WORST experience with any car repair business EVER! We brought my wife's Mercedes to Tire Choice for a simple tire repair and oil change. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car when it was brought in. Immediately following the oil change, they turned the car on, white smoke came out, and the dash flashed engine error codes. Tire Choice said they didn't know why it was happening and didn't have the ability to work on the engine, and we needed to have the car towed to the Mercedes dealership.
Mercedes did their inspection and conclusively determined that oil went down the breather hose, getting oil into the intercooler, air filters, and spark plugs. The only way oil can go down the breather hose is if they didn't use a funnel when filling the oil reservoir or if they overfilled the oil reservoir, causing the oil to back up and then go down the breather hose. Their responsibility was crystal clear from their check done before the oil change, confirming no oil appeared in the air filters or anywhere else it should not have been in the engine prior to their oil change.
The receipt even showed they had drained the oil after filling it and refilled it, obviously because the mechanic must have suspected his mistake. The Mercedes personnel got on the phone with them and us to explain everything, and they simply replied combatively and belligerently, "we're not going to admit anything or take responsibility" and they "weren't interested in talking about it."
They caused almost $4,000 in damage to my wife's car, and we had to file a claim with their insurance company, which was decided in our favor. Even after that, they still wouldn't admit their fault and never apologized. All for a simple oil change. Tire Choice tried to hide their clear incompetence by draining the oil and refilling it to the correct 7-quart Mercedes requirement. They never admitted to anything despite clear photos and video evidence from the Mercedes dealership where their gross errors were patently obvious.
Tire Choice's insurance, Travelers, agreed to pay for the full repair, but only after a 3-week delay caused by Tire Choice employees insisting that they did not make a mistake. Both GUS and TERRY (assistant manager and manager) were complete and utter jerks, wholly unprofessional and unethical. Rather than simply acknowledging their obvious negligence, Gus and Terry were extremely rude to us and the Mercedes service technician who got on the phone with them to explain how the only way oil could get where it was in the videos was by somebody making a mistake during the oil change. Gus slung in petty insults at the Mercedes technician.
Neither Gus nor Terry could have cared less, repeating "my technician says he did nothing wrong," "talk to corporate," and insisting they had "no idea" how oil got into the intercooler and air filters and "couldn't explain it," making the ludicrous suggestion that perhaps the turbocharger system went bad during the oil change -- when the engine is off -- causing all the damage as soon as the car was turned on.
They forced us to file a claim with their insurance company, Travelers, and continued to insist they had done nothing wrong to Travelers. Travelers ruled 100% in our favor, finding Tire Choice 100% liable for the extensive damage to my wife's car. As everyone knows, insurance companies are not in the business of giving away money, but even following Travelers' determination of Tire Choice's full responsibility for the significant damage, we never received an apology from Gus or Terry.
In fact, Terry refused to refund even the cost of the oil change, which had to be redone by the Mercedes dealership. Terry hung up on both me and my wife, and both Gus and Terry spoke over us and the Mercedes service technician when we tried to have a rational conversation, not letting us get a word in or even listening to what the Mercedes technician tried to explain to them.
We had to speak with the district manager, Misty, who refunded the oil change as well and apologized for Gus and Terry's conduct and the extensive damage to the car. However, Misty also promised to refund the cost of the tire warranty yet never followed through or responded to numerous phone calls and emails circling back up on this promise. We once again had to go to corporate to get this promised refund.
Beware and stay away from this unethical dealership who will cause major damage to cars, take no responsibility for errors, and treat customers so abominably! Even the Mercedes technician was aghast at how ignorant and rude they were in all communications. read more