Alright. I normally don't do this as it takes quite a bit to get me going but, here it goes.

So, I needed new tires. I decide to order them, Falken 512's based on the recomendations of some people here. I ordered them from Discount Tires seeing as they have free shipping. They were shipped in less than 3 days too. Very good service.

So, today, I decide to get them installed. I pile them into my back seat and head on to work this morning. I live in Sonoma but, work in Novato. I used to be the Fleet Manager but, have since switched to the AP Manager. So, it is not unusual that I get fleet related phone calls. First on today was from our National Account rep for Big O tires. We talk for about 5 minutes and hang up. We've gotten good service from them in the past so I decide to take my car to Big O in Novato while on my lunch.

They take my car and get started. I told the service writer that I had a set of valve stems in the car and to please use those. They sent them free with the tires. Now, I'm the type of person that service techs either love or hate. See, I'm the type of person that likes to watch their car get worked on. Tire changes are one of the very few procedures that I actually have to pay someone to do. I like to do pretty much everything myself.

So, everything is working good when I turn around and hear some hammering. I turn back around and I see the tech hammering weights on my Rota Tarmacs. Now, these aren't expensive wheels but, any moron know's that a powder coated wheel don't use those type of weights. Also, I had stick on weights from before so why not use them again. I run up to the guy and start yelling, "hey, hey, what are you doing?" this is when mister store manager runs up to me and starts to yell at me not to talk to his employees like that. I try to explain to him that you're not supposed to put those types of weights on those type of wheels. He proceeds to tell me that I shouldn't tell him his business and that his people are professionals and they know what they are doing.

I tell him that, you aren't supposed to do that. He goes off on my telling me to not to "f'n" tell him how to run his business. This is where I loose it. I told myself that this isn't worth it and walk outside. Mister manager then tells me that if I knew anything about cars that I should know that those wheels were designed to take those weights. I was trying to tell him that I didn't care and that if his people were as professional as he made them out to be, they should have asked me what kind of wheel weights I wanted.

Anyway, to make a short story even longer, I tell him that this is no way to treat a customer. Let alone one who used to be in charge of 500+ vans nationwide and one who set up a national account with his bosses bosses. I work for a nationwide medical oxygen company and we have vans all over the US.

So, I let them finish the car. I pay for the service, get inside and notice that the valvestems are still in the car right where I told them they were. Great.

So, I head back to work and give our friendly account rep a call and tell him all about the incident. Now, we typicall spend around $25-30k in tires a year and I made it clear that this isn't how I'd want our people to be treated. He assured me that he would take care of the situation. If they don't, trust me, the account is history.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. I still want to throw a brick through his window but, my maturity got the better of me.

Bill

 

wow i hope u get free tires or something, my friend got hit by a le schwab tire truck and sued them he got free tires and service for life now lucky bastard

 

I don't care about free tires, I just don't think that the manager has any business to talk to me the way he did. I don't want to post names, I just wanted to share my experience. If I was a few years younger, he probably would be in the hospital right now.

When I bought tires last time, they were bending over backwords for me up at the Americas Tire CO in Santa Rosa.

You never tell your customers to "F-in" mind their own business. Period. Like I said, it takes a lot to get me mad the way that this guy did. I'm surprised that the place is still in business with that kind of customer service.

 

Costco is where I always buy my tires from. You can't beat $7 mounting w/ lifetime rotation and balancing.

 

Costco will only work on wheels and tires that are recommended for their car in their "magic book" i heard, meaning aftermarket wheels and tires are a no go... is this true?

 

yes costco will only deal with recommended sizes from the manufacturer



and big O sucks everywhere. they can never do anything right. they mounted one of my falken azenis on backwards. idiots

 

I went to Big O to get a flat fixed. Then I left for almost a couple hours only to come back to them telling me, "Uh..yea...we can't fix your tire. The sidewall is messed up." Thanks for wasting my time Big O. Coulda told me that BEFORE I walked off.

 

Costco has mounted multiple sets of tires and wheels for us here in Sac that were not the "reccomended size" by Subaru . Maybe the book tells them the max the car can take? Although that can't be true either because they mounted 225/45/17 RE070s on a 97 OB.

Anyways, that manager is at Big-O is a jack ***. I usually go with Americas Tire and when I was there last for a balance I said "and you guys use tape weights for those wheels right?" and they looked at me like I was crazy and said "of course, they're powder coated, hammering weights on would ruin the finish". Love those guys.

 

When I had my Impreza 2.5RS, they mounted 215/45/17 on non-factory rims. I think it depends on which Costco you go to. The one up in Santa Rosa never hassled me, in fact, after they installed my new rims and tires, he told me to come back after 50 miles so he can re-torque the lugs. Last time I was in to check prices, the guy working there even recommended tires to me.

 

True, and they won't even mount the tires for you now if you don't buy it from them since about 2 months ago.
At least the one in Folsom is doing that.

 

If you had powder coated after market wheels, they definitely should have used stick on weights. As for the manager cursing at you, that's already unprofessional. If it was me I would have taken my business elsewhere. You shouldn't even have to pay for the type of service you got.

 

Dude, they performed the service. It's only fair that I paid them for it.

As for the manager, I plan on contacting his higher ups on the matter and letting them know about it. I'm sure that Big-O Corporate is going to love to hear about how he treats his clients. Plus, I've posted this matter on a couple of other local forums so I'm sure that it'll get plenty of exposure.

 

Rotas are painted, in the traditional sense...

This i'm pretty sure of.
Either way, we always suggest stick on weights.

-Gagan

 

Not to throw more fuel on the fire but, I finally had a chance to really look at my wheels after all of this. I go to work when it's dark and come home when it's dark so this was the first time I actually had time to really examine them. I had my car in the garage this evening and looked at the wheels. I noticed that three of them had some nice scrap marks on the outer lip from the mounting machine plus the gouge from the hammer on weights. Great.

Anyway. I'm just glad this didn't happen to the set of BBS RX's that I plan on buying. This is now going to be my dedicated winter set of wheels.

Bill

 

+1 for America's Tire Co. It's funny how one of my co-workers always says "come to ATC where everything is free" since we give out free valves, roto rebalances, and flat repairs. Also w/ clip weights, there will always be a slight gouge in the wheel because the weights need to be that tight or they have a tendency to fly off (considering how many revolutions/sec are your wheels spinning at freeway speeds?). I dunno about big-O but at ATC, you just tell them any specific instructions and we'll do the best we can to meet those.

Also, atleast my manager does, i dunno about others. If someone ever screws up some decent wheels, he takes it upon himself to refinish the wheel.