Charles Automotive & Tire

Gary Mendelson, the owner of Charles Automotive contacted me over the phone very shortly after my visit and was very attentive and took his time to listen to my concerns and provide an agreeable resolution that satisfied me and will keep me as a long-time customer. Excellent customer service and management! Thank you.

I have been maintaining my 3 cars with Charles Automotive for 10+ years. I go lots of miles and don't think twice about it because they preview upoming maintainance so I am not surprised. I am always pleased with their work and professionalism. They are always honest and stand by their work.

This business is a total joke. I scheduled an appointment to utilize my valid Groupon for a synthetic oil change. After I arrived and informed Charles Automotive I would be using my unexpired Groupon for payment, the front desk representative left the room to speak with his manager.

When the front desk representative came back he informed me they’re no longer accepting purchased Groupons for their business because “they’re just not making enough money off them.” Furthermore, they “really just use Groupon to advertise.”

Where do I begin with everything that’s wrong with this? I asked the representative “so your sales tactic is to lure people into your auto shop by offering them a deal on Groupon without having any real intention of actually honoring it?”

I received an irrelevant response and the the representative repeated what his manager instructed him to say behind closed doors.

Let me offer some small business advice. If you want to experiment with an online platform like Groupon to grow your business but it doesn’t workout because you priced the product wrong then fine, you write that off as a failed attempt to grow your business BUT you honor your contract with Groupon and the clients who already purchased the deal until they have all been claimed or expire.

This manager didn’t even have the guts to come and provide an explanation to my face. Instead he hid out of view and forced a kid working the front desk to do his so his dirty work because he probably knew this was a totally unacceptable and extremely poor business practice.

I am extremely sympathetic towards the real and current struggle COVID-19 is having on small businesses, but this bait and switch business tactic needs to be warned to every patron considering giving this auto shop business.

Complete Scam shop !!! One of worse customer experiences I had at any shop. Not only they practice bait and switch but the shop manager Jim Clark is total prejudice red neck. I should have been warned when I saw only one car there and no BUSINESS there! I am sorry I did not read the bad reviews (now removed by paying companies whom do that).
I Took my car (I am the original owner and had the car for FOUR years and have performed all services in accordance to the manufactures recommendation) to this shop for semi-syntactic oil change I had purchased through Groupon. I had made an appointment, in detail had explained to the shop manager Jim Clark, what kind of car it was and that I needed semi-syntactic oil Chang which he did object to. My drive there and back is short of 40 miles and one hour drive !!!!

About 10 minutes after I left the shop, Jim Clark called me to say that my car can ONLY use full-syntactic oil. I told him that I had changed oil for the past four years and the its in accordance with the Honda dealership. He said NO- the owner had said No and that only full-synthetic must be used. I called Honda dealership service dept and I got the name of the service consultant (Orlando- Rockville) and then went to the shop. I told jim Clark that I can sign a waiver so they do semi-s oil change for me- He said owner will not do that. Told Jim to call the owner and let me talk to him on the phone. He said NO, I make the decisions. I started to dial the Honda dealership service dep. again and told Jim Clark that we are going to do a conference call or I will put the Honda service manager on the speaker and we can ask him if my car qualifies for semi-syntactic oil change or not. Jim said NO and that he will not talk to them because it is not necessary !! He said, call Groupon and get your money back!

I told him, that I had come a long way and needed to complete the task so how much would it be to get full synthetic oil change and to get me out of here. He said pay $90 (I had paid $20 for semi-syntactic).
Now, I had no doubt that this was "absolutely a scam and a bait and switch" work to rip off a customer who has already taken the time to be there!!
Next, We calmly asked Jim if the 0-20 type oil they use states on the bottle any recommendation. Jim began to raise his voice very loudly , started to yell and scream at us in a threatening way for us to get the hell out of the shop because he will not do the oil change no matter what !! The fact that the shop was almost empty of customers with previous unfavorable feedback's should have set an alarm.

If Groupon continues to allow bad clients like Charles Automotive and Tire in Rockville MD for sake of a few bucks continue to do business through Gropon, that they are no better than this scammers.

RUN...........................RUN anywhere you see name of this shop, the shop manager Jim Clark and or the owner Garry Mandelson if he does not fire Jim immediately.

We took our car for oil change and Charles Automotive shop refused to change oil not unless we pay $90 !.
Charles Automotive shop refused to accept Group on oil change that was pre paid claiming that was oil change is not for our car oil type.
We contacted The car dealer to tell them they car use the type of oil for our car & Jim Clark refused to talk to dealership or providing service with group on coupon that we already paid for.
Jim Clark in addition threatened the customers and refused to show the oil type that this mechanic shop is using .
This oil change shop will not honor their own coupons sold with group on and the group on is just a front for stirring people into the shop then get more money in top of Groupon coupons that they have sold which is usually is invalidated by their standards .

I've only been using Charles Auto for the past year, but each time has been nothing but positive. The work is done quickly, the prices seem fair (after comparing a repair quote to the dealership, I can say this with some certainty!), and they seem to really value customer service. I recommend them to anyone looking for quality auto service.

Great service!

There was no delay with scheduling an appointment for the oil change. Once I got there, the service was fast .I was asked to pay extra for additional one quart and for filter change which unfortunately was not included in the groupon fine print. Overall, it was a quick service. Thanks.

First visit was great. Everyone was nice and welcoming. I was in and out. Thanks again

As always, the folks from Charles were pleasant and efficient. Their pricing is fair, their expertise is exceptional and I’d never take my cars anywhere else.

This was my first time visiting Charles Automotive & Tire. I loved the experience. Everyone was so nice and I got there before my 8AM oil change at 7:56AM and was greeted warmly and offered refreshments. And they took my car and started. They ended right on the hour just like what was told to me. Before leaving was given an estimate for other work I need done and they were very knowledgeable and accommodating. All and all was a great experience and warm welcome.

Great service, nice and polite staff

I always highly recommend this garage to my friends. The service is always professional and reliable with prices that are reasonable.

Thank hour for making our son’s Corolla safe to drive again. It gives us peace of mind.

They were efficient, honest, and didn't try to upsell me bc I'm a woman. They informed me of what I needed in terms of upcoming maintenance and treated me with respect.