I had been to this car wash several times before and never had cause to write a review, i paid, my…read morecar got cleaner, I drove off, but after my experience there last week I certainly won't be going there again. I purchased their best wash, the "diamond" wash ($20), that comes with the clear coat, rim shine, and tire shine, etc. So after exiting I pulled around to the side where the vacuums are to wipe my car down (many places have paid help that does this upon exit, but I have no problem doing it myself) only to find that the bin of clean rags was empty. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and the place was swamped, so I found one of the cleaner rags from the dirty bin and began wiping my car down. When I get around to the back there is still a lot of dirt. On the window, on the bumper, the car simply wasn't clean. Also, the tire shine machine apparently hadn't done it's thing, as the tires clearly had not been treated. So I finished vacuuming my car and drove back around to have my car run back through, as I expect to get what I pay for. Once back at the front of the queue I state my case to someone other than the guy who rang me up (all of their employees have always been quite pleasant in my past experiences there) the first time through, and this person was clearly some sort of manager or owner, as he seemed to think he was some sort of authoritah. After explaining that the back of my car was dirty still, and that my tires had not been armor all-ed, AND showing my receipt for their premiere wash, he told me my options were to get run through again with a basic wash (thus washing off the clear coat that I just paid for) and that he would give me the stuff to do my tires myself. Now don't get me wrong, I love washing my car, but I don't have a driveway anymore where I can do so. I have the tire shine stuff at home, I know how to do it, but the point is I paid you $20 for a service and the service was not as advertised, and I expect to get what I paid for. I tried to reason with the guy and get him to give me the diamond wash again, and that I thought that it was wrong for him to tell me that I was paying him $20 for me to go put tire shine on myself. His response was "If you don't fucking like it go somewhere else". I know it's only $20 but at the rate they run cars through there, with most people just driving off without looking at their car, I feel like they are just ripping people off with no concern for the quality of service they are providing.
So, needless to say, I certainly will be going elsewhere to get my car washed from now on. Gateway is near my work so it was convenient, but just yesterday I got my car washed for $18 at Allston Car Wash (close to home) and for that price I got a wash, wax, tire shine, and 3 guys wiped down every inch of my car with clean, soft rags, including rims and door jambs, for less than I paid at Gateway. Sorry for the wall of text, I needed to vent I guess but also wanted to accurately describe my experience.