Merchant’s Tire & Auto Centers

I took my car here awhile back for an oil change. Just recently, I decided to save some money and just do it myself. Come to find out, they stripped the drain plug and just threw a helicoil in so they could send it out the door. No one told me this had had happened upon pickup. Very unprofessional. The quick fix doesn’t bother me so much as the neglect on their part to inform the customer. Now it’s on me to fix their mistake. I do not recommended this shop for anything other than tires as I’ve had tire replacements put on here. I will not be coming back.

Had an appointment scheduled for 6:30pm. It is now 8:10pm and they still haven’t even taken my car back. Will never come back! Worst service ever! Definitely advise going to another place where they at least communicate what’s going on. Would give no stars if I could.
I did receive a call from the manager the next day apologizing. He asked me if I would be willing to come back so they could make things right. I did go back in and they changed my oil fairly quickly and did it for free.

I love coming here. They gave me an estimation of about 2 hours to put four new tires and do the alignment. They did it faster in about 40 minutes to a hour. Awesome place.

This is a review for the new Merchant’s off 17 but there’s no listing for it yet. Had car towed there at 830 pm and they closed at 9. I had a flat tire and had spent the previous 4 hours trying to get help from AAA. I told the woman working there this. I was all ready to buy a new tire and be done with the thing. But they not only had them patch the tire 30 minutes before closing they did it at no cost to me. Very helpful and would definitely recommend the Rt 17 location for any tire needs. They really helped me out after an awful day.

Came in for a tire patch and ended up adding a new battery also. Mechanic accidentally left with our keys so we got the tire patch free for waiting. The service was phenomenal and the pricing was reasonable– they also do military discount. The waiting room is very comfortable. We will be back

I have been here twice and would never go back. VERY SLOW service both times as we’ll as offering bogus recommendations with inflated prices. Good Year is way faster and way better prices.

These guys have really improved their staff. Before new management, my wheel was damaged. Now they have offered to replace the wheel free of charge. Thanks Patrick. Keep up the good work.

I had my oil changed today. I called in advance and made an appointment. It still took 1 hour and 45 minutes to have my oil changed and tires rotated (I was told it should be more than a hour). They weren’t very busy either. I was also charged $ 5 more than I was quoted over the phone. Overall, the place is fairly clean, but the service is less than desirable.

There is an associate named moose, very pushy and inconsiderate. This individual actually lost my service, there was not current manager around so i proceeded on to the next associate wonderful young man. His name is Dallas, very wonderful helped me out and of took care of my needs and took that extra step forward and talked to me about a alignment with my tire package and i got the 5 year instead of 3 not much difference only by a couple of dollars. If you do go to this merchants i would have to say Dallas is a top dog there. i would considering taking up information with him, not someone who is pushy like this individual.
Mrs. Williams

I got an awesome email with a coupon for an oil change. I decided to take advantage of it since it’s really cold out. I set up an appt for 8am figuring it would take no more than an hr. An oil change doesn’t take long and I set an appt. The guys at the shop were super friendly and professional, but even with the delay for them being short staffed I am a little upset I had to wait 2 ½ hrs. I would come here for prices and quality on a day where I have no plans or I have another ride. Definitely can’t chance it if you are on a time crunch. There are restaurants in walking distance. You may be able to run errands in that time. At the very least bring in a good read with you.

We continue to take our cars to Merchants because we like their location, customer service and prices. The only negative comment we have is that they never have our cars ready at the time they estimate. Very frustrating when you rely on the estimated time. If you don’t mind the «extra wait time» or you are able to leave it for the day, then I recommend Merchants.

Had a nail in my tire. Couldn’t just plug it b/​c of the location of the nail. I thought it would take all day. The customer service was great. Cost wasn’t insane. Definitely recommend them!

This is probably the worst place to go for any kind of auto work in Stafford’s 610 corridor. I had known this for a long time, and found other decent mechanics to service my cars, but yesterday my reasons for avoiding Merchant’s Tire were confirmed 10-​fold. I went in for new tires only because I had a front tire that was losing tread and I needed the closest place for the replacement. They have worst customer service anywhere.
Problem #1 — There was no one staffing the front of the store. When we went in, and we were waiting there at least 5 minutes before we saw a man backing out of a room behind the front desk. Hello! — No answer. Hello hello! No answer. Maybe he had a hearing problem — but pretty soon he was out of the back office and was mopping the floor area in front of the waiting room — and he could clearly see us – but he did not acknowledge us at all, instead he finished his mopping — then he said — «be right with you.» more than 10 minutes had passed since we entered the store and were waiting at the front desk.
Problem #2 — There is no one answering the phone. While the mop guy was helping us, the phone rang and he answered — and talked for a long time with the customer on the phone while we cooled our heels waiting to complete our transaction. Finally mop-​guy tells the other customer that he’s busy with a customer and to please hold.
Problem #3 — Questionable competence. The mop guy goes out to look at my tires, but he can’t see the problem until I point to him the huge piece of tread missing from my front tire. Oooohhhh, yes I see it now. Then he walks around the rest of the car looking at all the tires, which were fine. Back into the store we go to buy the tires.
Problem #4 — Leaving customers on hold forever. The poor person on the phone was still on hold whilst Mop Man sold us the tires, and a few other services (see problem #5). I think it was about 15 minutes before Mop Man told a co-​worker to pick up the guy on hold.
When I called that afternoon to see if my car was ready, I was on hold for a good 15 minutes — gave up, hung up and redialed — was about to be put on hold again — but this time I screamed, «Don’t put me on hold! I just need to know if my car is ready.»
Problem #5 — Chronic up-​selling. I just wanted two front tires and an alignment, balance and rotation. I got the hard sell for the up-​sell alignment that would have made me return 3 more times for a «free» alignment. I told Mop Man that I didn’t want the more expensive alignment even if the next three alignments were «:free» because Merchant’s was so hard to work with, I hate sitting around waiting for hours, I don’t have the time and I don’t always have a ride to be able to drop my car off and leave. «You’re too inconvenient,» I said. Mop Man says, «well we are very busy.» (Ummm no… you are just not customer oriented.) Then that afternoon — when I’m supposed to be getting a call that my car was finished, Mop Man calls to tell me that my car has no oil and no anti-​freeze and maybe it’s because I’ve «blown a gasket.» For a moment I wondered if they had done something to mess with my car. I reason with him that there is no leak — or else the evidence would be on my driveway. The fluids might be low — but without anti-​freeze my car would be overheating and it wasn’t. He asked when was the last time I had an oil change, so I agreed to an oil change and told him to top off fluids so they got me for another $ 40. Then, when I got there in the afternoon, the guy collecting the money tried to up sell me for a transmission fluid and power steering fluid replacement. Ah… no thank you.
I have another vehicle that also needs tires and I will not be taking it to Merchant’s. Never again!

Had to go in twice for a flat tire they «patched.» The third time it went flat the same week, I took it somewhere else.

Holy crap! First I had to wait ALL DAY LONG because they ordered the wrong tire, and then when I went to pick up my truck they couldn’t find my work order.
When the front desk guy went to the back to check again, I saw my work order behind the desk. When the guy came back I pointed it out to him and he was just like, oh, ok.
The prices are pretty good, but other than that, I’m not really sure.

Good stuff and not so good stuff. Probably 2−½ stars out of 5.
They did okay with mounting and balancing my tires; I bought them online (
) and had them shipped there as they were listed as one of Tire Rack’s installers. They arrived in 2 days, just as they expected, and I got there about 3 pm.
Price came out to be less than stated because I told him I could dump my own tires instead of paying $ 8 to $ 12 for them to do it. But the mechanic didn’t put them in the trunk, and the guy at the desk said not to worry about it. I had also asked for an oil change, bringing in my own oil and filter — and their 50% discount coupon from their website. He charged $ 17 for the oil change; it could have been less considering the coupon but I said what the hey. He was courteous and good to talk to; so was the mechanic in the back. Just know that things are negotiable here, so be mindful.
The downside: time. He said that there was one car ahead of me — and 2−½ hours later I’m finally getting my keys! Good thing I was on summer vacation! And I think it got done that quickly only because I stayed there to wait for it. I’ll update this if I find any problems later on, but my advice for this shop: get your coupons online, settle on the price, and bring a good book!

I got the oil change special which included tire rotation and free alignment check. Very professional, courteous service. Allowed me to look over the mechanics shoulder while he worked on my car. Great value for what I needed. No pressure to upgrade or purchase service I didn’t need. I’ll go back again for certain.

This place attempted to take advantage of my mom. She’s in her mid 50’s, sweet as can be, and single. When she told me what they said her car needed, thankfully my husband and I stepped in to had her vehicle taken elsewhere.