Sears Auto Center

I had a flat tire and brought my car in to get a replacement. I was told all of them were worn and needed replacing. I had wheel locks but could not locate the key. They got them off for me and I paid to replace them with normal lug nuts. A couple months later I went to Honda for a regular service and was told they couldn’t do the brake inspection, because the lug nuts were torqued so tight they didn’t want to be responsible for the damage if they were stripped during removal, and that I’d have to go back to Sears to have them adjusted. In addition, EVERY SINGLE TIRE WAS MISSING ONE LUG NUT. I paid Sears to have regular ones put on, and they shorted me one on every tire. Over time, this can lead to warped or broken rotors, premature bearing failure, and stress fractures in the studs from unequal distribution of pressure. You can drive with studs missing for a while, but it ups the chances of things going catastrophically wrong when braking or taking hard turns and can lead to really expensive repairs down the line even if nothing does go catastrophically wrong. Do not take your car here for servicing! They are NOT trustworthy.

I don’t know if Sears sucks overall for automotive needs, but the salinas location surely does. An oil change here takes about 2 hours on average, when jiffy lube or oil can Henry’s is about 15 minutes? And Sears is more expensive. If I take my car somewhere and pay a decent amount, I except to be in and out. Not told every half hour that my car isn’t ready yet. I don’t even know why I took my car here to get an oil change but I did. My husband worked in the mall at the time so I was just going to kill time in his store while waiting for my car. They told me about 30 mins, and that they’d call me. An hour passed and no call, so I walk back to ask and am told it’s still in the bay. I wait another 30 mins, go back and it’s «still in the bay waiting for oil». I go back at the 2 hour point now, and the guy behind the desk says something along the lines of «you didn’t get a phone call? Your cars been done». Needless to say, will never go to Sears again. This location especially, has some of the rudest and unintelligent employees ever.

Arrived at 5:21 PM for an oil change. As of 7:05 PM, vehicle is still not ready. When I approached the employee, he gave me attitude, stating «well I only have one guy here!»
He tried to upsell me to a $ 63 oil change instead of the $ 19.99 special they are advertising, claiming its «better» for the type of car I have. I won’t return.

Terrible customer service in Salinas auto center. Elder male employee (not sure of his name) failed to acknowledge my boyfriend or myself for five plus minutes and that’s no exaggeration. All we wanted was to ask a simple question. As someone who works in retail and has years of management experience, I understand if it’s busy, but the customer should not have to go out of his or her way to initiate the conversation. However, while he was ignoring us, he made it a point to answer two separate phone calls and click away on the computer. A simple, «I’ll be right with you.» would have been nice, but no. Not any form of a greeting. I purposely waited to write this review so that I could calm down a bit. But I will most definitely NOT be giving any of my hard earned money to these guys in the future, regardless of their «awesome» hours of operation.

Not happy. I went by Sears one day to get a quote and make an appointment to have work done on my car. It was late in the day so I was advised to bring it back the next morning and I was told I didn’t need an appointment. So the next morning about 930 or 10 I came in to have some work done and then I was told that the guy would not be there until 230 that afternoon. I said fine I’ll just leave my car there will you have it done today and I was reassured that it would be done. I received a call a couple hours later saying the another service had to be done which I didn’t deem necessary because I just had that service done less than 500 miles ago and I was told theres no way around it. I was frustrated by said fine let’s just get it done I have to get my car smogged. I then got another call at about 230 telling me that they can’t work on my car that day because the guy that does that kind of work was swamped. At this point I decided just to pick up my car and take my business somewhere else. My overall experience with Sears is it takes longer to get something done if it can be done at all and was originally quoted and being a former employee of Sears it really bothers me how much their customer service has declined. If you need a basic oil change tires I’m sure they do a good job for anything other than that take it somewhere else.

I would give negative stars, if I could. I will never, EVER, come here again. In this case, you get what you pay for. Their oil changes are cheap, and they are open seven days a week. Good deal, right? Wrong! It feels as though I was here for a month. We took my son’s Honda in for an oil change (had a coupon, so it seemed a good deal). We were told it would take 45 minutes, so we left our cell number and went out to lunch. We returned 1 ½ hours later, and the car was ready. gee, thanks for the call (we didn’t get). We stood in line for THIRTY MINUTES, while ONE person slowly rang up a car battery for a guy who was in front of us. This guy moved slower than molasses, uphill, in January. People were walking out of line, in frustration. FINALLY, it’ s our turn. I hand the coupon, and he can’t figure out how to ring up the sale. In desperation to get out of there, I told him to just end the sale and I’d deal with the price haggling with a manager. My son called me moments later, that his car had the WORST engine noise he’d ever heard. We had just taken his car out of a reputation car shop for a service, and it was humming better than ever… just the day before! Why didn’t I pay the higher price, at the good reputation place? Because I was stupid, and cheap. I am fuming, and will not stop trying to get a Sear’s manager to do something. That is another horrible experience, in itself. No wonder Sear’s is hurting for business. Your automotive shop sucks. Your service, sucks. Your management sucks. I have never felt more strongly that I’ll never go to a place, again, as I do right now. (I need chocolate, swallowed down with a shot of tequila.)

Got tires here 6 months ago… With road side service. Inside of front passenger tire blew out a chunk on the highway 100 miles from home. After trying to call seats for 30 minutes gave up. Brought car into American tire co. Finally got hold of Sears service was told to just out spare on and bring it to them and they would have analyst will deal with it and see what we will do. I explained we are too far from home and all highway that the spare is not an option… He said we’ll bring the tire and we will decided if us covered when we it… Well just saw the tire… What was sold as a «new» tire seriously looks like a retread! I am furious and will take the tire to sears and have the explain!

The wait is way too long for an oil change. Been here since 10:30am, it’s 11:50am. Still not ready. I could’ve done at jiffy lube for 15 minutes.

I ordered tires online a few days ago. I was assisted by a Sears customer service rep (Lacey) as I don’t have a clue, too many variables, kinda like shoes, but not as much fun.
She was helpful, saved $ 90 between a $ 50 Falken rebate and a $ 40 Sears special.
I was called today to be notified the tire shipment was in. I arrived at 5pm on a Monday night, I didn’t wait too long. Only an hour and fifteeen minutes, in and out.
Mechanics put paper down on the carpet so they don’t stain your carpet.
Gil at the counter was nice to deal with. Explained the different alignment warranties.
Customer service was exemplary from start to finish. No complaints.

Sears is one of a small number of quick lube places that have a well rated oil for diesel engines. Most places the people do not even know that diesels take a special oil. The price is the lowest in the Salinas area as well.
Be aware that Sears has a new piece of test equipment designed to sell wheel alignment jobs to the unwary. They tried to get my wife to have the tires on her Prius aligned when she brought the car in to have the tires rotated.

Dirty roll up doors. Slow. Late to open. Poor communication skills
Needs to have Passion about Life & Work