Dobbs Tire & Auto Centers

I have never done a review online for other people to read before, but I honestly feel I have to warn anyone who is thinking about getting services from this location! Terrible customer service and dishonest people working at this location!

I’ve been to this location 3 times, all for tire-​related services. I’ve bought new tires here twice over the past few years. They’ve been completely honest and friendly to me. I’ve been able to drop off my car and get it back later completed with the work I wanted. They even dropped me off at work as a courtesy while I waited for my car. Based on the fact that I’ve never had a bad experience here, I would still recommend Dobbs, especially if you happen to get one of their promotional coupon vouchers in to make things a bit cheaper.
I’m giving it 4 stars just because of time management. Sometimes they can get a bit backed up and miss an estimated completion time (such as your car being ready at 2 PM instead of Noon, for example). They’ve never forced an upsell or tried to get me to have work done that I didn’t need.
I don’t know what happened to any of the other reviewers, but that is not what I experienced. Seems to be a disproportionate amount of negative reviews here. People only write reviews when they’re displeased rather than happy.

This is probably the worst tire place I have ever been to. If I could give it zero or less stars I probably would. Do not take your car here if you ever expect to take your tires off yourself. The over tighten the lug nuts so you can’t even remove them with your own impact wrench. Their customer service is the worst I have seen. How did they stay so busy?

The manager Nathan has been a rude smartass to me even when they have made mistakes with my vehicles. Do yourself a favor and don’t go there. If this is the kind of manager the owner would hire that says a lot about the company. Trust me this place is bad news and this isn’t the first bad experience I’ve had there.

This place is a scam. Not once have I gone in and was told I need more work done. First off I did not ask them to check any of the stuff they are claiming needs replaced. A simple oil change turns into a $ 800 fix. Second, I was told I needed new ball joints and my mechanic said that they were wrong. Place is a joke.

Aside from the speed of the service, the experience was less than satisfactory, and the speed may have actually contributed to the problem. I was having a car inspected from the Lou Fusz dealership down the street to see if there was any significant issues I needed to be aware of before making the purchase. After they performed the inspection they told me it was in great shape and that nothing needed to be done. It is less than a year later now and I am having repairs done on the vehicle that started developing over 2 years ago according to my mechanic. Had I known about this before making my purchase I would have avoided the vehicle all together. My advice, go to another mechanic.

This place is terrible. I went in for a safety and emissions inspection and I failed because of the ball joints. They told me it would be $ 964 to fix. I ok it to another mechanic and they told me that they could do it for $ 93. Do bs is just trying to make money. This is the last time I will go here.

Had a 5pm appt for an oil change, I got there at 5 til. At 4:40 I walked out of the waiting room and saw my car in the garage with hood down. 5 minutes later the mgr walks in and says they’re «wrapping up». As I’m paying he tells me I need new tires. 1 tire has 6000miles on it the rest less than 13 000. All purchased last summer. I now am questioning of they even changed my oil. I’ll NOT be giving this place my business again. They said my tires were all down to the tread wear line. I walked around and touched each of those tires and can still tell which one has the lowest mileage. They are a ripoff team here. Again, I’ll not return and I’ll tell everyone I know this story as well. Also note, I’m 48, I don’t drive a hot rod, iys a Japanese luxury crossover that I baby. I don’t do burnouts. I found my receipt from my Sept 28visit. They rotated my tires but not one mention of needing new ones.

I went into the O’Fallon store for safety and emission test. Emissions passed, but safety failed for «Steering Mechanisms.» The work needing to be done to pass the safety test totaled $ 1170.19. I asked them to tell me JUST the work that needed to be done to pass the test and he told me it was everything other than replacing a bulb which was $ 9.
I took the car to AutoTire in Sunset Hills for a 2^nd opinion and my safety also failed for «Steering Mechanisms» but their work totaled $ 390.63. I showed them what was told me to by Dobbs and they said half of it was unnecessary.
I am livid, because I am pretty sure I was scammed like this in Feb 2013 when my oil leaked out. I drove from KC, where I was going to school to STL and my oil light was on by the time I got to STL. I took it for an oil change in Ballwin and they said I had a leak so I paid $ 400 to have the leak fixed. However, on my drive back to Kansas City, the oil leaked again and I had to take it to another auto shop in KC. They fixed it and replaced a lot of stuff in the car for $ 800 and the car is working fine. They also told me whoever worked on my car before did a terrible job and they’re not sure if that person even did anything, they said there was oil all over the place and suggested I not take it back to the previous location. They knew I lived in STL area and suggested I find a different car shop.
When I called Dobbs during this experience they said had I gone back to the same store, they would have fixed everything. However, I was going to school in KC at the time and not able to drive back with oil leaking all over. I had exams at the time but wish I would have put in a bigger complaint during that incident. I stopped going to the Ballwin store, but apparently this O’Fallon Dobbs treat their customers the same way. They overcharge and tell you that you need to get things done that aren’t there.
I hope to hear back from the corporate office about this particular incident as I hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Do not go to this place! I am 8 months pregnant and brought my suv in for service and I asked them when I made the appt (that morning for the afternoon) if they could take me back to my home because the website offered shuttle service within 5 miles. I live 2 miles away. I get there and after requesting the shuttle service I was told by the front desk man, Jeremy, that they were short handed with someone on vacation and they could not take me. So I said I guess I will walk home. On my way home I called my husband at work and he was upset they didnt take me home so he called them and spoke with Jeremy who then lied and said they told me they could take me home but I would have to wait. If they would have said that I would have had no problem with waiting. Like I said its sept and its hot and I am 8 months pregnant. Jeremy calls me and tries to tell me I must not have heard him say that to which I respond with my hearing is just fine and he NEVER offered for me to wait for a shuttle he said they couldnt do it. Im honestly not sure how they do on repairing my suv because we told them not to fix it and we will be picking the suv up. I wouldnt let someone from that place touch my suv after such poor customer service! Shame on you!

I’m absolutely positive this place tinkers With cars to mess up later. Never again will I go here. Ever. You’d think after years of the consistent f-​ups I’d learn. I finally did. I came here for a suspension issue, and a couple days later my power steering failed miserably on the highway. I take my car to shops like this to determine what’s wrong and then take it to our family mechanic to fix. After the power steering mishap which I had to manhandle from Fenton to Lake St. Louis, I go directly to my mechanic and stay in his garage with him. He takes off all the tires to review and finds that there is a bolt loosened (held power steering hose in place). He is completely mind blown, because he knows for a fact that whoever touched my car last intentionally loosened that bolt. I was with him the entire time as always, because he likes to show me where my auto problems are and to pinpoint and explain them. Well, as I had just stated… Dobbs was the last place to touch my vehicle and will never ever again.

An unconventional review — I did not do business with this location. So, I am making my rating ‘market neutral’.
Just had to comment on an experience today. My wife’s car broke down on Hwy K. She was able to turn off the highway onto an access road leading into the Dierberg’s parking lot, and then the car stopped moving. This was about 75 yards away from the Dobb’s automotive service store.
So, my wife dutifully called AAA to secure a tow service, and ended up sitting there for 2 hours — apparently it was a busy day for AAA tow trucks. However, in that two hours of sitting in her car, with hazard lights flashing, and hood raised — no one from Dobb’s ever wandered down to check in. We could look up and see their store front, easily.
I’m not saying that they had a responsibility to do that. I’m sure that the staff there, probably thought that if we needed their help, that we would see them and make our way up there to the store. Maybe it’s my marketing hat, or manager hat; but, it seems like a ‘fish in a barrel’ opportunity. Why not send a customer-​facing service guy down just to say ‘Hello’, and confirm that everything is okay? At the very least, it would have been a well-​appreciated gesture of goodwill and concern which would have elevated the brand equity of that location in the mind of this prospective customer. Even better, it could have been an opportunity to make a sale.
However, my Dobbs experience, albeit not a direct customer experience, shows me that the store is staffed by indifferent people and that management is not looking to maximize brand equity and revenue opportunities.
There is not really a value judgement in my assessment — with respect to Dobbs’ competence in providing service. It’s more of a statement of this location’s ambivalence.
[In fair disclosure, there is also a Jiffy Lube and a gas station, and neither of those locations sent anyone down on this cold morning to do the same thing. In fact, no police showed up, either — despite the car blocking a lane of traffic. However, at least a half dozen customers of the grocery store or the gas station did stop and ask if we needed any help.]