Fry’s Tire & Service Center

I bought a 1996 Ford Explorer from a friend… before he sold it to me he took it to this Fry’s service place to have it looked over and oil changed and such…
Well I am very mechanically capable, and do much of my own work. I went to change the oil, and low and behold, the oil filter was wrenched on so tight even an oil filter removal tool with a half inch drive ratchet attached required a hammer to jar the filter loose… I couldn’t believe it. When you install an oil filter you hand tighten it tight then back it off ¹⁄₈ –¼ turn to properly seat the filter seal… not wrench it so tight… The proper installation of an oil filter is basic auto mechanic fundamentals 101… if an auto shop cannot do something this simple correctly, then I wouldn’t trust these mechanics with even a bicycle… DO NOT TAKE YOUR VEHICLE TO HAVE ANY SERVICE DONE BY THIS ESTABLISHMENT, there are many many more out there that I’m CERTAIN can do better. For those of you that have nothing but good things to say, great for you… I don’t care if this is an isolated incident… basic mechanic fundamentals 101… this should never ever happen… PERIOD… FRY’S you’ve lost my business and I would warn anyone to steer clear of you… An oil filter installed incorrectly… SERIOUSLY…

Called to schedule an alignment for my Hyundai Sonata, even told them I had a 2011 Hyundai Sonata when I scheduled the appointment. They told me I had to come first thing to get it scheduled. So I woke up early and had it there when their doors opened.
I left the car there.
10 minutes later I get a call from Brett the manager. He goes on to tell me he can’t align my car because they don’t have the soft ware to work with a Hyundai. I told him I did explain what kind of car i had when I scheduled.
He told me, «Oh, the guys up front wouldn’t know what programs we have and don’t have».
So I asked him. How do they know which cars you can fix and which one you can’t.
He said, «You’d think they should know but they don’t».
REALLY! WOW!
Apparently it’s ok with him that they are complete idiots and don’t know which cars they can work on and which ones they can’t.
If you go there. CALL.
THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY CAN’T FIX YOUR CAR AND THEY WON’T KNOW IT TILL YOU DROP IT OFF.

They were nice enough on the phone. Not so nice (or competent) in reality. I hoped for a lot better service. NOT going back or recommending them to anyone.

Small business, single owner, honest and reasonable. I’ve debt with dealerships, chains and the lot. Never again. I got out of my way to bring my car here. I’d push my car passed a line of Goodyears and Firestones just to get it here for an oil change.

Wow, I was seriously disappointed with their effort.
I took my car in this past weekend which has a short in the tail-​light. I explained everything I had already done to troubleshoot it, indicating that the light and socket itself were both good. I made sure to tell them that if they jiggle the wire, it’ll start working again indicating that either the wire is bad or where the wire connects to the socket is the problem.
What did they do to «fix» it? Replace the light bulb and jiggle the wire. They then attempted to charge me over $ 100 for their «effort». I might have given them 2 stars if they had gone as far as to prove the light bulb was actually the problem, but they were too lazy to do that… or to listen to everything I had told them. I had checked the bulb the day before I took it in via the other tail light housing and knew the bulb wasn’t the problem.
Needless to say, I pitched a fit and thoroughly explained their incompetence, lack of effort and sheer disregard of everything I had told them. They didn’t charge me in the end… but I will never take my car there again.
A shame, because it’s within walking distance of my house.

Who wants to trust a dealership for auto maintenance? They’re just too expensive
and you never know if you need some of the work that they recommend.
Fry’s has taken good year of me over the years. Recently, I went in and asked about getting a new battery. The service tech asked me if my car sometimes didn’t
start? I replied, «No.» The tech said, «You don’t need a new battery until you start having problems.» Wow! An auto repair store that tells what you don’t need.
Don’t get me wrong, I won’t wait until I get stuck with a dead battery — but I’ll give it a little time — so I don’t replace the battery before I need to.