Mavis Discount Tire — Local services in Magnolia

TLDR: Sloppy on details, upsold, didn't confirm work being done with wife, employees smoking by my car.

My wife went in for a flat, we were told it had dry rot damage and must be replaced. She told them take a closer look when it is in the shop. I arrived a while later and asked my wife what was decided and she said she wasn't sure yet. Imagine my surprise when after waiting a while, our car is done and we're given a bill for over 170 dollars. Clearly they didn't confirm with my wife about going forward with the replacement. I don't appreciate being surprised by what work gets done on my vehicle.

I had a set of winter tires on. They put on a summer/all season tire. Mixing summer and winter tires is poor practice, especially if you have both summer and winter on the same axle. Speaking as a former tire shop employee, if you do mix a set of summer/winter tires (2 each), you put the winter tires on the rear as that is safest for the vehicle. My tire was left on the passenger rear position of the vehicle.

They failed to replace my valve cap. Normally not a big deal, but when you are charging me $7 for the TPMS service, I expect it to be there. I'll be coming back to get it replaced.

When going over the work with the service rep and asking him questions, one of the tire techs was hanging around my vehicle which was parked by the front door. The tech was smoking by the back of my car, close enough for me to breathe in the smoke, and right by the front door. My 2 toddler children would soon be coming through. Not to mention it could have been this tech, with smoke on his clothes in my car moving it around. I didn't see it, so I could be wrong there.

They claimed to do an inspection on the vehicle to see it's overall status, it's listed in the itemized bill, but nothing was written on the receipts, nor communicated to me verbally, not even the tread depths of the other tires. I had to ask and he didn't have an answer for me.

I asked to see this "dry rot" that they claimed to see. What I know of dry rot and even what you see on google images when you search "dry rot tire" were nowhere to be seen on my other tires. They pointed to some small, nigh imperceptible cracking which was surface level at best and claimed that was reason enough to throw away a perfectly serviceable tire.

At the very least the work they did do, which wasn't approved ahead of time by us, looks to be done fine.

Price seems acceptable for 1 tire, though I would've rather not bought any tires and instead bought 4 new ones at the proper time.

The service desk employee was patient and did his best to answer my questions, even if I did find his answers inadequate.

Our visit was...

Brought my car to replace the back break pads and rotors because they were screeching and the same day while driving the car home they did not sound any different. While my car was there I never got an update as to when it was done and I had to call and ask they said oh yeah it’s done. I brought my car back the next day and told them something was obviously wrong since they sounded the same as when I brought them in and I paid well over $400 for them to be replaced. They told me they couldn’t get me in and I needed to come back the next week. I was going on vacation the next couple days and couldn’t do that. I went the next day with an appt and brought the car around 1:30 and told them I needed my car before 4:30 since I had somewhere to be. I was told it would 100% be done since they wouldn’t have to do a full replacement again. I sat there for 30 minutes and my car wasn’t even brought into the garage so I left and AGAIN wanted to confirm that my car would be done before I needed it and they told me they’d start working on it that second. I left and waited until about 4:15 and heard literally nothing so I called. They told me they didn’t even start working on it so it had sat there for 3 hours. I went to go back and pick the car up since I needed to be somewhere which I reiterated multiple times and they were now telling me that there was a different issue with the car and that I would need to fix that as well. I asked why I was never told this information when I originally picked the car up when it was done the initial day and they said that someone else had diagnosed the car the original day and now someone new was diagnosing it. It was for sure the same exact person because she told me his name both days. I asked him(Gavin) about it and told him she said someone else diagnosed the car and he said it was him both times. So they’re also just liars I guess, not sure who but someone there is. If they knew there was another issue why did they let me leave with the keys and act like nothing happened?? I was late to my prior engagement because they have no perception of time and also literally never fixed the problem ?? I will quite literally never return to Mavis if it was the last place on this earth. (Also while I was waiting for my car to be done there was another customer in there and she was also complaining about how she was having a bad experience as well. Not sure if it’s just this location that’s the issue but I know I’ll never be returning and I’m sure she...

Update 2/19/2025: Mavis to the rescue again. Earlier today, I spoke with David on the phone and told him everything I was experiencing. He took the time to explain to me why it was happening in plain terms but didn't "dumb it down" because I am a woman, like so many other guys do. He was able to fit me in that afternoon and took care if the essentials and checked things over to make sure that I was safe to get back on the road. I'll be back again soon for my tune up. Thanks, David!! Last week was the second time that I used the services of Mavis in Magnolia. The first time was back in August 2022 in an emergency. We were about to go on a road trip and when it was time to go, I had a flat. My usual place couldn't help me due to the time of day, and their single bay was already in use, so I went down the road in search of help. Deena at the front desk was super sweet, and she has one of the techs quickly got my vehicle on the lift. He found the hole right away, plugged it, and tested it. I was on the road in about 30 mins! I literally cried.

Five months later and that plug is still holding strong, but I didn't know that until I was having issues with a slow leak in the same tire and had to bring it back to be checked out. This time, Bill was my go-to person at the desk, and he explained that the tech found it was a valve stem leak and could be repaired, saving me a couple hundred bucks.... but they found an issue on the other side with a control arm and a bushing that could be a real safety issue. Bill worked with me on a great price, quickly got the parts that were needed, and the team had me all fixed up in about four hours.

I am very grateful to Mavis as they always get me out of a jam, work with my available time, and my limited budget. I will definitely be back for any future...