I visit Popular Lube & Tires often for our seasonal tire change and oil maintenance. My last visit on Saturday, November 16th is the reason for my 1 star review. I will not be returning.
On Monday, November 11th (Remembrance Day), I arrived at Popular Lube to attempt to have my tires changed over to winters. My winter tires were in Popular Lube's storage. When I arrived there were 7 cars ahead of me in line. I arrived at 11:15 a.m. While waiting in the car, numerous vehicles drove to the front of the line and would go out of view. I noticed cars leaving but the line wasn't moving up. I called their phone number at 12:52 p.m. and asked how long the wait would be and the man on the phone said 1 hour, I told him my tires were in storage. Finally at around 1:30 p.m. and with still 5 cars ahead of me, I asked a service person walking by the vehicle where the last two vehicles I saw drive up went and his response was that they were appointments. During the 2 hours that I sat there, approximately 4-5 appointment vehicles arrived. I left.
On Thursday, November 13th, I called Popular Lube again to indicate that I intended to show up on Saturday to have my tires changed over. I asked how early I should be there if I want to be first in line and that I had attempted to book an appointment online since my tires were stored with them but didn't hear back. The man on the phone said that they do not take appointments and suggested I arrive 40 mins before 9:00 a.m. for an early spot in the line.
On Saturday, November 16th, I arrived at Popular Lube at 7:45 a.m. I was the first in line. There was a man in the shop already. A vehicle pulled up at around 8:00 a.m. and went in for service though they don't open until 9:00 a.m. At 9:00 a.m. a service person came out and asked that I pull up in front of a service door. When I got out of the vehicle to go into the waiting area a service person approached me and asked where my tires were. I told him that they had them in storage. He said "well they should have been pulled out, did you give someone the ticket number" and I said no, that I had called 2 times previously and attempted to book an appointment and mentioned that my tires were in storage each time and no one asked for my information. He apologized and said it wasn't my fault and to pull the vehicle in. Another man began to argue with him about not having the tires and the gentlemen said "we have enough man power, go get the tires". After my vehicle was pulled in, the "manager" came over to tell me that it could take up to a half an hour to find my tires and that they would have to park my vehicle to the side. I argued with him and explained that this wasn't my fault and that his staff had multiple opportunities to ask for my information which I find very ironic, considering they don't take appointments and the public are expected to just wait in line (here's an assumption, but I would assume most people don't tell them when they are coming, they just arrive and wait in the VERY long line). The "manager" was rude, clearly sexist and had no intention of making it a priority to resolve the issue.
I went to wait in the waiting room while they looked for my tires. Two vehicles were serviced ahead of mine in the meantime. Once they found the tires approximately 30 minutes later, they began to service the vehicle. During the service, one of the staff came out and asked me for my keys (which I left in the vehicle as requested, maybe check before asking the customer and making them think you've lost their keys) and then came back 10 mins later to tell me that the price for my tire rotation had INCREASED $20... and that my vehicle was considered an import (2015 VW Golf TDI).
At this point, I was annoyed and I asked that they not store my tires and get me when the time came to move items in the trunk. They instead put the dirty tire bags on my seats.
When checking out, I asked for a copy of my old invoice and the current one. They clearly charged me for a regular sedan at my last visit and now considered my vehicle to be an import.
After this service, I had to drive to a car wash to have my seats cleaned.
I will never return to Popular Lube. It's annoying if one thing goes wrong but the whole experience was horrible. I will have to torque my wheels myself as I refuse to return.
Stay clear. It seems most of the experienced staff that were decent have left and there are a lot of inexperienced workers with ZERO customer service skills. read more
