Hey all, another winter day for most of you so I’m here with a silly thread to keep you entertained.
Here it is, laid out as simply as I know how:
-Purchase all 4 corners from DTC. First get quote on phone from sales rep. Good deal for all 4 corners. Kuhmo Ecsta’s, 550 out the door for all 4 corners. Plus $50 mail in rebate and 4 free passes to local CA mt to SKI. Whatever. Sure.
-1 week ago today (Monday) I go there and have them mounted up on lunch. Flawless process, great service. Good dudes. Drive off super happy with new rubber.
-Flash forward to Friday. Take the girl out for an early V-day dinner. Get home. Wake up Saturday AM to flat. Turns out to be some sort of blade road debris.
-Call up local DTC Saturday and they tell me bring it in. Maybe patchable. I ask if they have a spare tire just in case, they say the do on the phone. Moot point, really.
-I get there Saturday, just to have them tell me that it is not patchable and they would have to get a new tire from the warehouse. Also, its going to cost me for the new tire. WHAT. Come back Monday.
This is where I am pissed off. It’s Monday AM and I plan to pick up the new tire mounted on my rim on lunch. No biggie. But, I’m pissed that I have to pay. No one made mention once of any sort of additional fee for road hazard insurance on the sales call originally, or even at the location when I had them mounted. Not once. I am a reasonable, professional adult (sometimes) and I am not lying about this. It was never once mentioned.
I want them to replace the tire for free and I have a call in to the corporate office. Psch, not holding my breath on a call back.
The local store got it down to $115 after tax after a previous call this morning. It’s not about the money, but the principle.
maybe they didn’t offer insurance because its not an option? I sell tires, mount and balance them, and install them, im a small business not a major chain, so if some one drives through a construction site and gets a nail in the sidewall or really close to it I would not be giving them a new tire for free. its not a manufacturer defect or installation error, its just bad luck. sorry man
I did some digging and they have road hazard as an available option but it was never once mentioned to me.
It’s the principle. They should have mentioned it. I believe in insurance. I would have bought it at $20 a tire for just this reason. I do not buy tires often so I had no idea. My initial understanding in talking with the shop is that it would be included, but they backtracked once I brought it in and the deemed in non-patchable.
I know it’s my fault for not clarifying 100% prior to the sale, but now they seem a little snake-oily to me.
It’s $115. I don’t really care about the money. Like I said, it’s the principle.
so the cost to you is $115 instead of $80 (assuming you pay $20x4 for road hazard coverage). It’s an extra $35 out of your pocket, which sucks, but that isn’t the end of the world.
I always decline insurance stuff. I’ve had some sets of tires go an entire lifetime without needing the road hazard coverage. Might as well just light $80 on fire. I honestly prefer to take the gamble.
Just think, if 2 sets of tires cost you $160 to get road hazard coverage on, is that really worth it if you have 1 out 8 tires purchased get taken out by road debris? And the longer you drive on those tires, the less coverage you get, due to wear. So the coverage is really only worth anything for ~20k miles, cause after that you’re not gonna get much out of them for a tire.
Makes sense. In all the tires I’ve ever purchased, even when they were for my business, I really only had one or two instances where I needed a flat repair. Never anything that would total the whole tire. I’ve been asked / solicited for road hazard coverage but figured like most “warranties” they’re not worth the paper they’re printed on. As for why they never offered it to you, perhaps they simply forgot, or got tired of hearing people turn them down. Either way, I don’t think there’s any reason to hold them responsible for the bad luck.
I may be bitter about this tire, but at least I feel good about my reading comprehension. The failure was my fault/my bad luck… no defect.
They were cool about it. I essentially bought the tire… but in actuality they allowed me to purchase road hazard post mortem for the same price as the one tire. So now until the end of the life of these tires I have road hazard insurance attached to them. Makes me feel just a bit better.
Would I have bought it if they offered it? Probably not… but with my recent string of bad luck I’ve seen much more of a need for insurance everywhere… so who knows lol. Hindsight is a bitch, and they should have mentioned it. That’s the only reason I was ticked. No wait… I was ticked because I shredded a 40 mile tire. Fuck.
Not a bad outcome. Otherwise I was going to say buy road hazard on the one tire and no matter which one you have an incident with next, make sure it ends up on that corner :snky:
LOL @ “free road hazard”. I’ll give them some credit for using out the door pricing but all that means is everyone is paying for road hazard, whether they want it or not.
I never get the road hazard. If it’s minor I’ll plug it myself and if it’s major I’m fine just paying for the replacement. Looking at all the tires I’ve bought since I was 16 I’m WAY ahead.
I bought tires there for the last 2 cars I owned. Price was almost identical to what it would have cost me to buy from tire rack and have them mounted. It is pretty much free.
you are correct, but there is also a factor there for improved customer retention or keeping a slightly higher customer satisfaction rating. There is also a factor for where you drive. back in the day I worked at goodyear at utica and main in the hood and I would see the same cars in several times through the course of a few years for flat repairs. living in the hood or city you tend to run over more shit then most of NY speed living in the burbs. When I worked there I really thought road hazzard was only $11 a tire but that was over 10 years ago now.
