I'm waging my own personal war on errorism.

I am victimized by errorism in many ways.

My smog tech crashes my car, then won't take responsibility for fixing it.

A year and a half later, I slowly put my car back together myself.

The lower radiator hose I buy for it is crap.

It looks like crap when I buy it, but I assume that it is just me and that I am being slightly paranoid. The rubber seems to pliable, and it seems slightly too thin.

I try to install it, and it is just slightly the wrong size (it looks a little too small in diamter). As I force it on the Water Pump inlet tube, the part of the rubber tube just past the water pump inlet tube looks deformed (imagine putting your face in a lunch bag and sucking out the air, that is what the newly bought hose looks like just past the inlet tube).

I take the radiator tube back, then decide to keep the Pep Boys suckass radiator tube so I can compare it to the next car parts place I visit.

I now go to AutoZone and buy a radiator tube for two dollars cheaper. I compare the two radiator tubes, the Auto Zone tube seems to be superior in design and functionality, and the diameter of the hose is just a smidge bigger and will probably fit my car's water pump and radiator perfectly, I know I have now found a good part.

The hose purchased from AutoZone fits like a charm. The kicker is the one that sucked, that I bought from Pep Boys was "Made in America".

The one that looked, felt, and fits perfectly, and costs two dollars less, was made in Mexico.

Fuck you Wall Street. Pep Boys is clearly a product of Wall Street, (the Pep Boys store I went to proudly lists their Wall Street ID by the front door!) and if this one automobile part is any example of the "quality" you get from Pep Boys, then enjoy their televison commercials, because some part of the business chain has to suffer if Pep Boys is to pay out profits to their shareholders.

By the way, Pep Boys has service bays at some of their stores. Pep Boys can perform repairs on your car.

So, when you go to a Pep Boys, watch out, because that sucky Radiator tube I rejected will be installed in your car, and for a healthy fee no doubt.

Not only at the time of installation will you pay a fee, but also when the part fails in the not too distant future, and at a the worst possible moment.

But at least Pep Boys stock must be doing OK, and that's all that really matters.

Not only did I have to watch out for myself when I bought the part, it took an extra hour and a half of my time to go back to Pep Boys, go to Auto Zone, back to Pep Boys to show them how sucky their product was, (it was the least I could do) then go home and install the hose.

In the meantime, it started to rain, and it got dark, two things I would not have had to contend with if the original radiator tube I bought had been up to spec. Instead, it rained on me as I installed the part in the dark.

Up yours Pep Boys, your stuff is poop.

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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited March 19, 2002).]