Ntb-National; Tire & Battery

Professional, friendly, and got the job done. It was routine service, just getting new tires, alignment, and a light. So don’t know too much about how they do in other areas. They took slightly longer than they told me, not a big deal, but it took it down one star. But overall a pleasant experience and I would likely come back.

Got oil change and bought tires (buy 3 get 1). David and Pat very professional and very helpful.

Convenience. That’s why we brought my car here to NTB on Needham Street.
My tire had a slow leak. After replacing it with the spare, we found the culprit. So, off to NTB we went.
Repair the tire or buy a new one? We still couldn’t see the president’s head (penny test), but the tire was 7 years old already; was it time yet?
They told us that the tire was in good condition, though it had some uneven wearing on the tread, so we went with the fix it option for $ 24.99. They patched the hole, claiming it the better option vs plugging it. But they tested my transmission fluid and it came back dirty, so that was another $ 109.99. My transmission fluid had never been changed since I bought the car, so I figured that could be reasonable. And a $ 3 hazardous material discharge fee and some miscellaneous taxes.
With a little effort, I found a $ 20 coupon online, which was accepted. Score!

I have two cars at home. Less than 6 months ago, I bought 4 brand new ties from this location for the car that gets only about 6,000 miles a year. At the time the manager told me «when you buy four tires from us, we will give you free tire rotation with your $ 19.95 oil change». I took the car in today for an oil change and the «free» tire rotation. But they told me one of the tires is off a little bit so if I want a rotation I have to get an alignment which obviously is not free. This company has a culture of misrepresentation and bait abs switch. I will never go there and will tell everyone about them.

I came for simple tire/​rim swap. I was told an hour. After an hour, they said the van was ready. I paid and went back out to my van, and the studded snow tires were still on! Nothing had been done. I received no apology. When I asked when it would be completed, they said another hour. When I said I was in a time crunch, they said «we’re doing the best we can.» I was not pleased with this place’s customer service.

Called to have Tire Mounted that I was told to have had shipped there. Person told me I had to make an appointment and it would take about 1 hour and offered me 3:30. I gave him my number, took off work early and showed up at 3:30. They told me it would be 2.5 hours before they got to my car. I said how can that be since I made an appointment. The first person was belligerent and told me well… its just like a Doctors office, sometimes they get behind schedule. I said no, they are not a Doctors office, they are a tire place and besides who has ever waited 2.5 hours beyond their appointment at a doctors office anyway. I asked to see the person who I spoke to on the phone, and as if rehearsed he gave me the exact same Dr. office line. I asked why he did not bother to call me as a courtesy. He said they do not do that. Two other employees gave me the same Dr. Office line and all with the same belligerence. So I said, look I think you missed the concept of «an appointment». So I had them give me my Tire, drove to a gas station and he mounted it right away. Would never go back here again. Very customer unfriendly.

BUYER BEWARE THIS PLACE WILL SELL YOU STUFF YOU DONT NEED! Talk to Dave the service manager not the store manager, his rude and will catch an attutide if you don’t buy from him. He tried to sell me a bunch of repairs on my vehicle that was not needed. Def get a second opinion always!

I can understand the negative reviews as I have gotten poor service there in the past. This time I researched tire prices on line and found NTB to be the most competitive for what I wanted. I work near there so between the pricing and being close by I went back. This time the Manager, John, took me through pricing for severeal brands of tires and I felt asked the right questions about my driving habits. It took a while but he did not rush me. The waiting room was clean and the tires were installed in the time they gave me. They also pointed out a minor issue under the car but just told me about it with an estimate. No pressure to get it done, which I did not. So maybe they have gotten their act together. I was treated right this time.

Typical good cop, bad cop routine. Don’t be fooled and woman beware! The only thing missing from this place are the ski masks they should wear when you enter this place. AVIOD THIS PLACE!
First let me start by saying that I live in Ca, so I try to set everything up for my Mother in Ma before she goes into a place like this, which I have never had a problem with… well until now!
They tried to rip off my Mother (older). She blew one tire in the front and probably needed two. The Tires were 88 bucks each so the total should be $ 166 at the most. I figured they may throw in their phony alignment routine, so it’s safe to say that they would hit her up for about $ 280. I talked to a guy ahead of time (about one tire) and trusted my mother to go alone and wait for the vehicle to get done (remember one tire, two at the most! And I only agreed to two tires, nothing else).
I got a call from her saying that the mechanic gave her a ride home because the car needed a list of things (struts, Brakes… etc.) and the total would be… brace yourself! …over $ 1,200 bucks. Since it took me some time to peel myself from the ceiling I called and the Manager and he said it is his job to point out safety issues and the person is an adult they can make their own decision (he forgot to mention the bend your arm behind your back technique). He actually got aggressive about it. He actually tried to justify why an $ 88 tire resulted in over $ 1,200 in work. I made him stop what he was doing and no shock to me, he had already replace two tires and did an alignment for a total of $ 280 and had the nerve to ask if I wanted him to cancel the parts ($ 1,200) that he ordered! He also said the mechanic will be pissed when he breaks the news to him. No wonder why he drove her home in his personal vehicle, he thought he had a sucker on the hook.
In short, I did not read Unilocal until after this happened, I hope that this place gets shut down.

I’ve usually work on my car for basic maintenance and only go to a shop when it’s something too big for me to handle. I have a BMW 540i that I’m very finnicky about and have brought my car to multiple shops for alignments because the alignments were always sloppy, including the dealership.
I bought a alignment from NTB last year that came with 3 years of coverage and the alignment came out acceptable enough for me to drive on. After a year of Boston potholes, I brought my car into NTB again for another alignment and I was impressed at the alignment spec sheet. The tech, Raymond, actually aligned my wheels symmetrically on both sides of the car (usually, techs just align it so that each wheel is in spec). I knew this was a tech that took pride in what he did but I was SHOCKED pulling out of the lot. My car drives better than when I first bought it 2 years ago.
Props to Raymond for the spectacular alignment and thank you Dave for the great customer service!

Called before coming down today for simple oil change and tire rotation. They told me 1 hour tops. When I got here at 11:30a the guy said it would be no later than an hour and a half. I came back at 3pm and they hadn’t even brought my car in yet — and the guy has the nerve to tell me it will be another hour. Well now I’m sitting in their stinky waiting room stewing. Thanks for letting me vent. It will be cold day in hell before I bring my car back here!

I purchased 4 tires from
and had them delivered to the NTB on Needham st in Newton, MA. They are a «recommended installer» from Tire Rack.
When I arrived, nobody was manning the store front. When «Patrick» finally came out, he seemed very confused about me requesting to have my
tires installed. I had called ahead to ensure the tires were in the store. Eventually, he figured out «something or other» mumbled something I didn’t understand and asked for my keys.
I watched the entire service. They have large windows in the waiting area where you can clearly see the entire service bay, and they changed the tires within easy view of my location. I watched carefully, because I assumed that the TPMS service was bull***t, and that they wouldn’t actually do anything. Glad I did. I saw the «technician» deflate all 4 tires, put them on the mounting machine, remove the old rubber and put on the new. They never did ANYTHING with the TPMS sensors on the wheels. Old tire off, new tire on … nothing in between.
To their credit, when I confronted them with this information, they called the «technician» over and asked if he did the TPMS service and he honestly answered that he had not «because nobody gave him the kit». I’m assuming if this is something they routinely charge, this is a service they should be routinely performing … just as changing 4 valve-​stems used to be. I am quite sure this is «business as usual», and they are routinely ripping people off $ 7.00 per tire for a service they never perform, and most folks are none-​the-​wiser.
After much hemming and haw-​ing and two calls to his boss, the service writer finally figured out how to issue me the $ 28.69 credit to my credit card.

This dbag told me you can’t plug a tire that’s got a nail in the tread it has to be in the grooves. Perhaps cause I was in a Porsche he thought I wasn’t mechanically inclined. He obviously wanted to sell me a new tire and not do a 20 dollar job. I went down the street and got it plugged at another more upfront business.

This place sucks. Honestly the worst. I came in for an oil change and was told I needed to replace my struts. One week later (approximately 900 miles) my check engine light came on and I took my car into a local mechanic. A separate unrelated issue was identified but while looking at the car, he noticed that my struts were leaking hydraulic fluid all over the place! How is this possible after one week when new struts should last at least 50 000 miles?! I brought it back to NTB and they replaced the struts for free but who knows if these will even last. I was also told the struts would be done in 2 hours but in reality they took 3.5! This place is a freaking joke. Avoid this place at all costs.

Bought a set of new tires. Checked the pressure on them myself and it was 25 psi instead of 33 (as recommended by manufacturer). Called them and apparently their pump was «off by a bit». The manager was very apologetic and ended up giving me a free oil change to make up for the tire pressure mixup. I don’t understand how a tire shop can mess up something like inflating tires, luckily I never trust mechanics and checked it myself. They also left a bit of dirt from the shop on my driver’s seat, apparently they don’t use seat covers when they move your car.
Despite the attempted correction, I don’t think I’ll go back and use the free voucher. Not worth the risk to save $ 30 or whatever. At least the thought was there, so it would appear they are at least trying to improve their customer service. I’m just hoping the new brakes they put on for me work :)

we bought tires and got an alignment — after leaving the store we felt the car shimmy — we called the store and they said «Oh that may be because our equipment for testing the alignment was out of calibration and …» REALLY!
It was an horrendous experience… by the time we got it all re-​done.
I would not recommend this place. I have heard similar stories from others; in fact I heard that the mechanics are on a commission whereby the more the find wrong with your car — the more $ they make. I’m sure this would be easy to confirm.

SCAM ARTISTS! Bel Air, MD location
I went to purchase new tires — which I know i needed. The cost was in line. The labor was a little high, but I needed it done.
They then worked up a whole laundry list of work that needed to be done. I explained I just needed tires and my mechanic would do the rest. He just did not have my tires in stock.
The manager tried to tell me I needed new brakes — conveniently enough, he just quoted me on CERAMIC brakes and did not offer the regular brakes until I mentioned it. I also stated that my brakes were fine, and when they need to be changed my mechanic can do it for half the price.
They tried to sell me on a bulb change for $ 2.99 for the bulb and $ 80.00 for labor — ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
Belts were also deemed necessary — I asked my mechanic, and he is able to replace them for far less than NTB was quoting.
They are also very SLOW. For my tires, it took 4 hours. Yes, you read that correctly. I think they should have reduced the labor fee and credited me for time spent while their mechanics goofed around and did not look at my car for the first hour it was on the lift.

One of my tires had a slow leak. I’ve been through this many times – usually it’s a bit of corrosion on the alloy rims. I dropped the wheel off at NTB Newton and asked them to remount the tire after cleaning things up. They called back and gave me a story about there being «bad rubber» inside the tire and they would not repair it. And they told me the brand of tire was no longer sold, so I would need a full set of new tires so that they would match.
I looked up the exact model of tire on the web and multiple sources are still selling it.
I went back and picked up the tire. It was on the rim, but not seated, so I could not see this «bad rubber» but neither could I use the wheel. I brought it to Direct Tire in Watertown and they fixed it and all is well.
This was not the first time they gave me the runaround at NTB in Newton.
Beware.
Edit: (November 2012.) My son needed a new battery in a hurry. Forgetting that I had sworn off this place, I sent him to get the battery there, figuring «how could they mess that up?». Well somehow they tacked on an $ 89 charge for «Power steering fluid change». This is NOT a procedure that is recommended in the manufacturer’s schedule of maintenance for this car, and is widely considered to be a bogus money-​making procedure. Meanwhile, they FAILED to notice that the brake fluid was low, so clearly their attention to the power steering fluid was not part of an overall safety check
I guess I need to explain the facts of life about NTB and their ilk to my son.
:-)
Beware of NTB in Newton.

I created a Unilocal account for the sole purpose of warning consumers about this place. If you are having tire problems, the last thing you should be concerned about is mechanics committing fraud. For this reason, AVOID NTB AT ALL COSTS.
I have been here a couple times. Each visit involved terrible customer service. Some of the employees refuse to even look at you.
On top of that, the price you expect to pay for fixing your car is constantly altered. I was presented a receipt for $ 680 worth of repair on my car – FAR above what I would pay almost anywhere else. I pointed out to the employee where mistakes were present on the quote. I crossed them out, circled what I was approving in terms of service, and Wrote the final amount – $ 250 plus tax, ONTO the receipt with the mechanic’s consent. After we agreed to this cost, I signed at the bottom.
When the work was completed, I went to pay and was told the total would be $ 380. I said, «No, that’s incorrect, because we specifically agreed to the amount of $ 250 plus taxes. It’s written and signed on the form.» The employee told me he COULD NOT FIND MY AUTHORIZED AGREEMENT, that it was probably in the trash, I could go looking for it if I wanted to, and that it was «impossible» that the amount would be $ 250.
After I told him that Consumer Protection laws prevent me from being required to pay under such circumstances, and that this was a matter of fraud if he tried to charge me more than our agreement, he relented, as if doing me a favor, and only charged me the agreed-​upon amount.
I left furious. So many customers would go in here and not have the courage and confidence to stand up for themselves and fight for what they agreed to. The employees here KNOW that, and take advantage of it.
I’m telling you. Please. STAY AWAY FROM HERE.

While it’s been largely bereft of significant problems over eight years, my car goes through tires like crazy. Actually so does my bike. So maybe it’s me, not the vehicles in question.
At any rate, since i’ve lived in two places that are walking distance away from this NTB, i’ve been there probably six times.
i don’t know much about tires or cars, really, but i’ve never found the cost to be exorbitant, and the service is always very quick, even when they’re very busy (which they almost always are). Of course, maybe it wouldn’t seem so quick if i had to wait there, since i just walk home. At any rate, the employees are polite, thorough, and patient (especially considering how swamped they seem to be).
Even though it’d be nice not to be such a frequent customer, they make it as painless as possible.