White Bear Tire & Auto, Inc

My check engine light came on as I was driving to work one day. Truck was shaking while I accelerated. I took it to White Bear Tire and told them of the problem, and that I thought the vibration might be from the muffler. They looked at my truck and said I needed a new muffler. Okay, replace the muffler. I come back to pick up my truck, pay the $ 400, start my truck, and the check engine light is still on. Go back inside and ask if they ran a diagnostic on my truck, and they said «no, we assumed you just wanted a new muffler and knew the light was on…» So I just paid $ 400 for a new muffler, when that wasn’t even what the problem was. I asked if they would do a diagnostic, and I was told yes for another $ 100 and it wouldn’t be able to get done that same day. I will never go back to that shop again.

I made an appointment here to get an oil change today and ended up being ten minutes late because I couldn’t find the place! Talk about embarrassing! It’s tucked away in a somewhat washed up shopping center so it’s easy to miss if you’ve never been there before. (I’ll admit that I should have just used my iPhone a little more to get directions)
I was told that if I wanted to wait for my car I had to make an appointment and there were only a few time slots to choose from, I was not aware that what I was told would take 45 minutes actually meant it would take over an hour.
The waiting area was very basic compared to other auto repair shops I’ve been to. There was an outdated tube tv that i didn’t bother trying to turn on and a few magazines I’ve never heard of before. Normally i feel like there is complementary water and coffee, but maybe I’m just high maintenance.
The service I received was mediocre, the first man behind the desk wasn’t friendly and scolded me for being late after I apologized! Understandable but not quite professional.
It turns out my engine filter needed to be replaced, so I believe they did a thorough job checking everything. Lucky for me that only cost a little extra and they had a new filter for me. Additionally my ac filter needed to be replaced but this location did not have the proper part for the model of car I own… They’re an auto repair shop! I was told it would take another hour or so if they were to get the part from somewhere, and I didn’t have time for that. So it looks like I’ll have to get that taken care of another time, and I have a feeling I may want to go somewhere more efficient.

I received a coupon for a free oil change as a welcome to the neighborhood gift. I made the appointment for 8:00am, dropped off the car at 7:55am and the time stamp for completion was 9:17am. Thanks, but no thanks. Oh, and watch the service guy try to punch the gas in the joke of a parking lot. It was almost entertaining…