Ripoff tire company

[cowabunga dude]

Last summer I got four tires put on, less than 10,000 miles on them. Right rear tire has slow leak. Took it to discount tire, not where I got the tires, didn't want to drive 100 miles to get flat fixed.

Man said he needed to do safety inspection. He checked tires, mileage, and came in telling me I need new tires and he can fix me right up. The price he quoted was lower than what I spent last summer, but I had to keep insisting, I don't need new tires, I just got these last summer. It seemed like he was about to put on new tires whether I wanted them or not. I didn't even want a price quote.

Finally he gave up.

It's crazy the way he was trying to push me to buy new tires when I don't need any and don't want any.

I know he's probably been trained that way, but I don't like it.

Money, money, money, that's all they care about. Customer service comes in fifth.

[Meanie]

Many many moons ago I worked for a muffler brake shock shop which I will withhold the name. This brake shop offered the "free" brake replacement when the original work was done by the franchise. Whenever a customer returned for brake replacements, we would inspect to confirm normal wear and tear then advise accordingly. My manager told me I had to tell customers they needed calipers or rotors or other misc parts, which was causing the brake wear, in order to continue honoring the "free" warranty. This also partook with other pats such as mufflers. A few of the other guys were also trained for this practice. Needless to say, I found other employment as soon as I could. I despise crooked people and businesses.

[Taxed and Spent]

sounds to me like you need new tires all around.

[cowabunga dude]

At least they didn't charge for fixing the flat. They watched me typing on the phone so that might have made them think I was giving a bad review.

He touched each tire with his thumb and forefinger just to satisfy himself that he checked, then showed me on a chart how worn out my tires are, and why I need new ones.

I have a problem with impulse buying and almost said go ahead, even though it was just last summer I got new tires. The word "new" is appealing. "NEW". Doesn't that work make you feel good?

Oh well, now I need to go out and flush the radiator and put in new coolant. It's been 108 degrees here and running the air conditioner makes the radiator boil over.

[Frank]

Midas used to do this to me many years ago. Are they still in business?

[FrozenNorth]

They are in Canada, one just up the road from here.

[Frank]

I've had problems like this. With AWD tires, you must replace with same size as others and last time I bought an extended warranty. Flat on a Sunday and shop was closed so I had repaired elsewhere. Tire company would not honor warranty so I paid and told the shop that sold them to me. They repaid me.

Nissan dealer years ago could not find slow leak under warranty but tire repair shop found a nail in the tire and repaired. Guy I knew that ran a dealers repair shop says they ignore the small stuff as there is not enough profit in it.

Other tire dealers would base warranty on depth of tread. If half the tread was gone, they paid half, even if everybody knows tread wears much faster when new and slows down later.

[Meanie]

We have a winner.

There are still several in my area, though this wasn't the area where it partook. Regardless, I never recommended them to anyone.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I don't trust any of the chain tire/repair/oil change operations. I'm sure some are honest and do first class work, but many are looking for the fast and easy buck. I've heard too many complaints over the years. Best to find a good local shop.

[Shade Tree Guy]

Midas?

[clare]

Back when I was working in the trade there was an add for a licenced automotive technician for a "management position". I answered the ad and went for an interview. The question that the interviewer kept coming back to was "can you sell?" I told him I had no problem explaining what was wrong with a customer's car and selling the required repairs. Again "Can you sell?" I then told the interviewer in no uncertain terms that I would NEVER work for a crook who ripped off every customer that came in the door. I told him I could make a lot more money seeing every customer the second and third time than by taking every cent they has the first time round. A few months later the shop was closed and the owner behind bars charged with numerous counts of fraud (both customers and suppliers, I later found out)

The chain tire stores used to be the worst. I had installed new ball joints and shocks on my '63 Valiant and cranked down the torsion bars and took it in to Firestone for their "alignment special". Back then I think it was $9.95. They told me they could not align the front end because the balljoints were "almost falling out" and it needed (at that time) several hundred dollars worth of work on the front end. I told the manager he better fire his mechanic if he couldn't recognize a set of brand new Moog ball-joints and I took the car elsewhere for the alignment. At the time the shop I worked for did not have an alignment machine.

[Meanie]

Agreed. I also prefer to give my money to the independent business man who relies on a honest days work than a chain with greedy CEO and corporate administrative personnel.

[Meanie]

It's not as much of a secret as I thought.

[Vic Smith]

I took my '66 F-100 to a Firestone to get 2 new tires and they had an alignment special going on, so I told them to do that too. When I paid for the work and picked it up a couple hours later, I ducked under it and saw they hadn't touched the tie rod ends - the nuts were still grungy. I went back inside and told the manager they hadn't done the alignment. He went to talk to the mechanic, came back and told me they didn't have the equipment to do the alignment on twin I-beam. Showed him my invoice where it said clear as day "Alignment $15.00." Of course he refunded the 15 bucks. That was the first and last time I was in a Firestone.

[Shade Tree Guy]

(snickering)

[Unquestionably Confused]

[snip]

Agreed, but there is a downside. Generally both the small, independent shop and the "biggies" like Midas, et al. will get the job done. Not infrequently, you can drive in to either without an appointment, get the work done and pay through the nose.

OTOH, I've been fortunate to find some truly good one and two man shops where an appointment is pretty much always necessary for anything other than an oil change (if you're lucky) and they are usually so backed up with work that getting an appointment will take you a couple days to a week. The job gets done very well and quite reasonably with no padding or screwing around. That's WHY you have to wait to get in the door.

Strangely, these places generally don't seem to spend a lot of money on advertising. Word of mouth seems to do them just fine.

[bob haller]

t rear tire has slow leak. Took it to discount tire, not where I got the ti res, didn't want to drive 100 miles to get flat fixed.

d came in telling me I need new tires and he can fix me right up. The price he quoted was lower than what I spent last summer, but I had to keep insis ting, I don't need new tires, I just got these last summer. It seemed like he was about to put on new tires whether I wanted them or not. I didn't eve n want a price quote.

need any and don't want any.

[bob haller]

midas was a pure ripoff here in pittsburgh. they sold me a nice new unnecessary cv joint.

i appealed and appealed, their customer support number must of been part of the ripoff.

one busy saturday morning i stopped at the store that ripped me off, demaneded a refund, they refused.

i told the waiting room full of customers they have their hand in your pocket andwill steal from you at every opportunity.

the store manager said i am calling the police to have you removed. i said i am leaving since i have now warned them.

within a week the investigative report on car repairs came out. midas and some others were the worst...... most midas closed and never reopened.

sears is just as bad. a friends on selles for sears. his car broke down, sears estimate was 1500 bucks...

i used my AAA card to have his vehicle towed to a indenpendent garage. they fixed his car for under a 100 bucks.

i quit using sears for car repairs...... one day a sears write up guy saw me, and said you dont come here. i first idnt want to explain it, the fellow was persistent.

so i told him its pretty bad when you try to rip off a fellow sears employee. i explained what had occured.. he said oh that explains it.... nothing more.....

[clare]

The least the idiots could have done is CHECKED the alignment. That doesn't take special equipment. If caster and camber were OK they could then have adjusted the toe - which also does not take special equipment.

I guess in a Firestone shop the "special equipment" they don't have extends to what belongs between their ears. Once a Twin I Beam suspension is properly aligned it takes a LOT of abuse to require re-aligning the beams. ( they need to be bent or twisted)

[Stormin Mormon]

I've talked to other folks. Same experience all around. Midas uses what I call three level pricing. The phone price, the estimate price, and the finish price. Each one doubles from there.

On the phone: Oh, sounds like $75. Estimate: It's going to be $150. Completed job: Needed more parts than we thought, that will be $300.