Big O Tires

Walked in to get a quote for some minor repairs at 9am and there was 1 person in the entire facility they were already open for an hour… after waiting 10 minutes to be helped I walked with said associate to my car after getting some ridiculous high quote I left laughing. Got all my necessary work done from a shop in San marcos where I had to be for the day (premier auto service) for literally ½ what I was quoted here. The said associate was def trying to gouge me. I don’t play like that!

This was maybe five months ago, but a recent event made me remember them.
Tires needed alignment after Costco failed to recognize that my tires were unevenly wearing. So looked to big O-​tires for the best deal on re-​aligning tires. So I drop off the car for a realignment and figure I’ll go to the nail salon while I wait for them to work on it. Ten minutes into my spa session, I get a call from the manager (female) that says they won’t do the alignment because my shocks and struts are shot. A lot more $$$ than I was anticipating!
I pick up my car and take it to my mechanic for a second opinion. He says struts/​shocks look fine and yes, alignment is off. Quick fix and a lot cheaper.
Only reason I remembered to rate them was I just got back from the dealer (5 months later) after getting some complimentary transmission work done (warranty). Looking at their multipoint inspection, shocks and struts were all in fine working condition.
Lesson of the day: get a second opinion. Just saying, glad I dodged the bullet at Big O-​tires.

Matt was as professional and friendly as anyone should be in the service industry. He explained everything he was doing, showed me what was needed and why and never got frustrated at all the phone calls and other customers piling in. He also recognized and thanked me for my service to the country. Excellent service Matt, thank you.

Honestly, this place earned Zero stars. Came in Black Friday to replace tires for the first time on our Jeep. Noticed that the alignment was ridiculously off. Went back in to readjust. Came out. Same problem. And again-​went back and left with the SAME PROBLEM. Literally no change in all this time.
Tried to sell us a $ 500+ part that «could» be the issue. So we should shell out the cash based on an indecisive opinion? No.
We asked if it could be a radial issue. They ordered us a new set of tires. Brought it in-​they only wanted to replace two. Ok. Sure. Go for it. Left it a full day. Came to pick it up. Brought it home. No difference.
Now this has happened over a month+ period of time. Today, took to WOW in Poway. How nice of them to actually give us a printout of our alignment and a complimentary fix due to the headache we have been through.
But wait, it’s not over yet. WOW suggested switching the two front tires to correct our alignment issue. (And that $ 500 part we were supposedly ‘needing’? Unnecessary and I was shown exactly why.) However, Big O forgot to give us our lug nut key. Headed BACK to Big O. We get a damaged key that won’t unlock sh*t and basically a ‘Good Luck’. Finally we found out that Big O never switched out the two tires. A true WTF moment. Manager is out of the shop. We can’t get our tires off without a key (remember-​they broke it). WOW can’t get them off. Jeep dealer can’t get them off. It has to be ordered. And the Big O employee who supposedly broke our lug nut key 6 days ago and didn’t inform anyone and didn’t put it back in our car-​yep, he no longer works here. Convenient! Tammy the manager has been out for a week. Not that she’s been a big help either.
Brought it BACK to Big O. They can’t get them off either-​imagine that. So we now have SH*T tires that need to be replaced, no key to remove said tires and about 6 weeks of wasted time and headaches.
Honestly, go anywhere but here. You could probably do a better job yourself.
Unilocal– please make no stars an option! It pained me to even give them this one. Some places just don’t deserve anything.

BUYER BE WARE!
SAVE $$ All other tire places PRICE MATCH, and there are 3 shops with in .25 miles from them,
THEY DO NOT STAND BY THIER WORK. I had my rear run flats removed ($ 300ea tire) and they damaged 1 of them while removing! In stead of letting me know they bagged up my tires and even offered to put them in my car for me. When I removed the plastic bag and noticed I spoke with the manager/​owner (wasn’t upset just disappointed) he took my # and never called back. I drove to the shop with the tire and he had 100 excuses of tire specs, why did I take so long, no proof his shop did it, but the worse was when he said THE SHOP IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE WHILE REMOVING! WTF, I asked for this is writing and he couldn’t provide this (again he said he was the owner, smh). He takes my number and never calls me.
For the tires I purchased, I get a slow leak (no big deal happens) and I call the SCRIPPS BIGOTIRE, they tell me REPAIRS ARE NOT the PRIORITY, and I can expect a 2−3hr wait (at 730AM)…
THEY DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR WORK, never had these problems at Discount or Evans Tires… This is why they always have slots available.
(original). Big thank you to Tammy, Matt, and Kevin for your service with my car. It was outstanding from the initial phone call (Tammy). Car was seen with in 5pm appointment. No hidden fees. Everything done was explained and because I was getting work done at another place the next day, they offered a free alignment reinspection after work was done at the other place! Classy move!
I read some of the reviews. Either they made the necessary changes or IDK what happened. My experience was 5star for sure! (March 2016 see that I edited my review, I understand why the low stars now)

Tammy and the crew have been very informative, helpful, and always great with me on the amount of time and costs. Got my tires from them, came in the other day and was out in 20ish minutes with the tires rotated.

Came here today to get a free tire rotation bc I had a coupon. Tammy was super nice and such a people person. The service was really fast, no wait time. I came at 4:30 but I also made an appointment, so call ahead. Poway doesn’t really have much stores around, but there is a cool thrift store around the corner if you are bored waiting.

Ever since we bought a Honda Accord in 2011, my husband has been taking the car to this place for oil change, maintenance and tire needs and has never had an unpleasant experience. Staff is great and price is very reasonable compared to what Honda dealership normally charges and there was never a hidden cost! I highly recommend this place!

Yeah, Tammy’s back. It was great seeing her at the helm again, and she made an adjustment that satisfied me. She’s the only reason I came back to this location, and whoever made the decision to bring her back deserves a big Thank You!!!

I bought an oil change deal from a guy going door to door. It was actually a fabulous deal on oil changes. However, being a customer for a few years with this place, I got to say… I’m really not a fan of this Big O Tires.
The wait time is very long for a simple oil change but that isn’t why I’m giving this place a below average rating. I don’t trust them. Every time I get my car serviced for an oil change, they find something wrong with my car. They are always trying to upsale, upsale, upsale. I cant stand it.

So glad I came to this location. The staff was very friendly, price was reasonable and they got me in and out in about an hour. Very impressed! Will go back for all tire needs.

Went there for oil change, not a really busy day, the wait time is 1 hour 30 minutes which is quite long. I saw the car is ready outside but still another 15 minutes wait. $ 20 for a oil change, it does its job. It has wifi and it is a plus. One remark is that the technician is not very professional, he made my steering wheel dirty with some oily feel.

So sad, I wish I never walked in this place.
5 stars go to Tammy wonderful manager only reason i didn’t give a 1 star
However worst experience ever.
Prices all over the place for 2 tires $ 285 on phone walk in hidden fees 360, reduced to 290 after i told them discount tires were cheaper.
When I went to pick up my car they wanted an extra $ 109 for alignment and
to make matters even worse the other store manager took away my warrantee on the tires for refusing to pay extra $ 109, two minutes later wonderful Tammy said $ 59 for alignment. But It was too late I lost all TRUST in the New Big O family i was all excited to join for life. Now i’m sitting at home no alignment, no warrantee, and will waste another day off to find a better place.

Great service and fair prices. Tammy took care of me and went out of her way to treat me like a valued customer. They earned my business for life!

A 5-​star follow up review for Tammy, as her winning smile and upbeat attitude led me to write another review.
I returned this morning, (¹⁄₂₈) to redeem a 2-​day expired Groupon that Tammy STILL honored. An enthusiastic «Good Morning» greet followed with easy set up and paperwork for an oil change. Got a call 2 hours later stating that the car was ready for pickup. I also asked for the oil filter to be set aside and she complied, no questions asked.
Tammy is honest and is eager to help you out.
GO TO TAMMY. SHE WILL HOOK YOU UP AND TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU.

I think this is a great shop. The lady up front is more than sweet and very helpful. Bought 4 tires and and alignment, it was $ 100 cheaper than the next closest tire shop. Some people gave them less stars, saying they were slow. I thankfully did not have that experience with them and have been back for numerous tire rotations and balancing. I would recommend this shop.

Wow! I have had had custom rims and tires put on all my cars and trucks, This Big O had amazing prices! They were honest, I thought I needed an alignment, they could have charged me for one but Aaron, the master mechanic said it was fine! That’s ethics! The new owner Eddie B took the time to find me the best prices and his front counter manager was the nicest lady around, she even found me a buyer for my old rims and tires! Amazing prices, Amazing service and honesty, I live in East County but worth the drive. Now they install Off Road lights, rims, tires and lift kits. Thanks for the great service keep up the good work you have a customer for life.

I was on my way to Evans Tires to take advantage of their by 2 get 2 free promotion, but accidentally ended up at Big O’s. I apologized to Tammy, the manager. but she asked me to give her a chance to beat Evans’ offer. Not only did she beat the price, she even had one of her employees drive me to and from a Starbucks to wait. She explained how the store had recently changed owners, and there was renewed enthusiasm to vastly improve the store’s reputation. Well, I was totally happy and hopefully, more will give this Big O’s a try.

Printed out an oil change coupon from their website (none on Unilocal) and showed up without an appt at 9:30am on a thursday. The woman at the front was very friendly and honored the coupon without a problem. The service took about 1 hr.
I also asked for an estimate on replacement shocks and they couldn’t reproduce the problem so they didn’t recommend doing the service. That shows good ethics. I’ll definitely return.

Can my review be a ZERO stars???
Slow!!!
We had a 2pm appointment and they said it would take 30 minutes.
We got there about 15 minutes early. When we got there, we were quoted 45 – 60 minutes. (although they weren’t apparently busy…)
The gal behind the counter didn’t know how to check us in because she was new. The other gal who was there didn’t offer to help. Our gal floundered and tried (the other gal SHOULD have jumped in!) and our gal finally asked one of the guys in the bay to help her. It took probably 20 minutes JUST to check us in!
So, about on schedule, we wandered off and got lunch and sat around and chatted and then wandered back to get the car.
It wasn’t done yet (about 45 minutes). So we sat to wait. While we were there, the gal behind the counter LEFT!!! Yup. She left the store, got in her car and drove off, for an unknown period of time — said she would be «right back». Well, a little more than 30 minutes later, she returned. I’m assuming that was her lunch break, which I get, but we were sitting there WAITING. And no one else could check us out or give us our car.
How is it that a big company like that doesn’t have someone who can cover the counter at all times?
So, we got there at 1:45 for an appointment that should last about 30 minutes per the guy on the phone, and we didn’t leave until nearly 4pm???
SERIOUSLY?