WARNING: ROB'S AFFORDABLE TIRE IN IRVING WILL COST YOU SAFETY AND MONEY!
My wife took her car to Rob's (Irving location) to get a tire checked. They replaced a valve stem. My wife complained of noise, so I investigated. I found they broke two studs when putting the tire back on. When I took the damaged parts in and asked they cover the repair everything was met with excuses, some of which required risky behaviors.
"You could have drove it here and we would have replaced the studs".
"You could have broke those off yourself".
"That's not overtorque damage".
And more. But eventually I'd had enough, lost my temper, and stormed out. They let my wife and two kids drive away like that which enraged me. This is a serious safety issue and they refused to cover it. All I wanted is for them to make this right, say sorry, and cover the parts they damaged.
I stopped at our typical shop and showed them the damage. They concurred it was consistent with air ratchets/over torque, but also told me they had a customer come in who'd experienced a transfer case failure because this Rob's location put three different sized tires on their vehicle. I will not name this other shop as I didn't ask permission to do so. I will simply state they are on 5 in Silver Creek, not far from Save-A-Lot.
I am not a mechanic by trade, but I am in the maintenance field. I am smart enough to know that I would have been responsible for any injuries or damage I caused had I drove the vehicle back in the condition it was in, and that a towing service would have been the only other viable option and an additional cost for both myself and Rob's. So I fixed it to the best of my ability and made it safe again before approaching Rob's and asking they right this wrong.
I also added a screenshot of a conversation with another local mechanic who says the broken studs issue is a common one with Rob's since people have fair questions. Rob's needs to use the proper tools for the job, bottom line.
I filed complaints with the NY Attorney General's office, the New York Department of State, the BBB, and posted a Google review. If you've experienced an issue with Rob's I encourage you to do the same (links below). I'm going to make Rob's remember me and I'll gladly be banned from this business. In fact I'd consider it an honor to be so!
Even if nobody gets a cent in restitution there needs to be a message sent that this is not how you do business, especially when safety is on the line. Someone could get killed, and if an investigation traces it back to the shop, the business could fold.
Here is a link to the DoS New York Consumer Complaints online form:
https://dos.ny.gov/file-consumer-complaint
Attorney General:
https://ag.ny.gov/consumer-frauds/Filing-a-Consumer-Complaint
Write a Google review about your poor experience:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Robs+Affordable+Tire+II/@42.565606,-79.1101968,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89d2dc09dae0d98d:0xd4cc4677d50674bb!8m2!3d42.5658356!4d-79.1086227 read more