Sears Auto Center

My daughter is a student at nearby IU and had damaged the sidewall of her car tire beyond repair. I called Sears for her and a very nice gentleman by the name of Bud helped me find a suitable replacement which he had in stock. Since the flat tire occurred so late in the day (it was a Saturday), Sears was unable to install the new tire until the next day (Sunday). I set an appointment with Bud for 11:30 AM (his suggestion as they had what he referred to as a «tire check» as their first appointment of the day) since they opened at 11 AM.
My daughter showed up on time and was told they were running 45 minutes behind. She left the damaged tire at Sears and drove to a nearby Starbucks to wait to hear when she could bring her car in to have the new tire put on. Almost 1 hour later, she still had not heard from them so I called and spoke with a person at Sears by the name of Larry who informed me that the new tire had already been mounted and balanced but they had not yet called my daughter to have her come over to have it put on. When I asked why, Larry informed me they were too busy. I stated she had an appointment and again he told me they had been too busy. I then asked what good was an appointment then and he told me that she could come back to have it put on her car now.
An appointment to me indicates you will be served at the appointed time. While delays often can occur, you should be their priority. In no way, was that ever felt by me or my daughter. In fact, my daughter told me that it seemed like Larry and a colleague really didn’t want to be at work that day. Very unprofessional customer service. We will not be going back.

My experiences with Sear Auto Center have been positive. They stop and call you if they find any «surprises» that might be dangerous or cause the bill to go up. And they aren’t pushy with up-​selling or warranties. Larry, the Manager seems to always go the extra mile in trying find the right product at the best possible price. Plus, they straightened out my dented rim for free!
P. S. Simon is making in big mistake in pushing Sears out to make room for Whole Foods! Sears Auto — please move to the west side!!!

My experience was different than others here. Had a bad starter. They repaired it. It was pricier than some places, but not ultra high. They tacked on a $ 19.95 diagnostic charge that was removed when I objected. The repair works. A-​Ok.

I don’t go to this place any more because they didn’t even done right with an engine oil change on my Volkwagan Passat. They changed wrong oil that caused my engine overheating, oil leak, etc. I went back and told them to change the certain grade of oil and use the synthetic oil instead, and was charged full price again. So, I paid twice for the oil change. Forget about Sears, they don’t have much to offer these days.

My experience here was actually pretty good. They fixed my brakes which no one else could seem to fix, the price wasn’t bad, it didn’t take too long, and they were friendly.

This place is the epitome of the Bloomington auto repair establishment. Where complacency and disrespect for the customer are somehow seen as a virtue by the management. Places in Bloomington know that all the other repair shops are just as awful, incompetent and slow as they are, so they just roll with it. This place was so bad (I’ve been twice now) that it’s made me not want to return to this Sears even, and I definitely won’t be going to any of their other auto centers.

Very nice manager, terrific customer service. I took my son Shane here to get new tires and could not be happier with the tires or the service. I’m so glad I didn’t base my opinion on the cunty reviews others had left before me.

This place is a fucking joke. It gets one star ONLY because I can’t rate it lower. It took 3 trips there for them to fix a flat tire. We went in to buy a tire and was told we couldn’t just buy one and take it with us because «How are you going to get it balanced? Do you have a way to do this? If you don’t get it balanced it will throw your alignment out». So we scheduled to bring it in the following weekend.
We decide to just buy 2 new tires since winter was close and asked the new ones be put on front (it is front wheel drive and the old tires were bald) and the best 2 on the back and if it needs alignment to go ahead and do it. We pay and they tell us the alignment is fine.
Two days after getting the tires put on (no I did not check to make sure they put them where I told them) it rained and the front tires started spinning. I called to tell a manager they put them on the wrong axle and I wanted them fixed. They didn’t have a manager in auto and wouldn’t go get the store manager but told me to bring it in and they would rotate the tires for me. Fine, we bring it in the following weekend. They rotate them, I check they are on the right axle this time before we leave. I get on the highway and hit 50 mph and the whole damn car starts shaking. I pull over and realize the asshats didn’t balance the tires at all. There wasn’t a single weight on it including the ones that were already on there before we started this whole mess.
I call to tell them it needs balanced and that I’m taking it to another mechanic to check to make sure that’s what’s happening since I’m not sure if I trust them to be honest with me about it.
I email customer service requesting some sort of compensation for me driving across town this many times and have the store manager contact me because this is ridiculous, they never reply. I call customer service and am told they would file a complaint and the manager would contact me within 24 hours. 4 days later I call back to customer service because I did not get a call and they can’t even find where a complaint was filed. So she files it and sends an internal email to the store manager telling him to contact me. Apparently they pulled a manager from Columbus into the auto center until they get a real one and he had the audacity to try to argue about the fact that it’s normal for them to put new tires on the back. He said he would allow me to come in and get it balanced at no charge but normally there would be a fee.
The following weekend we bring it in and while we wait for them to fix it, I get a call from them saying they need to realign the tires and it would be another $ 80. I told them I shouldn’t have to pay for it since 3 weeks prior to them jacking my tires up they were the ones that told me the alignment was fine. They said having unbalanced tires wouldn’t effect that. I told them it’s pretty fucking convenient that we were told originally that we HAD to get them balanced so as to prevent that from happening and it was them that had told us that. I told them to just do it but to know that I’m insanely pissed they have lied and fucked up so much.
TLDR version; I will never take my vehicle there or let anyone I know take theirs because they will fuck it up.

These people have no idea what they are doing. I heard some noise coming from my rear tires and went to this place to get it tested. One of the guys, who seemed to be the most senior one, checked it and recommended me to replace the bearings on my car. The car had only 60k miles on it and it was 2007 Toyota. I couldn’t believe this but I trusted this guy. I said, I will get the car repaired by you but you have to make sure this noise will go away. From his words, he said «once you do this, your car will run nice and smooth». I paid about $ 400 – 500 and got it done but the noise never went away. I went back and talked to the mechanic who was at that time and he said now I have to replace the bearings on the other side. When I mentioned about the «nice and smooth» comment he said may he didn’t hear this noise because the previous one was much louder. Sigh !!
I didn’t get into the trap and went to another tire place. They showed me what’s happening and proved the noise is coning from tires. I replaced the tires and then my car was running nice and smooth. The guy who was at the other shop said its highly improbable that you have to replace bearing of a toyota at 60k. So I ended up wasting about $ 400 – 500 on the bearings and also lost factory fitted original bearings.
So don’t go to this sears to get your car repaired. They gonna rip you for sure