Sears Auto Center

Reviews 4

EM

Emily Ritterson

I am very disappointed to write this review, but after my last oil change here, I feel compelled to give some feedback as to why I will never take my car to Sears again, and give others some warning before they lose a lot of money. First of all, I have used Sears Auto Center exclusively since moving to Charlottesville almost two years ago. I drive all over the state for work, so I am usually getting my oil changed here once a month. I have had several repairs made to my car here, bought their 1-year alignment warranty, and bought four new tires from them very recently. Up until about 6 months ago, I was very happy with the service I received. Im not sure if theres been a change in management or what, but they have gone barrelling downhill in both technical services and customer service. My last three oil changes have taken an average of about 3 hours to complete. My last service, I was one of the only customers, and was told it would take about 45 minutes to complete. After an hour and a half, I went back to the desk to check on the progress. They had not bothered to call me, and had halted work on checking my cars alignment because they wanted to ask me if I wanted to clean up some corrosion they had found around my battery. After another hour and a half, they informed me that they would not be able to fix the alignment on my car because I had a tire rod that looked slightly worn. When I told them I wanted someone else to take a look at my tire rod (I had just had it replaced 6 months ago during my inspection, so I was a little confused as to why it was worn), they informed me that they would not fix my alignment, and that the warranty on my 1-year alignment check would be cancelled because I was refusing their work order. At this point, my car had been in the shop for 3 hours, and I needed to get to work, so I paid for the oil change and left. Last month, they forgot to close my hood properly before returning my car to me -- a fact I didnt realize until I was on 29 driving home. They also neglected to put the dipstick in after doing an oil change at my boyfriends car, causing it to start smoking from underneath the hood -- thank goodness he caught it before he drove too far! Again, it pains me to write this review, and it pains me to have to find a new auto shop for my monthly oil change. There are a few employees here (Drew, in particular) who are very honest and great; however, at this point, I would avoid Sears and find somewhere else to take your car for maintenance.

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KA

kamariak6

Today i went to sears auto center,so they could look at my battery that was under waranty.when i first got there i was met by a friendly cashier who assured me that my battery and oil change would be finished by 11am i got there at 10am i said fine no problem as i walked around the mall till then. I came back at 11 which i was then told that they were not done 11:30 everything should be done im like fine okay aslong as im out by 11:30 because I have to be at work at 12... now it is 11:45 and am just now receiving my keys I asked has the battery been checked and oil changed done. The mechanic says what oil change....now I am pissed because I have now almost waited 2 hours for work that has bot been completed and also now im going to be late to work and my truck is not finished.he repeats give me 10 more minutes and ill fixed it i reiterate that i dont have 10 minutes to wait i have to be at work at 12 on the dot he then repeats why dont I just bring it back later...why the hell should I bring it back later when i just waited two hours for you to do nothing to my truck.I head to work and got my other half to drop if off so i can recieve my oil change I waited so nicely for.my boyfriend picks my truck up and sees that there is a huge scrape on the back of my truck that is now white and missing paint.I then call sear auto and ask the manager about the scrape that was not there when i dropped my car off.he then states he doesnt know what im talking about he dosent have time for this i state i do not appreciate the way your talking to me may i speak to someone higher he says no if i call again will be speaking to him and then has the nerve to hang up on me how unprofessional ....this was the worse service ever I repeat do not take your vehicle there the people are rude and will leave you standing there for hours with no regard to your time.sears auto will never be receiving my hard earned coin again

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A

A Private User

Ive always been skeptical of Sears for auto issues, but Ive been happy with this auto center. Heres why: Sears replaced my battery 5 months ago when my car wouldnt start. Recently it refused to start and when I jumped it, it died once I got it started. I was pretty sure I needed a new alternator. I had it towed to a different shop in Charlottesville, where they quoted me $950 for a new alternator, a new battery, a new AC belt and a new alternator belt. My former mechanic (from where I used to live)--who I trust completely, told me a new alternator for my car, with parts and labor, should be about $375 or $400. I had the car towed from the other shop to Sears, expecting to pay about $400. The guys at Sears replaced my battery under warranty but that didnt fix the problem. I was still sure I needed a new alternator. They said it might be my cable connectors--they replaced those next. Voila! Problem solved. I was sure Id be out $400 for a new alternator--but instead of paying that or the $950 the other shop wanted to charge me, I left Sears with a $35 bill. This also fixed a long-standing problem with my car that I had forgotten about--flickering dashboard lights (I didnt mention this to them at the time, since I had gotten so used to it). They spent a fair amount of time working on my car, and were very careful and methodical about fixing it--instead of jumping to a conclusion like I had and the previous shop had. That ended up saving me a few hundred dollars, so I really appreciate it. I also got my Goodyear tires replaced under warranty by them and they were very, very helpful in dealing with the folks at Goodyear. They helped me get good service from Goodyear and I havent had any complaints about their tire rotation or anything else. Like I said--I was skeptical of places like Sears, but Ive been really happily surprised by their work.

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NI

Nick Cowley

The service here was ok, but I am not going back and wouldnt recommend it to anyone else. I took my car in because one of my tires was going flat. They were quick to look at the tire and finished 15 minutes faster than they said they would. The tire was not repairable, so I had them put the spare on for me. They gave me a discount on the services they did, but thats where the good ends. When I got out to my car, the spare they had just installed was low on air. I didnt specifically ask them to check it, but it was obviously low. If I hadnt checked, the spare could have been ruined. Then, when I got home, I opened the trunk to look at the damaged tire. After changing the spare, they had just thrown the damaged tire and spare tire equipment back in the trunk without even putting the anything in the spare slot (my trunk fits a full size tire as the spare). I am sure they were busy, but they could have at least put the cover back on the spare tire compartment. After the appointment they sent me an email with a copy of my receipt, which was great. But, there were also "recommendations" from a complimentary inspection that were totally off. For example, they recommended that I get my transmission fluid changed, a $109 service. That only needs to be done every 75,000 miles, and I had it done 2,500 miles ago. I doubt they even checked anything. They probably just put a bunch of generic recommendations that could have cost me a lot of money. Overall, they did the service I asked for relatively quickly and inexpensively, but with awful service. I wont be going back.

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