Tread Quarters Discount Tire

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We were out of town for the holiday, about 4 hours from home, on the 3rd of July.  The minivan started smelling like hot radiator coolant every now and then.  Opening the hood revealed that coolant had sprayed everywhere on the driver's side of the engine compartment, but there was no location visibly leaking.  The coolant overflow tank was down near the MIN marking.  So, I bought a gallon of antifreeze and a small container of radiator leak sealant, followed directions, and topped off the coolant. 
I let it idle for 20 minutes, then cool back off, and everything seemed fine.  But after about 4 miles of driving we smelled coolant and I saw a wet stream behind us as we turned a city corner.  I decided that we probably needed to find somewhere that could diagnose the problem. So the next morning, on July 4th, I pulled into Tread Quarters store #715 on Centerville Turnpike in Chesapeake. 
Manager Paul Rooney assured me no problem, they would try to look at it that afternoon (they are open every day of the week, and this holiday weekend was no exception). He said they would first do a pressure check on the coolant system and there was a $57 minimum charge to cover diagnostic work, which I approved, and he emphasized that it was important that I answer my cellphone because there would be decisions to make on repair work and limited windows for parts availability on a holiday weekend.  I promised to be available, and sat out at the poolside with my bluetooth while everyone else got to swim. Hearing nothing, I finally called to ask what was happening, and they said they didn't know yet but they did have it on the lift.  Later, perhaps an hour before their closing, I called again and left a message, asking them to call me with an update.
That evening, after fireworks, I decided to Google the problem, and on the first search page found three or four links which exactly described the symptoms, and the 20 minute repair with $15 in parts using a short piece of hose, a Y or T fitting, and three hose clamps to replace the factory Y-fitting with a split on the top seam.  I called the store and left a message advising them of this, including the needed parts, and told them to call me with any questions. 
The next day, about 12:30pm Sunday, Mr Rooney called me shortly before I went to pick up the van to do the work myself, and advised that the repair was complete, that his mechanic had worked on the van from 9 til Noon and that it was ready for me to pick up, with a total bill of $277.
Upon arriving at the store with a relative, who turned on his voice recorder, I informed him that I had a serious problem paying $277 for a 20 minute repair with $15 in parts, and that I had no sympathy for a shop which did not call me a single time nor get my approval for the repairs because I had already decided to do the work myself.  And further, there was no excuse to use 3 hours of shop time when I had told them how to fix the problem in 20 minutes.  Mr Rooney proceeded to claim 30 years of experience in automotive repair, (never bothering to find out that I had worked in the OEM headquarters that designed the van), said you can't believe YouTube claims of repair times because it's never that simple, and used every emotional manipulation in the book.  For example, "that doesn't even come close to covering my costs", and he "should learn to not try to help people out who are out of town and need to get back on the road", and that "the next customer would be the one to suffer" because he's "not going to bend over backward like this again". He was upset when I asked to see the old radiator cap, and protested that he would have to dig through the trash to locate it but assured me that it had failed to hold pressure.  My relative was ready to throw up. Myself, I had seen no evidence that the original radiator cap was malfunctioning. 
I pointed out that if he had called me as promised, I was willing to discuss the repair situation but had already decided to do the work myself.  I generously offered to pay $100, then relented to $150, in responding consideration of a claimed two gallons of coolant (the entire initial-fill system capacity), a new radiator cap ($7 retail at AutoZone) that "was $19", a plastic T-fitting, 6" of hose, three hose clamps, a drive to the parts store, and washing out the engine compartment.  And so I did.  But Mr Rooney said that it would have no warranty whatsoever on the work, and "NO WARRANTY AT ALL" is detailed on the bill, along with "Customer Wishes To Discard Old Parts" - which I never, ever said.
Unfortunately, when I inspected under the hood before leaving and noted that the radiator cap was definitely new, I did not check to make sure the new radiator cap was tight.  So by the time I arrived back at the relative's house, I smelled coolant again and had it all over the inside of the hood - because the mechanic never tightened the cap.  So I used my remaining coolant to refill the system, and regretted paying him $150.  If I could do it over, knowing the untightened radiator cap, I would have given them $100 and still thought it was generous, but my relative thought $60 was appropriate because all I agreed to was the $57 diagnostic: everything else was without permission or any attempt to call me. 
My overall impression is that Mr Rooney has probably been manipulating and swindling customers dishonestly for much of those 30 years, because he's very smooth at it.  He never once challenged my assertion that I had called three times and left two messages for them, including the one on Saturday night telling them exactly the problem. So it was pretty clear that he didn't call me because he wanted to create empty time as a way to rack up charges, and the new radiator cap was likely nothing but a profit item.  I wouldn't trust this shop to check air pressure in a tire without conning someone out of money.

I needed new tires for my horse trailer. I had done my homework and researched the tires I wanted, and priced them out at several local shops. Treadquarters offered the best price, but had to order the tires. I very clearly, and more than once confirmed the size, load range and brand needed, and had them order the tires. They had the tires within a day and called me to let me know the tires were in and ready to install, and which time I again verified the specs for the tires I needed. I dropped the trailer off for them to install the tires and came back at the end of the day, only to find that the tires were not the load range I had ordered, and the ones installed were way too light a load range to be safe on my trailer. Had I not asked how many psi they had put in the tires, I may never have known that they were not the correct tires. When I called the error to their attention, they tried to argue that what they installed was the tire I requested, until I pointed out that the size and load range was written right on the order, and did not match what they put on my trailer. Then they wanted me to pay to fix their error, saying that to get the correct load range tires would cost more money, even though my original quote was for the higher load range tires. After a great deal of hassle and a lot of my wasted time, they eventually relented and replaced the tires at no further cost to me. But throughout the whole process they tried to make out that the mistake was mine. I will not be doing business with them again.

We've used this Tread Quarters location for years. There have been quite a few managers in that time. The current manager - Matt - is a good one. They have been servicing our almost-antique '92 Acura Legend for almost 3 years. The part that needed to be replaced was rather expensive, but they allowed me to order the part online and pay them to install. This saved us almost $200. Thank you TQ!

At first they had difficulty finding the parts but they hung in there and they finally found the parts and did the work for me. And then I had some problems afterwards and I took it back and they fixed it without charging me labor because they said they should have caught the problem the first time around, and I was very happy with their service. They were very courteous and very professional.

I had 4 tires I needed mounted on my car. I arrived at Tread Quarters and the service person indicated it would be a couple of hours for my tires to be done. I said ok and left. I came back 2 hours later and my car was not done. I inquired and the service manager said I was the next one on the rack. $5 minutes later my car had not moved. I inquired once again and the store manager then had my car taken around back and for customer satisfaction, I did not pay for the alignment due to my long ordeal. I have bought 4 sets of tires from this store and never had an issue. It was an off day and the manager made up for it with his great attitude.

I live only 40 miles from Virginia and it was easier for me to go there. Also, I have more choices there. For the tires of my truck, it was the best I could find for they have the best price. It was a great experience and the service was excellent.