Five months ago at 30k miles I bought Michelin Primacy MXM4's for my G35X through Tire Rack and had them installed at a local Mr. Tire. Mr. Tire offered me road hazard warranty for $7.99 per tire - usually $21.99 per tire. Last week I drove over a hunk of metal and the sidewall was shredded. Called the Mr Tire where I had them installed - told them the sidewall was destroyed with a hunk of metal sticking out of the tire, told them I bought the road hazard warranty, gave them my invoice # and all the info on the tire since it was not on the invoice as they were bought through Tire Rack. They give me a 4pm appointment. Left work early in my other car, drove home to get the G, drove over slowly on the donut and the same guy I spoke with tells me he thought it was repair not replace. I told him I said the sidewall was shot, I needed a new tire and gave all the info for the tire - he claimed to have misunderstood. I ask if he has it in stock, he looks and claims the tire is discontinued. I assure him I researched the tires and they are a brand new model. He insists they are discontinued and goes on how if you buy cheap from Tire Rack you often get discontinued tires. He proposes another Michelin as a replacement and tells me he will order it from another store and have it tomorrow. I don't trust him and don't want to drive home and back out tomorrow on a donut. I ask which store he is getting the replacement from and it's 5-minutes away. I tell him I will go there and at that point he tells me to pretend I did not go to his shop first, I ask why, and he tells me they undercharged me for the road hazard warranty and the other Mr. Tire shop will need to eat the cost of the tire.

I go to the second shop (where there is a big cardboard advertisement for my exact tires) and tell them everything that transpired. They tell me:
1. Of course the tire is not discontinued, but it is on national back order with Mr. Tire
2. B/c I have the warranty, Mr. Tire is obligated to get the replacement tire from outside sources which involves ordering it from Mr. Tire's outside network of suppliers at a higher cost plus Fed-Ex shipping - the first shop lied so they would not have to incur these costs and instead were going to put a mismatched tire on an AWD vehicle
3. That the mismatched tire on an AWD could have put my car at risk of significant damage, all so the first shop could save some money on a tire
4. I had called the first shop Thursday morning. Had they done their job and immediately ordered the tire, it would have arrived Saturday. As it was not ordered until Thursday night, it did not arrive until Monday and I basically had no use of the car Friday-Monday.

I will say the second shop was as honest as the first shop was dishonest. As an aside, the ride quality of the Michelin's are eons better than the original Goodyear Eagle RS-A's.

 

I'm getting tired of tire shops like this. I have had so many unconsistent service at tire places. Just need to find that one good shop that still takes care of its customers.

 

They are a franchise. Write this to corporate.

 

I did - last Friday. Got an automated response then nothing. A friend of mine joked all that will happen is the second shop will get in trouble for ratting out the first shop. Who knows, he may be right. At least I have found a shop I can trust as this second shop was straight with me.