yusoslo

I purchased an alternator from autozone and intalled it. Everything was fine until my check battery light started to come on randomly. I went back to autozone and they hooked it up to their machine and said it was fine, i went back a second time and asked if I could rev the motor and they said it wasnt neccisary. Well after two opinions from two different autozones I went on my way to spring break, needless to say I broke down 500 miles from home. After a long long long story (which is irrelevent as of now) I pick the car up 1 week later for a bill of 1,000 dollars. This included 14 man hours of rewiring the entire car, alternator, battery, diagnostics, and wire materials.
The thing is I am not upset with the price, but rather this...................
The shop felt bad that it required so much time and money but they wanted to correct the problem completely which was my autozone alternator was bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it was reading 18.7 volts at 2,000 rpms
now the shop told me to take autozone to a small claims court because it gets much worse...........
this is what was blown up from the electrical problem......(minus alt. battery, wires)
$400 CD player
$1300 (2 amps)
gauges
tach
all exterior lighting (except high beams)
winsheild wipers
ac and heat controller unit
last but not least...my airbag
add to this my 1,000 dollar shop bill
which I have in signing by the manager......stating it was all due to the alternator
Do you think I have a case?????
let me know

AB16A2T

Hell yea I think you have a case. That would suck big D**K, I would be hella pissed off. Go for it and get your money back dude for sure.

leprechan117

defenitly, especially if they said it was fine 2 different times. im tired of the morons at those mass-produced car shops. one guy was convinced that my engine didnt exist, and set out to prove it to me by showing me a list of alternator belts on his computer!!! *shakes head*

Evs-One

well...it sounds like you have a lot of "accessories" which is causing your electrical/charging system to fail. Their alternators are designed as replacements at the most.

When you're running a high power stereo-ie amps, etc...you should upgrade to a better alternator.

So....your stereo stuff could have contributed as well as a cheao alternator doing the minimal job, yet satisfactory for a oe replacement- not meant for stereos

acuracing

Sounds like you have a solid case. It's sad, but guys that works at auto parts store aren't always knowledgable. Can't always trust them.

12SecHatch

sounds pretty solid to me,

ELUD THS

you got a case., good luck

SpoonN1

Take his azz to court!

CRX_VTEC

I dont think you have a case. But thats just my opioion. Good Luck though..

Spade

Your lawyer is going to love this.
Make sure you get enough money from Autozone to cover the lawyer fees too.

COMplex.

i hope you have proof of proper installation.

autozone is a big company and might try and blame you for it. so be careful and good luck

toolbox

Just curious. Is the voltage regulator in the alt in your car or is it external? Thats what failed on the car if you had 18+ volts, and if it is an internal regulator then i think autozone should definately pay for damages.

good luck man

ImprtTuner88

I work at auto zone. More than likely what the guy said above is true, BUT. If your alternator was putting out more than what the testing chart shows, unless you had a moron test it, it would have told the story. In my case where I work the commercial customers (shops that work on cars like you)will tell the customers all kinds of **** to make money. I had a customer complain just the other day cause Firestone charged her $1200 for a fuel pump, filter, injector and labor. She said that her car isn't running right and found out that they bought the parts from us and wanted to know if we were gonna pay for her labor costs to get her car fixed, uh NO! In reality alot of garages around the country are no more that parts swappers, in other words they just swap parts until they fix the problem, they really can't diagnose what the real problem is. What I am getting to is alot of times when garages find out that the part was bought outside of their sources, they will conjur up whatever need be to pass the blame, cost whatever you want to call it onto someone else, so they look like the good guy. Chances are your alternator might have been overcharging, if it where your battery would have boiled over and you would be been overrun by the small of battery acid as well, did you smell anything like that? I definately feel your pain in your car not running right, trust me.......but, think about it, do you really think that you are going to get anywhere suing AZ? Don't think so, they have lots more money that you do, and will tie it up in legalities. If you really want to get somewhere then ask to speak with the district manager, there is a phone # the store manager will give you that will enable you to leave a voice mail message, tell your story there and how you don't want to cause trouble, you just want what is justly yours. They will file a work claim and send it off for review, worst case scenario they will only pay for half of the labor and replace the alternator, best case they will cover labor and replace the alternator. I will add one more thing, hooking up lots of accessories to an OE 90amp alternator will over work it, cause it to get hot, in case getting wires hot, etc. Will cause the voltage regulator to crap out and either under or over charge, just an FYI

Good luck man.

ImprtTuner88

Couldn't have said it any better myself........like I said, good luck

ImprtTuner88

It is internal, but a voltage regulator can also be cause to fail by having too much of a "drain" or "pull" on it from accessories such as, two amps, cd player, gauges, tach, etc. you get my point

ciRcuitJerk

sue those suckas if its their fault

Slow CX

No you don't. You were pulling to many amps from the stock alternator. Its your fault. Now because of your stupidity you want someone else to pay for it because it cost to much to fix. Lesson learned, cost alot of money but I bet you won't do it again. Can't people learn from there misstakes and not try to get rich off someone else.

yusoslo

i dont think you understand my view point.
First of all the amps were not run both at once. I blew one then got it repaired and it blew again. They were interior 50x4 amps pushing 6" speakers.
second of all. this was a faulty alternator to begin with, and it ruined my entire electrical system

Slow CX

I'm not talking about speaker amps. I' talking about the amps for the alt. All the stuff you are running takes power from the battery duh. Now you were most likely pulling more power than the battery had making the alt do all the work, but you were taking more than it could make.

miahmouse

I've run a hell of a lot more than he's running on a stock alternator and not had a single damn problem. How the hell would the car audio biz be in operation if they had to replace the alternator on what most would consider a simple system (not knocking what you got just trying to prove a point). Wait, he had guages also, that probably put it over the top and caused the alternator to take a **** on his electrical system


[Modified by miahmouse, 2:51 PM 3/15/2003]

built562

i worked at autozone for 3 years here in CA as a psm (parts sales manager) and they do have forms at each store to fill out for a claim, fill it out and dont let them give you the run around about its being processed. ask to speak to the dm (district manager) and they can get stuff done real fast. get as many signed, notarized, sworn statements that the alternator was the sole blame for the repairs. they are going to try to blame you for running all the extra euipment because they will state that the parts are for oem use only( which means no exrta electrical). but you do have a strong (not airtight) case.

ImprtTuner88

Bout all any District Manager around here will do is refund him for his alternator. Seriously, unless you are lucky you will only get half of your labor costs coverd

rhoderacer

hey yusoslo. i understand your dilemma and I, being 1.5 months away from my law degree and an avid civic fan and owner, can offer you this insight. when dealing with a merchant of goods (in this case autozone) who specializes in the particular goods that you purchased (alternator/auto parts) there is an implied warranty of merchantability in every sale. in lamens terms, this law (Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code) prevents a store (or person for that matter) who holds themselves out as merchant from selling you a piece of **** and getting away with it. from the perspective of Autozone, they will most likely tell you that the alternator was not intended for the use that you put it to, namely, powering your car AND system and therefore all warranties (explicit and implied) are void. they may also raise issue with fact that you installed it yourself. what you DO have in your favor is this: 1. the alternator was defective; 2. you promptly notified the retailer that the product was defective and A) they failed to act , or B) they gave you adequate assurances that the product would perform. in either case, you apparently relied on their "expert" opinion to your detriment and have suffered monetary damages. now that all of that is said, you basically have two options: 1. secure counsel and take them to court, or 2. attempt to settle the dispute by filing the claim with autozone and seeking redress further up the chain of command than the parts salesman (i believe that this is what one of the responses from an autozone employee recommended). #2 is also what i recommend first. you may be surprised to find that many stores will settle these claims to satisfy their customers and prevent any further mudslinging. if you do end up going with option one, BE ADVISED: TRIAL CAN BE LONG, DRAWN OUT, and VERY VERY EXPENSIVE (even small claims court). i hope that this helps. good luck to you.

ImprtTuner88

THat was perfectly said luckynumbernine, he needs to get in touch with the store manager and the DM. Fill out the necessary paperwork, bring in your paperwork, and go that route, I promise if you go to small claims court, it will cost you in the long run, will take FOREVER, it will stress you to no end, and will ultimately result in you not getting what you really want out of it. I hope all works out for you man, let me know if you need any more info on the way AZ does things and what not, or if you need the DM's name from your area or anything like that.

yusoslo

thanks alot guys for the legal info. My best friend is a lawyer and is willing to represent me for 15% if she is needed. I am going in tomorrow to try and settle everything.
I feel I have a few things on my side.
1. The alternator was installed by a honda technician (but done at his home)
2. I may be able to get a round about reciet for the work
3. Autozone gave me 3 thumps up everytime I went there
4. Autozone refused for me to rev my motor
5. I have a signed note from Pep-Boys manager stating the alternator was the cause of all damages and at the time of breakdown only a cd player was installed (my amp blew a few days before)
6. The stereo was only a small interior amp and 6" speakers and was proffesionaly insatalled (I have reciepts)
Where I think most of the money is goin to come in is my airbags (both of them are now defective)