JPaul
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,405
- Location
- Way up north, UT
So the tires the dealer had put on the H3 when I bought it turned out to be pretty terrible in the snow (shocking, I'm sure). So today I checked around and felt like going with some Duratac's would be my best bet. I have been going to Les Schwab for tires lately because I was under the impression that they had better warranty on the tires and better service, etc, etc.
So i gave them a call to see if the carried them, they said they don't normally have them in the store but they could check their warehouse. Got a call back saying they could get them for me at $299 each, which based on our conversation I was believing that meant mounted and balanced, out the door, which was comparable to the prices I was looking at at Discount Tire and 4wheelparts. So I went ahead and took the H3 over and got the ball rolling, then walked the 2 miles back to work (in the snow, uphill, really!). This was around 1:30 I had left it there.
Was hoping to get a ride from my boss to go pick it up after work, but when it was quitting time I gave them a call and they were just barely getting it in the garage, it was going to be another hour and a half. So I hung out at work while everyone else went home, finally started walking over there at 6:20 pm (in the snow, downhill this time, but still 2 miles...). Got a call from my wife saying they had called the house to say the truck was done (I had given the guy my cell #, but it turns out he wrote it down wrong). Finally get there at almost 7PM, then find out they seemed to have been confused and didn't think I wanted the 5th tire I asked for to be mounted on the spare on the back (they had loaded it in the truck along with my old tires). I had even paid for the mounting and balancing!
So while I waited more for them to finish that, I took out my receipt to figure out why it cost me $1800 for 5 tires. Turned out they price of $299 per tire was for JUST THE TIRE! (been tired lately so the maths weren't working well in my head before). Even the Goodyear tire shops themselves only charge $231 for the size of Duratrac's I got. I was pretty pissed, but unfortunately I had already paid (without thinking, of course) and they had already mounted all the tires.
They tried explaining how much better their warranty is and whatnot, but seeing how I paid an extra $70+ on five tires, I had basically already paid for a full 6th tire, plus part of a 7th tire!!!
I know part of it was my fault for not making them show me the actual quote (instead of just printing it out and keeping it for themselves), and all that jazz. But it still pisses me off that I spent nearly $400 extra on these five tires when I could have gone to Discount Tire (who had them at their shop) and paid less than $1400 for them (I had them stud the four on the truck, hence the difference).
I've had other issues with Les Schwab in the past, mostly with them telling me "oh yeah, we can get that done in an hour or two" and then it taking 3 hours before they even get the vehicle in the bay, and it's not just this one location either, every Les Schwab I've been to seems to overpromise (by a lot!) how soon they can get something done, and also seem to charge far more for the same tires as other places do. Once I asked them to check on replacing a tire on my Neon under warranty that had a bulge in the sidewall, and since I was expecting them to just replace it because of their warranty, they ended up prorating it to barely contribute to the price of the brand new tire they went ahead and mounted without asking me if I was ok with that. They seemed to just assume I'd be ok with paying them $90 for a replacement tire without permission. Again, that happened at a different Les Schwab location than my issue tonight was with.
I know not all tire shops are perfect, but with all of these issues I've had, Les Schwab seems to have a company wide culture of trying to get every dime they can out of gullible customers (like I can sometimes be) and lying about when they are actually going to be able to get your vehicle finished. (and it's not like they only do that if you've dropped off the car, I once waited 4 hours IN THE WAITING AREA before one shop even pulled my car in to do an alignment on it, even though I had dropped it off at what appeared to be a slow period of the day. I had to ask them what was going on, and they kept giving me BS answers. Hey, guess what, sometimes that is your customer's ONLY MODE OF TRANSPORTATION AND THEY DON"T HAVE 7 HOURS TO WASTE EATING YOUR SALTY POPCORN AND GETTING NOTHING ELSE DONE!)
So, yeah, no longer a fan of Les Schwab. No warranty is worth the BS and extra money and time I've had to waste on this company.
So i gave them a call to see if the carried them, they said they don't normally have them in the store but they could check their warehouse. Got a call back saying they could get them for me at $299 each, which based on our conversation I was believing that meant mounted and balanced, out the door, which was comparable to the prices I was looking at at Discount Tire and 4wheelparts. So I went ahead and took the H3 over and got the ball rolling, then walked the 2 miles back to work (in the snow, uphill, really!). This was around 1:30 I had left it there.
Was hoping to get a ride from my boss to go pick it up after work, but when it was quitting time I gave them a call and they were just barely getting it in the garage, it was going to be another hour and a half. So I hung out at work while everyone else went home, finally started walking over there at 6:20 pm (in the snow, downhill this time, but still 2 miles...). Got a call from my wife saying they had called the house to say the truck was done (I had given the guy my cell #, but it turns out he wrote it down wrong). Finally get there at almost 7PM, then find out they seemed to have been confused and didn't think I wanted the 5th tire I asked for to be mounted on the spare on the back (they had loaded it in the truck along with my old tires). I had even paid for the mounting and balancing!
So while I waited more for them to finish that, I took out my receipt to figure out why it cost me $1800 for 5 tires. Turned out they price of $299 per tire was for JUST THE TIRE! (been tired lately so the maths weren't working well in my head before). Even the Goodyear tire shops themselves only charge $231 for the size of Duratrac's I got. I was pretty pissed, but unfortunately I had already paid (without thinking, of course) and they had already mounted all the tires.
They tried explaining how much better their warranty is and whatnot, but seeing how I paid an extra $70+ on five tires, I had basically already paid for a full 6th tire, plus part of a 7th tire!!!
I know part of it was my fault for not making them show me the actual quote (instead of just printing it out and keeping it for themselves), and all that jazz. But it still pisses me off that I spent nearly $400 extra on these five tires when I could have gone to Discount Tire (who had them at their shop) and paid less than $1400 for them (I had them stud the four on the truck, hence the difference).
I've had other issues with Les Schwab in the past, mostly with them telling me "oh yeah, we can get that done in an hour or two" and then it taking 3 hours before they even get the vehicle in the bay, and it's not just this one location either, every Les Schwab I've been to seems to overpromise (by a lot!) how soon they can get something done, and also seem to charge far more for the same tires as other places do. Once I asked them to check on replacing a tire on my Neon under warranty that had a bulge in the sidewall, and since I was expecting them to just replace it because of their warranty, they ended up prorating it to barely contribute to the price of the brand new tire they went ahead and mounted without asking me if I was ok with that. They seemed to just assume I'd be ok with paying them $90 for a replacement tire without permission. Again, that happened at a different Les Schwab location than my issue tonight was with.
I know not all tire shops are perfect, but with all of these issues I've had, Les Schwab seems to have a company wide culture of trying to get every dime they can out of gullible customers (like I can sometimes be) and lying about when they are actually going to be able to get your vehicle finished. (and it's not like they only do that if you've dropped off the car, I once waited 4 hours IN THE WAITING AREA before one shop even pulled my car in to do an alignment on it, even though I had dropped it off at what appeared to be a slow period of the day. I had to ask them what was going on, and they kept giving me BS answers. Hey, guess what, sometimes that is your customer's ONLY MODE OF TRANSPORTATION AND THEY DON"T HAVE 7 HOURS TO WASTE EATING YOUR SALTY POPCORN AND GETTING NOTHING ELSE DONE!)
So, yeah, no longer a fan of Les Schwab. No warranty is worth the BS and extra money and time I've had to waste on this company.
