Mavis Discount Tire — Local services in Kingston

When I began testing my car air conditioner in recent weeks, it was clear it was not working. This was disappointing because I had a new air conditioner compressor installed in my car only two years before. In the past I had had repairs done in Jack Williams in Kingston and I had been satisfied. So this past Monday I took it there again. Little did I know that the company had been bought out by Mavis Tires and was under different management. Things did not get off to a good start and went very much downhill from there.

I took it in and asked if they could take a quick look at what the problem was, so we could schedule my returning on a particular day to make the repair. I said a quick look. They could have said that was not going to work, but they said sure, no problem. Over an hour later I enquired where things were. The car was all hooked up to the diagnostic equipment and it was in the process of being tested. But why didn’t you tell me it would take so long? Well, the mechanic had to finish up on another car before he could do yours. Why didn’t you tell me that, too? The situations were all reasonable, but they needed to have been stated up front so that a plan could be developed that better fit the circumstances. In the end they did not finish testing the car; they had to put it back together so I could leave. They did say it looked like it just needed charging and freon.

On Thursday I took the car in for the diagnostic and the repair. After a couple of hours the young man who is in charge shocked me by saying that the compressor needed to be replaced ($1000) and the lines going to it also replaced ($500). I was appalled. He said the compressor could be delivered that day, but the lines would not arrive until the following day. I said I would return the next day. They had to reassemble the car so I could leave.

On Friday I returned at 8:30 am, left the car with them for the day and went to my job. At 3:30 the young man called. They had just called to ask about the lines, and they were told they would not be delivered until the next day. WHAT??? I needed the car to drive to my home two hours away—I could not just take an uber home and return Saturday. He began realizing what a disaster this was. He said he would need an hour and a half to put the car back together. I was even more unhappy, as I had finished work already. He said I wasn’t being reasonable, because putting the car back together just took the time it took. The real issue was--why hadn’t they gotten on the ball about the delivery of those lines earlier? Why had they waited until after 3:00?

He had a surprise for me when I arrived. His mechanic had put in the new compressor and had used my existing lines. Oh, so that means I only owe you $1000? No because they had to put freon in and there were some miscellaneous little things, so the bill was just a few dollars short of $1,500. Where do I start with that? The presumption was that the lines were so bad that they warranted my spending $500 on new ones—only suddenly they were acceptable after all. Indeed he had said earlier that the car would need new freon, but when he had listed the things they needed to do and given me a price, he had not mentioned the freon. You are not supposed to forget something that will cost the client over $300.

The receipt I got from him did not mention the warranty, which was supposed to be for 3 years. I told him I was not leaving unless I had the warranty in writing. He had to call the company he bought it from, and they referred him to a website. It took twenty minutes before he had a document for me that stated the warranty was good for two (not three) years or 24,000 miles. He had not said anything about mileage bringing the warranty to an end. I put 24,000 miles on my car every year—the warranty is going to be worthless to me.

At every point, their performance was sloppy, a day late and a dollar short. At this point I question whether they were even honest in saying I needed a new...

Extremely SLOW service. I had made an appointment online with this location a week in advance to have my snow tires studded and mounted. I called to confirm my appointment 3 days later and I was told they had no record of it. I told them I had made the appointment online on their website and they said "we don't really see appointments from the website". I asked them to put make my appointment and that I wanted my snow tires studded and mounted and that they could stud them in advance of my appointment. They told me they would do it if they had time. Then I called them again the day before my appointment and asked if they had studded the tires and they said no, we will do it if we have time. I asked what time they opened the next day for me to drop off my vehicle and they told me 7:30 a.m. The next day I dropped off my vehicle at 7:30 a.m. The tires were still not studded. They said they would call me when it is done. I waited until 3 p.m. and called to check on their progress, and they told me that there were still 6 vehicles ahead of me! When I dropped off my vehicle at 7:30 a.m. there were only 3 vehicles in the garage, no customers in the waiting room, and a couple of vehicles in their parking lot. So how can there still be 6 vehicles ahead of me 8 hours later?!?! At 5 p.m. I went there myself and they still had not even started to work on my vehicle. I complained that I had made an appointment days ahead of time and my vehicle had now been there 9 1/2 hours for a simple tire mounting. They told me I would be next. They finally brought my vehicle into their shop at 5:30 p.m. (they close at 6 p.m.) About 5:45 they told me that they did not have the correct studs available. I told them I had given them notice a week before about getting the tires studded and they just kept saying they don't have the studs available. I think that since it would take time to stud the 4 tires, and they wanted to close in 15 minutes, the just lied. So they never studded the tires and it took them 10 1/2 hours just to mount them. Appointments are a joke. I have had the same slow service at this location in the past, and I will never...

UPDATE 10/26/2023: THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING!! NEVER RETURNED MY CALLS!! REPORTING THEM TO BBB, FTC, AND PA INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT FOR INTENTIONAL FRAUD!! NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH JACK WILLIAMS OR MAVIS TIRES!! THEY WILL SCAM YOU!!

• Received a phone message, not from their customer service representative I was supposed to speak with, but a call FROM THE PERSON WHO LIED ABOUT MY CAR!! THEY THINK I WANT TO SPEAK TO THAT PERSON AND THAT NOW THEY’RE GOING TO BE TRUTHFUL?!? Starting fraud reports.

Went in and had an inspection done and they told me my transmission mounts had failed and would be $600 to repair. They were quick to offer me financing since I could not afford that repair. I took the car to a transmission specialist who examined the mounts and said there were no problems with the mounts whatsoever. So, not only did Jack Williams take my $35, they failed my inspection by lying and tried to make me purchase unnecessary repairs. What a scam! UPDATE: They said my front rotors were bad as well. I can do the job myself, so I went and got the parts and replaced them (although they didn’t appear badly worn). I took the old parts to another repair facility that examined them for free, and said there was nothing wrong with them that they would not have failed inspection. The pads were only halfway worn, and the rotors had no major grooves or pits in them. I called Mavis service number and they were sending it to another person who will call me back. We will see how long that will take! So, in short, they said, I needed repairs that I didn’t need, they failed my safety inspection, because of the lies they said of the repairs that were needed, made me spend money to repair what they told me was faulty (which were not faulty), and now I still need to purchase a vehicle safety inspection. Time to notify PA inspection licensing department and the BBB and...