so its been a few days and i notice the tire pressure on my camry is low. I inspected the tire to see that there was a nail embedded in the tread, so i went to sears to get my tire patched ( when i first got these tires on about 2.5 years go, i bought that road hazard insurance thing),for free. when i bring in my car, the first thing the guy does is measures the tread depth of the tires and tells me that i need new tires. i think to myself, this guy sounds familiar. this is the same guy that i talked to 5 months ago when i was planning to bring my camry up to tahoe.
*flashback for story develoment*
mid-december, i brought in my car to have the tires checked out because there was a small cut on the sidewall. all i wanted to see if that was something that i should worry about or not, especially in the cold temperature of tahoe in the winter.
well, long story short, the same guy that i had encountered today was the same one from back then. all this guy cared about was selling me 4 brand new tires.
"well, one of them has a cut, and u have to replace it. you dont want to just replace one tire of course, so at least do a pair. BUT that'll cause uneven wear between the two sets of tires that you would have on your car...problems rotating etc.., so id say just get 4 new tires then. that'll be $4XX.XX plus mounting, balancing and alignment. so it comes out to be $6XX.XX"
i ask about the silly 'road hazard' warranty that i had purchased with the tires, and he told me that he could give me a $5 credit for that ONE tire.
granted my tires arent as good as they were when i first bought them, but hell.. they only have ~15k miles on them!! they are rated for over 40k! i cant be doing THAT bad.
at that moment i decide that i need to think about it and "i will be back later." i did end up going back later, luckily to find another person instead of the other asshat. the new sales rep told me that its not even that deep and shouldnt be anything to worry about, "its probably from when u were parking or something. if u notice ur losing air on this tire, take it in and then we'll take a look at it." *phew, finally someone competent helped me. i know having a damaged sidewall is something i shouldnt take lightly, but i think i made it sound more than it was. all i was doing was being extra cautious. i didnt wanna be stuck in the middle of I-80 with the only option of driving on a spare

*fast forward to today where i have a nail in my tire

i call up sears auto and see if they had time to patch up my tire. so i took it in.. and yeah, as mentioned above its the same dude from that one time. i proceed to tell him that i have a nail in the tire and would like it patched under warranty. without hesistation, he goes ahead and starts measuring the tread depth of my tires. you wouldnt believe the noises he was making. "oh wow, sheesh. omg!" etc... after he is done, he goes to me and says, "wow, u been driving on these for that long huh? u need new tires"
i ask him if i can just have the warranty work done
he replies by saying, "by law, we arent supposed to repair tires that are this worn. you need to get new tires"
what he said next totally caught me off guard.
"tires dont GROW rubber,.. they actually wear the rubber down when u use them"
he said that to me twice, like it was his ****ing catch phrase or something!!!!
"yeah, people actually tow cars with the same situation u are in. you shouldnt be driving on the street. if a cop saw ur tires, he could pull u over if he even cared."
by this point, im totally phased by his ignorance. i dunno what to call it, but theres definitely some sort of prejudice going on here. does he truely assume that i dont kno two bits about a car? did i look like an unsuspecting easy sale? scare-sell tactic?? or how bout pseudo-supremacy/intelligence/whats that word im looking for..
since he was the one i had talked to months about my tires, i ask him how much tread have i used since the last time i came in. he looks through some papers(some that i have brought in as well) and tells me, "hmm..not much.. about 1/32 an inch." if its only been 1/32 an inch since the last time i came in, what is this over dramatic show this time??? that mere 1/32nd an inch more tread last time was nothing to talk about??
knowing that i still have that 'road hazard' with the tires, i ask how much(if any) credit i can get for it. i mentioned that he only offered me $5 last time, and he replies with, "how much u want? i can give $30."
when i had finally had enough of his chicanery, i tell him that i'll take care of the situation myself. he looked puzzled and asked where are you gonna get your tires from then? i reply with, "tirerack." before he could say anything else, and i dont know WHY i asked but, "if i were to bring in my tires, would sears be able to install them?" the clown looks at me if i were talking a different language outta my ***. "thats like bringing in your own meat to mcdonalds and asking if they can cook it for you!!! LAWLL" im well aware that different service centers have their own policies. some places allow you to bring in your own tires to have them mounted, balanced, aligned etc. i just asked a simple question, so i dunno what he was going ape **** about.
but anyways, by this time i have finally decided that i have wasted enough time there. i tell him once more that i will take care of this myself, not here ,and head for the door. on my way out he shouts, "WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!"
in my head im like ASDASDASFDAASFDGADFJFDL

when i got home, looked on the michelin website about the tires and tire wear. apparently i could check the wear bar on the tire to show me if i REALLIE REALLIE needed new tires or not. so i went outside and checked it out. according to the website, the wear bar is about 2mm from the tire being completely bald. my wear bar is nowhere near being exposed with the tread. its at least 3 mm above the bar. so total 5 mm's. yah, i know.. not that much more before i need new tires :\ but still.
still upset about what happened at sears, i called sears customer care and talked to a rep. and filed a complaint someone from upper management will call me in a day or two about the situation. the only thing is that i cant remember his name. its either a 'rick' or 'sean.' older 40-50's 275-300lb 6"3+ male


thanks for reading my rant, all those who made it. it musta been torture.

oh and dont worry, i;ve never taken the G to sears. never have, never will, god forbid. only with the camry im more lenient about where i take it to.


cliff notes:
dont buy road hazard, its USELESS imho
dont ever goto sears auto for ANY of ur cars. daily driver, beater, NOTHING
(oh im talking about the one in tanforan)


that felt good to get off my chest

 

I only read the Cliff Notes, but I have to disagree with the road hazard comment. I bought road hazard for my Bridgestone S-03's. When I ran over some debris on an on-ramp I ruined one of my tires. Without road hazard coverage I would have had to pay the $300 tire plus mounting and balancing. With the road hazard I only paid $65 total for a new tire. That more than paid for the raod hazard fee for all four tires.

 

Call that sears and ask for that guy (give that description) I'm sure you'll get his name