Paid for Tire A, Tire B installed instead

[qdeezie]

I have a friend that went to Pep Boys back in May and requested and paid for a set of Michelin Defender tires.

She ended up having Michelin Premier tires installed and didn't notice until today while she was washing her car (roughly about a month and a half later).

She called Pep Boys and they told her that there is nothing they can do about it, even though she has the receipt and the receipt says Defender.

Any ideas on what her next steps should be to reconcile this issue?

I know what I would do, but I'm interested in hearing what the BITOG world thinks about this scenario and what others would do.

 

[Nick1994]

Call corporate

 

[old1]

Are the ones she got the cheaper of the two? If so, I would at least demand the difference in price be refunded to me!

 

[Colt45ws]

Yeah, they need to give her the price difference back at least. They are used tires now, so that might be all she can get.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted By: old1
Are the ones she got the cheaper of the two? If so, I would at least demand the difference in price be refunded to me!


Premier is probably the better and more expensive tire.

 

[qdeezie]

For what it's worth, the reason why she bought Defenders is because she puts lots of highway miles on her car and I think the Defenders are rated for 80K miles (or somewhere in that territory).

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: DuckRyder

Premier is probably the better and more expensive tire.


This is the first thing I thought.

It sucks that she now has no receipt, so she probably has no warranty, but she did get what some people would consider a better tire.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted By: qdeezie
For what it's worth, the reason why she bought Defenders is because she puts lots of highway miles on her car and I think the Defenders are rated for 80K miles (or somewhere in that territory).


Yep, defenders are rated for longer, thats probably the only measure by which the Defender is better... Premier A/S is 60,000.

Maybe hit the store manager up for a percentage refund based on the mileage warranty difference ...

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: qdeezie
For what it's worth, the reason why she bought Defenders is because she puts lots of highway miles on her car and I think the Defenders are rated for 80K miles (or somewhere in that territory).


She'll be much happier with the Premiers anyway - better wet traction and ride IME. CR's latest testing showed similar tread life between the two.

 

[SpecM]

The Premier A/S is a better (and more expensive) tire, and in practice the Premier will last as long as a Defender (at least that has been my experience for my customer's cars), its just not "rated" for as long

HOWEVER, that is not a good situation when it comes to paperwork. I would go to the manager and insist that I be given a receipt for the Premier (for potential warranty issues) and not pay another dome for them. I would do that for my customer if the wrong tires were accidently installed

 

[gabriel9766]

The defenders never last the 90k warranty. The premier tires i like, only thing i dont like is they start out at 8-9/32 tread compared to 10-12 of other tires and they r a 60k warranty tire.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Originally Posted By: old1
Are the ones she got the cheaper of the two? If so, I would at least demand the difference in price be refunded to me!


Premier is probably the better and more expensive tire.


Thats what I thought.

 

[Wolf359]

For these problems the best way to handle this is to go to the store in person with the car and talk to the manager or general manager. Their management is supposed to be pretty good. It's too easy for a drone answering the phone to say tough luck.

 

[tenderloin]

The correct tires should have been installed. Having written that after two sets of Defenders..no way they get close in miles to what they are rated. After replaced with Premier, the Premier's are better riding, handling, are quieter..IMO a better all around tire.

 

[Eosyn]

I'd just roll with it. She got the more expensive tires put on w/o the expensive price. Chalk this one up as experience and make sure she gets what she ordered, next time around.

 

[fdcg27]

If I went to have tires installed and got upgraded to a better tire for free, I'd be a happy camper.
I'd bet the guy who did the install had to get yelled at a little when a store physical inventory came up with four extra Defenders and four fewer Premiers, although it's also possible that the culprit was never discovered or that the store had the Premiers on hand and slapped 'em on just to keep the customer and get the car out the door.
Personally, I wouldn't consider the Defender. Seems like not much of a tire for the money.

 

[skyactiv]

So if you guys paid for long lasting all-season tires and the shop instead put on more expensive, but shorter lived performance tires on your car, you'd be happy?

 

[CT8]

Good thing for the internet.

 

[DuckRyder]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
So if you guys paid for long lasting all-season tires and the shop instead put on more expensive, but shorter lived performance tires on your car, you'd be happy?


The Premier A/S is the latest generation Grand Touring All Season.

I'd be ecstatic if I paid for Defenders and got Premier AS

 

[fdcg27]

If I paid for Defenders and got Premiers, I'd be ecstatic.
The Defenders don't really last longer in actual use and are inferior in every other way.