Firestone Complete Auto Care — Local services in San Francisco

Firestone the negligent.

Good morning fellow drivers. Our community spends so much time sharing the concrete jungle. For most of us, it is the most dangerous thing that we do. With all that is required to drive safely these days, it is vital we trust the vehicle and the service providers chosen to work on them. The following is an unfortunate experience with Firestone at 1501 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103.

I have been a loyal customer to this location for over four years to service of a company 2014 Ford Fusion. Took the vehicle in for servicing February 24, 2025 because the brake pedal was spongy. Not engaging until almost halfway down. Chris at the front desk was very helpful and kind. We completed a full brake job with master cylinder, front rotors, and new tires under work order #171798 (see photos).

On Friday, April 25, 2025, I was headed east on I-80 to the 4th Street exit at 2 PM. Traffic was medium and moving at a high rate of speed. 4th street exit is a blind hairpin turn and all I saw was brake lights of a traffic back up. Applying the brake, the pedal went all the way to the floor, and the car was not stopping. Been driving since I was 8 and immediately pulled the emergency brake. The tires locked up and we skidded to a stop about 6 inches from a minivan on a school day. The sound, smoke from tires, and the near miss caught everyone’s attention. This would have been a major accident if I was not fully present and experienced.

Took the Fusion back in on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 as directed by Chris at the front desk. Was assisted by Milton at the front desk. I informed both I had an appointment at 4 PM that day. Both said it would be finished by then so I took my work stuff to a café nearby. Returned to the shop at 1:30 PM to check status. The mood of the employees had completely changed. It was like someone died (yup…almost fellas. You’re welcome.) Chris and Milton would not talk to me. So I sat in the office till 3 PM and finally took a Uber at 3:30 PM to make my appointment. I received invoice #173128 at 6:30 PM that night.

The brake lines failed. The brake fluid in the new master cylinder was low. No employee was willing to explain this failure. I have called multiple times to speak to management with no response. The invoices were paid by my company, so I am not certain of the total cost, which is not my concern. However, our driver community’s question is, what is the value of our lives we entrust to Firestone? I am now driving a vehicle I do not trust. Will be staying off freeways until I do.

Thanks to you all who take driving seriously. Let us stay frosty out there, folks....

I had 2 negative experiences with Firestone at 1501 Mission within 1 month. 12.4. 24 brought in my car for 4 new tires.with full warranty Appointment made in advance also provided tire sizes in advance. Took them 10 hrs to install 4 tires, didn’t complete wheel alignment assessment. Excuse was they only had 3 of the tires & had to order! Why if you had this information in advance? 31 days & 300 miles later one of my tires was not keeping air pressure started 2 weeks after install. Contacted Firestone scheduled appt. Arturo checks me in, I tell him the issue, show him my original paperwork & information is in the system. He immediately says oh patch & repair? Not for a brand new tire under warranty! He types in the computer then tells me I have to pay $212 for a new tire!WHAT? I angrily push back & refused to pay & asked for a manager.because tire is under warranty and only been on the car 31 days. He then types & says oh $21 for labor to put on new tire. I don’t know if he was trying to get over on me because he thought I was stupid & not understand what the warranty covers or because I was a woman & didn’t know any better. Once w/ the mechanic I noticed he was looking at the wrong tires, I had to tell him which tire was bad so that wasn’t even properly communicated to him. Nelson comes to me & asks me what the problem was.I explained everything that transpired & he tried to make more excuses. He was also on duty when it took 10 hrs to change my 4 tires in December. They also made me pay again for warranty even though I had paid for it the first time. They are getting over on customers. This place in understaffed, they overbook customers, by taking walk-ins over people who have appointments. If you’re a Woman who is not sure of what questions to ask or intimidated by questioning them if you are unsure, DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR THERE. My horrible experiences was just with tires I can only imagine the sub-par service they will provide for car repairs & maintenance. Note- there was a homeless person sleeping there who clearly had dedicated & urinated at the entry to the office. We pointed it out to both workers & the did nothing . We had to step around it. It smelled horrible. It wasn’t until Nelson came in almost 45 min later that they made any effort to remove it..they didn’t wash the area down and we were forced to step around it. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE even if it means a longer drive to a different business. Poorly managed and poor, untrustworthy customer service. I also plan to report this to their...

Lifetime Firestone customer - never experienced such a lack of professionalism and care for the customer at any other of the 15+ locations I have visited.

Took my car there for a wheel alignment, tire rotation, and general check over. I have the lifetime alignment service, and a coupon for the rotation + “health check” for $9.99 and experienced the following challenges:

1. Had to make an appointment more than 10days in advance because they were backed up.

2. Brought the car in at 10am for a 1030am appointment, was thanked for my promptness and promised the car back before 5pm so that I could get to work. It wasn’t ready until 6:15pm - for an alignment, tire rotation, and safety check.

3. Got a call from the service advisor letting me know that they wouldn’t be doing a tire rotation because “all the tires measured the same”. When I explained that these tires had about 8,000 miles of wear on them, and that they hadn’t been rotated since new and that the service manual recommends a rotation every 7,500 miles. The service advisor pushed back saying “the manual only makes general recommendations, I am telling you what your car actually needs”. Needless to say - I insisted they rotate the tires.

4. I walked out the door with recommendations for $800 worth of worth that needs to be done to the vehicle, including: a) an oil change (performed one last week, there’s a sticker in the window); b) a new AC belt as the current one is cracking (replaced myself 1 year ago - looks fine); c) new rear brakes - and they always recommend doing the pads AND the rotors “to be extra safe” (I replaced the rear pads 6mons / 5,000 miles ago...)

5. When the technician brought the keys back into the office and handed them to the service advisor, I asked “Hey! How’d she do??” The tech simply responded - “pretty sure that’s his job to tell you that, bro” motioning to the service advisor before walking out the door... and he wasn’t wearing a mask.

6. Finally, got back in the car and it was a mess (see picture). There was grease, and thumb prints, and a water bottle that wasn’t mine on the floor. Oh - did I mention that the mechanic wasn’t wearing a mask? Come on - we are in a global f**ing pandemic!

At least I got an alignment and I watched them rotate the tires... beyond that -...