We’ve reached the point where you can’t even trust the service techs at a dealership to purposely service your car. I don’t think anyone ever trusted them wholeheartedly, but if you needed another reason not to, local NBC affiliate WPXI reports that two service technicians allegedly tamped with a customer’s brakes. And no one knows why.
It all started when the unknown victim/owner took their vehicle into No. 1 Cochran Hyundai in Monroeville, PA in early June. The owner was told that their vehicle hadn’t passed state inspection because of a separation of the brake pads. But after taking the car to the dealer, the owner stated to authorities that something didn’t feel right with their vehicle. That’s when they went back to Cochran Hyundai for a second opinion.
“So, our victim went back to No. 1 Cochran to get the inspection passed again and at that point, a second set of brake pads had another separation,” Pennsylvania state trooper Rocco Gagliardi told local news.
The owner of the car quickly contacted the state’s vehicle fraud unit, and after an inspection of the car, an official found the problem: someone had placed a flathead screwdriver between the brake pads, causing the separation.
Investigators quickly found the techs that did the alleged acts, 31-year-old Aaron Eager and 20-year-old Jacob Ciarkowski. Surprisingly, both fessed up to what they did and how they did it.
“Both mechanics did relay that they put the screwdriver in there, and one even used a hammer to cause even further separation to break that brake pad to get more spacing in there,” Gagliardi said. Both techs said everything they did was on their own and the dealership had no knowledge or involvement in it.
Eager and Ciarkowski were both cited for criminal mischief and unlawful activities. It’s unknown though the reasoning as to why they did what they did. Was it someone they knew personally? Or were they just being dicks? No one has said. I reached out for a comment from the dealership service department and was met with a “no comment” before they hung up in my face. The dealer did release a rather salty statement to CBS Pittsburg however:
First, #1 Cochran as a company has not been cited for anything. Second, the facts expressed at the press conference regarding the two team members who were cited are not accurate, and the truth will come to light. Multiple service personnel inspected the brake pads, and all agreed that they did not pass inspection. It is our assessment that no one at #1 Cochran forcefully separated the pads or in any way damaged them. That is not how we conduct business. That is not who we are. And there would have been no benefit whatsoever to the technicians to operate that way.