National Tire & Battery [NTB]
Reviews and Complaints

its amazing how a dumb redneck like yourself from tomball could even figure out how to use a computer. you ignorant white trash piece of ###! from ntb employees in tomball.

I paid $525 for a new set of tires about 9 months ago. The salesman told me I had free tire rotation for life. Today I went back and another salesman told me LIFETIME TIRE ROTATION is an option and was not on my reciept...if I had selected it there would be an additonal charge on there. So, I went home and looked on their website...and it says on the first tire page FREE ROTATION FOR LIFE. This will be my last visit there. In the past I also bought another set of tires and a battery. No more.

Thanks ntb, just got 4 tires on my truck, but could not put them on my ntb card because, denied" because lack of activity"...So now that i paid cash, my little ones will not be getting what they wanted for christmas...Thanks wish i would have know that before they installed them on my truck!...You guys will see a lot more lack of activity from me in the future, so take me out of you system, don't send me anymore e-mails and have a really #&*$%@* merry christmas!

I am completely neutral on this, so I will give my unbiased opinion.You never stated what year, make or model your car was.Was the cap left off the overflow or radiator? Also it is true you should not drive your car when it overheats.It can cause internal damage to the engine. Warped heads or blown head gaskets. In the ten years I have been working on vehicles I have NEVER heard of or came across the problem where it ruin the radiator, unless it had damage already. And certainly not where it would cause your thermostat to go bad. However it is recommended that you change your thermostat when you replace your radiator. I know this is a little over a year old post, but get a second opinion next time. Sounds like your mechanic wants a little extra money. Again I do not know the year, make, and model.Older cars, as in pre 1990, would be more prone to bad radiators if something like that would happen. Most places, even for oil changes, check all fluids as they say a courtesy. Really they look for things that need to be changed which increase their sales.

Rip off place. They list all the things you don't need as service items. They told me I needed struts-- that was about 3 years ago and I still have good struts. If you want to spend money for stuff you don't need-- go to Ntb in bolingbrook.
They also said I needed front brakes, and I tolok it to another repair shop and they told me I needed back brakes.
That was pretty funny-- I took the car to another shop 20 minutes apart from my NTB visit.
I will never go to this hack place. The brakes needed were in the rear. If you suspect anything wrong with your car-- you can bet there will be! Be prepared to pay outrageous charges. Oh, at disposal fees--- nice markup--- what a complete rip-off NTB.

most ntb CUSTOMERS suck [censor]... I personally try my damndest to get people to understand that bad service can happen in even the best shop on a crappy day. Working on cars is one of the most misunderstood and suckiest jobs around today and I completely agree that service has declined and that it is cut-throat. WE have to put up with customers that have a vending machine mentality and think that they can simply put their money in and out it comes... NO service facility can simply survive on oil changes (and most people think that purchasing them is loyal business) when infact it is a major inconvenience at best.

The bottom line is that it takes REAL money and REAL customers (meaning that they have REAL expectations and the patience to wait or leave their cars if need be) to be able to provide quality service. This also means that they have to be willing to pay a reasonable price as well... This price pays for equipment and MORE importantly the PROPER training of these much hated employees that SUCK so much [censor]. This is the real problem with nearly all shops (even dealerships) who in my opinion are no better because I correct their mistakes too...

They charged me $1800 and put car shocks on the front of my truck... now my truck bounces down the road like a basketball.

They insist I need the same ### shocks installed on the back for another $600

Fortunately I paid using the NTB credit card, so I can just throw that bill away when it comes in.

HA!

N T B COMPLETELY SUCKS ###... STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

Yes NTB sucks! I went by there 3 times to have them check my tires for air, (something that would've taken so quick) and all 3 times when I walked in nobody greeted me and ignored the fact that I was even there . I finally got fed up after waiting and just left yet, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured maybe they were just extremely busy that day but only to return 2 other times to have the same thing happen all over again. So I just decided to take my car to Discount Tire across the street and it took less than 10 minutes for them to put air in my tires. I wont be going to NTB again!

The NTB here in Blue Springs, MO (just outside Kansas City) just tried a similar scam on me. I took it in for four new Michelin tires and foolishly took them up on a free alignment check. Not surprisingly, they said that my alignment was off and I needed a $100+ alignment service, or my new tires would likely not wear correctly. Oddly enough, the tires that were just removed had no unusual wear after 52, 000 miles and the car never drove with any indication of alignment problems. To top off this visit from hell, I watched as the tech "road tested" my vehicle like he was qualifying for NASCAR. Once again, there is no such thing as a good deal.

On May 24, 2012 I arrive at 6:30pm at the NTB on 20211 Katy Freeway Katy TX 77450 to get new tires and a oil change for my Saturn. I waited for 4 hours be to get the tires in my car since they were missing one. I was really patient even though it was 10:30pm when they finish with my car. The next morning I get on Katy Freeway to go to work when my car suddenly stared shaking like crazy. I stop at the NTB by Wilcrest and I-10 to find out that one of the tires was not balance and to find out that my oil was never change. I have contact the corporate office several times but they refuse to respond to my phone calls back. I spoke to the store manager but he didn't seem concern and never apologize for the inconvenience. Please don't ever go to the NTB on 20211 Katy Freeway they have no costumer service.

Then I went to the Goodyear store for an alignment on referral from the dealer and in support of a store patron.
They charged my Son for doing nothing. When I called back about it . He said it was an inspection fee, even though the service was supposed to be free!? I asked him why would he send someone out with a car swerving all over the road like that? They told my son he can come back with more money again than the quoted price to complete the deal? EXTORTION!

I had the same experience with the free inspection I went in for.. I spun out, right in front of the police when I came out of the store on 280. The Police did not say a word. They just stop you late at night to get you out of the car on a dui suspicion! I went into the Oxmoor Rd. store and paid, $100 for a alignment. I got no paperwork, receipt. Instead the person waiting on us, held our car until last and tried to send my son home without me in the car. When I waited by the register; he chaged me $100 for no repairs, gave me no change or paperwork.. When I reported it to Tim the so -called District Mgr. He tried to charge me again!
I believe the mechanics also later broke into my house and stole our spares; when we refused to buy new tires, because we had them. They also stole my Son's checkbook and other documents from the glove box. They damaged a light and pulled wires out from under the dash to cause problems with the lights.
THEY ARE DEMONIC!

On 11/05/11 I had NTB # 583 swap summer tires Dunlop 235/45 r17 on my Subaru Impreza 2011 for all season Nokian tires. Before I came to the NTB shop I didn’t have tire sensor indicator on for about 3 weeks. Everything looked normal. Having taken old tires from the rims the technician claimed that at least one pressure sensor was broken. Store manager Omar H. made me sign a statement that I am aware that TPMS monitors were already broken despite the fact that there were no indication of it.

After installation of new tires is done and having driven a car for about a minute the tire pressure indicator went on and permanently remains on. I drove back to the shop and complained that the light wasn’t on when I came to the shop. Omar rejected any wrongdoing on the shop side and refused to fix. Also I consider it more important for safety to have winter compatible tires at this time than working tire pressure sensor, the whole situation is embarrassing: before I brought the car to this shop I had summer tires with a proof (around 3 weeks ago) of working pressure sensors. After the tire replacement I have (at least one) broken sensor and light indicator permanently on on my new car. This made me really unhappy.

After 30 years of trading with NTB I'm finding another shop. At 120, 000 miles NTB suggested it was time for new struts and shocks. Less then 12 months and 6, 000 miles they now tell me the shocks and one strut is defective and they must be replaced. I suspect that NTB deliberately purchases the cheapest replacement parts and tires knowing that you will either trade you car before the replacement fails, or you will pay them to replace the defected parts. This is similar to the tires I put on my daughters car. One tire failed (sidewall defect) after 3, 000 miles, they charged me $80.00 to replace the defective tire. It was explained as pro-rated tire wear, new balancing, installation, and repair warranty.

I went to NTB on 1/16/10 for an oil change.For the third consecutive time they put 5/30 weight oil in my vehicle.This vehicle calls for 10/40 weight oil.they put the same 5/30 weight oil in my 2001 Lincoln Townar, which calls for 50 weight oil.This seems to be their practice to put lighter - less expensive oil in their customer's vehicles.As usual they reccomended additional service.This time it was A loose belt on the power steering pump, which I declined.When I started the car the next morning it was smoking and leaking power steering fluid.When I checked under the hood I discovered that the top of the pump was broken and it's contents had broken off inside of the pump and clogged up the regular flow of fluid.When I went back and complained about this and other incidents of poor/fraudulent service the manager told me to leave and take my complaint to corprate.I refused to leave until he checked out my complaint.During this process he continued to be rude and threatning.At one point he had the mechanic, who worked on my car, get in my face telling me how he did not take the cap off and how he did not apreciate me calling him A lie.I never called him A liar, I simply stated that someone did.I felt very threatend and and I felt this was extremely unprofessional.The manager kept telling me how simple this problem was and apologizing for A prior incident.However simple he might have thought it was, it was not simple to me at all.This vehicle is A vintage 1976-MonteCarlo - mint condition -with only 32, 600 miles.It's not simple when all I wanted was an oil change.So I left feeling threatend, cheated, disrespected and very unsatisfied!Before I could get home, the manager had called. When I returned his call he informed me that he would get me A new pump, however I would have to take it some place else to have it installed.And that since I was not satisfied with their service to take all my vehicles(four)someplace else.That was rude and very unprofessional.After ruining A vintage automoble, I did not need him to tell me to take my buisness else where.I need national tire & battery to replace the 5/30 with with the factory required oil.I need National Tire & Battery to pay for the installation of the new pump.I need National Tire & Battery at 4453 Southwest Highway to stop deceptive & fraudelent practices.A prior incident I referred to earlier was-I went their for warrentee work.When the work was completed the mechanic returned my van keys to me, however the staff never called me to the counter to check out, so after about fifteen minutes I left, since the work was warrenteed and I didn't owe any money.This was around 10:00am..Later that evening about 5:00p.m. this same manager called my home and told me that my vehicle was ready to pick up.The call woke me up so I just said ok.Ten minutes later he called me back and said that I needed new shocks all around the vehicle.The problem with this was that only one month prior I had this very same location install all new shocks, springs and all ball joints, at A cost of over 1, 000.00 dollars.His explanation that his reccomondation was based on milage was totally unacceptable because my van had to be on A lift to do the work(which I think was a wheel alignment)so the shocks would have been visable to the mechanic.Second-he never inspected my vehicle that morning becaused I watched the mechanic work through the window in the waiting room and he never aproached my vehicle!Third-I feel that if if he were going by milage and looking at his computer he would have seen that they had installed new shocks just one month prior.He had to be looking at the computer because my vehicle was no longer there. Obviously he never inspected my vehicle. This leads me to think his intent was to mislead and defraud me. This constitutes FRAUD!

After reading some of the shoddy workmanship performed by NTB mechanics and management, I am not shocked. I just wish I had known this prior to taking my car to them. On November 16, 2015, I took my SUV (Buick Rainier) to them because the temperature gauge was not working in my Instrument Cluster Panel. The manager, George Barlock, Jr. [protected], 2448 S Church St., in Burlington, NC said I needed to replace the Instrument Cluster. I (myself) thought that it was some sort of sensor or fuse that needed to be replace. All of the other gauges on instrument panel worked just fine. The Instrument cluster cost me $476.01. The total cost was $669.00. The mechanic that worked on my car was Craig Van Riper. I am not faulting him for anything. The PROBLEM is that the Odometer mileage is incorrect and IT needs to be re-set. Mr. Barlock assured me that the manufacture would re-set the Odometer to the correct mileage OR THAT HE WOULD FIX MY OLD INSTRUMENT CLUSTER PANEL AND RE-INSTALL IN MY SUV.. This has NEVER HAPPENED. I have called Mr. Barlock once or week and sometimes twice a week about the problem. I must say though, Mr. Barlock is always courteous and polite, BUT he is a lier. I am tired of calling him and getting the same response. Guote: "Let me call the manufacture and I will call you right back." Well as of today, January 17, 2016, he has never called me back. I have decided to take my SUV back to him and get my old Instrument Cluster Panel back and take my SUV to the Buick shop. Should I sell my SUV the State requires that the Odometer reading be correct. I wish I had read the negative comments about the workmanship at NTB (previously Merchants Tire) and I would have taken my SUV to someone else. It have been over 2 months and I am still paying for an Instrument Cluster that needs the Odometer reading re-set. I WILL NEVER, EVER TAKE ANY OF MY VEHICLES TO NTB AGAIN AND I WILL TELL MY FRIENDS THE SAME THING AND I INTEND TO REPORT THIS TO THE BBB AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

I experienced one of the worst auto repair visits ever when I recently went to the Natick NTB location and was there after work to have a year old tire, (which I had spent over thousand dollars on the purchase and installation) due to a very slow air pressure leak from both of my front two tires. As I walked in ten minutes early for my appointment I was greeted by the manager and he asked if I had been there before I told him I had not to this location but I had been to the Waltham location previously and when he could not locate my appointment he started to insist that I did not have an appointment and became quickly upset demanding I call back another day with and appointment. As I was about to leave I asked him to check if the appointment was made under my home phone number instead of my cell phone number which it was then he seemed to become bit less annoyed with me and then informed me that they were running between and hour and half to two hours behind on appointments and that I could reschedule, (normally I would but my tire deflation issue was becoming more and more frequent to I offered to wait extra time). As the first two and half hours went by I started to grow more and more concerned that my "minor tire issue was being put on the backburner since I saw new folks coming in after me and leaving before me and when I asked the same manager about not seeing my vehicle even being brought into garage yet and he mumbled that they were going as fast as they could and that my vehicle was next in line. Granted I had bought four brand new Pirelli tires the year before and had purchased the Road Hazard coverage and was told I would not be charged for the tire fix issue I also was made to feel like since you are not paying anything today you are at the bottom of the priority list. Well after almost 2 more hours of waiting I was informed that both tires were fixed and I was good to leave but the manager wanted to inform me that one of the passenger side wheel lugs had gotten snapped off and that I should bring it back sometime to get it repair for free, (which although it was a hassle to make another visit I accepted it for what it was an accident. However the main issue with the tires deflating was never fixed as evidenced by the very next morning on my way to work when I noticed my drivers side tire was almost completely flat which required me to put on my spare tire and made me hour half late for work. After work I stopped into my local Midas and I explained my situation with the tire and without and appointment they removed that tire and checked it for leaks and I was brought into the garage and was shown the tire under water which had about dozen small bubbles escaping from the same area near the rim of the tire where NTB had mounted four heavy lead weights during tire balancing and when he took the tire from the rim they showed me that there was no evidence that any anti-leak sealant or repairs had been even made to tire. Midas offered to have the tire leak repaired for 35 dollars which they did and I have not had one issue with the tire over past few weeks. I have decided that I will never return to the Natick location again and maybe do same for NTB all together.

On August 2 I took my car in for an oil change and asked them to check my back brakes. I had made this appointment online for 2:00 p.m.. I arrived early and told them why I was there. This is the NTB in Humble Texas. My car was running fine I just knew it was time for an oil change. I am on a fixed income and I told them this. They had my car in back for 2 hours and then came and got me from waiting room to show me a calculated bill for 390.00 this was for brakes and oil change. I told them I could not afford this to just do oil change. So they had my car back there for another hour and a half and then charged me for an oil change and I left. Then on Monday I had a appointment in Humble and on the way back my car started clattering like it had no oil. I came home and called them and they said bring it back, so I did. After over an hour they came got me to walk under my car and show me what they said was oil leaking from somewhere under my car. I put my finger in oil and it was burnt black old oil. He showed me a dirty oil filter where the oil filter goes on and told me my car must have been overlooked and that they never changed my oil and they never would have because of the clatter. I said it wasn't clattering when I came in here now it is. Either way I feel they broke my car, if they had changed it it would not be clattering, but I believe they did and did something to it. Now I am out a car, but they did refund my money for my oil change. I believe someone at NTB owes me a car or a motor.

In March 2014, I took my car to NTB in BOWIE Maryland, because the car would not start. The car is a manual transmission, so I was able to "pop" the clutch to start the car to drive it to NTB. Up until this point, my car had run awesomely for years, with no major repair, outside of oil and brake changes. Once there, I was informed that the car needed a new Starter. The estimated the cost to be $998.00 and would take 6 hours. Two days later, I had a friend take me to NTB to check on my car. When I arrived, my car was still in the air and the desk manager looked very surprised to see me. He asked why I was there, since no one called, and I told him that I had been waiting for two days for them to fix a starter that should have taken 6 hours. He said that they were just about done and was going to take in on a test drive. I waited for 40 minutes, and the mechanic still hadn't returned from his test drive. I asked the manager to call the mechanic to find out where he was and if there were any problems. He said everything was fine and that I could pick it up tomorrow. On the third day, I returned to pick up my car, and they told me that I had a vacuum leak from a torn ring, and wanted an additional $1100.00 to fix it. They said the ring had been torn before it arrived at their shop. When I refused the repair and questioned them about the torn ring and how the ring became torn, and why no one told me the day before or any of the last three days, they became very defensive and wouldn't release my car. It was obviously a cover-up for something. I asked if the car was driveable. The manager said it was driveable, and then released the car me. Moments later, I was driving down the Highway, going home, at 70mph with three other cars behind me, and the car cut-off! The engine just died! The cars behind me slammed on their brakes to stop and swerved to miss hitting and killing me, but then they hit the cars in the other lane. Luckily, the people in the accident helped push my car off the road, and the next day I had it towed back to NTB. When I arrived, and told the manager what had happened, he taunted me and said, "I told you not to take it, but we didn't cause this. It must have been some problem that the car had before it came in". They denied any responsibility. Then NTB refused to fix the car, and asked me to have it towed someplace else. I took it to another shop, who discovered that the air intake hose had been cut and taped back together, and that the manifold had been re-assembled incorrectly and had crushed another return line hose. Basically, the car choked on too much air, and cut off. All of these things were right next to or connected to the starter, that I had asked NTB to replace. I took pictures, and took them back to NTB. The store manager asked me to never bring my car back to his shop, and refunded the money that I paid NTB on the condition that I would never return to his shop again. Unfortunately that is not good enough, because now its costing me $1250.00 more dollars to fix the items that NTB erroneously destroyed, and the damage caused to the other engine parts when the car just cut-off and the engine died. NTB should be held responsible for this, but the store manager is now refusing to come out of his office to see me or return my calls.
Avoid NTB!

I think NTB shop in Waldorf, Maryland is a VERY SHABBER repair shop. I took my car in there in March 2012 for a front end alignment because I had just purchased some tires from COSTCO and I new I needed front-end alignment because my tire on the drivers side was wearing out on the outside and I new I new toe-out performed. Upon NTB performing the front end alignment and upon paying. The rep asked me if I would like to purchase the 3-year Alignment Plan which I did. Several months later I had my mechanic replace the shocks and stablizer bar. After this work was performed by my mechanic, I needed a re-alignment so I took my car to NTB on Central Avenue in Capital Heights, Md and the mechanic stated I needed the outer tie-rod replace on passenger side. I did not have the work perform so I went to the NTB in Waldorf. Md where I initially purchase the 3-year front-end alignment warranty and they stated I needed an outer-tie rod on the drivers side and inner-tie rod on the passenger side. As I went to two different NTB shops and was giving two different answers. So I took my car back to my mechanic and he stated that there was very little play in my wheel on the drivers side and that I will need that outer-tie rod replaced but no inner-tie rods but he recommended that if I replace the outte ahead and replae the inner. My mechanic showed me you can check whether your tie-rods are bad by putting you hands at 3 & 9 o'clock on the wheel and check to see if you have any play in the tire (there was just a tab of play in the movement), so I had my mechanic replace the outer and inner tie-rods on the drivers side. I took my car back to the NTB in Waldorf, Md and they performed the front-end alignment on my vehicle. I ask the customer rep (manger of the store) that took my order upon completion where was the print-out for the alignment before and after results. He stated to me that the alignment machine print-out machine was broke. Please get your print-out from your alignment that tells one the results of work the performed. The mechanics at NTB works on commission so when you bring your vehincle back in there for additional alignment they do not make any money, so they will try to tell you you need other work performed. The only reason I truly think they sell the maintenance plans are to get you to come back in for alignment and then tell you you need additional work performed on your car.

NTB IS A S##T COMPANY! THEY LIE! THEY LIE! THEY ARE TRAINED TO LIE!