I am very disappointed to write this review, but after my last oil change here, I feel compelled to give some feedback as to why I will never take my car to Sears again, and give others some warning before they lose a lot of money.\r
First of all, I have used Sears Auto Center exclusively since moving to Charlottesville almost two years ago. I drive all over the state for work, so I am usually getting my oil changed here once a month. I have had several repairs made to my car here, bought their 1-year alignment warranty, and bought four new tires from them very recently. Up until about 6 months ago, I was very happy with the service I received. I'm not sure if there's been a change in management or what, but they have gone barrelling downhill in both technical services and customer service.\r
My last three oil changes have taken an average of about 3 hours to complete. My last service, I was one of the only customers, and was told it would take about 45 minutes to complete. After an hour and a half, I went back to the desk to check on the progress. They had not bothered to call me, and had halted work on checking my car's alignment because they wanted to ask me if I wanted to clean up some corrosion they had found around my battery. After another hour and a half, they informed me that they would not be able to fix the alignment on my car because I had a tire rod that looked slightly worn. When I told them I wanted someone else to take a look at my tire rod (I had just had it replaced 6 months ago during my inspection, so I was a little confused as to why it was worn), they informed me that they would not fix my alignment, and that the warranty on my 1-year alignment check would be cancelled because I was refusing their work order. At this point, my car had been in the shop for 3 hours, and I needed to get to work, so I paid for the oil change and left.\r
Last month, they forgot to close my hood properly before returning my car to me -- a fact I didn't realize until I was on 29 driving home. They also neglected to put the dipstick in after doing an oil change at my boyfriend's car, causing it to start smoking from underneath the hood -- thank goodness he caught it before he drove too far!\r
Again, it pains me to write this review, and it pains me to have to find a new auto shop for my monthly oil change. There are a few employees here (Drew, in particular) who are very honest and great; however, at this point, I would avoid Sears and find somewhere else to take your car for maintenance.
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