I used to work for VIP Auto and by far it was one of the worst jobs I ever had in management. The company only focuses on taking as much money out of your wallet by making their employees sell you these *** gimmick maintenance services that is as much or more than the dealerships charge. The chain of management is horrible and they treat their employees like complete crap. Steer clear of these ***, they are notorious for not standing behind their "lifetime" warranty on labor and use numerous scam ads for tire sales. Don't say you weren't warned...don't give these guys a dime of your money.

In October of 2008, I bought a set of tires at VIP Auto Parts in Mexico, Maine guaranteed for 50, 000 miles. By November of 2009, the tires were bald, and the steel belts were showing on one of them, even though I'd only put 22, 000 miles on them. I took them back to VIP, and had to argue for over 30 minutes with several people, including the manager, to convince them that the tires did not perform as they were supposed to and I should receive a proportional discount on a future set of tires. They tried to make all sorts of excuses that I had not maintained the tires properly, for example, did not have the wheels aligned frequently enough, causing the tires to wear prematurely. But because the tires were evenly bald, and I did not give up, they were forced to admit that the tires did not perform as they were supposed to and they agreed to give me 60% of their value or $143 off another set of tires. I had brought snow tires with me for them to install on the rims. They did so, I paid the recycling fee, they kept the bald tires, and I drove away thinking that all was fair.

A few weeks ago, I went over to cash in my $143 discount on a new set of tires. The same man who primarily worked with me last fall when the problem with the tires was resolved waited on me. He first told me that the tires I wanted, which they had to get from their warehouse because they were not in the store, did not qualify for this discount. After telling him that this was ridiculous, he went into the back to talk to the manager for about 10 minutes. He returned, and informed me that in order to qualify for this $143 discount, I would have to get a series of other services performed on my car, which would total more than $143. I pointed this out, and said that this was ridiculous, and that I would not do this. In trying to further explain these services, he mentioned something about taking the tires off the car and keeping them to send back to the manufacturer. I reminded him that VIP kept the tires last Fall when I had the snow tires installed and they agreed to the $143 discount. He said, “Well, we don't have your old tires to return to the manufacturer, so you can't have the discount.” I said, ” That's your fault, not mine. You kept the tires last Fall, and you should have held onto them. When you gave me the discount, you knew that you would have to return them to the manufacturer to be reimbursed, but you got rid of them.” He said, “Sorry, you can't have the discount.” I was so angry, so infuriated, that I knew if I opened my mouth, I would say if not do something that I would regret later. I left immediately, without saying another word, confident that this would not be the end of the story.

Every time I have gone into a VIP in the past with one thing to have fixed on my car, I'm told about 15 other things that they have found which must be fixed immediately to avoid certain catastrophe. This has happened at the Mexico VIP, and at other locations as well. But this incident is the straw that has broken this camel's back. If anyone has a similar story where they feel they were scammed at VIP, I strongly encourage you to tell others. It is the only way that they can be forced to change their underhanded, deceitfulbusiness practices . I encourage everyone to avoid VIP Auto in Mexico because of the high probability that you could get scammed as well. Please tell your friends and family members.Business practices such as these do not deserve to be rewarded with more business.

I called VIP in Londonderry early this morning to see if they had 5W40 synthetic motor oil that was acceptable to use in my 2007 Audi A4 Quatro. The person I talked with supposedly checked and told me that yes they did. I went in later in the morning only to find out that NO, they did not have the oil I needed. Two employees looked thru the oil and one said that I could use 5W40 for Diesel (mind you, my car is not a diesel...) I didn't trust this advise so called the dealer and they said NEVER to use a deisel oil. I wonder what would have happened had I gone there for an oil change? Would I have ended up with oil in my car that was not recommended for my car?

When I told them what Audi had said, the skinny guy with the earring didn't even seem to care.

No wonder there is hardly ever anyone in the store! Even with no one else there, it took a while to get anyone's attention to even help. Needless to say, I'll never return to VIP.

I made an appointment to purchase four studded winter tires and to have them studded, mounted and balanced. The work was performed on December 9, 2007. When the work was finished the paperwork was completed and I wrote a check from an Equity Line of Credit.

This Equity Line is hardly used and has a minimum balance on it and we do not write checks against this line of credit very often. The check was 'called in' to a company called CERTEGY. Certegy refused the check because the check met one of their 'risk models'. I explained that I own my home outright and that I had an ample balance on my equity credit line! I was forced to use a credit card at the time of sale, thus paying interest (equity interest is a deduction with zero percent interest). I will admit that I became extremely angry at the situation BUT will never step foot in VIP again. I called CERTEGY when I came home and they stood by their decision.

Derek is the service manager there. I REALLY REALLY have no idea what-so-ever how he became a manager of any store. The level of service I got from him today was the worst I've gotten from ANYONE before - cashier, grocery bagger, waiter/waitress, etc. I've never been mistreated that way before.

Lou that works there teamed up with Derek to scorn me in front of many customers about a coupon that I wanted them to honor. I called on Aug 4, 2008 to verify the validity of a state inspection coupon I got from the VIP website. I really should have gotten the name of the guy I spoke with. I even asked one of the employees when dropping my car off this morning and he said it is valid. He said that when he was standing right next to Derek the service manager (Derek heard him say that).

NOWHERE on the coupon did it even IMPLY that the coupon expired July 31, 2008. It has a PICTURE of an inspection sticker that says "7". Not even a single word that comes close to "expiration". YOU be the judge and please tell me honestly if you think this coupon should have been honored - http://www.vipauto.com/ppc/nh-insp/nh_inspection.pdf. I tried telling them that a coupon is similar to a contract. And they cannot just assume that a customer should know the expiration date of the coupon by looking at a picture of an inspection sticker on the coupon. That it needs to state clearly in writing the exact date the coupon expires on. I asked them "so does it mean if they had decided to put a picture of a honda on there, it implies that the coupon is valid only for hondas?" Derek just replied with a scoff then said "what part of coupon not accepted do you not understand? If you don't like that then I will cancel your appointments and you can leave". That's when I just gave up and agreed to pay for the inspections, but I asked the manager to just write a simple "customer had coupon but not accepted due to July expiration" so I won't have a hard time trying to prove to the corporate that I tried to use the coupon. At that point, Derek just walked away from me and Lou took me to a different section of the counter to say "I am not sure what your level of English is, but Derek tried to communicate with you and apparently that's not happening. Derek is not going to honor the damn (no, I did not add this word in) coupon so you can either pay for the inspection or get it done somewhere else if you don't like it". I ALREADY TOLD THEM I will pay for the inspections but I wanted them to just write a simple statement about the FACT that they wouldn't accept the "expired" coupon. What they say to me, they should be able to write in writing. So when I heard that, I just walked out of the store, lost half of the Saturday that I was suppose to be working on (I had 8am, 11am, 1pm appointments for 3 inspections, brake flush and brake rotor resurfacing).

Derek/Lou has absolutely not even the most basic ethical/legal knowledge of how to manage a business. Not only had they broken the business ethics and moral, they've gone low enough to even violate the basic social manners. I will NEVER EVER go close to that VIP again. I will discourage EVERYONE I CAN to not deal with that VIP store. I will write to and call the corporate offices, and if they can somehow remedy this situation, then I will continue using the other VIP stores but never the one in Londonderry, NH (near market basket).