On Valentine's Day, I woke up and found I had a flat tire. I knew that the tire could be repaired, so I initially went to Morales Tire Repair, but found out that they were closed. :/
I went onto Yelp to see if there were other tire repair shops in the Little Village area, as I was already there. I found Soto Tire and saw good reviews. My son called the shop and asked what time they closed and how much it would cost to repair the tire ($11). My son let the gentleman who answered the phone that we would be at the shop in less than 15 minutes.
We pulled in front of the shop and my son took the tire into the shop with him so that it could be repaired. Not even 5 minutes later, my son came out of the shop, carrying the tire, and angry as hell. He said that when he first entered the shop, all of the workers stopped working and stared at him. Then after staring for 2 minutes, they went back to working. My son had to walk up to one of the workers to try and get some assistance. My son was told in broken English that they did not repair tires. My son told the worker that he had just called the shop and the person who answered the phone gave him a price for repairing the tire; the worker shrugged his shoulders and went back to work. My son said that the workers then all started talking in Spanish and no one would assist him.
Outside of the shop, there are two HUGE signs that clearly state "TIRE REPAIR". One sign even states that they have 24 hr/7 days a week mobile service for tire repair. Needless to say, this concerned me as we had purposely driven to this store with the intent purpose of having the tire repaired, yet no one would assist my son.
I had my son call the shop again; the same gentleman he spoke to previously answered the phone. My son explained the situation to him and asked why the tire repair shop would not repair our tire. The gentleman said that he would have to "call the boss" and find out what was going on in the shop. In the meantime, I told my son to go back into the shop with the tire, and tell them we needed the tire repaired.
My son came back to the car with the tire, angrier than he had been the first time. He said that none of the workers would speak with him; they simply stared at him and spoke Spanish to each other. Finally an older female in the shop approached him and simply said, "Oh sorry, no fix tires."
I called the shop again and was greeted with the voice mail of Mr. Soto, who was also the gentleman who my son had spoken to. I tried to get a hold of Mr. Soto several times, but instead was directed to voice mail immediately. Finally I left a message and informed Mr. Soto that I was very displeased with the service my son and I had received. I told him that I didn't understand why a business that was CLEARLY marked as a tire repair shop could not fix our tire, let alone even look at our tire. I also let him know that I felt that my son was being discriminated against because the workers assumed that he did not speak Spanish. I then informed Mr. Soto in Spanish of my feelings regarding the lack of professionalism that his workers displayed and that I would be sure to let everyone on Yelp know NOT patronize this business UNLESS they were Mexican, as the workers apparently had a problem with assisting customers who they assumed were not Mexican and/or did not speak Spanish. I told him that in this day and age, discrimination was NOT appropriate nor accepted.
Ten minutes after leaving this message, Mr. Soto called my phone repeatedly (we're talking a minimum of 5 times). I did not want to speak to Mr. Soto, as there was no legitimate reason for his workers to have behaved the way they did. Finally after the sixth call, my son decided to speak with Mr. Soto on speakerphone. Mr. Soto claimed that the workers failed to mention to him that their equipment for repairing tires was out of commission. I asked Mr. Soto how he was able to run a tire repair shop if his equipment was not only broken, but his workers refused to communicate this information not only to him but also to potential customers. I told him how disgusted I was with the way the workers treated my son due to the fact that he did not communicate with them in Spanish, especially as we did not realize that there was an unwritten rule that Spanish was the only language to be used amongst the customers and employees.
Mr. Soto attempted to apologize and said that he would try and find a worker who could fix our tire. I told him that would be impossible since the equipment was supposedly out of commission. Mr. Soto then started stumbling over his words, telling us to come back another day and he would probably be able to give us a discount. I honestly feel that Mr. Soto would not have been so accommodating had I not left the very specific voicemail in Spanish letting him know that this encounter would be posted onto Yelp. I am very disappointed in this business. read more