I never purchase the additional Lifetime Balance and Tire Rotation or Road Hazard Repair when buying new tires as it always turns out to be a waste of money. But, this time I purchased really high end tires, and I live fairly close to the Tire Kingdom shop, so, I bought it. I've been exercising the rotation/balance every 6 months which has proven valuable. But,
knowing that every time they do it, they find something else that needs fixed, and it's always something that I say NO to and time proves it really was not a necessity as they claimed. This time... Perhaps I was weak, lost my mind, or
got tired of saying NO when I should have stuck to my guns (and just said no again). My bad!
But here comes the LIE! (Lie #1) "Your tires are wearing funny and we think it may be a tie rod". Well, they call me and say (Lie #2), "Your alignment is way out" and say they wont continue to honor the Lifetime Rotation & Balance warranty if it's not corrected. Although, I've had no steering issues at all, and I'm not on site to argue or challenge the (supposedly) "funny tire wear" issue, I cant remember the last time I had a front end alignment done. So, I reluctantly take the bait and authorize the repair, along with a belt change that I knew would be overpriced, but what the heck. I go to pick up the vehicle at closing time and its dark out (another mistake). I requested a printout of the before and after alignment computer printout. He points to the red box that indicates degrees out of tolerance. "We fixed this and it took care of that" (the other red box) on the printout. I pay, and I'm on my way instead of requesting the bill be verbally itemized line for line like I always have done in the past.
Being a curious numbers person (and a cheapskate), I do the math at home and research the documented alignment degrees out printout along with a phone call to an auto mechanic friend. Here's the numbers, initial, (as found) 0.13 degrees (0.12 is considered out of tolerance). Final (as left) after adjustment 0.12 degrees (just inside the tolerance parameters). They made an adjustment of 1/100th of a degree (equal to about 1/4 turn of a nut)! They got me! FINALLY!
No difference in my steering. Thank goodness because nothing was wrong in the first place, right?
Another one of their rip-off routines is the " (*) Shop Fees". It's a 10% additional charge for shop supplies. Yep, they somehow managed to use a grand total of $14.50 in shop supplies to adjust my front end and change a
belt. That's an awful lot of rags and WD-40 I suppose! Perhaps they will leave it in the Sunday collection plate at church to cleanse them of their sins for chronic lying to customers.
By the way, I checked the "funny wear" of my tires at first daylight. They look PERFECT! Not one indication of abnormal wear anywhere on the tires at all. Gee, I think they may have been lying. They won this one! I just hope this review helps someone else to BE STRONG and (always) JUST SAY NO! Take the car home and think about the repair they want to do. And anything over $100 deserves a second opinion. Then... You wont be sorry... Like me!
0 comments