Les Schwab

[WANNA_BE_GT]

Its true. There really are Good Schwabs and bad ones. You can usually tell by just looking at the operation from the street. If there's crap all over the place, the shop is a pit and the employees are walking around with a pissed off look on their face, I just drive by. My experience is not to let the fresh face new kid sell you 1300 dollars worth of tires. Go find a gray beard that's been in the biz for awhile and knows what he's talking about. Also, if you want a specific tire type, brand or tread, don't let them try to convince you to buy somthing thats off the shelf/in stock. They'll try to make you believe that its "equal to/better than" the one you want. One other thing: Brakes. If they say you only have 2mm left on your pads, fine but go get another brake shop to confirm it. Never go looking for a "deal" when it comes to brakes. I learned that the hard way many years ago. The Schwab we have here in Snohomish is a good shop and I've never been boned (that I know of). It helps that a couple of Mustangers work there.

Dood, the Snohomish one has had it's good days and bad days. When I managed a hardware store, we took our fleet of trucks to the Snohomish Les Schwab all the time. First bad thing to happen is they stuck a jack to lift the truck under the starter! Retards! The truck weighs 7200lbs empty! When I showed up to pick up the truck, they were like, "It don't start". It ran fine when I took it there, but sure as poop they busted the starter and took no responsibility. The damn thing was broken in half and barely holding on by the bolts. "I" used their tools in their bay's and fixed the truck.

Next great adventure was after getting the summer tires back on the truck, I was driving down 405 at 60mph with about 1.5 tons of crap on the back when one of the rear right dually's when shooting in front of the truck. Before I could think WTF, the axle hit the ground. I was able to control the truck to the side of the road. LOL, after I got a hold of the truck, I just turned my signal on and started changing lanes, it was pretty funny cause I was still doing 50mph while driving on the brake drums. The Les Schwab in Kirkland took responsibility for the Les Schwab in Snohomish and fixed everything, including the tow bill.

So, yes, there are good and bad ones. I found that out between the Kirkland Schwabby and the Snohomish one.

 

[Rogue Cobra]

Schwab bites! They TRIED to mount a set of tires on my Vette with Forged wheels , but could not get them to go on. Took them 4 hours of trying and they could not get it. Charged me $70 anyway. I took it to Hillyers tire in Salem and they did an awesome job. Two hour later, I was done.

I have seen them tell people they needed stuff they did not. They like to snow women the most. They push only the tires they want and get funny when you want something different, i.e. BFGs. Try buying a set of BFGs for a reasonable price from them.

They would not work with me on the Ford recall of the Explorer tires. I went to Tire Factory (Corvallis) and they helped me out and took care of all the paperwork.

They don't know jack about wheels and tires. The Cobra had 20x9 which Schwab said can't be done. crapola They would only sell the 20x8 for the front.

I have had way too many bad experiences to ever go back to them. My picks for best tire shops are Hillyers in Salem and Hanson's Tire Factory In Albany and Corvallis.

Patrick

 

[The Factor]

I've had good luck with them, But From what im seeing here it depends on were ya go

 

[Repostyle]

I've had two bad expieriences with LS. First, I took my explorer in for an alignment on a monday and they told me they didn't have the right ball joints in stock, and it would be wednesday before they could get them in, so I said order 'em. I had a second car so I told them I would just leave my truck there so if they came in sooner they could get it done. 5:00pm wednesday still hadn't heard from them so I call and they say "oh, we didn't order your parts yet, we didn't know you wanted us to." I told them, why would I leave my truck there to fix but not want you to order the parts? Anyway, Friday it's still not done so I show up to pick it up and they say, we can't let you drive it because it's so out of alignment it's unsafe. So I leave and show up again in my tow truck and demand my truck back, then they say they're going to charge me $5.00 a day storage. I said, "okay, my checkbook is in my truck so I need my keys" they give me my keys and I walk outside, get in my tow truck, hook up "repostyle" (go as fast as possible) and take off.

The second time I was wheel shopping for my stang. I was told I can't fit anything bigger than a 16" wheel. And the only wheels that would fit were the 95 cobra R's. I told him I didn't want Cobra R's and that they were 17's and walked out.

My sister took her car in for a rotation and was told the same thing, "you need brakes, rotors, tires, it's unsafe and we can't let you drive away." She didn't call me, instead they got almost $2k out of her on credit.

Just so people know, in the city of Portland, you are required to have a contract and be approved by the city to impound vehicles. It is grand theft auto inside the city limits without a city contract.

The Goodyear at about 45th and Sandy has taken very good care of me and is the only place I will go for tires, but I have a tire machine and mount them myself, I just use them for the purchase and balance. And I use The Line Up Shop on 102nd and Glisan for my alignments.

 

[codemonkey]

Yikes, this thread has all kinds of horror stories.

I have a horror story from Les Schwab too, but for legal reasons, I can't post it here. I'm legally not allowed to say anything deragatory about them as part of the settlement. But I will say this: Know the difference between a franchise (member dealer) and a corporate store.

My beef wasn't so much with the corporation (which imo is a well intentioned company) but with a particular member dealer, so when things were escalated, naturally the corporation became involved. It turned into a huge legal mess, and I ended up getting what I wanted, I did not recieve cash, but things were set fair again. I still patronize corporate stores or ones I know to trust (I'm also a former employee).

What I can legally say is, you may notice a difference in quality of service between a corporate store and a member store. Corporate stores are held more accountable for their actions, and are generally found to be more customer service oriented than a member store, according to what I've been told. This in no way reflects my opinion, however the opinion I've heard from others.

Like AREJAY says, take a look at the shop area and employee attitude, it's an excellent indicator of the service you expect to recieve. And every store has their bad days. Be sure to ask also if they are a member dealer or corporate store.

 

[74courier]

ill never go to a LS again they almost got me killed by not tourqing my wheels on right and one wasnt even tight at all i found that out after getting home{about 9miles from the saintjhons store} and having my car drop on the ground casue it sheared the studs off from being halfassed on. i take my stuf elsewere now

 

[DrkGreenStang]

The only issue I have with LS is that they don't snap the lug nut cover thing back on right on my Mountaineer. Before I get in my car there, I walk around and kick them all and they snap in where they should be. Last time I didn't do this and I lost 2 on the way to Spokane.

Last time I was in there was a couple weeks ago because I had a nail in my tire. I wanted it pulled and fixed before I left for spokane. They brought me outside and showed me the kind of scary condition my tires were in. We knew the tires were at the end of their lifespan, so it wasn't a shock. They put a used tire on to replace the nailed tire until I could talk to my dad and figure out what I needed to do financially. I never got a lecture about how they legally couldn't do it, just a comment about how he wouldn't feel morally fine putting my tire back on because it's a blow out waiting to happen (not a lie either. it was scary).

There was one time I ran over something in a construction zone and had a flat. I changed my tire and went to LS on my way from clinical to class. The guy cut me in line to repair my tire so I would only be a few minutes late to class instead of missing it entirely. It might've been my boobs that sealed the deal though. Many of you lack that advantage. haha

Anyway, it obviously depends on the location, but I've never had an issue with one of the ones in Yakima or the one in Pullman.

 

[Juiced87Notch]

I am not trying to pick a fight, but I think you are wrong. If they were all about the customer, my seat would have been fixed, I would not have been called a liar, I would have not gotten hung up on by a corporate employee. You yourself may be a respectful person, but as a whole the company has proven themselves to be a complete joke. I am not the only person to think this. You can ask my parents, my sister, a few of my friends, a lot of my parent's friends, some of my parent's co workers, etc... I could give you a list of at LEAST 20 people who have been screwed over by LS, treated like garbage, made to feel like idiots, or shunned over mistakes that LS have made that they would NOT take the responsibility to fix.

Imagine driving a car on the highway, only to find one of your tires flying off the car because the tech was told to hustle due to a busy day so he didn't take the extra care needed to make sure the job was done properly. It happened to a good friend of the family, his car ended up hosed, and LS refused to take responsibility and went on record saying that the owner of the car most likely tampered with his vehicle. I find it hard to believe that someone would purposely loosen their lugnuts and then take their car on the freeway at speeds of 60mph to see if the wheel would fly off or remain in tact.

Do you see where I am going with this? There aren't just a few people who have been treated this way. There is quite an extensive list, as well as people here on these forums who have chimed in about how much LS completely sucks. You yourself may know what you are doing, but one person can't make up for a company filled with idiots.

your talking about a company with over 300 stores and several thousand employees... We are all told the same thing, you lie, cheat, steal, sell something that is not needed and you will be fired without the chance to be re-hired and believe me, I've seen it happen from the regular tire changer all the way up to the top. The situation with your seat is a hard one, if the guy that broke your seat will not admit to it then the manager who has 100% trust in all his employees will back him up all the way untill he's proved wrong, its a ****ty situation, but how is he going to know? The company is built around honesty, and if someones caught being dishonest, there gone, they loose the chance to have all the benifits that we recieve. Basicly the company takes care of the employees, who in turn take care of the customers. If someone screws over, lies to, cheats, or steals from the customer or company, or anywhere and the company finds out about it, he/she is gone, no if's ands or buts, you loose your benifits everything they can legally take from you. So if there is people out there doing this, they will be caught and delt with. Now if someone makes a mistake, granted we are human and that will happen and hell I've made my fair share, its usually forgiven... noted and filed, but forgiven. If its a reacurring thing... guess what, that person becomes unemployed. regardless if its our fault were responsable to make it right. I cant recall how much money we've spent on fixing things at our store. I really hate to see all you guys having these problems, and I really hate how its changed your view of the company, because the company itself hasnt changed. I love my job because it provides for me and gave me a future wich can go in any direction I choose, and I get to take care of our customers, Its a great feeling to take care of someone on a daily basis. If you guys are ever down my way, and you need some help, come see me, or randy and we'll take care of you.

 

[Jon]

I've always had good experiences with them. There have been minor issues here and there but they were taken care of in a professional and timely manor.

I agree. I've been with them for 13 years now! The only complaint I have is I am banned from tread life warranties. I guess doing smoke shows in their back parking lot doesn't help that.

 

[AREJAY]

I always have my car within my field of vision when they're working on it.If its a job I can wait for, I will. Here's where I get nervous, and Schwab DOES this and they shouldnt: When it gets busy or its crunch time, one tech will drop off one job and another will pick it up in his place. I dont like that. Thats prime territory for things like screws, nuts and bolts being put on and left finger tight. Or, three out of four tires are balanced....I've had all of those things (and more) happen to me at tire shops so thats why I sit and watch. I know they have cross checks and that but it still happens.. Look, it all comes down to the local shop management. If he's good and keeps the place tight and running and the crew responds, the problems are going to occur a hell of a lot less. My experience with Schwab specifically, and it seems in this forum where the problems probley lie are that the training in some cases is poor and the on-site management isn't watching. Especially in the non tire area. Schwab, just like any other shop has to take on some real basket cases (people and cars alike). Some of them are careful with thoese.. some, I guess are not. I hear customers asking for a job to be done in the "cheapest, fastest way possible". That freaks me out. One loose lug nut or a brake installed wrong can get you killed. I tell any mechanic on any job to take his damn time with my car. None of this fast-in-fast-out crap that the dealers do to you. Fix-to-run shops shouldnt be in business. One other thing: Never Never Never take your car into a Schwab on a Saturday. Thats when all the goofballs are crashing the place looking for the "free tire rotation". The tirejockeys are getting jammed on to get them out and customers will only eat so much free popcorn before they start wandering around the shop bugging people to hurry it up. (Just got this tip from a Schwab employee that works another store nearby)