Discount Tire - Likely losing a customer

[GDN]

@Discount Tire - Looks like you don't come to or support the forum any longer, so you likely won't care, but I've not a bad taste for you today. You can work 20 + years to keep me happy, but lose me in a day. There is competition and I'm happy to support them.

The story - Over the years I have purchased 3 or 4 sets of tires from Discount. I'm not the best at keeping my tires rotated, and that's on me. I've never asked them for anything they didn't owe me. The last set of tires was just 3 years ago for a Model 3, added road hazard, all of it. Ended up selling that car just a few months later and they never had to pony up a penny in rotations or replacements for that good sale.

Now with the Lightning - front tires wearing bad on the outside, 20K miles, never rotated. I got an alignment and then stopped to have them balanced/rotated at Discount. They wouldn't do it based on the outside wear. I'll take that lame story, but the rest of the tires still had about half the tread, they are in good shape. I had them price replacement tires, but for a set fully installed I decided I wasn't in for $1300 right now. I was going to rotate them myself in the garage and get the fronts on back.

Then I decided to hit Facebook Marketplace and found an exact match for the Hankook take offs, 4K miles on them for $400 (came off an ICE F150). Sign me up, loaded em up. The guy I bought them from told me he'd upgraded at Discount just a bit after he had the truck. Gave me the guys name he has bought tires from for 20+ years and I should go see him he'd probably take care of me and get them mounted, just tell him who sent me.

Sure enough, stopped at the Discount Tire he sent me to, talked to Keith in McKinney, about 30 miles from where I live. They were swamped - probably 30 cars in the lot, not one empty space and it is a BIG store. People swarming everywhere. I introduced myself, told him the situation and where I got the tires, that he had sold their replacements and taken these off. I asked him what it would take to get them put on and how long the wait. It was over a 4 hour wait, it's a usually $150 or so for mount and balance outside tires, he'd have to check. But since he knew the other guy and had sold the replacement set he'd make it a good deal - he gave me a number and indeed a good deal. For that he asked that I come back during the week when they weren't so busy. I agreed and told him I also had a Discount I'd dealt with closer to the house and I might check in with them, otherwise I'd be back next week.

I drive 30 miles back to my neighborhood and pull into the DT that had priced me the tires yesterday. It was a strange site at 2 in the afternoon. There was not one car waiting in the lot. There were no cars in the bays being serviced and not one person inside waiting. All the technicians were hanging out inside. So I was up front, gave them the story, and asked what it would take to get them mounted and balanced. This was a different guy that had given the quote. He threw every line item he could get, and ended up quoting over $220 to mount and balance the 4 tires. I asked him if truly that was the best he could do when he had no business waiting and I'd been a long customer and the guy I got the tires from had been a long time customer. He wanted none of it. I asked if it was really over $200 labor for the 20 minutes it would have taken 2 or them to do the work. He said he wouldn't work his guys for less.

I get that everyone is in business to make money, but first the over $220 seemed really high and he had no concern to even want to make a deal, keep me happy or watch me walk away when he had no business. Maybe I'm starting to understand why he had no business.

So I left - I'll go see Keith back in McKinney, and I may take my business back up to him, or I may just have to buy at Costco or any of the other competition down the road after this set of tires gets mounted.

I'd be interested to hear if you all think I'm crazy for thinking it could have been a better deal at the local store or that they might have wanted some business when there was none. To say the least it left a bad taste in my mouth and may have cost them a long time customer.

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[Heliian]

Tldr, don't freak out about tires.

 

[mr.Magoo]

You know, I think they need a real CEO, that way none of this would have happened.

 

[Oafy44]

As someone who owns a company, while I try to be very polite and professional with customers such as yourself , $220 is perfectly fine and if that shop walks away with $25 profit off you I will be suprised.
Techs are making $40 an hour plus benefits / machines/tech to balance and install are expensive / rent / franchise fees.
Many people don’t understand how much anything really costs anymore and just think $50 is a lot of money these days.

if your that mad at discount tire then I’m not sure they want you as a customer anyway. Your not really a long time customer if your buying tires off Facebook. Your taking away a part of discount tires business then asking them to do better on a price to mount them.

just my 2 cents. I appreciate and respect how upfront you were on this post but I would just say to put yourself in a business owners shoes and think about if a customer came to you and took away a part of your profit then tried to beat you up on a labor price.

 

[Henry Ford]

Seems like the market at work to me. They can charge what they want, you can do business with them or not.

What's your time worth? I'd be willing to pay a bit more to avoid a 60 mile round trip. You didn't tell us the cheaper price you were quoted.

 

[Pioneer74]

I don't think you're crazy for not paying the $220 when you have an appointment at the first place for $150.

I do think you're crazy for buying more Hankook tires, knowing that they are not a good fit for the Lightning and wear out way too fast.

 

[GDN]

As someone who owns a company, while I try to be very polite and professional with customers such as yourself , $220 is perfectly fine and if that shop walks away with $25 profit off you I will be suprised.
Techs are making $40 an hour plus benefits / machines/tech to balance and install are expensive / rent / franchise fees.
Many people don’t understand how much anything really costs anymore and just think $50 is a lot of money these days.

if your that mad at discount tire then I’m not sure they want you as a customer anyway. Your not really a long time customer if your buying tires off Facebook. Your taking away a part of discount tires business then asking them to do better on a price to mount them.

just my 2 cents. I appreciate and respect how upfront you were on this post but I would just say to put yourself in a business owners shoes and think about if a customer came to you and took away a part of your profit then tried to beat you up on a labor price.

All appreciated and understand already from a few other posts. The other shop had already beat $100 - I didn't quote it because it was indeed a great deal given the circumstances.

Here is my response to you as the business owner and this was my thought process. Those expenses and the $40 hourly rate and the equipment costs, I get are expensive, but they were incurring those costs whether they do my work or not. Their technicians were sitting on their hands. Wouldn't you think about $100 - $150 income to offset that cost vs a customer walking out the door? That answer can still be no, but I'm not sure how it can be if your expenses are what you say they are. It could be principle and that's OK too.

 

[GDN]

Seems like the market at work to me. They can charge what they want, you can do business with them or not.

What's your time worth? I'd be willing to pay a bit more to avoid a 60 mile round trip. You didn't tell us the cheaper price you were quoted.

This is all true too, but honestly I need and look for things to do to get out of the house. I work from home and spend way too much time here . I look forward to the trip up there.

 

[GDN]

I don't think you're crazy for not paying the $220 when you have an appointment at the first place for $150.

I do think you're crazy for buying more Hankook tires, knowing that they are not a good fit for the Lightning and wear out way too fast.

Don't disagree, but if I'd rotated I would have easily gotten 30K out of them. I've got another set for $400 plus what ever I end up paying to get them mounted and then a few rotations, so I didn't think I could out do that. If I get 25 - 30K out of these then I've got my money's worth.

I hate to say it even though these are supposed to be AT's, I don't need even what these offer. It's a pavement princess. So it's about efficiency and road noise.

 

[Scorpio3d]

Funny I just praised discount tire for patching my tire for free-LOL
I pretty much agree with your posts about this disappointing experience. I always try to look at things from both sides and I totally understand your rationale and thinking and I don’t disagree. I understand the business side of it as a business owner myself, and as you somewhat pointed out, a lot of those costs are already sunk so may as well make a little bit, but that may be the difference between a small business and a big corporation.
I used to use discount tire but more recently
I have used Costco and overall I am pleased with the experience except for getting them rotated. It takes them an hour to two hours even with an appointment (which seems ridiculous to me )so I have been thinking of switching to discount tire in the future-now maybe I question that although sometimes it just depends on who is working at the location you go to. Costco seems to be the same no matter which location.

 

[jeff_h]

Funny I just praised discount tire for patching my tire for free-LOL

I was just at Discount Tire again last week when they did another free tire rotation and balance, and this is on the OEM tires rather than a replacement set that's associated with a purchase at DT with the tire certificate purchase. So DT has never tried to nickel & dime me and have always been great, sorry about the OP's experience.

 

[Oafy44]

All appreciated and understand already from a few other posts. The other shop had already beat $100 - I didn't quote it because it was indeed a great deal given the circumstances.

Here is my response to you as the business owner and this was my thought process. Those expenses and the $40 hourly rate and the equipment costs, I get are expensive, but they were incurring those costs whether they do my work or not. Their technicians were sitting on their hands. Wouldn't you think about $100 - $150 income to offset that cost vs a customer walking out the door? That answer can still be no, but I'm not sure how it can be if your expenses are what you say they are. It could be principle and that's OK too.

definitely see your point. I guess where I would push back a little is someone came in and already cut out a part of the companies profit (the used tires ) then is asking me if I can do better on a price…. Might irk me a bit and make me want to be short with someone.

I’m not sure of your age , but I’m still in that age range where time is money. Then if I felt I got ripped off I wouldn’t loose sleep but I never would go back to whoever I felt ripped me off, but also wouldn’t wait time being angry. Life’s too short. In the meantime it’s ironic you are balking at $220 but never rotate your tires. If you rotated your tires correctly you probably wouldn’t be looking for tires anyway.

ironically if someone came in 2 minutes later (while the shop looks idle many have appointments and the manager might have seen it was about to get busy or they had enough on the books) and wanted brand new tires those workers were ready right then and that customer is probably writing on a forum how quick and professional discount tire was and they will definitely going back.

personally I always get new tires and from a independent store. we have 14 work trucks. And because of that they rotate ours for free ($45 charge usually for 4 tires ($100 for our duallys) and if a tire is bad they take care of it.

if I came in all the time with an old set of tires I’m sure they would probably treat me differently but could be wrong.

 

[BarryGoyette]

Was just going to come in here and mention that they fixed an OEM tire and rotated for free for me yesterday. I realize they want my future business, but it’s still a pretty impressive policy. When it comes time to buy a new set, I’ll still call around to them, the local shop and Costco. I’m not sure why you’re upset given you didn’t buy anything from them, but they gotta pay their employees, and for that big building.

 

[TaxmanHog]

It's been a while since they visited Discount Tire [CANCELED] > New Support Option!

 

[teeman1020]

@Discount Tire - Looks like you don't come to or support the forum any longer, so you likely won't care, but I've not a bad taste for you today. You can work 20 + years to keep me happy, but lose me in a day. There is competition and I'm happy to support them.

The story - Over the years I have purchased 3 or 4 sets of tires from Discount. I'm not the best at keeping my tires rotated, and that's on me. I've never asked them for anything they didn't owe me. The last set of tires was just 3 years ago for a Model 3, added road hazard, all of it. Ended up selling that car just a few months later and they never had to pony up a penny in rotations or replacements for that good sale.

Now with the Lightning - front tires wearing bad on the outside, 20K miles, never rotated. I got an alignment and then stopped to have them balanced/rotated at Discount. They wouldn't do it based on the outside wear. I'll take that lame story, but the rest of the tires still had about half the tread, they are in good shape. I had them price replacement tires, but for a set fully installed I decided I wasn't in for $1300 right now. I was going to rotate them myself in the garage and get the fronts on back.

Then I decided to hit Facebook Marketplace and found an exact match for the Hankook take offs, 4K miles on them for $400 (came off an ICE F150). Sign me up, loaded em up. The guy I bought them from told me he'd upgraded at Discount just a bit after he had the truck. Gave me the guys name he has bought tires from for 20+ years and I should go see him he'd probably take care of me and get them mounted, just tell him who sent me.

Sure enough, stopped at the Discount Tire he sent me to, talked to Keith in McKinney, about 30 miles from where I live. They were swamped - probably 30 cars in the lot, not one empty space and it is a BIG store. People swarming everywhere. I introduced myself, told him the situation and where I got the tires, that he had sold their replacements and taken these off. I asked him what it would take to get them put on and how long the wait. It was over a 4 hour wait, it's a usually $150 or so for mount and balance outside tires, he'd have to check. But since he knew the other guy and had sold the replacement set he'd make it a good deal - he gave me a number and indeed a good deal. For that he asked that I come back during the week when they weren't so busy. I agreed and told him I also had a Discount I'd dealt with closer to the house and I might check in with them, otherwise I'd be back next week.

I drive 30 miles back to my neighborhood and pull into the DT that had priced me the tires yesterday. It was a strange site at 2 in the afternoon. There was not one car waiting in the lot. There were no cars in the bays being serviced and not one person inside waiting. All the technicians were hanging out inside. So I was up front, gave them the story, and asked what it would take to get them mounted and balanced. This was a different guy that had given the quote. He threw every line item he could get, and ended up quoting over $220 to mount and balance the 4 tires. I asked him if truly that was the best he could do when he had no business waiting and I'd been a long customer and the guy I got the tires from had been a long time customer. He wanted none of it. I asked if it was really over $200 labor for the 20 minutes it would have taken 2 or them to do the work. He said he wouldn't work his guys for less.

I get that everyone is in business to make money, but first the over $220 seemed really high and he had no concern to even want to make a deal, keep me happy or watch me walk away when he had no business. Maybe I'm starting to understand why he had no business.

So I left - I'll go see Keith back in McKinney, and I may take my business back up to him, or I may just have to buy at Costco or any of the other competition down the road after this set of tires gets mounted.

I'd be interested to hear if you all think I'm crazy for thinking it could have been a better deal at the local store or that they might have wanted some business when there was none. To say the least it left a bad taste in my mouth and may have cost them a long time customer.

As a career “Tire Guy”, I worked for two major tire manufacturers in sales and marketing field positions. Four firms stood out throughout my tenure as being the leaders and the ones who set the standard for the industry: Discount Tire, Les Schwab Tire, Costco and Tire Rack. Tire Rack and Discount Tire’s mail order arm, Tires.com, pretty much sets the standard for pricing in the marketplace for most tire brands. If you go into most independent tire stores you’ll find they have one of these companies web sites up on their computers for pricing guidelines.

Discount Tire has very strict standards for their stores to follow; they will not compromise safety by repairing a tire with a puncture in an area beyond supported tread face, they will basically refuse to touch a vehicle that has tires that need replacing (they won’t rotate). In this litigious environment, erring on the side of caution is the guiding principle.

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