Mavis Discount Tire customer service and service incompetence Mount Sinai New York

My husband and I were loyal Mavis customers for almost two years, and between our two vehicles, we have spent thousands of dollars for repairs performed by two of Mavis’s service centers during that time. Following our most recent experience, we decided we'd be better off without the Mavis Touch. Calling the corporate office is pointless. You spend half an hour explaining your issue to a barely coherent customer service agent, even though you specifically asked for a management level person--It's not that I don't respect the customer service person, but at this point, my issue needs to be acknowledged and resolved by someone in a higher position of accountability. The problem is, no one in that higher position is accountable either. Nobody at Mavis Corporate ever calls you back. Your issue mysteriously disappears among the ghosts of customers past or that never were. Because, even if you never spend another dime at Mavis, another poor schmuck will. That's the mindset. Every customer is dispensable. But nothing tells the story like the story. So, here it is. Somebody tell me where I'm wrong, please.

My husband took his vehicle  to the Mt. Sinai, NY service center on Friday, Nov 25 for an oil change. He arrived as soon as the center opened at 8 am and in addition to the oil change, was informed of a number of other repairs that were needed, including replacement of the return line for the power steering. The manager informed him that they would have to order the part, but that it should arrive by 11:30 am that morning so they could complete the work. At 9:30, they changed the arrival time to 4 pm, at which point, my husband requested that they wrap up what they were doing, so he could leave and come back. My husband subsequently called the center at approx 3 pm to inquire regarding the status of the part and was informed that it was there. My husband arrived at 3:30 and waited for an hour before being informed that the part they had received was not the right part. So, not only did we have to reorganize our entire day to accommodate Mavis, but my husband wasted an hour of his time for nothing. The center had the part at 3 pm and could have checked immediately to determine that the part was incorrect, rather than having my husband come back and wait again--only to find out that the work could not be completed, and would require returning the next day. When my husband returned on Saturday (again requiring a major change of plans), he waited another hour and a half for the repair work to be completed, and was charged in excess of $600 for the repairs. He requested, as a courtesy, that the bill be reduced by the cost of 1 hour of labor (as he had wasted an hour of HIS time). The manager on site offered only $30 off.

As this issue took 2 days to resolve and required our rescheduling family plans on Thanksgiving--i.e. a considerable inconvenience to multiple parties, we found this concession to be laughable and insulting. It shows a not only a lack of customer respect and courtesy, but also a lack of service quality overall. Furthermore, this incident is not even the first problem we have encountered in our relationship with Mavis. Last summer of 2015, we also had an oil change done at the Rocky Point, NY center, which was overseen by the same manager, and which went horribly wrong due to the incompetence of the mechanics as well as said manager. In that experience, the engine was damaged as a consequence of their installation of a faulty oil filter. Although they replaced the engine, which was the correct action to take, it subsequently took another two months to resolve a “check engine light” issue, which started only after the installation of the new engine. After this experience at the Rocky Point center, we wanted to give the company another chance, but not at the same location. Thus, we went to the Mt Sinai location, which was still relatively convenient. For almost a year, we dealt with a different manager named Lorenzo, and never had a problem. It is ironic that this current issue happened under the supervision of the same manager (Steve), who mismanaged our repair issue at the Rocky Point location. Considering these multiple inconveniences and our investment in Mavis to date, we asked Mavis for compensation for at least the cost of labor on the power steering return line installation, i.e. one hour, which represents the time my husband waited pointlessly for a repair that did not happen until the next day.

I have tried to contact Mavis's corporate office multiple times and NO ONE of any decision making authority has reached out to me. We report our experience as a warning to other customers and to other businesses who need customers! Mavis obviously could care less about preserving their relationship with their individual customers, and their reputation in the industry will suffer for it. There are many other locally owned auto repair shops on Long Island. Give them a chance and don't waste your time and money on Mavis!