Sears Auto Center

I brought my car in relatively early today and they told me it would be a 4 hour wait just for a bare bones oil change. OMG. I reluctantly said ok because I figured I could shop and have lunch in the mall. But after 2 hours I noticed my car wasn’t even in the garage yet, so I asked for the keys back. Aint Got Time For That! Will be going elsewhere…

If I could give it a zero rating I would. Go in for an appointment at 8 am on a Saturday for an Oil Change. I’m told it’s going to be at least two hours. They have 7 appointments for 8 and only 3 technicians. Says it takes at least 45 minutes to do an oil change (I went to Valvoline and was in and done in less than 30 minutes without an appointment). was told 3 different stories about how many people were ahead of me and how long it would be. Supposedly it would take more than two hours and the three people in front of me were getting the following done (4 tires) (Oil Change) and (1 tire). How does that lead to a 2 hour wait with an appointment? Oil changes take 10 – 30 minutes, 4 tires takes an hour, 1 tire takes 15 minutes. What the heck? Also came to realize that at least one of the people ahead of me was an employee on the clock. And why have two girls at the front desk, yet only 3 technicians? And what happened to diversity at this location? TERRIBLE, STAY FAR AWAY!!!

If there was anyway to give negative stars… As one of the review mentioned I completely agree that they do not respect their customer’s schedule. Even for a simplest thing you have to wait in line for minimum half an hour. We were in line for 45 mins only to know that we need to reserve an appointment for oil change and that they cannot take walk-​ins. I mean seriously??? 45 mins of wait? They have only one person behind the counter to address any issues or answer any questions. And also they never pick their phone if you call them.
WORST!

This place is the worst.
I needed an oil change and had a free morning. I arrived before the store was scheduled to open at 8 a.m. The store kept me and several other customers waiting (in the cold!) for 10 minutes before finally opening at 8:10 a.m. At the counter, I was told my car would be ready by 11 a.m. No problem! I go back **AT 12:30** to find that THE CAR HASN’T BEEN TOUCHED. I drive it away without having any work done, and now have to find time to take it somewhere else … because I certainly won’t be giving this place my business ever again. The only saving grace is that I didn’t give this terrible, terrible outfit so much as a cent of my hard-​earned money. Take your car someplace — anyplace — else.

This location has no respect for their customers’ schedule. They purposely have only one employee working on customer intake and are in general severely understaffed.
It takes greater than 30 min for you to drop your car off and even the simplest mechanical procedures take hours to complete.
I strongly recommend you do not use Sears Auto Center. They are not friendly, accommodating, confident and their prices are nothing special.

Worst customer service i’ve experienced in a very long time. The only reason I went back for a second awful visit was to have them fix a problem they created on my previous visit. Not a single bad thing to say about either experience.

Thugs !!. Took my car for alignment check. Just to get to the register took me one and a half hours when there were only 6 – 8 people ahead of me.
Left my car and came back after 2 hours for pickup.
There was a BIG CHIP OF PAINT come off left side of rear bumper 2inches by 4 inches. And a WHITE SCRATCH mark of 4 inches by 6 inches all over it.
Clearly it was from the car rubbing across a WALL or some other place in the workshop.
I complained to the on-​site supervisor and but he DISOWNED IT and said I WAS LYING.
The do pre-​inspection of car when you turn in the keys. They did not find anything wrong in their inspection before taking keys. When I said this and showed him the pre-​inspection signed by his staff, He said THEY MISSED it in their inspection, but doesn’t mean they damaged the bumper. He said I WAS LYING, and they were COMPETENT CERTIFIED TECHNICIANS. Hell right !!
Asked them to show VIDEO FOOTAGE of camera right in the place the car was parked and for inside of the workshop area. They SAID the CAMERAS ARE DUMMIES and they have no footage to show me.
On other hand, I have recording on my phone the extent of damage they did to the bumper. Everyone can clearly see it is FRESH. and From rubbing against a wall or some instrument in the workshop. Even other customers around agreed that the snobbish supervisor got it all wrong…
I was FURIOUS for his BLATANT ARROGANCE. Complained to the on-​site Store Manager. She came to the auto center with me, talked to few of the staff and said, the senior supervisor was on leave. Called him in front of me, and asked me to come back few days later, they would fix the chip of paint.
When I dropped of my car second time around with senior guy, who seemed sensible, he agreed that it didn’t look right and that he would fix it.
Next day I went for pick up, and now there were SCRATCHES ALL OVER MY CAR… I FREAKED OUT, but they said the scratches were ALWAYS THERE… Even the senior supervisor said the same…
I CURSED THEM and left with the scratches, and FIXED the SCRATCHES ON MY OWN LATER !!!
Clearly bunch of thugs running so-​called franchise.
I have used Sears Auto in California, in Virginia, but never again !!!

Sears is the WORST place to take your car! They have incompetent employees who are rude and careless. Took my car there for a simple engine diagnostic and all of the sudden, the guy comes out saying my car wont start! Never had an issue with my car not starting, they told me my starter needed to be replaced which I was unhappy about but agreed. They said they ordered the part and it was on the premises. I waited two hours and a half for them to tell me they ordered the WRONG PART and that my car had to be kept overnight! If that was not bad enough, I picked up my car the next day to find that it made a screeching sound when turned on. I brought my car to my mechanic and found out it was not installed correctly! These peole are the worst, do not bother taking your car there. You’ll end up paying a premium price for mediocre service!

It’s crazy to me that even after years of horrible reviews, NO changes have been made. I called, made an appointment, waited way too long for an employee to take time away from his computer and help me, then was rude with me and processed everything extremely slow. We specifically wanted one thing looked at and they came back at us with over $ 400 in repairs for unnecessary repairs. I have had a horrible experience and we will be taking our business elsewhere.

I went to the Sears Auto department on a Saturday at 10:10 AM. I went to the counter and waited for a store associate for nearly 20 minutes. There were two customers behind me also waiting. No employees were working at the counter. I think there are two or three registers at this section. No workers were around the area. Two mechanics walked by but did not acknowledge that there were customers waiting.
I had intended in purchasing a Sears Die Hard battery. Since I had to go to work, I could not wait for this purchase, which should have taken less than five minutes, considering I was the first one on line! I ultimately left and purchased a battery at AutoZone. I was in and out of that store in within five minutes. And, I was greeted and assisted by a worker within one minute of walking into the store. Sears is doomed unless they address this type of customer service. A good product, such as the Die Hard batteries, does not matter if you can’t even get someone to assist you in the store to make the purchase! I am very disappointed!

Overview: Came in twice on weekdays for service during normal business hours.
Pros:
1) Nothing really.
Cons:
1) Despite not being busy at all (4 people in line the first time and 5 people the second) — it took over an HOUR just to drop a car off for an oil change and another hour just to pick it up. I cannot fathom why this place is so incredibly slow.

Waited in line for an hour to drop my car off for repairs. Only two people working front counter and their was 9 customers on line. Research before bringing your car here

Like all the other reviews you will have to wait MUCH, MUCH longer than you are first told. Whatever they tell you add 60 to 90 minutes to that time.
Make sure you book an appointment online prior to going because it will be busy.
My advice is to go see a movie at the mall while you are waiting for your car. It is better than sitting in the Sears waiting area and pacing.
They do a decent job on oil changes and charge a reasonable price. They have online coupons you can use if you book the appointment online.
Service isn’t the most attentive, but it’s oil changes; not the most exhilarating work.

Every time I drop my car off here, I have to wait at least 2 hours, if not way more. Every time I say to myself «damn, this is a really long wait. I should probably go elsewhere next time». Every time, i wind up forgetting and come back here.
The lines (both to drop the car off and to pick the car back up and pay) are extremely long, and move slower than molasses. I can’t fault the workers, who are clearly working their hardest and are normally amiable with the customer. Rather, the whole place is short staffed, and it can lead to pissed off customers.
The saving grace is that you are already inside Newport Mall, where it’s extremely easy to kill 2 or 3 hours. Window shop, grab some food, maybe even catch a movie. Not a bad way to spend a Sat or Sun afternoon. This is the only reason this place gets a 3, despite its operational shortcomings.

Today, I went in for a simple oil changed on a Sunday at 11:33am and was given a promised time of 2 hours. Came back to at 2:00pm for the status then was instructed asked to wait longer.
Instead, I got my keys and I am taken my business else where. Last time, I was here I purchased four tires and they only installed three. Luckily, I noticed it before I left the parking lot. Then the on duty Manager asked me to comeback later on in the week for my forth tire that I already paid for.
This place was great a year ago but it’s a nightmare.

About a week after contacting Sears through various outlets I received a call from the Manager. He was very polite, and offered to give me a refund and have my carpet cleaned. I arrived and they gave me an additional free oil change, refunded my money and cleaned my carpet.
It looked like there were 10+ mechanics working at one time so it really is a crap shoot weather or not you’ll get a good one or a sloppy careless one like mine.
It was nice of them to rectify the problem, but I will most likely not go here again as other reviews have been very poor and I also had a poor experience for a very simple procedure.

This place sucks. I wouldn’t have come here if I wasn’t desperate but they were literally the only place that drivable that had the right size tire for my car. I didn’t want to and couldn’t wait a week for new tires and my spare/​donut tire couldn’t take much more so I came here.
The prices are decent, at least for the tire I got. I looked at the same and similar tires online; I paid at the lower end of the range for the type of tires I needed. It still cost me am arm and a leg and the tires they had weren’t exactly great. Due to the limited options for my car and needing to drive fairly long distances this week, I really had no choice but to get them. They do have financing/​deferred interest with the Sears card if you are interested in that option.
Mostly this place sucks because they take an insanely long amount of time to do anything. They are also understaffed; one customer complained he waited for 30 minutes without being helped and the employee was pretty rude to him. Not okay.
I definitely prefer smaller local shops but when you have limited options, I guess you can’t be that picky. Definitely wouldn’t come here willingly again.

I am happy with my recent tire purchase with Sears. I bought tires online and scheduled the appointment online as well. My appointment was for 8AM on a Saturday because I wanted to beat the rush and get in first. Dropping my car off was pretty easy and only took about 10 mins. I thought everything was included when I purchased the tires online (tires, installation, balancing) but was told alignment was extra, so in that 10 mins I was banged for another $ 100. Not great, but I was expecting some extra charges to come my way, and alignment is important, so I had to pony up. They said it would take an hour and a half, but called me a little early, after about an hour and 15 mins. Pick-​up also went smoothly, taking about 10 mins. My new tires are awesome, so although this was a very expensive morning for me, I’m satisfied with the results. I also liked the alignment report they gave me which detailed each wheel’s position before the corrections were made.
If you have a good garage already I’m sure you’re getting a better deal there, but I don’t think Sears jacks up their prices too much, and if you go first thing in the morning you’ll probably not have to wait too long to drop off/​pick up.

All of the other reviews sum up the experiences I’ve had here over the years and unfortunately, these guys are probably better than some of the other options we have locally. My experiences have been so consistently unacceptable that I had to share at least the most recent.
Like others it took 30 minutes just to check in. When the rest of the country enjoys 15 minute oil changes, in JC we have to hunt down somebody to help us and then wait 30 minutes just to get entered into the system.
I needed a new battery. They said it would take 1 hour to change the battery and so I had my wife take me home. 3 hours later they called and said they didn’t have the battery and that they would not be able to get the battery because the Ford Fusion is like a German car. The man on the phone then tried to act as though he was doing me a favor for not charging me to check the battery. I really hope I don’t have to go back. I’ve already started going out of town for oil changes but I mistakenly believed that changing the battery would be a breeze.

These guys are super slow, even if you come here early in the morning. Half of the time, they forget to call you when your car is ready, which is a pain.
After pulling your car into the shop, you enter through the door and find a line. However, there’s another line around the corner. Depending on the type of service you need, you have to get on one of these lines. And there are no signs or anything indicating which line to get on. You kind of need to ask around. It’s kind of like survival of the fittest.
The employees all look really anti-​social and don’t seem to be interested in helping you. (With the exception of Gerald of course… he’s cool.) Most of the times, they don’t even give you half a smile.
The only reason why I go hear is because it’s super convenient. That’s it.