Merchant’s Tire & Auto Centers

My experience with merchant’s tire has been less than acceptable to say the least. My wife had a flat tire, which was replaced yesterday at their shop in Gaithersburg MD. First off they had no one present at the front counter to assist her, she stood there after asking for someone for several minutes before anyone arrived. Once at the register the employee could not get it to work, then they could not find her keys. I understand that you are busy but this is no way to provide service to customers. Additionally, to wrap it up, the employee did not seem to even acknowledge the fact that he had additional customers waiting as well. This is our last time we use Merchants tire.

Walked in no one said a word to me. Waited about 10 minutes then asked if they sold batteries. Replied «ya» and didn’t help. I asked where I should go to get one. Said «what do you mean where to go» i said do I go to you or someone else. Replied ya just wait. I waited for another 15 minutes no one said a word to me. I walked out.

Came here, even though the ratings weren’t very high. I needed new tires for my truck. Had the tires I needed, had my wife pick me up, two hours later went back and my truck was ready to roll ;) No pun intended.
Even went back later in the day after helping a friend who’s car battery had died to pick up a new one.
Will recommend and go back.

Sat here an hour and a half for a oil change and I had an appointment definitely not worth it. Don’t recommend coming here it wasn’t worth the $ 5 I saved instead of going to walmart which only takes 30 mins tops for an oil change.

Great placed or a quick oil change job !! Tony is one of my favorite person there, Helpful and honest. Defiantly much much better than Jeffylube !!! Highly recommend!

Great service, knowledgable mechanics.
I know nothing about cars, so the mechanic actually walked me through the repairs needed. He started at the front of the car to the back. Showed me the engine, and underneath.
Very reasonable prices. Will def be coming back for any future repairs.

Came in for an all inclusive oil change, had a coupon for $ 24.95 after taxes, which they honored. I was seen immediately.
So that was nice. The manager was diligent in keeping up with multiple tasks.
The oil change took them around an hour This disappointed me since they were not busy at all.
I checked to verify they actually replaced the filter, and that they rotated my tires, which they did.
Overall a positive but unnecessarily lengthy experience.
The manager was knowledgeable and well mannered.

Merchant’s is over priced but they make you feel good about paying extra because of all the extras like lifetime flat repair. BEWARE! They will ALWAYS have a reason why they cannot honor their promises. There will always be a reason why it isn’t covered and how great it is though that they can ‘fix’ your tire by having you buy a new one for $$$. DO NOT trust this place.

Great service from Anthony and Jared. Both were very professional and helpful. Would recommend and will be a repeat customer.

Came in with a simple flat tire but on a Chevy Volt. Needed special care. These guys took care of it and did a fantastic job. turned out it was two small punctures not one! recently had the car up to 80 miles an hour with not a single wobble great balance job. great service excellent price go back there again.

I would like give a negative star if I could… It is the worst auto repair/​tire replacement experience… EVER.
I came in Saturday before and ordered all the tires and services for next Tuesday. Tuesday comes along, I went to the store, I was standing in the doorway for 20 minutes, before I was even greeted. Then I was told the tires have not arrived and I will have to wait another hour. I had to get back to the office so I asked to cancel to order. As I am typing this, it’s been 35 minutes since I asked and still waiting for a refund. The lady who is being help even said I can go first since her issue was going to take a while, but the friendly front desk said no.

Went there after hearing there was new management. Had heard of problems in past from friends. Walked in and was greeted immediately by the manager. Told him was hearing a noise in the rear of my vehicle. After looking at my tires, told me that the tread was low and suggested new tires. Took my car back, didn’t wait that long. Didn’t realize what a difference my new tires made. My car drives smooth and no more noise. Very satisfied with my service. Will use next time I need them.

Came in for oil change and to have breaks checked. Needed new pads and rotors on the front. They needed to order the pads so I scheduled the work for 8am the following morning. Arrived at 8am and was told that the mechanic who would be working on my car was not due in until 8:30am. Sat in their waiting room doing work and at 10:30am looked out to see my car still in the place where I had parked it at 8:30am and met the mechanic just arriving at work for the day, at his scheduled time of 10:30.
I will never do business here again!

This place will rip you off. Bought tires from tire rack and had them shipped here. The tire’s weren’t balanced properly before mounting, and the alignment I had them do took over 4 hours. At the end of the 4 hours, they couldn’t get the front end aligned, and let me drive it to see how it was, it was worse then when I brought it in. The wheel was actually turned the other way! When I got back and said it was unacceptable. The GM called the tech into his office, the tech came out and told me that my Electronic Steering was messed up and the dealer would have to fix it. The alignment here was 149. The alignment at the dealer was 89.95 and nothing was wrong with my steering, plus it only took 45 minutes!
They don’t know what they are talking about, and will make stuff up when they can’t figure it out. The GM as also unwilling to credit me for the alignment which wasn’t done. Avoid this place at all cost.

The General Manager here, Ronald, is awesome! Really knows his stuff and triess to do the best thing for you, supposedly! Ronald just waits until you are done talking so he can get back to talking, he doesn’t really «listen». This place reminds me of a bunch of friends starting a shop and working together, they are all over the place. I think they have some decent guys in the garage, but top down, they are retarded! The service can be fast, but I think the service guys are moving a little too quick, and lack some attention to detail. They took care of my tires and my only quam was them writing on my rims with permanent marker to keep the rims in the right order where they go on the car. They also forgot to reset the tire pressure sensors, so they totally erased the two hour gap between my pickup and when they completed the job! I like the little things to be taken care of… the permanent marker on the rims and the sensors not being hooked up until after i get in my car to go home after paying you… just a little frustrating!
It is kind of like when you go to a restaurant… you don’t want to keep having to ask for your drink to be refilled, you just want the waiter/​waitress to take care of it for you, and you can deal with the food taking a while, just want that drink!
I just want those sensors hooked back up before you tell me to come get my car and no graffiti on the rims!
This place is terrible. I would never try to say that about a place unless I truly believed it, but they have time and time again messed things up on my truck, and this will be the last time I subject myself to this!
They give you a HUGE list of things that you need to «repair» on your vehicle, but they miss the obvious stuff, the critical stuff. How about the belts that were squeaking on my truck that could have snapped at any minute guys? Good thing I found a place in Rockville, MD owned by two brothers, called Burma Motorrs. These guys did my brakes and drums for half the price these guys quoted me. The best part is, Burma Motors won’t do anything you don’t need. So hard to find honest people these days.
PLEASE do not subject yourself the torture of MERCHANT TIRES in GAITHERSBURG, MD!

$ 350.00 for front brakes?
+ they charge for shop fees?
and tax on both labor (illegal) and materials? (tax is on materials only).
I don’t think so.
What else can they think of?
Told them to put my car back together and I took it elsewhere.
Will NEVER go back.

I took my Mother-in-Law’s convertible here for an oil change and tire rotation. I was greeted in a friendly manner and the nice young man at the desk said the car would be done by 10am. I called at 11am to ensure that the car was finished and the man on the end of the line, very rudely, told me that it wouldn’t be ready until 2pm. I called again at 2pm, again, just to make sure it was finished, and again, the very rude man told me that it wouldn’t be done until 3pm… well, I called at 3pm and the said they were just taking it into the shop and that it would be done at 4pm. The last time, I went into the shop and waited 30 minutes just to be asked what I wanted. When I finally saw my car being driven out of the bay, another 30 minutes later, some jerk was driving around as fast as he could. Boo on the poor service (save for the first young man)!

Takes forever to talk to someone.

Ditto the other review — customer service needs serious improvement. Was assured that 4 Doral tires would be installed — got there today and only 2 were available. Was told they’d «try» to get the other two, but received no call back at all. When I tried to get status, I was put on hold and the call dropped 3 times. Finally, a young woman who said she was new was able to help. The car was done, all four tires were on – 6 hours after dropping off the car — but no one could be bothered to let us know if we were getting 4 tires or not until 6 hours later? Customer Service!!!

Went there randomly on a Sunday to get a tire fixed after calling ahead; waited for about 30 mins for someone to greet me and ask what I needed in a line of people before I left out of frustration; it was like no one was responsible to field customers. I can’t comment on their workmanship but their customer service definitely needs a lot of work at this location. Took my car to emerald city automotive about a mile away and gave them a 5 star review…

Took my car there to have them swap summer & winter wheels. The car shook on the highway afterward. They tried re-​balancing — no help. Took it back and asked them to swap the front and rear tires on the right side, as I suspected the front right wheel had issues. They told me they did this but they didn’t (I marked the tires).
There are better places to take your car.