Lamb’s Tire & Automotive

I have been taking our cars to Lambs at Slaughter Lane for more than 15 years. They have done a great job fixing the problems we have had. And when there was a problem with the work they did (about 15 years ago) with my transmission problem, they sent a towing truck to pick up the car at no cost and fixed the problem again. I liked their honesty and their effort to do the work right. For that reason I continued taking the cars to them and they have continued being honest and doing a great job for the last 15 years. I had another recent concern recently which was very quickly resolved by the manager Bo. He was very professional and very genuinely trying to solve my problem. In summary, this is a company that has given me an excellent service for more than 15 years and with only two problems in 15 years which they have solved by calling me personally. Awesome place to take my car.

I’ve usually had really good customer service, but this morning was an exception. I called yesterday afternoon to see about getting in for a tire balance and was told they were busy. The gentleman I talked to said to come in first thing in the morning and I would get in right away. I get there at 7:30AM and wait only to be told that I can either make an appointment for later that afternoon or have a 2 hr. wait. This was a total waste of an early Saturday morning.
I respect that businesses are busy, but don’t waste my time with poor information.

I take my Toyota Corolla 2007 to Lambs on a regular basis and always make an appointment, as there can be a long wait if you are «walk in.» Bo is a great manager and very helpful. I trust these guys. I have never had major work done at Lambs – only maintenance, but then the car has not required any major work. Their customer service is great and they often give me bit of a discount. The shop is conveniently located in the HEB shopping center.

Absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced in my life! The treatment of a customer here is appealing. Do NOT take your car here. I would give 0 stars if I could. This establishment needs to close down.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. A few months ago I took my Volkswagen Tiguan 2010 for an oil change. HUGE mistake. They used the wrong oil and I started having issues with my truck. I ended up taking it to Austin VeeDub and they realized that the oil was wrong and had to drain it for a few hours and then put in the right oil. So the manager, Bo, apologized profusely refunded my original oil change and credited me for the other one. It could have ended there… but it didn’t.
I ended up having issues still and took it back to Lambs, I was told Bo was on vacation and that they were told not to touch my truck… wow after their mistake. They ended up putting a part on (not sure what is it called sorry I’m a girl, lol) but it was some kind of cap with rubber around it. Well guess what… they put the wrong one. Oil leaked all over the manifold and was burning smoke through the exhaust. It cost me $ 290 to put the correct part and for labor to clean my engine. Lambs guy only refunded the part they put in wrong.
Well fast forward to a month ago when I started having issues again. All four coils to my engine needed to be replaced… want to know why? Because the oil that had leaked all over my engine because Lambs put the wrong part caused damage to my engine. When I left the receipt for the original $ 290 I was told someone would get back to me… no one did. I’ve spent over $ 600 and countless trips to San Antonio to get my truck back to where it was before I took it to Lambs.
Save yourself the headache… go somewhere else. I wouldn’t trust them to change a tire or oil or anything major. What a lesson to learn.

I went to Lamb’s last week based off of a friend’s recommendation. My Jetta’s AC system was not working properly and she had just had her Jeep’s AC fixed by them. I had taken my Jetta into VW for a first-​glimpse at what the issue was and received the diagnosis that pretty much everything was not functioning properly (compressor, fans, etc.) and it would cost me a whopping $ 1600. I wanted a second opinion and decided to go with Lamb’s.
First call to set-​up the appointment was great. It seemed they understood the problem and had the tools to properly diagnose the issue. I could drop-​off my car for them to inspect in the morning and they would call me later with details and a cost breakdown of what I needed to fix. Plus, the diagnosis would only cost me around $ 50 (in comparison to VW’s $ 150, this sounded like music to my ears). I set-​up my appointment and was excited to hear that it might not be the full AC system that was broken.
On Friday, my appointment time, I go in to drop-​off my car and there were no details of my appointment. I was told, «whoever took your call must’ve forgotten to write down the details.» Whatever, not a big deal. I repeated myself so they could record the details, left my keys, and happily went off to work to await further details.
Second call was fantastic. I was told they were able to diagnose the issue and that the compressor worked fine and everything functioned the way it should, except for the cooling fans. They could order the fans and have it fixed for me on Saturday (since they had to wait for the parts to come in).The quote I was given was around $ 850. I was super stoked, since that was half the quote VW gave me and asked them to go ahead and move forward with it. The guy even told me he would test drive my car to see if there was anything else they could fix for me. Since my Jetta is a 2007, this seemed like a good call to me.
Then, call 3 on Saturday happened and everything was a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. I’m not one to be dramatic, but I hate receiving a call where the first words are «I’ve got some good news and some bad news.» Oh boy. The good news? They fixed the cooling fans and they were functioning properly. The bad news? The compressor is not okay, like they thought. They made AN ASSUMPTION that once the debris was cleared that everything would work properly. It didn’t. I was told they needed to call around to find a kit for my vehicle and would get back to me with a quote.
Call number four happened about 10 minutes later. They were able to locate a kit and guess what? The good news is it was only $ 865…but with tax and all the parts and labor for all of the work done in total it would come out to about $ 2400. I asked them to not move forward and to give me some time to figure out next steps. I was in shock at how quickly the issue escalated when I was told previously that my compressor was functioning the way it should.
The guy called me back and said he had other options to help. This was not the case… it was still that I needed a new compressor and it was STILL the same cost. I asked them to please stop working on my car and I would come get it.
Long story short, I paid around $ 850 for an issue to NOT be fixed. When I picked up my car, I was told I should sell it anyways and get anything but a VW. While this may be true and a good recommendation, this should have been part of the FIRST CALL and FIRST DIAGNOSIS, not a diagnosis $ 850 dollars later. I was in the same boat I was in with VW, just duped for $ 850 to get the same answer. TOTAL BAIT AND SWITCH. I will never come back to this company ever again and will never recommend using their services.

I have been driving a BMW for almost 2 years now. I think BMW stands for «hypochondriac car» because it tells me immediately if something is even close to wrong. Last week, nothing was indicating it needed attention other than I was a bit over mileage for an oil change, so decided to go by Lambs rather than going to my normal mechanic — convenient location, and I had heard good things. $ 105 later (after a $ 10 coupon — full synthetic oil change — definitely on the high side) my oil was changed. But also, the guy inside told me after they did the oil change, the tech found a brake-​pad sensor is broken, indicated that my regular mechanic likely broke it, but they can fix it for only $ 170! I told them if my mechanic broke it, I would go back to him to have him fix it and declined the service.
I get in my car, and low-​and-​behold, there is an indicator light saying my brake pads are low. (They are not low, but guess that sensor they mentioned is indeed broken!) I take the car home and have a look — there are wires hanging behind the tire — the sensor is clearly broken. I do a little research online… the sensor is very inexpensive — many aftermarket versions found online for around $ 15, and I found several «genuine BMW» parts for about $ 25. Which leaves nearly $ 150 in labor costs. I looked around online for instructions on how to change the sensor — found several — all of which are less than 3 minutes long and discuss how easy it is to swap out. Less than 10 minute job including taking the wheel off. So $ 150 in labor seemed outrageously high.
Rather than let this go, I went back to them to inquire — partially about the «coincidence» of the part coming up broken at the same time I was at the shop, but more so to ask why exactly they would have charged me $ 170 to fix it. The manager at was a bit defensive when I went in, which I suppose is fair considering I was there to complain. He looked the part up — explained there are different brands for parts — that the one they quoted me was $ 62 (can’t imagine what brand this was, since the BMW part is $ 25) but that he could get one of a reputable brand, for as low as $ 26. Why they didn’t give me that choice from the beginning instead of just quoting the much more expensive part — I don’t know. Next I inquired about the remaining amount being left to labor and seeming QUITE high for the work (being a math major, I can figure out that $ 100 for a 15 minute job means they are charging $ 400 per hour for labor), he indicated that the book they go by says it takes more than half an hour, not 15 minutes, and that they charge $ 115 per hour — but that they had indeed quoted me a price for more time than even what the book said they should charge. He emphasized that the over charge was only about $ 20 more than it should have been. Apparently I should think thats no big deal.
The manager in the end offered to fix it for free — and he did. He ordered the $ 26 part (NOT the $ 62 part! Funny how if I was paying the $ 62 was the right way to go…) and installed it, without charging me. While I appreciate that he offered this olive branch, I am left with this: I don’t know how the part got broken, but I do know they were going to charge me WAY more than needed to fix it. My regular mechanic said he could have gotten the same part for $ 8, and would have put it in for free with an oil change. Guess I will be sticking with him.

Nice guy at the counter, that’s about all I can say good. No one called me after my car was ready, didn’t put my window visor back on when they were done even though I had explained about heat making my speedometer not work. My free tire rotation didn’t happen, and how could they tell my air filter was dirty when you can tell no one has looked? There would have been smudges all over from the dirt but nothing but the battery looked even remotely different. They did say my wiper fluid was full… Too bad that it’s actually not!

Here is an email I sent to Lamb’s on Slaughter two weeks ago. There’s been no response, so here goes.
— — — — — — — — — -
Dear sir:
I have a question regarding a quote I received Friday morning at the Slaughter Lane store. I came in for an oil & filter along with a brake check on my 2012 Corolla. I was told that the car needed rear brake shoes, as the existing ones were at 15%. I was quoted a price just over $ 300 for all services. Being surprised that a car with 40K being driven primarily on the highway needed rear brakes, I took it to my regular mechanic for a second opinion.
He said that the rear brakes were in excess of 80% and that the covers on the hubs had not been pulled off, that they had probably not been pulled since the car left the factory. The brakes did need an adjustment.
Can you please explain to me why I would be quoted a rear brake job when the brakes had not even been, apparently, properly inspected?
The original invoice I was issued is #64 901. I was originally presented with an invoice showing a brake job, but it was rewritten when I declined it. This invoice does show, the mechanic’s report on what he claimed was 15% remaining on the rear brakes. I would like to know how he determined how much surface was left when he apparently did not even look at them.
Sincerely
Mike Nassour
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LATER: I do want to say that the manager, Bo, called me this morning and apologized profusely not only for the issue with the service, but that it took so long for someone from the shop to get back to me. As this is the third (!) time I have had a similar experience with a Lamb’s shop (the other two were up on Far West a couple of years back) I don’t know if I can return for service, but it speaks well of Bo that he is indeed trying.

Ryan and the whole team at the Slaughter location are just down right fantastic humans. After dealing with completed customer dissatisfaction from a local Chevy dealership, I am so grateful for the competency that Ryan and the team show. My family will gladly use Lamb’s Tire and Auto for all of our family’s automotive and tire needs! A BIG thank you!

Great customer service — pulled my car in at the appointment time — installed 4 new tired and and did a great job!

Not a fan. I call to ask an estimate about a part… come in a week later and they want to charge $ 100 more than the prior phone estimate so no I’m good. No nothing different still same part. just find it strange and questionable.

I brought my 14 year old car in with a problem that proved to be stubborn. Bo wouldn’t give up until the problem was resolved and I was completely satisfied. He was generous with his time and bent over backwards to get the job done. He understands customer service and was always more than fair. I appreciate the way he went the extra mile to get our car in good shape again.

Called in for a quote and spoke to Bo. He was very professional and gave a clear straight forward quote. I took my truck in and was very pleased with the service and timeliness of the repair. 5 Stars for Bo and his staff at Lambs!

I’m editing this review now because the owner, Bo, called me and apologized. He explained to me that the behavior I witnessed was not the norm at his establishment, (unprofessional behavior, misdiagnosis and basically making problems up to charge me for) and he was taking steps to improve his employees and make sure nothing like this happens again. Although everything that happened makes it unlikely I’ll be taking my car here anymore, I do appreciate the effort he put forth to regain my business. He seems like a very legit guy who genuinely wants to do honest work. I felt I owed him a better review for that.

Lambs Tire on Slaughter is my mechanic. Another big save today after the Toyota Dealer service had recommended two unnecessary repairs. I appreciate the very good help again.

The level of customer service here is excellent! I went in on a whim for a issue with my tires; not only did they assist me quickly, they let me know the issue was not as big a problem and corrected it with little to no expense! Great service!

I have been here on a couple of occasions for tire issues. The service is quick and inexpensive.

I went into Lamb’s today to get a classic car inspected so I can get it registered. I came late in the day and for me, time was an issue. I know these guys take them in order, and don’t have any mystical powers over time and space. The guys gave me a ride home when it got late and I agreed to pick it up in the morning. I was able to race back before closing, and pay, and they even drove one car home for me and I gave them a ride back to the shop. All this after 6:00! How can anyone complain about customer service like that? And all that for what amounts to a (less than) $ 20 ticket.

I’ve taken my car here several times over the last 3 years. The diagnosis is always accurate and the repairs always done quickly. When it’s come to minor problems with the work, Bo has always stepped up to the plate and made it right, most of the time for free.
These guys are honest and they are good at what they do. You’re in good hands.