Discount Tire Update

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

Hello, forum members and lurkers such as myself. I find it necessary to post a complaint about the Discount Tire at 1990 S. Federal. I have throughout the last 25 plus years, purchased literally dozens of sets of tires and perhaps a dozen or more individual tires from this specific branch and have found them to be the best value and convenience for my needs, but as of today I will no longer be purchasing from this branch.
Friday afternoon 8/14/09 I found a horseshoe nail also known as a cut nail in the sidewall of my OEM bridgestone Potenza on the 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3. The TPMS let me know my pressure was low within about 100 feet of my departure from work. I pulled over, found the culprit, and changed to the donut spare. I drove to the above mentioned Discount Tire (as I try to be loyal) and got some quotes and suggestions regarding brands and models. I also confirmed that the tire could not be repaired (sidewall puncture).
I researched the internet Friday and Saturday and determined to buy the 225/45-18 Goodyear Eagle GT. I went to the above mentioned branch that afternoon and placed an order for the tires not expecting to see them until towards the end of the week. I got a call Monday 8/17/09 that the tires were available

and after work went to their location to have them installed.
They were extraordinarily backed up that afternoon but were willing to work after hours to install my tires. This is the kind of customer service I have come to appreciate from them, and one of the reasons I have returned so many times. I requested at this time that they ignore the computer recommended air pressures of 32#s front and rear, and instead to put 40#s front, 36#s rear. I drove to Evergreen that night noticing that the TPMS idiot light went out after a few miles. I assumed that there was a link-up error at first, that I would check later, but the light went out "all was well".
Tuesday morning, when I left for work, again my TPMS warning light/alarm went off. I checked my pressures and found 22#s both front tires and 26 and 28#s rear, left and right. I assumed that the beads were leaking or the valve cores had not been installed properly and drove back to the store (3 miles from my house) to have them checked. Seems they didn't change the TPMS gaskets (as recommended by the computer) possibly to get me into the price range $750 ish that I had asked for at the time of purchase. I now was asked to pay an additional $24 plus tax (which I thought sucked) to fix TPMS stems (that didn't leak before the tire change) and had to miss an hour of work while they corrected this problem. I again requested that the front pressure be set at 40#s the rear at 36#s.
Upon leaving work today, I noticed that the front left tire looked much less inflated than the rear. When I got home I checked the pressure of the tires and found that the fronts were both inflated to 34#s, (that's not 40) and the rears

55# left and 36#s right. I drove back to the store walked in and told them "At this point, I'm Pissed." I asked the assistant manager to come check the pressure in my tires. He asked if they were low again. I said not exactly. He checked the tires with his cheapo gauge, which read about 5 to 6#s higher than mine, indicating 62#s in the left rear tire and mentioned that it might be the tire temp that caused it. The tire was no more than body-temp warm and I told him that I didn't want to hear any Bullshit excuses. Instead of apologizing at this time he defended himself and his workers saying that the computer pressure filler had put in the air and that he oversaw the tech's that morning and that all tires had been checked carefully. He then went on to mention how altitude affected pressure and that the guages we were using could have a great deal of variance and on and on. All of which is irrelevant to the problem at hand risky overinflation and inconsistency and incompetence all around. I left after having watched him put air in the tires as dispensed by the computer controlled inflater but reading low by my mediocre but consistent gauge. I will not be back to this location.. What says the Hive Mind?

Stealth01 · Postby **Stealth01** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

That's a shame. I've had nothing but excellent luck with the Discount Tire down here, but that could change with the change of a manager, virtually overnight.

Out of curiosity, why did you want that much pressure in your tires?

bmwzoom · Postby **bmwzoom** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

That sucks that you got such bad service... sorry to hear about that. I always take my car to Dave at ColoradoLand Tire in Littleton. It is super close to SouthWest Plaza Mall, so if you are ever in that area, I highly recommend those guys. They all know me by name because I am there so much! Anyway, I hope you enjoy those GT's, I hear nothing but amazing things about them!

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

Thanks Stealth, I assume you are referring to the 40 and 36#'s and not the 55+#s. I have found, with the Potenzas, that this pressure gave me the best handling and good tire wear, but I am certainly open to suggestions on the new set, as they are completely different. What would you recommend?

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

Thank you Miss Moderator, (assuming you to be a lady), I haven't written off all the Discount tires, just this branch. But they certainly are on probation. Do you burn through tires that frequently or are you just a road debri magnet and need many repairs. Most tire monkeys are likely to remember 22 Y.O. ladies names, too.

Stealth01 · Postby **Stealth01** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

I'm running the Eagle GTs and so far I love them. But I am running them at the recommended PSI, and haven't tried them at a higher one.

What I've noticed is that they aren't as good on dry pavement as my old Exclaim UHPs, but are really close. And when there's water on the ground -- they're far superior.

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

Stealth, by recommended would that be 32 front and rear? Has your mpg changed, or do you keep a close enough watch to compare? Whats the weight bias front/rear on an MS6?, and what size did you install? I opted for the 225/45 instead of the 225/40 as the diameter was closer and larger, not smaller, than OEM.

bmwzoom · Postby **bmwzoom** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

WINGSPD wrote:Thank you Miss Moderator, (assuming you to be a lady), I haven't written off all the Discount tires, just this branch. But they certainly are on probation. Do you burn through tires that frequently or are you just a road debri magnet and need many repairs. Most tire monkeys are likely to remember 22 Y.O. ladies names, too.

Hahaha

Yes, I am a lady... And I get everything done I possibly can at Dave's shop anything from installation of an end link to purchasing tires. Dave & his crew are the only ones I trust to work on my car. And they know my name because I watch them work on the car while I BS with them to make their day happier! Anyone who meets me or who has met me understands this about me. Thats why you need to come to a meet soon! :cool:

Stealth01 · Postby **Stealth01** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

The dealership did the filling, so the tires are probably at whatever's marked on the door rather than what's on the tires. I haven't checked it yet because they're still new.

Mileage hasn't changed much, if at all. And I have 225/40 R18s.

dommo_g · Postby **dommo_g** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

25 years of good service, and one bad incident makes you come out of hiding on the internet to bad mouth them? Seems unfair to me. What about all the dozens and dozens of tires that came with presumably good service? Sometimes mistakes are made. People who are in a position to correct the mistakes may or may not have the personality or training it takes to use the correct wording, tone or attitude to diffuse the feelings a customer might be having after being the target of the mistake. Lots of people will get defensive instead of admitting a mistake when confronted, especially if a customer comes in with the typical "hey buddy, you and your employees screwed me over" attitude. This isn't right for someone dealing with a customer, but it's a natural personality trait, just as it's natural for someone in your position to be disappointed with bad service and want to take it out on the person who happens to be the face of the company.

I say it seems you've had a 99% success rate with that store, why let this one incident ruin such a long and mutually beneficial relationship? Forgive and forget, and hope they learn from it.

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:14

Dommo, what would be unfair would be to not mention the 25 years of good service and to not mention why I had been back so many times. Not having replaced the TPMS gaskets as the computer suggested, and as had been discussed during pricing, but deleted from the service (not at my request) and not checking for leaks that would cause the tires to lose air over night would have been shoddy service. Charging me to fix their poor judgement the next morning, and still screwing up the job that morning by not checking the air pressure carefully is incompetence and/or apathy at best. Lying about the oversight and making excuses when the customer voices his displeasure is grounds for "coming out of hiding" and "badmouthing the company" "taking it out" on "the person who happens to be the face of the company" (the same assistant manager who had handled the whole ordeal), in my not-so-humble opinion. Guess we both are glad I didn't get a used set from your dealership. Courtesy Mazda

AIM WO4 · Postby **AIM WO4** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:14

I'd say after your 25 years of great service, you may want to just go over there and have a constructive talk. If you feel that you are making no headway, ask to speak to the next person up the chain. Put yourself in the shoes of the preson that owns that business. What would you want a dissatisfied customer of 25 years to do?

It's easy to let something (like a bad call in a game) upset you in the moment.

chickenwafer · Postby **chickenwafer** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:14

At least you didn't have my experience with a Discount Tire in Phoenix. When I got my Gram Lights I had them remove the tires off my old rims and mount them on my new Grams. This also included swapping over the TPMS sensors.

I should have known not to go here there as there were a few bad omens: First was when I was waiting in line to make the appointment one of the techs drove a car that was ready up to the front and two of the lug cover center caps (big chrome wheels that had a big center cap that covered the lug nuts too) came flying off and almost went rolling into the street! The customer was flipping out.

Second was I walked out and TOLD them multiple times how to work my doors. The tech still fucked with it and I was seriously worried he would break it. I also told them you need to push down on the shifter to put it in reverse...and apparently no one told my stupid ass tech as he grinded a good 2 or 4 times trying to go into reverse.

Third bad omen was once my car was pulled into the bay, I had a bag on the passenger floor with the new lug nuts and my RAYS center cap in them. Two techs proceeded to play catch with my bag of $125 center caps, tossing them back and fourth to each before dropping them on the ground. I went storming into the bay and told them if those things have so much of a scratch on them they were buying me new ones, and then the manager tried kicking me out of the bay and to wait in the room....I told them to stop acting like kids or I was taking my car elsewhere (I should have...)

Well the dumbass who did it forget to install the TPMS gaskets. The kicker is I had the wheels mounted the day before I was to drive 400 miles to Irvine, California for SevenStock X (annual rotary mega-event in SoCal). So I wake up at 4am for the drive and two of the tires are completely flat! I mean 0 psi. The other two are at 10psi. So it's 4am and I have my hotel booked in Irvine, so I had to arrange for a ride to California. Luckily lots of other peoples were going so I was able to easily hitch a ride.

So I had go back to the Discount when I get back with the two low tires, they redo the TPMS valves. I was then driving and one of the other tires goes out and looses pressure. Luckily I was only going about 10mph in neighborhood. I took that wheel back as well after borrowing a spare (RX-8 doesn't come with a spare).

The fourth blew on an off-ramp and almost damaged my rim. In hindsight I should have them fix ALL the TPMS gaskets at once, but the others held pressure well for a few weeks.

So I never went back to that Discount Tire, which was literally 1 miles from my house in Phoenix, and instead I drove 6 miles to another Discount that was stellar. I had them mount tires on my Grams later and they didn't nick/damage them at all, mounted the tires without issues, etc. People there seemed nicer too.

Tire places can be hit or miss unfortunetely. I've seen lots of bad places that mess up rims, mount tires incorrectly, installs TPMS/valve stems wrong, etc etc.

tsx_guy · Postby **tsx_guy** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:14

a lot of it too depends on the peeps... it seems as soon as I establish a good rapport with a manager, they are transferred to another shop no where near my neighborhood.

WINGSPD · Postby **WINGSPD** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:14

Well, A senior assistant manager from Discount Tire called me to speak to me about the recent problems with the tire install-TPMS-overinflation fiasco from my prevoius thread "Discount Tire Incompetence". INstead of return his phone call, I thought it better form to go speak to him directly. I went to the store this morning, found him, and introduced myself. I explained that I was there to discuss the customer satisfaction survey that I had sent to the company, and the incidents leading to the poor rating. He was polite, apologetic, and understood my comments and disatisfaction regarding the incidents. He made comments to the effect of how they did not want to lose my business and how they were going to try to make it right for me. I told him I did'nt want him to give me anything and he stated that he understood I was not there to get anything from him but that he wanted to make it right. I told him that all I expected was an apology and to get the original problem corrected and not the B.S. excuses. I then informed him before he made me any offer to "make things right" that he should know that I placed a bad review on a website that he should read first. (Full disclosure so as to allow him to reconsider offering me anything if he thought I had unfairly besmirched them) I gave him a copy of the original complaint I made to the forum here. He read the copy that I gave him, and I asked him if it seemed fair. He confirmed my expectations and then offered me a considerable consolation for my troubles. I told him that I wasn't there for a gift, but that I would like to apply the money towards any future purchases from his store, to assure that his offer would go towards a future relationship. He seemed to understand this gesture and graciously let me take it as that. I must say that he did an excellent job of handling this problem; and that I couldn't have imagined any more desireable and professional response. I did try to make it easy for him, too, as I know this can be a stressful situation; by being the very calm and cool-headed person (as unlikely as it may seem) that I generaly am, under most circumstances. SO, the end result is that Discount Tire 1990 S. Federal did pull this one out of the flame and likely by the time I have need of their services in the future the bitter taste from the original encounter will have subsided, and businees can be back to usual.