This is quite a long story so I am going to try to make it as short as possible, to start with in Sept. 2004 I purchased 4 wheels and 4 low profile tires from les schwab in Vancouver, WA @ the minnehaha location. This was my first set of wheels, my youngest sister was also buying a new set of wheels and tires as well. Me, my sister and my boyfriend were all waiting.
Soon as my car was ready we all three went out and looked at every wheel all the way around the car, checking them all out! Now i had problems with the tires, but after asking them all about what products they sell that they do honor (however not in that nice of a way, since they were coming at me...) they replaced those. Not to mention that my alignment hasn't been the same since, I did take it back several times, for that to, right after they put these on my car. They never did fix it. Blamed it on low profile tires, now my tires are wearing out on one side only. Imagine that!
Moving foward to 2008 I dropped my car off to get the driver rear tire fixed of a air leak, by the time they called me to come get my car they were closing, I just grabbed my keys and got in my car, in June I was pulling out of my parking spot and my boyfriend was in his vechicle, was telling me to stop and I asked what? He said wasnt that the wheel/tire you had repaired at les schwab not that long ago? I said yeah, why? Is it flat? He said no, the rim is totally different than all the rest now, that rim is completely silver, all my other rims are 2 tone called "hyper black".
I got out and looked, sure enough. I went in called les schwab asap, it was saturday. June 7th I talked to Ron. He asked if i could bring it my mon or tue and he will look at it. I said yeah, not a problem.
Monday june 9th I go in talk to ron, he came out looked at it, said it is a different color isnt it? Not sure how that could happen, told me the rims are no longer available, but he could call pat and have pat call me and meet me somewhere to look at it see what he could do... (i thought pat was a manager of some sort) i say okay i guess if thats what you can do.
June 10th tuesday, never heard anything from pat, ron or anyone from les schwab. I call back again, spencer answers says he is the manager and didnt know who pat was, they had no pat that worked there. I gave him a quick run down he said he would talk to ron and call me right back, so ron calls me back tells me that pat is a person who paints rims and that they could have pat paint the rim that is on my car to look like the other ones.
AHHH NO! I paid money for the four matching rims i had. Spencer said he needed to see the rim. Next day June 11th i drive to les schwab again, spencer comes out sees the rims and says he can hardly tell a difference. (he must be blind!) last i checked silver and black are totally different colors. He begins with the stories, tells me i put something on the rim that took the paint off, (yet the clear coat was still on?) tells me that since 2004 1 out of 4 rims just faded in the sun, natural wear and tear. But that there is no way they switched the rim. Not possible!
He brings up the fact that he already replaced the tires for me (like he was doing me a favor, those tires were faulty a safety hazard and they supposedly back up there product.)
Says he could try to have the guy paint it but that the rim can not be made, nor is it sold anywhere anymore, that it is impossible to get. (i am getting more pissed by the second)
He tells me he is not going to set there and argue about it. I tell him i do not want a wheel painted to look like the one i paid money for. That is hardly fair to me. He says oh i think it is... Those rims are 4years old.
Asks me if i plan on throwing a tantrum to see if they will cave, because it wasnt gonna happen... And he starts walking away. I follow him into the store. He whips out his business card, writes George Saddlin 503-636-6848 his regional managers number on the back side and hands it to me like here take it up with him if you want. I demand that he print my entire history on my account, and walk out.
I go to my car, i call the number the guy that answered said he is gone, will be back tomorrow. I asked at least 5-6 times for the person above him, the kid finally says Gary he is the District manager his number is 503-968-3028. I call him, got voicemail, left a message to contact me. I went home, got on the internet, started looking up these wheels, tires, called a few locations, and to my surprise you can still get them. They did stop producing them.
On 6/12/08 Gary called me I was on lunch, and he rushed me through the point of my call, didnt even listen to the whole story. Said he would call spencer and get this whole thing straighten out for me.
When i got home this same day, i had a message on my home phone from spencer. Surprise surprise, i call him back, he acts real nice, says that he called american racing and they can ship him a wheel and it should be here shortly, as soon as it arrives, he will call me.
6-20-08 i go in they had ordered a wheel alright, but not "hyper black" wheel like mine, they ordered a "gun metal"! Why? They have the exact model number the whole nines on my account and they order the complete opposite.
So the kid that pulled my car around gives me a line of bullshit, like the sun bleached my other rims, (thats why mine are shiny and the new one is dull flat look.) and that my rims are 4yrs old, wait til the road grime gets on the new one, then it will look like the others... He really thinks im falling for this shit?
I get my keys, refuse to sign anything and leave, I get another call telling me that my new rim is in, i go down this time i want to see it before it goes on my car, again no two tone, what the hell is wrong with these people. Now they are just playing games. He tells me his is going to have Todd from american racing meet me there to look at the rims on my car, fine. Whatever we got to do.
7/11/08 i drive back again. Todd looks at it sees that they are different but can not figure out why it is different. Says there are no other rims, that was the last one he could order in... (even though there are like 10 other websites that are currently selling them.)
I hear nothing until 7/15/08 i came home from work i had a call from Todd and one from Spencer. Todd said i found another wheel, it will be there Thursday. Spencer was just following up as well that another wheel was soon to come. 7/18/08 I get a message that the rim is there. Come on in they will pop it on.
I go in spencer is not there, but ron is... Ron goes out puts the rim on another kid brings it around to park, i look not even close! I ask him to get ron, the kid is already starting in on his cover his ass stories (i dont want to hear it.) ron comes out i am on my cell, he is looking over the rims. I hang up and ron say not even close huh? Wow, cant believe the difference... The gun metal was alot closer... First off i didnt pay for close... I paid for the real deal.
I came home called, asked tom if i could have my account put kinda in a pending status, until i get my issues resolved, he said no. And then started in on me about warrenty and that they dont have to do anything for me. They were just trying to help me out, and that they never did anything in the wrong, and i better continue paying my account as is, since the fees currently oweing has nothing to do with rims that were purchased 4 years ago. I hung up with him, called district manager Gary, left a message, instead of contacting me he contacted spencer at the tire shop.
7/21/08 i get another message from spencer, i call him, he tells me here is the deal, no more rims, i will still offer you to have someone paint the rim if you like, or you pick one of the rims that matches the best and we are done. I said, you want me to just settle for a rim that is not even close to matching what i originally paid for? I said i think thats hardly fair to me. And he say oh i think it is... We have put out money after money for rims and your not happy with any of them, i said one of them is gun metal... Not hyper black the two you say are hyper black, are not two tone like mine.
You guys messed up and switched my rim for some piece of crap, and now you are basically saying to bad. He says we didnt switch anything, i said so your calling me a liar now, like everyone else that has looked at my rim from your store? He said no, thats not what im saying, im just saying we have a system in place, the chances that the same rim, different color, same bolt pattern was sitting there and got mixed up with yours... Not possible.
I asked him for that in writing and he refused. He said he had the other rims there if i want to think about it. I tell him i want to come down and take pictures of the rims. He says you can if you want, it's not going to benefit you at all. But go ahead, he then tells me that they only was doing anything just to buy my happiness. And they had no idea how difficult that was going to be.
And that he now is retracting his statement of offering it to be painted. And that i need to just pick a rim, and be done, or they will be done anyways. Well i am going to check with legal advisers, i think this is fraud, i want something done about it.
I will take them to court if i have to. 7/21/08 i have left another message for Gary the district manager, never received a call back.
Looks like i will be seeing these people in small claims court.
Shannen
vancouver, Washington
U.S.A.
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