On 10/7/2020 at around 7:50 a.m. Eastern Standard time I pulled into the parking lot of the Bridgestone Firestone, located at 2754 Riverside Drive, Macon, GA 31204. My serpentine belt was slipping off the tension and I knew I would lose power and be unable to steer the car if that were to happen. I pulled up by the front door and realized I was the only customer there. Firestone had just opened. I walked in and encountered the Firestone Agent named Josh. Josh pretty much ignored me, even though I was the only customer there. I had to get his attention even though he was practically right in front of me and saw me walk in. He never greeted me. I told Josh what was happening with my car and asked if he could check the tension and place the belt back on. Josh flatly refused. He said the tension had 'locked up' without even looking at the car. He then turned his back on me and walked away.I am a black woman. Josh is a white man. I sort of figured he was probably racist. He refused to even write up a ticket. I went back outside and got in my car to see if I could make it to another location and as soon as I started to back up the serpentine belt came completely off the pulley and my battery light came on and my power steering locked up. I opened the hood and verified the serpentine belt had indeed come off. I went back into Firestone (I was still the only customer) and told Josh the belt had come off and asked if he could assist. Josh again refused I went back out to my car to try and figure out what I would do. I had to be at work shortly and had an urgent appt to make that morning and could not understand why Josh refused any help. He never even came out to my car, even though I was in front of the door and he could see me since the front of the building was glass, and he ignored me. Josh saw that I had my hood up. Why would he not write out a ticket to look at my car? Why was I continuously ignored? Why was I not greeted? Why did he not offer any assistance at all when he clearly saw I was stranded? I was able to call a mobile mechanic who came out and installed a new tension right in front of the Firestone front door. He did this mechanic work in the firestone parking lot. As Firestone had refused me service because of my race. I saw white customers come and go and they were ALL assisted. I alone was ignored. My race had to be a factor.Frustrated, I once more approached Josh as my car was being worked on and I asked him for the managers name and number or General Managers name and number. Josh looked at me and asked why did I ask for those and then he immediately said he was not allowed to give this information out and he went on ignoring me.This was the absolute strangest experience I have ever had with a business. This was outright racism. It's like 1963 all over again. This was the weirdest thing that had ever in my life happen to me at a business. I was outright refused service. It's weird that I had to call a mobile mechanic to repair my car when I was at Firestone and right in front of the door and I was there during their open hours. Firestone refused to even write out a ticket.I sent a complaint to the Firestone corporate office in Nashville through their website and I also contacted them on Facebook messenger. NO RESPONSE. They have continued to ignore me. I will never ever do business with Firestone. They have shown me that they are a racist reprehensible company that does not care about minority customers. They will give a BS response to TrustPilot even though they have refused to even acknowledge me or my complaint.
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