Merchant’s Tire & Auto Centers

I wasn’t acknowledged in this empty shop, so I walked out and took my vehicle to Rice Tire where they were only too happy to have my business. We won’t return here again even though we have patronized this location for over 28 years.
This is unacceptable customer service.

I just had a oil change and tire rotation (received a NTB coupon and booked online). Their location is clean, employees were friendly, they have free wifi and they completed the service in 1 hour like they estimated. I’m actually kind of sad to see such a low rating for this location, this was a terrific experience and I will definitely be back!

Strike one: I took a coupon in for a reduced price oil change, but learned that in fact the lowest grade oil would be used that would not be appropriate for my car. I was presented with three different options and didn’t have time to research to make a decision. The place I normally get an oil change simply gives me what is best for my car and ended up being the same price.
Strike 2: I asked that the cover on my spare tire also be zipped all the way up since I could not get it myself. I was told this would be done and it was not.
Strike 3: Someone called a few days later conducting a customer satisfaction survey. I mentioned the issue with the tire cover not being zipped up, and she said a manager would call me. No one ever did.
The single positive with this experience was that the staff were polite. But I’d never go back here given the issues I experienced and management’s apparent lack of interest in making sure their customers are satisfied.

I had my Honda Civic in recently for a oil service and tire rotation and was very please with my visit. I read the reviews and was a little reluctant to try Merchants out but it seemed like the reviews where a few years old. I’m glad I did they where fast and friendly, during my vehicle inspection they found I needed front brakes and Jim the store manager showed me the pads and rotors and gave me a great deal I was out of there in no time.

Listen to the revues, they order 4 tires for me two times and both time they where not even the brand I wanted!!! Sad, I wanted to give a local business a chance!!! I ordered the tires from my cell phone while I waited for my refund Tire Rack sent me the tire I wanted the next morning, and a local mechanic installed them for me and I saved $ 200.00 from there price. I’m a happy camper now, I’ve always gone directly to Tire Rack. I don’t know what came over me, thanks Tire Rack for coming though for me and not waiting my days I had to take off from work!!!

The following is my opinion: Merchant’s Tire got their hand caught in the cookie jar! Do not take your car for a transmission flush at Merchant’s Tire Frederick (1340 W. Patrick St., Frederick Md) unless you want to be subjected to questionable activity!!! I took my car in for a transmission flush service, since it has 30k on it on 05÷21÷14 at 1130 am. Once home, I checked the transmission fluid and found that it was still brown/​black with a burnt smell to it and looked like it had not been changed. The fluid should have been a bright pink and w/​o the burnt smell to it.
Suspecting that it wasn’t changed, I took the car to my mechanic who confirmed that trans was probably not flushed. I then returned to Merchant’s and presented my findings to «management,» who then promptly refunded my money. What’s more, I had to insist the manager come out and check for himself to show I wasn’t trying to pull a scam on Merchant’s Tire. He was going to give me a refund w/​o checking for himself. I just wonder how many people apparently had the same «service» done and never bothered to check to see if it was actually done or done correctly?! I then took my car to Midas and had a proper flush done. The people at Midas (1002 West Patrick St., Frederick, Md) did me right! They showed me their process for properly flushing a transmission, using a power-​flush machine. If you refer to the attached picture, you can see the dirty «new» Merchant’s Tire fluid in my transmission (lower horizontal tube) being forced out of my transmission, compared to the upper tube with the fresh pink Midas fluid going in.
Seriously, I may have been been hosed out of $ 147 (approx. cost of the transmission flush + tax) had I not checked, not to mention possible damage to the trans – going an additional 30k on old fluid – thinking I was running on new fluid! This is so wrong on so many levels; possibly constituting outright chicanery at worst or complete incompetence at best, in my opinion!

Simple Maryland Inspection for a car purchased in VA, right? 2011 Acura with only 13,000 miles on it — what could go wrong?
Imagine, being FAILED for an inspection because there’s a Virginia State Inspection Sticker on the Windshield??? Really? So you FAIL an inspection for what two neighboring states REQUIRE to be on EVERY windshield?
Two Kickers:
1) the Maryland State Inspection does NOT have ANYTHING re: the windshield on its checklist {I checked on MD website AND took my copy of the actual checklist completed} Only a «Notes section» where it cited a sticker, nothing under the category for «Windshield.»
2) They insisted on FAILING the car unless it was removed — FOR WHICH THEY CHARGED $ 22 TO REMOVE!!! For those outside the area, WV and VA remove the old annual sticker as a part of their inspection at NO charge!!! Then the bill says TWO units of labor were charged for ²⁄₁₀ of an hour «Labor.»
It takes 10 minutes to remove a sticker??? Funny, because when we called back to w/​i 3 minutes to say we’d remove the sticker ourselves — YOU SAID IT WAS ALREADY DONE!!!
I went in at payment time FURIOUS at the situation and you should be ashamed of yourselves for:
1) failing a car’s inspection for something that not only is NOT indicated on the MD State Inspection Checklist, but that I’ve had THREE CARS bought in VA pass MD inspection with
*BTW, how is a 3 inch X 3 inch sticker at the BOTTOM of the windshield «obstructive views?» my SUN visor obstructs about 10 times that amount of my windshield! Is it a prequisite to remove all sun visors in cars, too? Please advise, Merchants.
2) Once you have a car in your hands, INSISTING on additional, overpriced, unnecessary, and ridiculous services or «YOU WILL HAVE TO FAIL IT.» That is a «Ransom» and your attitude was out of line.
*Note to Owners of Merchants, Feel free to contact me and I’ll give you the person’s information we spoke with!
To say I’m livid is an understatement. To be objective, when I voiced my displeasure (calmly, rationally, without raising my voice), the then-​cashier could not explain to me why the sticker had to be removed nor how/​why it took them TWO UNITS OF LABOR (2 units X $ 11 ea) to remove a sticker. As I wrestled with the fairness or accuracy of this, he DID offer to/​removed the $ 22 Labor charge, and that is appreciated. The only issues I have is «why do I have to come in person to dispute this,» and secondly– «why was my GIRLfriend not offered this when she returned the call and questioned the labor charge?» You certainly held firm when SHE was discussing this over the phone., but when I went in and took issue with it, this MALE was better able to convey why this was a problem? Is that right?
Also found it interesting that when she specifically asked that it be handwritten on the bill that «the sticker removal was required in order to pass inspection,» the only response was that «it will be on your MD Inspection copy.» There was no way anyone wanted to put in writing that she had to pay $ 22 in order to get a «pass.»
I’ve had a new perception of Merchants after this exchange, and while I’ve always appreciated the later hours, I’d like to formally cancel the appointment I had today for two new tires I was scheduled to have put on MY car at ~$ 280. Thankfully, I found comparable tires at Tiresplus an my Final Bill is $ 187, and they even offered — NOT Pressured, the «top of the line» tires for $ 17 LESS than the tires you quoted me… and had I opted for them — it would have been BETTER tires for less. FYI, this is consistent with the other posts on here I’ve read about Merchants and their tendency to «over price.»
Merchants of Frederick on Route 40, I’ve given you guys a LOT of business over the years. I did it often times after taking larger chunks of time than promised, the sales people were nice, considerate, & courteous… Sometimes paying a tad more for SERVICE is OK when you feel like Customers are appreciated. You know what? I don’t feel «appreciated any more.» When you try to upcharge my girlfriend, hold her car hostage for an extra $ 22, go ‘off-​script’ from the MD State Inspection checklist… well, when you don’t appreciate her — you don’t appreciate me. No worries — you won’t have this issue come up again from either of us.

Lousy service, unreasonable mark-​up on parts, and shoddy labor. I’ve been to this location 3 times and the last time was The Last Time. I will not be returning.

I drove out from Baltimore to have extensive work done on my vehicle, at the recommendation of a family friend. While I was there for a long time, I did not feel it was unwarranted given the amount of work I knew was going to have to be done on my car. My technician constantly checked in with me to update me on progress to my vehicle, offered refreshments over and above the coffee in the lounge, and made sure I drove the car for a bit before he let me leave with it, to ensure all the issues were addressed. To be honest, for a car with over 120,000 miles on it, I have no idea how they made it run so smoothly I wasn’t even sure it WAS running when I started it! In addition, the technician called me later that evening to ensure that the car ran smoothly on my way home, and that I had made it home safely.

Merchants Tire, NTB, and Big-​O are all part of Tire Kingdom, which is essentially nationwide.
I have done business with NTB and Merchants for over 30 years. Consistently, I have found their tire prices the cheapest, and their selection and availability can’t be matched.
I share the other reviewers concerns that there is a tendency for you to leave paying much more for service and parts than you expect to pay. This seems to be a corporate approach, to offer additional parts and service. The average consumer is not aware of the necessity of any other parts and service, so they probably (like me) agree to have it done while they are there rather than risk another inconvenience a few days or weeks later.
I did get a buy 2-​get 2 deal on the tires. To get that (read fine print) you need to purchase a one-​year alignment and premium tire package with all the protections you may never use. This may be a good deal for those that don’t have AAA, since it’s a 24-​hr/​day roadside assistance program that includes not only flat tire repair, but lock-​out, battery jump, and towing services up to $ 60 for three years.
Like product service warrantees you are offered at Wal-​Mart, Best Buy, and others on check out, they make money because most people never use them. But I do plan to go back in 11 months and get another alignment and tire rotation ON THEIR DIME. Also, there is flat protection for a period of time, and perhaps that will come in handy. Most service stations won’t plug a tire unless it’s a nail in the tread. Those that absolutely refuse to do so will clip you for $ 25 to remove the tire from the rim, patch the inside, and re-​mount and re-​balance.
The service manager said I needed front brakes. He first asked me if I had a local service station where I could get it done – so I don’t think he was pressuring me to buy from them because I could have said YES and gone home – I said, YES, but can they do it while I wait, and he said, yes, but they had to get some parts from Gaithersburg and it would be another hour more waiting time, so I said OK.
The additional brake work was a bit pricey because it needed new rotors (couldn’t be turned apparently), brake pads, calipers and fluid. I am not sure about the rotors and calipers, but basically I would have flunked inspection next month.
On a separate occasion at another location, I asked one of the sales reps about the house brand tire and he said «it will get you down the road,» which to me means they want to sell a brand name higher profit margin. I mean, I really wanted to follow up with asking him if the house brand tire was unsafe, but then again, why bother when his intentions were transparent.
I have the corporate credit card so 0% financing options and some rebates for using it made this work for me.
My reason for «2» is that they get the job done, but I always leave wondering if they padded the bill with parts and labor when they see I am using their corporate card for payment. Such is the case with this experience, and many I have had at other Merchants locations… not so frequently with NTB. They only merged in the past few years so there may still be a different «culture» present at NTB. Prior to that NTB had a brief link with Sears and before that was its own entity.
Tire Kingdom recently tried to work out a merger with Pep Boys, but I gather that no longer is being pursued

Pushy sales and questionable practices. Buyer beware!!! Went there for a new set of tires on my Honda. I was quoted $ 875.00! Fortunately I knew better and walked away. Bought the exact same tires at Byrd’s in Hagerstown for $ 525.00. Buyer Beware!!!

I’ve had disappointing experiences with Merchant’s in VA, but I thought I was having better luck with the store in Frederick. I was wrong.
I bought two new front tires and got an alignment. Everything seemed satisfactory until I went to wash my car. I took a close look at the hubcap on the new tire, and saw that the valve stem was bent and shoved through a decorative hole in the hubcap, rather than the place designed to accommodate the valve stem.
Don’t these people do this for a living? It’s not rocket science.
Fearing damage to the valve stem, I immediately removed the hubcap, and noticed that one of the clamps was cracked. I can only assume that they cracked it, and instead of «‘fessing up,» they rigged it up so the bent valve stem would help hold the hubcap in place if the clamp broke loose. Great idea! Break something and cover up your error by further damaging my property. I’m thrilled at such superlative customer service.
The whipped cream on the top was the evaluation they did on my car’s mechanical systems. The said my serpentine belt was old, cracked, and needed replacing. I asked my mechanic, and he told me the belt was fine.
I’m so tired of chain auto repair places that try to cheat customers. I will never spend another dollar there. And thank heaven for Paul, my car guy at Central Auto Care in Silver Spring. He’s saved me from unnecessary repairs twice now.