Firestone Complete Auto Care - Matthew Mullins - Store Manager - 1516 Government St. Mobile, AL 36604 Firestone Complete Auto Care - Firestone - Matthew - Edgar Scam - Con - Ripoff - Sabotaged My Car - Put A Screw In My Tire - Overcharged - Overinflated My Tires - Don't Know What They Are Doing - Tried To Upsell Me Service - Avoid - Buyer Beware Mobile Alabama

I just left Firestone Complete Auto Care located at 1516 Government St. Mobile Al, 36604.  The only reason I paid for the "service" I received was to get my vehicle back.  I brought in my Ford SUV today, April 17, 2015 exclusively to have the tires rotated (my normal mechanic does not rotate tires).

I called in advance and the person who answered the phone quoted me a price of $20 for this service.  As I have several errands to complete today I thought that this would save me some time and effort instead of having to rotate them myself using only the tire jack and manual tire wrench set that comes with the car used primarily for changing the tire in an emergency situation on the side of the road.  Now I wish I had done that!

I spoke with the Store Manager, Matthew Mullins and advised him that I wanted to have my tires rotated and nothing else.  While I was sitting in the waiting room, I noticed that the hood to my vehicle was raised and the technician seemed to be inspecting the vehicle.  When I asked what was going on Matthew claimed that this was a "courtesy check".

I always make an effort to be up to date with vehicle maintenance - and I check my tire PSI once a day.  I live 0.7 miles from Firestone and had just finished checking the PSI on all 4 tires before I came to the shop.  I watched the technician, Edgar, rotate the tires and I made the mistake of going to the restroom.  When I came out of the restroom, Matthew called me outside to show me a screw that was in one of my tires.  He told me that the technician "went to inflate the tires and noticed that one was extremely low."

When I told Matthew that I had just checked my tire pressure less than 10 minutes before bringing it into the shop, he claimed that there was "a lot of construction" from where I live to the Firestone (which there is not).  The tire in question was located on the opposite side of the vehicle from where I could not see what was going on from the waiting area.  I also noticed that the large screw was extremely clean (like it had not been driven over) where it was located in the tire.

While I was waiting for this extremely lengthy repair to be completed another customer came into the store and told Matthew that service done on his vehicle was completed incorrectly.  Apparantly they had "fixed the wrong tire."  I was also advised that my battery (5 months old) was in critical need of replacement, and that I needed to have my front brakes done (which were done in January of this year).  My vehicle gets driven less than 20 miles a day on average - and hardly ever on the highway.  When I questioned Matthew about this he told me that he "normally does not recommend" persons changing their battery just because Firestone's test.

I was charged an additional $12.99 for a "tire patch" which I am not certain was done correctly as there was a white chemical substance on the outside of my tire after the job was done which Matthew claimed to be tire lube (I am hoping they did not use Fix-A-Flat).  I checked my tire pressure and they had been overinflated to 36 PSI (Manufacturers recommendation for my vehicle is 30 PSI).  I ended up having to deflate some air from my tires right there at Firestone.

I would advise anyone in the area to steer clear of this Firestone and Matthew Mullins.  They are a complete rip off.  What should have taken 15 minutes and $20 turned into $33.19 nearly 1.5 hours.  I left feeling sick to my stomach.  Apparantly, this Firestone's version of "Complete Auto Care" means to rip people off and  take advantage of anyone they think doesn't know any better.