Unfortunately for us, we have been to Discount Tire several times. We have bought at least $1600 worth of tires at this store, $1150 in the past 18 months (we spent another $555 on tires at a different shop last year – not Discount Tire, for our daughter’s car.)
Of course, I immediately called the store, and they were incredulous – they didn’t believe me. I drove back there, less than a mile away, and the store manager carefully inspected my tires.
“I don’t even know what to say,” he told me, shaking his head. “We’re going to take care of this right now.”
Fast forward to a week ago. My wife took the car to the dealer where we bought it for servicing (it’s her car), and during the course of the work, they discovered that one of the tires had a nail in it. They informed us that it was positioned such that it could not be fixed. The tire wasn’t flat, so we told them not to do anything about it. We made an appointment with Discount Tire, where we had bought the set new with a warranty, and we took the car in.
We left the car, as they were quite busy. An hour later, they called and said it was fixed and ready.
“We patched the tire,” said the technician.
“We were told by the mechanic at the dealer that it could not be fixed,” my wife said.
“I don’t know about that,” said the man, “but we patched it and you’re good to go.”
I was highly skeptical. It seemed obvious that one of those mechanics was lying to us, and I could not be sure who it was. It didn’t cost us anything; it appeared to be fixed, so I didn’t push the issue.
A week later, my wife tells me the low tire warning light came on during her drive to work that morning. Suddenly, it was obvious which tire guy was lying to us. The next morning, we switched cars, and I drove to Discount Tire to have it checked out. I figured with no appointment it would take longer, but I wanted to know what was going on.
“You’re 4th in line,” said the man when I checked in. “It shouldn’t be too long. If you hang out in your car, we’ll send you a text when we’re ready for you.”
An hour later, a different man approached and started checking the tires.
“Your right rear is low,” he said. “We’ll send you a text when we’re ready for you.”
Now I was really suspicious and wary. I sat there watching cars enter and leave, and as I watched, 10 cars that came in after me had their cars taken in for service, and then they drove away. Some of them likely had appointments, but I had been told when I arrived that I was 4th in line. I knew for certain that at least four cars that arrived after I did and were among those who received service were walk-ins, like me, as I heard the drivers explain their situations to the same man who looked at my car.
After two hours and still no service or contact with the store people, I left. I figured that any minute, they would text me that I was next, I would turn around and have this tire problem solved. Nope, it didn’t happen. You would think they would be curious as to why I left. An honest service company conducting honest, legitimate business would have realized that I was no longer waiting, and called to assure me that they were willing to take care of my tire. Then it occurred to me that they knew why I left. They were counting on me leaving – they didn’t want to replace the tire.
It is obvious that the Discount Tire people at this store, and possibly the entire chain, do not want to honor the warranty that customers paid for. They are lying and deflecting, hoping we will become tired of the problem and just buy a new tire. The right thing for them to do is to replace the damaged tire – we paid for a warranty to take care of things like this. Clearly, they are dishonest, totally incompetent, and they aren’t interested in honoring their warranties and properly taking care of customers. They didn’t contact me because they hoped I would just go away.
We made a new appointment for a few days later because I still need to know if that tire is safe for my wife to drive on. Again, they told us the right rear was low, but they could fix it (another red flag – they told us it was fixed a week ago). They also informed us that the tire sensors were bad, and they would be happy to replace them for $285 (uh, red flag again). I told them to fix the damn tire and leave the sensors alone. I don’t trust these people, and it’s highly suspicious that suddenly, the sensors are bad. I should reiterate that a few days before our first Discount Tire disaster visit, the dealer that my wife took the car to, inspected the tires and told us that one was bad. They said nothing about the sensors.
Fifteen minutes into the latest work, the guy comes back out and says, okay well, the tire is bad and can’t be repaired. This is the same tire they told us a week ago only needed to be patched. Lie much? I have no clue what made them suddenly decide to own up to the lie.
“So, you’re going to honor the warranty and replace the tire?”
“Yes. But If you want this tire covered under the warranty, you’ll have to pay $22 to add it in.”
How wonderful.
Any service business will occasionally have unhappy customers. We have been long time customers of Discount Tire, but a company that handles these kinds of situations dishonestly, ignores the customer, and lies repeatedly does not deserve our continued business. I’m not Austin Cindric and Discount Tire isn’t sponsoring my car. Because of their dishonesty and incompetence, we sever our ‘relationship’ with them. We will find another store the next time we need a pit stop for tires.
If you need new tires, don’t bother with Discount Tire. They finish last.
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Larry Manch is an author, teacher, guitar player, freelance writer, and columnist. He has written 24 books; available in paperback and e-book on Amazon.com.
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