Costco Tire Center

Walter Khorozian is a technician there. He is very impolite and rude guy; he was workingon my tires and I’ve been waiting for 2 hours. Once I asked ‘what time my car is gonna be ready?’ He literally ignored me. I thought he did not hear me and I asked like ‘excuse me what time???’ He looked at me and repeated my question and went out!!!

The service is poor. Walk in to have tires put on and was asked «What do you need?» Not a good afternoon or any friendliness. Not a «How may I help you?» Every person there spoke blunt and seemed pretty rude. I was told to park my car on the side and go in to see Walter. Walter was even ruder. There was no communication between him and the other guys and he didn’t know why I was there. Angel walked by and he asked him what was what and Angel said he was on a break. He couldn’t take a moment since he was the one that helped me in the first place?
He had me walk to my car with him and seemed upset that it was not parked close by but that is where I was told to park as there were no closer parking. When I showed him a tire that needed to be changed, he said «What the hell is wrong with that tire?» I said I don’t know what the hell do you think is wrong with it? Then he said, «Oh, okay it’s worn.»
When the car was ready, in his rough way Walter told me it was parked at the side of the building. I went there and everywhere looking for my car. Finally the manager helps to look and finds it parked way far and brings it up. You would think since I was coming out they could have had someone bring it to me.
I asked Angel about why Walter was so grumpy and he said he was having a bad day. Might have sounded better if he gave some kind of apology and said he would say something to him about showing more of a courteous manner.

Subpar experience. I am a Costco fan, which positively biases me but also gives me high expectations. I had a flat tire, so I paid to have it repaired. Turns out, the puncture was in the wall of the tire so I had to buy a new pair of tires at more than $ 400. Annoyingly, they still charged me for the tire repair which didn’t occur, saying it «was non-​refundable and covered the inspection.» I am sure this is just following policy, but it is bad policy. This is particularly true when the customer buys new tires from you.
Additionally, the checkout process took a bizarrely long time. I was the only person there, I just needed to pay and go, but ~15 minutes was spent shuffling paperwork before I received my one page receipt and no information about the services that come with buying tires from them.
Also, the customer service experience was subpar. Generally unwelcoming and unhelpful communication between me and the person behind the counter. Additionally, when he couldn’t find a piece of paperwork, he brought in the supervisor. The supervisor didn’t acknowledge me and spoke in a frustrated/​demeaning tone to his employee. Never good in front of the customer.
The second star is only for what I must assume is a reasonable price from Costco.

Wow… from the attitude of the staff, I would swear the goal is NOT to sell any tires here.
After three trips to the RWC Costco Tire Center, waiting around for 20 minutes each time, and still getting zero attention from staff, I finally came on a Tuesday morning when the place was empty. Even though I was the only customer there, the guy at the counter gave me a bewildered look and walked away. When he finally came back I thought I better tell him I was indeed standing in a tire store because I needed a new set of tires.
After looking up my year, make and model, he quoted me two prices for a new set. I agreed to one and asked if I should make an appointment for installation. This seemed to confuse him. He said that there were a number of different sizes and unless I knew exactly what size my car took, he couldn’t help me afterall.
«Okay,» I said, «can you look at my tires and determine the exact size I need?»
«Yeah, I guess so,» he replied.
I brought the car around to the service area and had to flag down an employee and ask them to find the man I’d been talking to. Customers aren’t allowed to walk through the garage, and there’s no customer entrance on that side. After a wait, he came out, looked at my tires and said he didn’t think he had that exact brand in stock.
«I don’t need these exact tires, I just need tires that fit the car,» I said.
«I don’t know what’s in stock,» he said.
«Well, can you look?» I asked.
«You want me to order these tires for you?»
«I’d like to know what’s in stock, and I’d like to get a price,» I said.
He told me to move the car away from the garage and meet him inside. But after I quickly did that, he was already gone, the side door he’d sent me too was locked, and there wasn’t an employee to be found. Apparently the only way back into the sales area was to go back around and into the front of Costco again.
At that point, I gave up. If it was that hard just to get a price on tires, I can’t imagine what it would have been like to actually make a purchase and have them installed. I see from the string of negative comments on this page that others also ran into this problem. I wonder why Costco’s management isn’t doing anything about this terrible service?

I guess I am confused. I ordered tires online, got great prices and the site was pretty user friendly. The site said that my selected Costco Tire Center would contact me when my tires were in. Three weeks later I called to check, sure enough they were in stock. I made a 9am appointment with the man on the phone who was pleasant enough. He even gave me hope that this would be a quick process as my tires are a «quick change».When I arrived –on time, there was already 8 people in line. Here I am, as I had never purchased tires here, waited in line for over an hour. By the time I got to the front of the line, the wait was over 4 hours to get my tires changed. I mentioned that I had an appointment and the man at the front looked at me surprised. Maybe because I waited in line with an appointment, or perhaps because they don’t REALLY take appointments? My name wasn’t in their book.. .
I’ve tried to schedule another appointment so that I don’t have to go through that again but at this rate– I’m not sure I am ever going to get my tires changed here. I’ve learned that you’re luck to get someone on the phone. When you’re in the store the line is extensive. Hopefully I can change my tires in 2016.

Good prices, but getting service can be challenging. I called twice to confirm my tires ordered online had arrived. The first person took all my numbers and promised to call me back and didn’t. The second one (after 10 minutes on hold) wanted all the numbers again, but I had since gotten an email saying the tires arrived and decided to trust that. He gave me some tips on getting in for service — avoid Saturdays, arrive before the Tire Center opens (which is before the store opens), or schedule an appointment on Tuesday or Thursday.
I decided to go early on Sunday. I arrived at 8:45 and was third in line. They opened at 9 and it took 15 minutes to process the two people before me, then I had signed paperwork in my hands by 9:22. My car was already in an open bay by then, but I didn’t get my keys back until 10:45. Seems like a long time, but I often just drop my car off for the day. Perhaps this info on early opening will help others. So far the tire installation seems fine.

TLDR painfully slow service and damaged my wheels
Ordered tires online and came to get them installed. Was third customer in line before opening time. Walter the salesperson was servicing the girl in front of me and confused at which tires the customer wanted despite her having repeated the tire model multiple times, and then left the front desk for 20 minutes while the line grew. The phone rang non stop and was ignored. When he came back he mistakenly orders the car’s stock tire model, only to have the customer correct him again. He wasn’t sure if they had that tire, but I could have told him they do because I had ordered the same ones and see them sitting on the pallet over there.
They will also tell you that the service will take 1.5−2 hours, which is a bit absurd considering I am the 2^nd customer to get his tires changed. But then you go outside to look at the service floor and realize why they say this. They have four drive bays but only one being used. And nobody seems to be in any hurry to turnover customers.
I’ve been to tire shops where their queue is filled and the technicians are swapping tires and balancing them with skill yet haste. Find a shop where the front desk salesperson actually knows about tires. Please don’t come here.

I went in around 5:15 pm earlier this week; I bought tires & was told it will take 1– ½ to 2 hours max to have them put on my car… gave them my cell # to call me when they were ready. 2 hours later I called them to see if theY were and I was very rudely told it will be another half hour to 45 min. A 45 min later, I went into the tire center & waited for another 20 min… REALLY!?! If it was going to take over 3 hours, they should have told me that from the get-​go and not waste my time.

* Road hazard, flat repair and tire rotation are free when you purchase tires from Costco. If the damage is something extraordinary like an ex slashing your tires. or ape mentality made you do donuts in residential streets or better yet in the freeway! to get the attention you never get or got at home, therefore, ruining your tires in the process, then I believe Costco won’t help you there.
* The prices they have are decent and having locations almost everywhere is a big plus in case you run into any tire trouble while out of town. Also, there are no sales people to deal with. If you know what you want or don’t mind doing a small amount of research beforehand as to what your car needs, then this is a great thing.
And those are the only reasons I buy my tires at Costco.
What bothered me from the Richmond, San Leandro, and Redwood City locations, is the staff. The few times that I’ve brought my car to these locations, the wait time to do a tire rotation or puncture repair were always 3 – 4 hours. Understaffed. At the Richmond location, I brought my car before 10 am and I was told that the wait time is over 4 hours already. They’ve been open since 7 am I was told. There’s no sign at their door saying that or in the website or anywhere else. The bare amount of effort to help you out as a customer is bothersome too. I brought my car in to another location without having the original work receipt with me and I was quickly turned away by the front desk. The person barely looked in the computer to see if he can find my vehicle and after a few seconds, said no, nothing here and quickly called the next person in line. And this is half an hour in from opening time. I called customer service after and they verified that my vehicle is in the system (the person from the tire center only had to type in my cars plate or vin number). I was then told to walk over to customer service at any location next time and have the work order receipts reprinted so I can use it to get what I needed done for my car. I should’ve stayed in the shop when I called CS but I had driven away already.
So Costco Tire Center may have the edge in price and warranty but do expect the long wait times that can extend to a whole day affair and the general bad attitude of an overworked or burned-​out staff.

The service pretty much sucks.
1) When I called to find out what was happening with my car, the representative said he had left two messages. My phone disagrees.
2) The representative did not want to discuss options and costs and otherwise help me to make an informed decision.

Never got a chance to do business here since I was RUDELY addressed during an estimation over the phone. I called today around 2:30PM and spoke to WALTER who was very rude when I asked what kind of tires they could provide for my Jeep Wrangler since I was looking to upgrade. He seemed to feel as though asking questions was a bother and he CLEARLY did not care as an employee by trying to hurry me and have me call them back AGAIN. Maybe he was having a bad day but it is no excuse to treat ANY customer the way he did me.

I got there at 9:10 since I was warned they might be busy. I ended up being the 4^th customer in line and I wasn’t at the counter until 10:05. The service representative took an hour to handle 4 customers, which is ridiculous. I had pre-​bought my tires and all I wanted to do was drop my keys off. He asked me questions that I had already answered and the entire experience made me regret my purchase.

Not the fastest install but they do a great job and you can shop COSTCO while you wait, who could ask for more. I’ve had great follow-​up service with warranty issues as well. Free rotations and leak repairs — my regular garage coudn’t find a slow leak but the Costco guys did and patched the tire. With six vehicles — we go through a bunch of tires and batteries !!

Great price, and good service. The guy who helped me was really friendly. The last time I had my tires replace (Costco in SF), I had major problems with losing air in the tires because of the corrosion from my chrome rims. The guy at this Costco explained what they can do so I wouldn’t need to worry about that. Before I left, he reminded me of the follow-​up services (ie, free tire rotation) they offer which was great to know! It’s been a few months and my tires are just fine.

Good service and of course good price.

Horrible place and service. Avoid at all cost.

Super grumpy staff who seem to resent customers. Also my tire installation took twice as long as they estimated. Made me miss an another appointment I had scheduled. My other car needs new tires as well but I will be going back to Firestone.

Slow, unfriendly, unhelpful. Opposite of your traditional service at Costco.