Merchant's Tire

Its pretty neat, you can schedule when you wanna come. Service is great, gave me a great warranty.

unknown

Dropped the car off on a Saturday at 1pm. At 3pm on Sunday no one had called me. I called them and basically got a "we could figure out the problem, go to the dealer" response. Fine. When I went to pick up my car the tire rotation was on the service ticket but hadn't been done. When I asked they went and looked and agreed.
This is the second time that service has been sub-par. Not total ripoff artists but also not great. Probably best for simple items (tires, inspection, oil change).

I brought my car in with an unexpected wobble. The diagnosis was worn tires which wasn't a total surprise. I was quoted a "sale" deal which was about $200 higher than I ultimately paid. I was glad they were able to work with me on price but buyers should be aware that sale prices aren't necessarily a great deal.
I've had standard services performed here in the past as well (oil change, inspection) with good success.

My experience with this shop is mixed. At times their customer service had been excellent and they have had some good deals, such as a package for wheel alignments. But other times I feel they are trying to upsell me (I believe the men in the lobby work on commission) and I think they sold me some lower quality tires and on one job they used an improper technique to attach a pan gasket.

My car needed an oil change and I had taken it to them before. But I noticed all of the staff that I had worked with in the past seemed to be gone. I asked them to check the brakes because it seemed like I was due and the brakes had been squealing. They did the oil change and then proceeded to tell me that the entire brake system needed to be replaced.
In addition, the car was out of alignment (which I had suspected) and the car needed new tires. (I suspected that and was not surprised.) But then they told me the power steering pump was leaking, and the struts needed to be rebuilt on the front and back. In short, almost $4400 worth of repairs on a car that only has 125000 miles on it and only has a value of $2100! The kicker was that they said all of these repairs needed to be done before the car would pass inspection in July.
They pressured me very hard to go ahead and commit to the work, saying it was a safety issue. I told them I had to think about it. I then took the care to Meineke at the corner of Hydraulic and Emmet and asked them if they would check the brakes. (Didn't say anything more than that.) Meineke came back and said that the rotors needed turning and it needed new pads and that was it. (Total around $220) I then told them about the other supposedly bad parts (calipers, struts, power steering pump, etc) They said they double and triple checked them and could find nothing wrong! On top of that I asked if everything they did would make the car pass inspection and they said it would!
It still needed the new tires and alignment (which Meineke does not do), so I took it to Sears for the tires and alignment. While there I asked them to check the supposedly dangerous struts and brake calipers. They said they looked fine.
So based on the amount of pressure that Merchant's was putting on me to get the work done, I suspect bill padding. To say that this work HAD to be done in order for the car to pass inspection was outright blackmail and has cost them a fairly good customer. They probably do good work mechanically, but if they say you need ANYTHING additional done. Get a second or third opinion!

Took my car in for state inpection. Told them I had a rear tire that seems to leak air slightly. They found a large nail on the inside of the tire. Damage was not repairable. Merchants replaced with 2 new rear high performance tires and a great price. Car was inspected and ready that same day. Great service.

They are very thorough; he did a few things free, just because they were so small, and I'd grade them A's across the board.