After 40,000 mile scheduled service on '03 F250 Ford notified me that the local Les Schwab tire store had installed 'D' load range tires less than 1000 miles ago. The door panel clearly says to use load range 'E' tires. I called Schwab a couple days ago and was told to bring it in and they'd take care of it as it was their mistake. Today however was a different story. The manager told me he would only give me trade-in allowance on the tires and 'only charge me $94 and change to take them off and put something else on'. I will be towing an enclosed one-vehicle car hauler from CA to FL the end of July and told him I was concerned about the sidewall rating under a full load and my research explained how the sidewalls can fail if the wrong rated tires are installed. The manager actually said "oh, you're not going to get in an accident."
Until today I really knew nothing about load ranges or even what all the door panel info meant. I had expected that a tire store would know what they were doing and not deliberately endanger their customers. I am just shocked that a company this big will not make it right when it is their mistake.
I am filling out the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair complaint form now and will attempt to talk to someone at the store again tomorrow when I can take a friend with me. When I asked the manager to talk to my Ford service rep. He said "I don't need to talk to him, I'm talking to you."
Now that I have the supporting documentation of tire load ranges I feel I have a strong case proving they are endangering customers. I wonder how many other people they do this to who never realize they've been sold improper and unsafe tires. I also wonder how many automotive insurance companies realize this is happening when they research their customers accidents. The tires I bought from them are Toyo Open Country A/T and are also made with an 'E' load range but they chose to sell me 'D' range.
The Les Schwab tire center here most definitely does not care about their customers safety. As the Les Schwab website has no corporate contact information I was able to get their corporate office phone number from another website with a bit of searching tonight. Located in Oregon and open during the work week as well as Saturdays from 8 to 12 pacific time; the number is: 541-447-4136. I hope this information will help others to avoid dealing with what is clearly a dangerous company.
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