Pep Boys Auto Service & Tires — Local services in Clawson

I am always hesitant to leave a poor Google review for a business because I try and give the person who I was dealing with the benefit of the doubt...but after 2 experiences here where I was completely dismissed due to no fault of my own, I feel I need to leave a review.

I will start by saying, I am leaving 2 stars because I did have a positive experience here getting my brakes done back in December...however my husband was dealing with that mostly, not me...so I'm not sure if the experience would have been different if I was the one dealing with them.

My first bad experience was about 2-3 weeks ago when I booked a free appointment online to have my "check engine" light code read. That's all I wanted done...I just needed it read. Not necessarily corrected at that moment. When I checked in for my appointment, the guy told me there was no master mechanic and so all they could do was tell me the code and there would be no one there to fix the problem. I understood that and said "yes, I know that's what I made the appointment for", but he kept saying "well there's no one here to repair the issue." I finally just said okay and left because it seemed like he was trying to push me out the door (but maybe in his own way he was trying to be helpful...I really don't know). I went over to Auto Zone next door after finding out they can read the code too, but it ended up turning off on its own before they could read it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks later and I needed an oil change. I made an appointment online for 4:30pm. When I arrived to check-in, the person working the front desk was giving me a hard time (it was a different person than last time). First, he couldn't find the appointment. Then he found it, and when I showed him my confirmation text message he rudely said "yeah I see it now, but just because it says 4:30 doesn't mean I can get you in at 4:30." What do you mean?? What is an appointment for then? He went back to check how long it would be and came out and said it would be over an hour before they could even get to me, because the online scheduler doesn't account for the work being done in front of you and there were still other people waiting. When I asked him to explain what the point of the online scheduling system is then he said "it's really a silly system, we shouldn't even have it. If you called to make an appointment I could have told you 'oh yeah you can come in at 5' because I know the work that's being done ahead of you." How am I supposed to know this? After expressing my frustration of this being a little unfair, he offered nothing, so I left. But even an acknowledgment and saying "if you want to make an appointment for later, we can get in you in and offer you a 10% discount for the inconvenience" would have gone a long way for me, because none of this was my fault and was purely an inconvenience to me. However, both times I went in for services they acted like I was an inconvenience to them.

I went over to Uncle Ed's a couple doors down (I have never been there before) and was in and out in 10 minutes, and all of the men working on my car were so nice. So, I guess it was a blessing in disguise that Pep Boys denied me!

I will never return to Pep Boys for any service. My husband needs new front brakes and was going to get them done here, but we will be looking elsewhere...

If you're a young woman, don't go here.

I had high hopes for this place as it's a block from my house and had great reviews. Sadly my experience was not that great. First of all, it says GoodYear on top, a company I have always trusted, the hold music is goodyear advertisements, but then inside everything said Pep Boys, so that was confusing. I dropped off my car on a Saturday morning around 9 am. I waited until about 3:30 pm and then decided to call as I had not heard anything. They didn't tell me about how long I would need to wait to hear an answer from them. So I finally called and the mechanic had looked at my car, told me the damage, first he told me about replacing $10 spark plugs, paused, and then gave me an explanation of everything else and said the estimate was $820. He kind of weirdly baried the lead on that one. I drive a 2003 Dodge Neon with a huge rusting hole in the bumper, I cannot afford that at all. They offered a 10% price discount, which means nothing to me because that's practically a paycheck for me either way. I told them to put it back together and I would get a quote elsewhere, to which the mechanic seemed to get defensive and told me, "fine, we can do that, but they'll tell you the same thing." When picking up my car, I thought I had paid for the diagnostic, which was a whopping $90, more than I've ever been charged. It was a simple misunderstanding, I wasn't upset or angry, but the employee got the manager to double check and he said to me, "you just signed the agreement! That's all sweetheart!" I calmly asked him not to call me sweetheart, he threw his arms in the air and said, "I'm just trying to be nice!"

Well, I got a second and third opinion. They said the same thing... for half the price. So I went to an actual goodyear, they've never tried to scam me. If you're a young woman,...

I lease my car so my only responsibility is to get my tires rotated and oil changed and let me tell you how much I dread this experience when it is time.

I went to several oil change places that said they could not rotate the tires on my 2017 Ram because it is too heavy.

I was desperate and at this point just wanted to go somewhere I could get an appointment and was close to home. I went to this Pep Boys in Clawson not expecting much.

I was totally wrong and was surprised by the most pleasant experience catered to me by Jim. Jim was so friendly and kind when I checked in. I asked him how long it would take for him to do the oil change/tire rotation because it was 10am and I had to be somewhere at noon. He looked at me confused and said 30-45 minutes.

I didn't believe him as I've gone to do oil changes for so long that took 1-2 hours because of the lack of customer service so I asked him if he was sure and he smiled and said yes.

I came back 30 minutes later after walking to the local grocery store to pick up a few things still skeptical, but Jim said "You're all set." Let me tell you how incredibly happy I was to be done with something that is the worst chore on my list.

The staff there was so friendly, the place was clean, the work was efficient. My truck was in the same condition I left it, even better because of the oil change and tire rotation.

Jim cashed me out and made the transaction as smooth as possible.

It's safe to say I found my new oil change place and I could...