The Wave Carwash

I used to be a happy customer since this car wash was built. Recently, I have a few reasons to no longer give ‘the Wave’ my business.
Price: price increase with a decrease in quality of service. Previously you could purchase a Tsunami 5-​punch pass that included a free wash the day of purchase for only $ 50. Now you pay $ 60 and lose the free wash.
Quality of Service: The employees that prewash your vehicle are careless with how well of a job they do and have poor customer service.
I got my vehicle washed yesterday. It was pretty dirty after going snowboarding so I asked them to pay special attention to the grill, windshield as well as the noticeable dirty driver and passenger windows.
The employee hit the button, I started moving and he spent a few seconds addressing the areas I mentioned. He also failed to communicate what I had pointed out with the employee on the passenger side.
I went through the wash and I had 4 streaks on my hood 2 inches in width running from my grill to the windshield. I swing around to get another wash but the line was out to the coffee stand so I decided to return again today instead of spending another 30 minutes in line.
Today, I explained that I had came yesterday and was unhappy with the wash a pointed out the obvious dirty areas he assured me he would «hit» them and put his hand out for payment. I expected it to be a complementary wash since it was just yesterday that I was there. I just handed over my punch card to get on with it and not argue or request to speak to a manager because the line was already long and I didn’t want to inconvenience other customers.
AGAIN, the employee failed to communicate to the employee on the passenger side of the dirty areas and made a poor attempt to clean the areas I mentioned other than the hood.
I came out the other end after the second wash (first that day) and my windows, grill and windshield were still dirty. It’s like a layer of residue that was still there from the day on the mountain. I thought that maybe it is really on there good and maybe I’m being unreasonable so I ran my finger across it lightly and it came right off. At this point I was upset and getting irritated.
I went back in line with ten cars in front of me. When I finally got to the front of the line I again told the guy that it’s still not clean pointing at the dirt. He hit the button, I started moving, he scrubbed the window on the driver side and told the passenger side employee «mirror». I couldn’t believe it… The woman on the passenger scrubbed the already clean mirror. I pointed at him through the window and pointed at the still dirty passenger window. He hit the stop button and went to the passenger side and FINALLY cleaned the passenger window. Great. Not so much because he still failed to clean the grill, bottom of the windshield and the hood where the sprayers are before he resumed the car wash. All of which were pointed out to him repeatedly and he acknowledged that he would «hit» them. I came out the other end after the third wash and you can still see the dirt on the areas I mentioned.
What upsets me even more is the fact that I spent the extra money by buying the Tsunami in hopes to get a little more TLC from the employees. I know the difference is just the additional cleaning solvents and not additional brushes when run through the wash other than the rim and tire cleaner.
The reason why I’m bothered is because the fact that the employees used to have great care in the work they’re doing with the reasonable prices they offered. Now you pay much more for so much less.

Paid for the tsunami, no tire wash or brush wash when done still dirty, went back through and they did rewash with the brush prior to going through. Did make me happy second time through. I am a regular here.

I know you may want to give this business a chance, but do not waste your time or money. I repeat, DO NOT waste your time and or hard earned money here, go somewhere else. I paid over $ 150 to have the interior of my car cleaned. I am aware that dog hair is hard to remove from a car, but when I pay you over $ 150 to clean my car, I expect you to get the dog hair out. Some parts of the car, like the glove compartment and around the seat buckles they do not wash. I had to take my car back up there and I asked about cleaning those areas of the car. The young man said they do not clean those areas and I asked, if someone is paying over $ 150 for your services why wouldn’t you clean the compartments? The young man just said, that is a good question. You may think your experience may be different here, and maybe it will; there is no way to tell the future. But you have been warned, don’t waste your time and your hard earned money at thus business. Go somewhere else, even if you live close and don’t feel like driving out the way, I promise, it will be worth finding some other place that will actually fully detail your car.

Went in to get a car wash on the way to show the car for a sale. Went in, paid for it, got to the area where they spray the car with soap and then put a token scrub on the back bumper, and then moved onto the track. The track was working, but nothing else was, so our car was taken through the car wash without any washing. We got out the other side and the car was still covered in soap. No one came to the exit to say anything to us, so we looped around to find 7 or 8 cars in line (one of which was another soap covered, unwashed car). I walked over to the payment booth to inquire as to the problem, and the guy there looked at me like I was stupid, despite him having the other soap covered car right there in front of him also lodging a complaint. They just let the cars sit there for several minutes without letting anyone know what was going on. I told him we didn’t have time to wait, and we wanted a refund. He said okay, but that they were resetting the program. So another five minutes go by, and I told him to just refund my money, so he went into his shed and printed out a ‘sale voided’ receipt. I told him that since we actually PAID for the car wash (with cash), that we needed to get our actual money back, not just his little slip of paper. He finally gave me the money back, but nothing else despite wasting a bunch of our time (and a lot of other people’s as well). They seriously need to train up on some of the tenets of customer service (like actually providing a refund, and perhaps a free car wash voucher or something in compensation for wasting someone’s time).

Is gets not any better for an automated car wash, can sing a song, as I used to own a detailing biz… You can’t compete with those prices and speed! So as the saying goes, can’t beat them, join them :)

Love the wash car wash. Usually on the weekend there’s a line but it moves fast. I always get the tidal wave with the wax. The wax is like 4 dollars extra but totes worth it. Makes my jeep shiny for like whole week

Extremely over priced. The guy didn’t even pre wash the entire car. The guy only pre wash the driver side and the rear. He didn’t even get the passenger side or the front. I got the $ 15 dollar wash and if you want wax it’s another 4 dollars. I did like the free interior wipe I was given but other than that is was meh.

I really like to use hand wash carwashes or the ones where you can manually scrub your own car with the foam brush and such, but my friend wanted to hit up this carwash even though we were already running late to meet a friend. So, we swerved into the Wave.
You pull up to the pay station where a man who looks like the manager takes your money. We opted for the cheapest, The Riptide, as my friends little Kia wasn’t super dirty. It wasn’t like we just got back from off-​roading or anything. My friend paid $ 10 and the wash is $ 7. I guess the guy thought the extra $ 3 was a tip as my friend got not change, but whatever. We pulled around and there are two guys that help guide your car onto the moving track that pulls your car into the wash.
I did notice there was like a detail place off behind the wash so if you need a more high level detail, you can get one of the professionals to do that.
There is something about a carwash that takes me back to days when I’d go with my dad to get the car washed. It kind just makes me smile and get all giddy the who time I’m inside since there is so much going on outside that car in the orchestration and symphony that is the Wave. It’s like a party is going on outside and you’re kind of a V.I.P getting the first hand look at what’s hot and what’s not.
As there aren’t any more hand wash car washes left in Lacey, I’ll probably be bringing my car back here as it got my friend’s car completely clean. One pitfall was the lack of vacuum stations. They get full quick and so you sometimes have to go elsewhere to vacuum your car.

Got a wash today, $ 10 plus $ 3 body guard, and they were very slow. They also did not bother to do any brush work other than the back bumper and my car was fairly dirty. Of course the result is crap.
Who ever was working the sprayer and brush at 4 oclock today should be fired.

This place is closes to my home so I go here the most. My car always comes out clean. They guys doing the prewash are always nice and do a great job. I bought my son a gift card for Christmas and I got a free wash for doing that. What a deal

My husband and I ended up coming here the other day expecting to just do an exterior wash then vacuum the car out for ourselves… but we chose to go to the detailing center to get our interior detailed as well. For $ 60 we got our ENTIRE car cleaned from the exterior, to the windows, to the trunk shampooed, the seats and floor mats shampooed. just everything! We loved the lobby and the complimentary coffee and drinks and love the fact you can watch them clean your car in the garage while waiting. They said it’ll take about 60 minutes to do the full job and at exactly 58 minutes our entire car was finished. BEYOND IMPRESSED! We won’t be going anywhere else as long as we live here!

Have been here many times and they do a good job. Had a scratch in my brand new car months ago and they inspected and had it fixed right away. Only issue I ever have is a consistent problem with water spots on a fresh clean vehicle. Fix that Wave and you will get 5 stars!

The only wave you should be waving is goodbye. Washing cars in nice clothing is silly. Prices are expensive and it takes a long time.

Great place to take your car for a quick wash. They have various washes to choose from ranging from the basic wash to a more premium wash. The staff will do a quick wash with the wand to loosen any excess dirt, etc. and then they’ll send you into the car wash. I’ve always gotten the lower priced and mid-​priced washes, and my car always looks good. They also offer $ 2 discounts on Monday for military and Tuesday for Ladies’ Day.
One thing I like about this business is that they also have an express detailing center. They have various packages for the interior of the car ranging from waxing to interior detailing as well as seat and carpet shampooing. They also offer a military discount for detailing services and there is a waiting area where you can sit and view your car while it’s being serviced. I recently had the seats shampooed in one of my vehicles and they did a great job. I was impressed by the personal attention I received by the assistant manager, and he was very diligent in making sure I was happy with the results. I will definitely return the next time I need interior detailing.

I have had my car washed at the Yelm Hwy. location many times and have always had a pleasant experience and my car has come out shining without damage. It is unfortunate when «high end» important people feel it is necessary to go into a rant over what sounds like an honest error, but not totally their fault. If Judge Judy was here she would most likely make three comments, «Madam, we need to see written documentation regarding any recent work done on your son’s vehicle. Secondly, I didn’t nurses made so much money to afford such, «high end» vehicles. Finally, I hope you give injections better than your written grammar.
I will continue to patronize this car wash.

Love this car wash! They always do a great job on cleaning the vehicle – they’ve never missed a spot! The staff is always courteous and friendly. Though the line can get long on nice days, it moves pretty quickly. You can buy reduced price packages online too.

I’m used to one stop shops back home in AZ where you pull up and they take your car and you wait in the waiting room.
I was disappointed that I had to go to different areas to get the interior and exterior done, but I was happy with their customer service. In the detail area the gentleman running the register was very friendly and extremely apologetic that I had to wait a few mins before he helped me. They even have you come look at your vehicle before you pay.
The car wash portion is a drive thru car wash that you stay in your vehicle. The guy collecting payment runs back and forth between cars and the register to make sure you’re paid before you reach the front of the line.
They also have coin operated vacuums if you just want to vacuum your own.

I was happy to see this location on my way home, since my car badly needed a wash. I got the «Tsunami» since my car REALLY needed help. I was happy to see how clean it got. I really liked the mirrors at the end of the war wash because I could see how clean it was! I have not tried the detailing or interior cleaning, but I probably will at some point. I _​think_​that they recycle their water, which is good, you know, for the planet and stuff. :)

I never knew that The Wave had a detail center until about a week ago. I tried it out, and it wasn’t all that bad. Of course, it’s not the best detailing they do, but it’s express. They get the job done. I always get a tsunami wash and an express interior clean. I get that done roughly bi-​monthly.

They did a nice job on my really, really dirty car.
The Tidal Wave seems to be a decent deal for ten dollars. I think the least expensive option runs six dollars.
Will come back the next time I am in town.