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
The reason their system shows it not paid is because their system hasn’t process the payment. I paid for the service. My bank released the funds for the service. And, all because their system is flawed, I can’t have my funds or my car?! This is clearly a then issue. Idk how to put it more plainly.
Independent-Field226@reddit
Something is not adding up about this story.
Flenke@reddit
This is your bank issue, not pb
benicebuddy@reddit
I'd pay it twice and continue the dispute. The store is following their procedures and they are not allowed to deviate from them based on a screenshot any teenager could make in a few minutes.
JCC114@reddit
This is the answer. Pay it again, and fix on back end if it doesn’t fix itself. If you don’t have the credit limit or some other challenge along those lines limits your options, but this is easy way forward.
Valuable_Sky_124@reddit
Yeah just fork out another 1.7k super easy solution! Wait until the bank figures out your other 1.7k
SumyungNam@reddit
Pep boys is trash
myco_lion@reddit
Call the bank. You were out of town and made an abnormal purchase. It's likely it was flagged as potential fraud.
Holla_Ackbar@reddit
It’s possible you were scammed. I have never heard of paying for online services like his before.
Scammers can spoof emails that make it look legit, but you’re paying them and not the actual company.
IAteTonysLoMein@reddit
How have you never run into this? I've had this sort of thing from mechanics, veterinarians, urgent care clinics, and probably others I'm not remembering.
It would also be very unusual for this to be a scam - they would have to be able to connect that op had his car with pep boys and fake an invoice for the amount op was quoted.
BisexualCaveman@reddit
This does happen with corporate invoices, it could happen with garage invoices.
Bad guys will hack into big company emails so they know who is expecting an invoice, and then they'll send bad payment information to the victim.
Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit
Oh it's probably a scam, just not the one you're thinking of. $1700 for a fuel pump replacement?
NarrowPirate9754@reddit
To add, they’d have to know the customer/service number for that vehicle, the exact reason it was there, hell there’s 7 other things they have to get 100% correct to pull this off
floydbomb@reddit
Just because you haven't heard of it, doesn't mean its not a thing
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
Oh for sure. I wouldn’t have touched it if it wasn’t a text from a number Pep Boys was already using to contact me.
TechOutonyt@reddit
What kind of car do you have?
Square-Instance9677@reddit
Why don't you just go to the pep boys and pay it directly when you pick up your car?
jwal1992@reddit (OP)
I mean I will next time. I’ve had previous good encounters with other repair shop’s pay online for repairs. This is the first time I’ve ran into this issue.
Tony-cums@reddit
How old are you that you need to come to a website to figure out how to pay a bill?
Vegetable_Sample7384@reddit
The money getting lost somewhere between you and them is not usual. On their side they haven’t been paid, and it’s the industry standard to hold the car until payment is received. So that part is normal.
I’d contact the third party payment service they use. No offense to those guys, but I highly doubt they are using anything in-house to run credit card payments online. Which is why pep boys isn’t being much help. They probably have no way of knowing themselves.
Try and get ahold of their payment processor, if that doesn’t go anywhere then have your bank reverse the charge, then go in and pay for it. Or go in and pay for it again, then dispute a double charge. Whatever you think will work best in your situation.
Fishvv@reddit
First always pay for services like this in person to grab your keys
Second just because your insurance only covers towing to x place does not mean you can not pay to have your vehicle towed to your preferred destination which may be cheaper in the long run.
I have 50 mile towing but if i am 100 from my mechanic i can definitely pay to have it towed that extra 50 miles