I've taken my vehicles to Ted Wiens Tire and Auto Center at 1201 S. Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146, for auto service, auto repair, tire repair, oil changes, tune ups, and other work for almost 14 years, but over the last 2 years or so, the level of service and quality of work have gone down while the prices and over charges seem to have gone up. We used to feel that they were honest and competent, but now we feel we are being jerked around and over charged. My wife especially feels that they talk down to her and take advantage of her because she is a woman.

In our most recent experience (Feb-July, 2008), we took the truck to Ted Wiens because it suddenly started running poorly (as if on 3 of 4 cylinders). They replaced the battery, air filter, spark plugs, did a tune up, replaced two fuel injectors, and other stuff, then called to say it was fixed and ready to pick up. After paying $1200, they announced that in fact, the truck was not fixed, and we should come back later. When we returned they had replaced the coil and some ignition parts, and wanted another $400.

The truck still ran badly (especially at idle), plus we smelled gas in the cab of the truck, so we took it back saying that they had not fixed the original problem, plus the fuel smell was new. They worked on it again, replacing the other two fuel injectors ("oh yeah, we found a broken gasket this time"), and charged us another $750.

The truck ran better, but not well, and the smell of raw fuel was not only evident when we were starting up the truck, but faintly all the time. Thus, the charges for the battery, air filter, spark plugs, and tune up were unnecessary over charges because they did not affect the root cause of the problem.

I had to take the truck to work out of state, and the fuel smell got so bad that I took it to another repair center. They found that one of the "new" fuel injectors had been installed improperly and gas was leaking out around it, a bolt on the fuel manifold was broken and gas was leaking from there too, plus a cover was missing from the throttle housing. They repaired the truck for another $630. The truck now runs almost like new and the smell of gas is gone. The out-of-state shop recommended other work, plus recommended that I get Ted Wiens to cover the cost of their work because it should have been unnecessary.

When I got home, I met the "store" manager at Ted Wiens about covering the costs. I thought that Ted Wiens should repay the $750 charge to fix their first effort, plus repay the $630 for the work done out-of-state. Their response was that they do good work and are not responsible for the extra charges.

Needless to say, we will never go back to Ted Wiens again, and we recommend that our friends and colleagues here in Las Vegas stay away too.