Tire Choice Auto Service Centers — Local services in Alameda

I usually don't write reviews, almost never, but my experience with this business was soooo terrible that I'm compelled to warn others.

I brought my 2017 Ram truck in with a Groupon I purchased for an oil change and tire rotation. I thought it would be convenient and the price seemed reasonable. The Groupon includes 5 qts of oil and tire rotation... but for the additional 2 quarts of oil my truck needs they charged me an additional $54.74. They also needed to hold my vehicle for 2 hours to perform the maintenance and inspection which was also very inconvenient, unexpected, and something you don't know when purchasing the Groupon

The really terrible part of my experience occurred the following day. I examined my wheels on the passenger side of the vehicle and I realized they hadn't rotated my tires. How could I tell you ask? Two days prior to bringing my truck in for this service, I underestimated a u turn and unfortunately clipped my front passenger side rim against a freshly painted red curb leaving a red gouge mark in the rim and some red paint residue on the tire. Looking at my truck the day after service from Tire Choice, I immediately noticed the damaged rim was in the exact same location on the vehicle as it was before I'd brought it in! An easy enough problem to remedy you would think. No... I called the shop (in Alameda) thinking they'd just made an error and expecting a quick easy remedy like, "Come on in and we'll take care of that for you". Nope, the manager Chris, INSISTED that the tires had been rotated. I told him the story regarding the damaged rim, and how it was still in the same location after their servicing, and that it's not possible to have rotated the tires and have that wheel in the exact same location! And he just wouldn't back down from his story.. He continued to insist the rotation had been performed, but if I wanted, I could make an appointment for a day or two later, and Tire Choice "could rotate them again for me". Those were his words! At this point I'm furious and I just hang up the phone. I'd already spent 2 hours the previous day attempting to have the service performed and I justifiably wanted an immediate remedy.

I decided to call the corporate office to make a formal complaint. After spending 45 minutes on the phone, explaining exactly what had occurred regarding the shops failure to perform the tire rotation, and the complaints rep contacting the shop... The Final determination was that THE TIRES MUST HAVE BEEN ROTATED BECAUSE THE TECHNICIAN SAYS THAT THEY WERE! She'd talked to him herself. One thing I didn't mention earlier is that what the technician DID do was mark the tire treads on each wheel with white chalk IMPLYING that the wheels had been inspected and rotated. He took the time to mark each wheel, but not the time to actually remove them and perform the job. This is deliberately fraudulent, misleading, and dishonest. The WORST type of mechanic is the dishonest mechanic; he tells you he performed the task you paid for, and he (or she) has not done the work. These are THOSE guys! Discourteous, untrustworthy,...

Normally I don't leave reviews, but in this case I trusted Google reviews for work on my truck and felt very misled.

I called in on a Wednesday around noon hoping to get an oil change, tire rotation, and brake inspection (later I realized the brake inspection is part of their "courtesy inspection"). I was put on hold and sat for 10 minutes waiting for service, at which point I hung up and called back. The second call I was not placed on hold and was told that if I didn't have an appointment they would need to keep it for the rest of the day, so instead I scheduled an appointment for Friday at 11am.

I dropped the truck off at my scheduled appointment time and was told it would be done by 1pm, which seemed like a long time for the services I requested. Around 2, I called back to check the status since I hadn't heard from anyone and at that time they told me they had just finished the brake inspection. When I asked why it as taking so long, the response was that they still had other cars in the shop from 9am and 10am appointments. That was my first problem, perhaps they should consider spreading out their appointments and realize that people are stranded when they are without a vehicle. I expect to be the top priority at 11am when I make an appointment at 11am. This shop did not have any sense of urgency or respect for the customers time.

At that point, the phone was handed to the service tech, who explained a few issues with my brake system. When I asked if they could handle the repairs today, they told me there was a less experienced tech in the shop and he thought it would take another hour or 2 to finish. At this point I doubted their abilities and their quoted time frames, so I declined the services and asked that they just do the oil change so I could pick it up. Another hour passed before I got a call that the work was complete (most shops can do an oil change in 20 minutes or less).

I arrived to pick up my truck (4 hours after dropping it off), paid, and proceeded to go out to the parking lot. I found oil spilled on the side of my engine block with no attempts to clean, and oil puddled and dripping from my skid plate. It appeared to be a rushed and obviously sloppy job. I'll be doing another oil change myself today because I don't trust that it was done right by this shop.

This place has zero regard for the customers time and seems to have even less pride in the cleanliness of their work. I definitely won't be back and recommended anyone reading this to take their business elsewhere.

I should add, nobody is wearing masks and there doesn't appear to be any standards in place to help avoid the spread of COVID-19.

I'd give 0 stars if it...

Useless and inconsistent managers. I bought a set of tires here a year and half ago. They sold me "Road Hazard Coverage" without my knowledge. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed it on the receipt. Fast forward to today and I got a flat tire over the weekend. Had the tow truck drop it off at Tire Choice. The tow truck operator asked to borrow a jack to assist with getting the car of the truck and the managers just stared at him.

Tire was a total loss. Today they quoted me 160 dollars for the tire and a seven day wait (it's a 100 dollar tire with a 24 hr wait at literally every other tire shop). I did my research about the road hazard coverage that they sold me a year and a half ago and found out that it covered 50% of the cost of a replacement tire. The manager didn't bother to include that discount until I brought it up. He probably didn't want to file the paperwork.

I was so fed up that they could not help me get to four matching tires with a reasonable time frame that I brought one of my winter tires. I asked them to mount it and we could "call it a day". The manager told me they could not install any customer provided parts at all.

A tire shop that refuses to mount a tire, unreal.

I had to argue to get my keys back. They literally would not give me my keys back until the 5th time I asked. I proceeded to do the work in the parking lot next door of removing the wheel. I went to a real tire shop and got my winter tire mounted, brought it back to my car and installed it.

After going to this tire shop and giving them the benefit of the doubt for several years, I would not recommend this place to anyone.

They really do not care about customers at all when it comes to their core business...