Firestone Complete Auto Care — Local services in Livingston

This review concerns the installation of four tires I purchased from Tire Rack. I selected Firestone Complete Auto Care, located at 79 E Mt Pleasant Ave, Livingston, NJ, as my authorized installer from the Tire Rack website. They quoted $30.00 per tire for mounting and balancing, totaling $120 before taxes.

A pertinent backstory:

1.The car would need new tires within the next 10,000 miles. However, since we're planning a long-distance vacation, I opted to get new tires earlier.

In a twist of fate, my partner hit a curb and blew out the front right tire. I met her and replaced the damaged tire with the car's tiny donut spare (handling lug nuts without issue).

The Tire Rack shipment was delayed. To accommodate her work needs, I had Pep Boys install a full-sized budget tire as a temporary solution, intending to later use this tire as a spare (again, lug nuts were handled without issues).

About a month ago, I had the front brake pads replaced by a local mechanic (both front wheels were taken off and put back on without any issue).

Fast forward to August 24, 2023:

I informed my partner that the tires had arrived, and she could head over after work for installation. They estimated a few hours for the task, so she Uber-ed home, intending for me to drive her back later.

However, two hours in, a mechanic called her, stressing a significant issue: all 20 lug nuts were supposedly unusable, swollen, and a safety risk. They refused to install the new tires without replacing the lug nuts, claiming a liability issue, adding $199 to the bill. This would escalate the tire installation cost to nearly $350 after tax.

Skeptical, she handed the phone to me. The mechanic reiterated the lug nut problems, mentioning they'd struggled so much they'd had to use a sledgehammer. I found this hard to believe, given my recent hands-on experience with the car's lug nuts. I recounted my personal experiences with the tires and the brake pad replacement, all involving lug nut handling without a hitch.

When I requested the manager, our conversation grew heated. He firmly backed his mechanic's claims until he called back a short while later, revising his statement: only the rear lug nuts needed replacement, the front ones were now miraculously fine. Given the circumstances (the time value of money), I reluctantly agreed to a $99 fee for the 10 rear lug nuts.

Upon our arrival at Firestone, I introduced myself and, when the car was completed, asked for the supposedly damaged lug nuts. To no surprise, only 1 lug nut showed significant wear.

In conclusion, any savings we realized from purchasing at Tire Rack were negated by this ordeal. Also, charging $199 for 20 lug nuts is exorbitant, especially when top-rated sets are available on Amazon for $20-30. Even the OEM prices on Ford's website are roughly $7 per lug nut, totaling $140, not $199.

I'm convinced they attempted to exploit my partner's limited auto knowledge, emphasizing the alleged "safety issue" of the lug nuts. Without my intervention, we would've unnecessarily spent an additional $100. Even so, our total cost for tire installation totaled $230.

It's strongly advisable to steer clear of establishments like Firestone in Livingston, NJ that might exploit those less versed in auto mechanics. Consider this: if such a shop overcharges five customers a day by $200, which they attempted, that's an extra $1,000 per day or approximately $230,000 annually, assuming a normal business schedule.

Adding insult to injury, the mechanic left a grease stain on the front seat, despite my partner having cleaned her car thoroughly over the weekend in anticipation of our trip. I am convinced he did this out of spite. I am attaching a picture of the dirty seat.

This is where bad auto repair shop stereotypes come from. I'll also be informing Tire Rack of this experience, and leaving this same review on their...

This place needs to get their act together. We had come outside to 2 flat tires - we called ahead and gave them the make, model and tire size of the vehicle and they told us to stop by anytime - so far so good.

We dropped the car off, they gave us a price and let us know we could pick it up later. They call us 2 hours later to let us know that because the car is 4WD they need to match the tires and they would need to order them. Don't you think this is something they would ask up front, considering they ask for the Make and model of the vehicle?

Because they didn't have the tires and the next day was memorial day, we'd have to pick it up on Tuesday- fine, no problem. I get a call Tuesday morning from the manager, who seemingly has no clue why the car is there, let's me know they have the tires in house and would have it done shortly. He then calls me.back 45 minutes later to let me know they actually have to order the tires because it is 4WD drive - yes, I knew this already.

I then get a call from a different individual to let me know that they ordered the tires but they are more expensive than the original quote - wouldn't you think to tell me this 2 days ago? Fine, no problem just get it done.

He then calls me back to tell me the car is done and I can come get it. He again calls me back to tell me that the car is not ready and needs an alignment - duh, you just changed 2 tires. Let me guess, you didn't quote it in? Nope. Finally gives me the final price and has to call me back again when it is ready. Great we'll be there shortly.

We arrive and I have a Firestone card, so I figured I'd just put it on there, as anything over 250 is interest free for 6 months. The individual tells me I don't have a card and would need tonregister. I asked him to check again, as I had just logged onto my account earlier that day to see if they had the zero interest special on my account - I have him the account number. He told me it was inactive - fine, I'll sign up again. As soon as I do, the credit company calls him to let him know my account is active, like I had just told him.

Everyone was really nice and pleasant, which is why I didn't give this 1 star- but, they do not have their stuff...

Caution is needed when you go here. These guys are masters at the art of taking your money for nothing! To change my headlight just the lightbulb would cost me $110 just for the labor and $13 for the lightbulb itself. I had to change the right passenger side light bulb. They said in order to get to the headlight they would have to take apart some of the car and that’s why the labor was so high, they also suggested changing the left one since it would give them access to both headlights. I figured might as well, it’s only going to be another $13 to also replace the other side at the same time, I might as well write, well wrong. Just a few short months later the left light bulb stopped working I go back there under warranty for the lightbulb, And they give me the runaround saying that I have to replace the entire headlight which would’ve cost me $150. Reason was because there was something wrong with it and that when they try to put in a new lightbulb it shorted out, that would explain why I still was missing a light even though I was under warranty. All that ment was that they didn’t even look or try or probably do anything and just try to sell me something new. So what do I do? I went to the BP gas station down the street got the lightbulb change for $30. I watched the guy do it, he took one screw out didn’t have to take anything else off, popped the headlight out, unscrewed the back of it, took out the old put in the new lightbulb and that was the end of it. I ended up giving him a $10 tip because he just save me $110 that I would have payed Firestone for NOTHING! I don’t think I’ll even go back here for a simple oil change anymore, just...