Guardsman Plus Tires

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: pottymouth
I worked at Sears when I was a kid. The "technicians" dropped no less than 5 cars off the lift in the 3 years I worked there. That's just the beginning.


I worked at two different Sears stores for 4 years total and we never dropped a single car.

Your store or stores must have been ridiculous. I don't think that was or is the norm.

 

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: pottymouth
I worked at Sears when I was a kid. The "technicians" dropped no less than 5 cars off the lift in the 3 years I worked there. That's just the beginning.


I worked at two different Sears stores for 4 years total and we never dropped a single car.

Your store or stores must have been ridiculous. I don't think that was or is the norm.


I worked at a single store back in the late '80's. When I say they dropped the cars off the lift, that doesn't mean the car fell to the floor from 8 feet in the air. In each case the cars were not set up on the lift correctly (these were single-piston, in-ground lifts) and as the fellow operating the lift tried to raise the car they shifted and slid off in one direction. Mostly undercarriage damage. As far as I know, only one of the car owners was ever told and that's because there was noticeable damage to the car.

That's only one problem. There were numerous instances of wrong fluids in the wrong place, incorrectly tightened lug nuts and other fun adventures. Your store may have been fine. Only thing I know is I would never trust them with my car. Sears hasn't gotten better about anything over the years. Why would the auto center be the exception? There are far too many better choices out there where the mechanics have some continuity with the place.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: pottymouth
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: pottymouth
I worked at Sears when I was a kid. The "technicians" dropped no less than 5 cars off the lift in the 3 years I worked there. That's just the beginning.


I worked at two different Sears stores for 4 years total and we never dropped a single car.

Your store or stores must have been ridiculous. I don't think that was or is the norm.


I worked at a single store back in the late '80's. When I say they dropped the cars off the lift, that doesn't mean the car fell to the floor from 8 feet in the air. In each case the cars were not set up on the lift correctly (these were single-piston, in-ground lifts) and as the fellow operating the lift tried to raise the car they shifted and slid off in one direction. Mostly undercarriage damage. As far as I know, only one of the car owners was ever told and that's because there was noticeable damage to the car.

That's only one problem. There were numerous instances of wrong fluids in the wrong place, incorrectly tightened lug nuts and other fun adventures. Your store may have been fine. Only thing I know is I would never trust them with my car. Sears hasn't gotten better about anything over the years. Why would the auto center be the exception? There are far too many better choices out there where the mechanics have some continuity with the place.



I worked in two separate stores from around 2003 to 2007. Both stores had long-term techs who were quite skilled and worked at Sears as a sort of side job. Both stores used torque wrenches to tighten lugs and other normal, basic procedures.

No place is perfect, but I don't even remember any instances of vehicles having the undercarriage damaged by a lift. Again, your store might just have been really bad. Maybe they just hired bad employees like you.

(Just kidding, of course. I'm sure you were a good employee).

My stores were about as good as the other better chain stores. We don't have any Sears Auto Centers in my area, but I would probably go to one without worry. Currently, I go to the local Firestone Auto Centers and the Firestone-owned Expert Tire. They're not absolutely perfect, but they're pretty good.

 

[Ken2]

Mixed reviews about Sears:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sears-auto-center-phoenix

Sears if failing. We don't know when they'll close, but I think it'll be in less than 10 years.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101312818

 

[pottymouth]

I take my company cars to Firestone. They seem to be one of the better choices of the approved shops. The quality of the work seems OK, but they are always trying to upsell on everything. Wiper blades and air filters at every visit. I think I might try the Goodyear place when the Equinox is done with the free GM service.

On my personal cars, I do just about everything that can be done myself. On the odd occasion it's something that really needs a lift or serious diagnostic equipment, I have a little, independent guy I use who is about 30 miles from my house. He is always jam-packed but he does great work for fair money and never tries to pull any [censored]. I am biased against the corporate chains and freely admit it. I'll always seek out an independent whenever possible.