The Tire Choice (formerly McGee Auto Service and Tires)

Reviews 3

BE

Ben Burton

Update: I received a follow up call from the owner of McGee Auto Service & Tire (Mr. McGee) and spoke with him at length about what happened. He apologized for the mis-diagnosis and was very professional and courteous. I did appreciate the phone call. This doesnt change my experience or my review, but it is good to know that the owner of the chain cares about their reputation and is willing to take time to follow up on issues. My Review: I had been going to Long Tire and Auto for years, and always liked the service and work they did. Ive always known that they were pricey: the markup on parts, shop fees, and labor costs are all pretty high. Labor costs are over $100 per hour where many other mechanics charge $50-80. All that being said, they were honest with me and not pushy, and everyone there was very nice and professional. I even had a personal friend that worked there, and still does after the sell to McGee. However, I have noticed a HUGE change in the honestly and professionalism since the shop was sold to McGee. Im very trusting, and Im pretty sure Ive been taken a couple times since the beginning of the year, but this last time was outrageous and I had to find out for sure. I still gave them 2 stars because many of the employees are the same and I sincerely believe they are in a bad situation where they are forced to keep a job that has become dishonest due to owner and management change. My personal experience is detailed below: I brought my car in because the air conditioner was quitting after the car had been running for about 20 minutes; however, the a/c was working every time when I first turned on the car, and if I turned off the a/c for about 5-10 minutes, and turned it back on, it would work again for a while. The manager, Jesse, told me that he checked the AC and that there was a leak. He said that they used a sniffer to find where the leak was and that it was in the evaporator coil. To fix the leak, they would have to completely remove the dashboard to get to the box that houses the coil and replace the coil. The quoted price was just over $1800 with over $1000 of that in labor costs. The kicker was that this was not guaranteed to fix the A/C, only to fix the hole so that they could properly diagnose the system to see if there was any other problems. $1800 is a lot to spend on an 11 year old car, so I asked if there were any temporary fixes or if they could just recharge the system, or if I could even do it myself. He told me there were no other alternatives, and that this needs to be done. When I said no thanks and tried to pay for the diagnostic work, he all of a sudden remembered an additive that might seal any holes in the system. The cost for this was about $60, but that the refrigerant needed to be drained, and then refilled with the additive, for a total cost of $230. Later that same day I found another mechanic that runs a small business, and had him look at it. He said that the clutch on the compressor was going bad and was not engaging properly. He said the clutch can be changed, but that it is not recommended because they are finicky and the best option is to just replace the compressor. I told him what Jesse and McGee said, and he said that anything is possible, but the clutch is definitely bad, and that if there is a leak, it is most likely at the compressor with a bad clutch. After I had it repaired, he told me that after replacing the compressor, he checked the system for leaks with a vacuum gauge, and no leaks were found. The really incredible part was that the valve the gauge has to attach to was still encrusted in dirt... no one had actually checked to see if there was a leak in at least the past several months. Again, I must reiterate that I do believe that most of the mechanics at McGee are probably good, honest mechanics. That is why I still give them 2 stars. If it were only the management that Im reviewing, it would most definitely be a 1 star review.

ST

Steve Ullum

This was the worst experience Ive ever had with a mechanic. They installed an alternator in my car and it went dead 2 days later, leaving me 40 miles from home and having to call a tow truck. When I took the vehicle back to them, they told me the alternator died because I had a bad Powertrain Control Module and a bad Engine Wiring Harness, estimated at close to $1,800. It sounded shady, so I had another mechanic look at it for me and that mechanic installed another alternator for $265 total (parts and labor), checked the signals between the alternator and Powertrain Control Module, and found everything to be normal. There was NO issue with the PCM or the Wiring Harness. Their $1,800 repair cost me $265 somewhere else and the only problem was a crappy alternator that they installed themselves. When I approached them about refunding my money because the job was still under warranty, the manager promised on 4 different occasions that he would call me back that day - NEVER DID. I had to always call him back. I was assured that I would receive a refund but that it took some time to process. I finally received a refund for the part (about $270) 2 weeks later and was then told that it could take another 5 weeks for the labor refund to be approved. A month later I was told that I would not be receiving a refund for the labor because it was denied. Upon examination of the alternator they installed in my car, it was obvious that it was junk. The parts were rusted and badly worn. It was obvious that they installed a junk part into my car and then tried to blame me and charge me more money when their junk part failed. They could have done the honest thing and just admitted that they installed a bad alternator. Instead, they lied and tried to charge me an additional $1,800 for something that wasnt needed, and then they gave me the run-around about a refund that I never fully received because they said my claim was denied. Dont waste your time and money at this place. They will not give you a straight answer and they will not stand behind their work!!!

RY

Ryan Ferguson

Ive been taking my two cars here for a few years when I needed anything major from a maintenance perspective done, the service has been friendly but its always seemed a bit costly. The last two times I decided to price-check the parts costs online and with similar shops around and it became obvious that I was getting murdered by price markup. Most recently I needed an Alternator and he charged me $375 + $60 installation. I shopped around online and found the same refurbished alternators at $130. He insisted he only buys from the local NAPA Auto Parts shop, so I found the exact same shop he wanted to buy from had the alternator posted online for $230. After I pointed this out, the only thing the owner, Shannon, had to say was "Everyone has a markup" and that he was giving me a "returning customer discount". The only redeeming quality is that he offered to install any part I brought in myself for just the labor charge, which seems reasonable to me, but since I literally cant drive the car the couple of blocks it takes to go pick the part up, Im stuck paying his absurd markup. I dont have a problem with a store making a profit, but I would expect 20% to be the maximum and Id also expect a shop like his to have an agreement that results in his ability to source at much better than retail price online that I can get with a, literally, 10 second google search. Will be avoiding this place in the future due to price gouging.