TA Travel Center — Local services in Sparks

I stopped in here as I have been living in my car for a few days. The staff is very friendly and helpful and if you have never been here before they will walk you through the whole process.

The shower was $13 and is required to be cash at a little kiosk. If you are expecting high class top dollar for your money, look elsewhere. However if you are looking for a hot shower with clean towels and don't need a place to stay it is actually fairly nice.

After you get your ticket from the kiosk, it has your shower number and the pin code to enter on the door. The shower is private and you can lock the door while not really necessary as the door locks automatically until you decide to leave.

Inside the decor is kind of plain but there is a toilet, sink, mirror, of course the shower and there is plenty of room for all your stuff if you so wish to have almost a motel_like experience and spend time doing your hair up nice and putting on cologne etc.

I was pleasantly surprised when I turned on the shower that it could get almost blistering hot very quickly. Less than a minute and it was hotter than I could stand.

They have some kind of soap dispenser on the wall, not sure what kind it was but I was allowed to bring my own shampoo, conditioner, bath wash, etc.

There isn't any sort of time limit and when you leave they lock the door and notify the attendant that the shower has been used and fairly quickly they go to clean it. The system also notifies the kiosk and says whether it had been used and won't allow someone to use it until it has been cleaned.

There is a restaurant at TA Sparks and it is a full fledged Fuddrucker's which always has delicious burgers and other things to eat that rival most burger restaurants. I didn't go to this one in particular as I didn't really have much left after the shower but if you are willing to spend extra on a significantly more expensive meal than a McDonald's and get great fresh pick your own toppings and type of meat, Fuddrucker's has some of the best burgers in the Reno/Sparks area.

Overall not too bad, everyone was very friendly and helpful and while I got lost for a second in less than a minute an employee helped me find my shower.

If you are willing to wait a little bit and are headed east, there is a truck stop that didn't stop me from using their showers for free in Fernley. I think it was called The Pilot and it was about the same experience but I would recommend the food at...

The late morning shift lady was rude and cussing some of the customers bc she got mad bc she had to come back to the counter to wait on at least 6 drivers who had to call for her several times to let her lazy a$$ know she had a job to do and drivers have been waiting in line for 5 mins!! She limped around the counter as if she was doing drugs or meth and cussing to herself and being hateful to everyone she waited on in the line!!!! I’m appalled that TA would allow someone like her work there and I will NEVER allow my drivers to by fuel here again.I heard about this employee before so I decided to do a secret shopping there to see what my drivers are experiencing when they come to this TA this time of the morning. She needs to be fired and she didn’t represent this TA at all or the company ( brown kinky curly hair pulled up in a pony tail and it was nappy, makeup was all smeared on her face, she was tweaking bad, drug withdrawals). Majority of the TA employees are super friendly but this lady had some serious issues to think it’s ok to be hateful to people/ especially customers bc she hates her job!!! Leave bc NOBODY told you to work there in the first dam place!!!

Three ladies standing there was so shocked that they didn’t even know what to say or do bc the clerks behavior is not something you experience when we are the reasons why she has a job!!! I will be calling corporate along with the other drivers. Obviously the manager doesn’t care and let’s her get by with it or else she wouldn’t be treating customers like that regardless of her issues but if one is on drugs while the manager isn’t there, then she thinks she can get by with it.

VERY DISAPPOINTED...

I had my truck repaired here yesterday, a new radiator was installed and they immediately got working on it. Three guys were climbing through my engine bay getting it done. Only two and a half hours later I was called by the woman in the shop to notify me that it was completed. I asked if they also did a pressure test of the new radiator and installation and she told me "they let it run and checked for leaks and didn't see any" . I paid and left and got 71 miles away and stopped at a rest area and opened the hood and discovered oil everywhere. My first call was to their shop, the manager was not available ( I still have not heard form anyone in .management) but was told they would get someone out to me to figure out the problem. And hour or so later I was told they have no one available and that i would have to call their roadside service to open a work order. Roadside service told me that they can't work on radiator roadside and it has to be repaired in a shop. They set up an appointment with the petro ( should have gone there first) the petro mechanic discovered that the oil cooler had ben broken while installing the radiator and that several places was also leaking coolant. (pressure test would have found this. Although they are covering the repair work the petro is doing, I also have a tow bill, down time, a load not delivered and rescheduled for Monday and i have to sit for the weekend ( over father's day). If the management would acknowledge the problem I would be more than willing to work out something that makes us both happy but as I said, I haven't heard from them. Save yourself some time, money and go...