University Tire & Auto Center, Inc.

Review: On February 19 of the current year , I entered UNIVERSITY TIRE AND AUTO CENTER, located on [redacted]. What brought me to this establishment , was an shake in my steering wheel. I was seeking a front wheel alignment, as I had replaced my front tires with used tires. I was recommended with very strong conviction that after a thorough inspection by a Bill Waller, that the only way they would do the wheel alignment is if I purchased all new tires. This was under the auspice of ensuring quality and integrity of their work. I purchased the tires along with the wheel alignment as I was recommended by the service professionals. I found just enough relief in the steering wheel shake to assume a fair job was done. On June 21, 2014 during a family vacation trip, I experienced a tire blowout, very fortunate for me I was driving very low speed when it took place. The tire had worn on the inside beyond my own personal belief , and it took a excruciating amount of time and effort to remove the lug nuts, which had to essentially be destroyed to remove. This was obvious due to over tensioning at time of initial replacement. I notified the shop of what I believed to be an error in their service. How can a brand new tire with a brand new wheel alignment blow out in under 3 months ? The answer they gave me , though reasonable was entirely too late , and overtly showed their negligence in the situation. I was informed that I needed extensive suspension work done on my car. When I ased how long did they know that, I was told that the service techs or somebody should have told me this prior to placing new tires on the vehicle. In my original invoice it points out that a inspection of the suspension and steering system was done. So then how was this extensive damage that they are purporting missed ? I do believe they deceptively sold me these tires in full knowledge of the damage to my suspension , and quite honestly am lucky to be aliveThe tires I purchased are essentially no good after 2-3000 miles , and the wheel alignment is completely obsolete. which voids all personal guarantee and warranties made by UNIVERSITY TIRE AND AUTO inc.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the cost of the tires refunded, if not a considerable donation to true cost of the reapir work needed. Also if possible, I would also like to have a recovery for any time lost and other inconveniences experienced as a result of UNIVERSITY TIRE AND AUTO CENTERS deceptive practices.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com Representative,

[redacted] was in one of our stores on February 19th of this year for

an alignment and at that time stated that his car was shaking at highway

speeds. It was at that time that one of our Service Advisors informed [redacted]

[redacted] that his tires were not in good shape and would need to get tires. When

we did the alignment on the first visit we noticed that there was no adjustment

able to be made via factory provisions on the rear of the vehicle, there are

many different vehicles that do not allow for rear adjustment. We only charged

[redacted] for a front end

alignment on his first visit and at a reduced price since he was having to

spend extra money on tires. Our regular price on a front end alignment is

$79.95. On his first visit to our store we also had to drill and replace wheel

studs on his vehicle as they were hard to get off at that time. I have[redacted]

a copy of [redacted] invoice to show our billing. In June when [redacted]

returned and we knew what was going on we put another new tire on his vehicle

at our expense and also refunded the cost of the alignment to him. It was only

at this time that we had reason to question what was going on with the rear of

the vehicle. When we started doing some online research and checking different

forums we came across many complaints online from [redacted] owners about

rear tire wear. From everything that we have been able to find out the only fix

is to replace the rear control arms. We were in contact with [redacted] all

along since the second visit up to and including 30 minutes prior to his filing

a complaint with the Revdex.com. We spoke to him 30 minutes prior to him filing his

complaint and let him know what we had found out so far and what we were still

waiting on. We are very sorry that [redacted] has had to go through all of

this however once we knew what the problem was we have been on top of it from

then on. We have not spoken to [redacted] since his filing with the Revdex.com as now

it should run through you.

Here is what we are willing to do for [redacted]:

The parts for the car are available from [redacted] within 3-5

business days.

If [redacted] pays for the cost of the parts University

Tire will install the parts at our own expense, free of charge to [redacted].

University Tire will also replace the 2 rear tires again at our own expense,

free of charge to [redacted]. We would want to wait until the repairs are done

to replace the tires again.

We feel that this is a fair solution for [redacted] as

University Tire did not cause the rear of the vehicle to be as it is.

University Tire prides itself on its service and at no time

do we ever set out to be deceptive. Again, we are sorry that [redacted] has

had to go through all of this. Hopefully he can see that we do care about our customers

and their vehicles.

[redacted]

[redacted]

University Tire and Auto Center Inc.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted]

Regards,

Review: Dear Revdex.com,

This complaint is related to the tire replacement service from the University Tire and Auto at [redacted]. This location was not listed on the Revdex.com's website.

I received the tire replacement from this place for the rear-passenger side tire a few months ago. To explain the time gap between the service and the complaint, I was abroad a few months and started working in Washington DC so I took the metro and did not use the car often.

A few weeks ago, I started to hear noise from the car. At first, I ignored as I assumed that it comes from the brakes or suspension given that I was abroad for a while and had not driven the car. But the noise did not disappear and so I decided to take a closer look at the car. What I noticed was that one of the lug nuts was missing from the tire the University Tire and Auto replaced.

There is nothing else to explain or describe for this issue other than: a lug nut would and should never fall apart unless (1) someone somehow finds the proper lock that fits the lug nut and intentionally unscrew; OR (2) the service was improperly done and one of them fell apart while I was driving the car.

I highly doubt that it was the first reason -- if all of the lug nuts were missing, it might have been someone stealing lug nuts. But in this case, only one of the 20 lug nuts on my car is missing, and the lug nut that is missing held the tire that the University Tire and Auto serviced.

Please make this right.

Best regards.

p.s. there were some issues related to the amount of total costs that they spoke over the phone before I went to the shop and received the service and the amount that they actually charged at the store; but I will let that one go.Desired Settlement: I do not expect them to refund the costs of the tire that they installed. However, I expect them to (1) refund the costs of the service and (2) pay for the lug nut I will have to purchase and (3) pay the costs of service I will incur for installing the lug nut.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com,

Customer service and care of their

vehicle is very important to University Tire. As far as I can tell this

complaint is the first time that we have been made aware that there was any possible

problem with the vehicle service that was performed. The customer did come into

our [redacted] on July 15th to get 1 tire. I have

included both the original work order and also the final invoice from that

visit. It is hard to tell at this point 4 months later what has happened that

would lead to a lugnut being missing from the vehicle. With that being said, we

will need a little more information from the customer: Year, Make and Model of

vehicle. A picture of what exactly the problem is so that we can make sure that

we are both talking about the same part. Once we can get this information we

can better come to a resolution for the customer. We are extremely saddened when

any of our customers have an issue with their vehicle especially when we have

worked on them in the previous months. We eagerly await the additional

information so that we can help the customer resolve their issue.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Please see the [redacted] photo showing the wheel that the University Tire serviced. Only one lugnut is missing while the other three wheels have had all five lugnuts for the past 5 years since I replaced the tires to all season ones. The lugnut simply should not fall apart unless there was an improper service.

I have no interest in making money off this. I simply want the University Tire admit that they did an inadequate service and pay for all the associated costs to make this right. Upon checking a few auto repair places and parts stores, (which consumed a great deal of my time) I was even more assured that this does not ordinarily happen as they told me that they dont even bother to carry the lugnuts as no one buys them individually.

I believe I already explained for the time gap. I think it is a waste of time to talk about other reasons as if something has happened to my car. It has been garaged just fine while unattended when I was abroad. And it is just unreasonable to think I did it for the sake of few extra bucks and to think someone decided to steal one out of 20 lugnuts.

Regards,

Review: I've been dealing with University Tire and Auto center for years, and i've always gone to them, but recently I've started to sense that something's not right with this company. I went in for front tire replacements, was quoted a price less than what I really paid, and come to find out they broke my parking brake cable in the process. When I asked them to fix the cable because it wasn't broken when I dropped off the car, the refused to fix the problem saying there was no way they could have broken it. Fast forward to around 3 weeks ago. My car broke down so I got it towed to University Tire and Auto center, after 2 days of waiting I finally received a phone call saying they wanted $2,400 to fix my car, but they couldn't pinpoint my problem. I told them that I would call them back with what to do about the car because I just don't have 2,400 lying around. They made NO mention about the $50 diagnostic fee over the phone. I called the shop yesterday to inform them that I would NOT be getting my car fixed and that I would be swinging by later to remove my car from their lot. When I arrived, try tried charging me $50 for diagnostics. $50 for diagnostics, when they couldn't even tell me what was wrong with the car. They also wanted to bill me for services I didn't need. They even wanted to charge me for the parking brake that THEY broke. The [redacted] proceeded to argue with me about this price saying he needed to pay his tech for the 30 minutes of his time......$50 for 30 minutes of looking at a computer screen and NO diagnostics seems pretty shady in my opinion. The assistant manager then tried telling me the money was for storage of the vehicle. In the past 4 years, i've done all my business with University Tire and Auto Center, dropped over $4,000 in repairs, only to return every year on the dot to have the same problems looked at.Desired Settlement: This information is for the Revdex.com and hopefully something will be done about University Tire and Auto Center. I've had other friends and acquaintances tell me they've had similar experiences with University Tire & Auto Center. I don't expect them to do anything about this, since they've never really been helpful the other times i've brought my complaints to them, this is just the last straw for me. I really don't think the company deserves their A+ rating because of how much the price differs from the invoice to the quote over the phone and based on their customer service and attitude towards their clientele. The assistant manager was making me feel really uncomfortable the whole time, and as I was leaving, the whole staff though it would be OK to watch me leave and I'm sure they had some comments to make about me.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com Representative, This is

in response to case #[redacted]. I apologize

first off for the delay in responding as I have been out of the office. I have

done a complete customer history check and have also spoken to the Manager and

Assistant Manager of this store as well as my Director of Retail Operations. On

June 14, 2013 Mr. [redacted] brought his vehicle in and stated that he could feel

the clutch slipping and at this time it was noted that the parking brake was

not holding. On that visit an estimate was presented to Mr. [redacted] for an oil

change, state inspection, front brake service, rear transmission mount and

labor to replace, parking brake cables, a clutch and 1 tire. Mr. [redacted]

declined to have any of the services done so there was no charge to him on that

visit. On January 30, 2015 was the next time that this vehicle was brought back

into our shop and at this time purchased 2 tires and had the power steering

belt adjusted. Then on May 13, 2015 the vehicle was back into our shop for an

oil change and a note was put to check clutch problem. At this time Mr.

[redacted] was given an estimate for rear brake service, 1 rear parking brake

cable as 1 had just been replaced by someone as it was new, a battery hold

down, alternator / power steering and ac belts and the labor to replace and

also a complete clutch replacement and refinishing of the headlights as they

have started to fog. The manager of the store went over the estimate with Mr.

[redacted] and told him that to be sure if it was the clutch or the transmission

we would first have to get the unit out of the car. He was presented with an

estimate on the clutch so that he could make an educated decision based on some

sort of cost. We failed to mention to Mr. [redacted] that there would be any diagnostic

fee and when Mr. [redacted] questioned that we did take that off the bill and

this trip to our store did not have any cost to it as Mr. [redacted] declined to

have any services done. University Tire takes customer service very seriously

and we also take the care of our customer’s vehicle investment very seriously.

All of our technicians are to do a complete check up on the vehicles that come

into our shops to be able to alert our customers on items that need to be

addressed prior to them breaking and leaving our customers stranded without a

vehicle. Since Mr. [redacted] was notified of his parking brake cables and an

estimate was presented on them back in June of 2013 I would have to say that we

did not break the cables and that they wore out as they are a wear out item

over time. I am saddened that Mr. [redacted] does not feel that our customer

service was up to the level it should be and can assure you that we

continuously do training for all of our staff in that area. I can tell you that

the first notice that I had of Mr. [redacted] not being happy and or having any

sort of complaint was when I got the notice from the Revdex.com. In closing I would like to address each of Mr. [redacted]’s

complaints:“I went in for front tire replacements, was quoted a price less than what I really paid.I cannot say that this did not happen, just as I cannot say that it was the same tire sold as was quoted. I can say that our managers have the authority to make it right with the customer at the point of sale if this were to happen. This sale was made 5 months ago so there was no recollection of any discrepancy in the price. If so we sincerely apologize as that is not how University Tire goes to market. “Come to find out they broke my parking brake cable in the process”The front tire purchase was made in January of 2015. There was an estimate from June of 2013 where we presented Mr. [redacted] with needing 2 parking brake cables, which are on the rear of the vehicle not the front where we put the new tires. Not being able to diagnose the issue with the vehicleWe pinpointed the issue to 1 of 2 things, either a clutch or the transmission. To diagnose it further meant getting the unit out of the vehicle which would mean a commitment to fixing it. This is why an estimate was given so that Mr. [redacted] would have a figure to go on to make that decision.“They also wanted to bill me for services I didn’t need”These are items that we see when looking a vehicle over as a checkup that the customer can decide they either want to fix or not. They are not necessarily items that are broke at the moment but would eventually break as did the rear parking brake cables. It allows the customer to know exactly what the state of their vehicle needs are so they don’t get blindsided. It allows the customer the opportunity to maintain the vehicle along the way instead of having the bigger repair bills when they break.$50 Diagnoses chargeWhen Mr. [redacted] said he was not informed of the charge it was taken off the bill. Mr. [redacted] was never charged anything for that visit.As I stated earlier, customer service is very important to

University Tire and any time a customer feels they have not gotten the level of

service they feel they should then we have failed and for that I am sorry. I

hope my explanations on each of these items help you further understand

University Tire and why we do a vehicle checkup when they come into one of our

stores.I do have all the customer invoice and estimate copies if

you would like them please let me know and I can forward them to you.

Review: My business vehicle was serviced by this shop on 4/12/14. I had to return the vehicle after the initial brake repair because of a clunking and grinding noise when the car was in reverse. That ended up being an emergency brake issue caused during the service performed by the assigned technician. Invoice number[redacted]. Account[redacted].

Roughly 3,000 miles later, the front hubs were destroyed and had to be replaced. The hubs were destroyed because the service technician from 4/12/14 used too much torque when completing the original job.

I would like to be compensated for $546.86 which was the cost to have the hub rebuilt. I have an invoice for the repair from By word of mouth automotive.

The repair completed by your shop and it was done in a poor and unacceptable manner.Desired Settlement: I would like to be compensated for the damage caused by the initial repair performed to my vehicle.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com, University Tire takes customer service very serious and I apologize for the time in responding. With the holidays and vacations scheduled around the holidays it took a little longer to be able to speak with all parties involved. I have looked over all of our service records for this customer and have also gotten with all employees within our company involved with the visits. It is our determination that the issue could have been caused by our technician. We are fully prepared to refund the customer the amount they have requested but would require a copy of the invoice from the other shop that did the repairs to look over first. I am however saddened that the customer did not give us the chance to make anything right by them prior to filing with the Revdex.com. If the customer would have called us about an issue we would most certainly have addressed it with the highest importance. What we need from the customer is a copy of the invoice from the other shop. Once we have that then we would need to speak with the customer as to how they would like to be refunded.[redacted]

[redacted]?

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and mailed a copy of the invoice they requested. I also requested they refund my credit card or mail a check to my business address. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted]

Regards,