Opinion: Mounting problem for customer tires

[lairdwd]

For me, it was a matter of principal, not the 12 bucks. The tires were leaking the very next day, and I told the guy that I sprayed it with soapy water and saw the bead leak.

I know I'm not going to get free lifetime flat repair , balance , etc. since I didn't buy the tires from Costco. That part I understand. But I feel this was more of an installation issue that should have been comped no question. Keep in mind that this is a major inconvenience for the customer to have to return for unnecessary rework.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have just paid the 12 bucks, and then complained about it at the service desk to get refunded. Instead, I ended up getting into a good spat with the tire guy, asking to speak to the manager and so on. In fact, I was surprised they even did anything, but sure enough they did do the clean and bead seal.

One good thing I like about Costco tires is that they torque to spec. Any time I get tires, the first thing I do is re-torque. The last place I had tires installed, the guy torqued way over, and I was literally jumping on a breaker bar with the same force I do on a axle nut.

 

[AVB]

Originally Posted By: spk2000
What do you mean tires are a loss leader? There are very large margins on tires unless you mean the installer.
My father in law used to work for Michelin and I could get some really good buys on tires direct until he retired. Normally $120 tires for under $40 and Michelin wasn't losing money on those.
A $120 tire cost my shop $100, the margin is not huge. By buying factory direct out of the back door, you are skipping a few markups along the way to retail pricing.

 

[JMJNet]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Costco is my go to place for everything...except tires.


but it should be noted that DTD tires installed by a DT store are treated as their own sale


really? because the DT by me treated my DTD tires as "foreign" and charged me extra to install them.



I just bought tires from DTD.
When I brought it to DT Shop near me, they just ring it in without fuss.
$16 per tire plus disposal fee, total around $74 for the install of 4 big truck tires for the suburban.
Price may be different but they did not over charge.

If one shop try to charge differently, I will go to another one nearby may be not as close but there are a few of them.

 

[wgtoys]

Originally Posted By: lairdwd
So I brought my DTD tires to Costco to have them mounted. Next day, one tire was almost flat. Found out I have a bead leak. Costco doesn't clean rims or apply bead sealer is my guess. If it leaks, bring it in, they will clean and apply bead seal ... and do it right as a "flat repair".

Here is the rub, they wanted to charge me $12 for a flat repair, since it was my own tire, not theirs. I disagreed, and said that it was not done right the first time, and should be done free of charge. We disagreed.

Thoughts?


1) Yes, it sounds like and installation error they needed to fix at their expense.

2) If I were Costco I would refuse to install tires purchased elsewhere. It makes no sense for their business.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: wgtoys
Originally Posted By: lairdwd
So I brought my DTD tires to Costco to have them mounted. Next day, one tire was almost flat. Found out I have a bead leak. Costco doesn't clean rims or apply bead sealer is my guess. If it leaks, bring it in, they will clean and apply bead seal ... and do it right as a "flat repair".

Here is the rub, they wanted to charge me $12 for a flat repair, since it was my own tire, not theirs. I disagreed, and said that it was not done right the first time, and should be done free of charge. We disagreed.

Thoughts?


1) Yes, it sounds like and installation error they needed to fix at their expense.

2) If I were Costco I would refuse to install tires purchased elsewhere. It makes no sense for their business.


BJ's is like that, will only install tires if you buy them there, but they'll balance a tire for $6.

Also lots of places fix flats for free or low cost. Goodyear now fixes flats for free. And it was really free, no balancing charge. Town Fair Tire claims they fix flats for free but charge $4 to balance the tire afterwards.

 

[Rand]

Discount tire does free flat repairs..

but It was 28$ to move my spare tire to replace the one with a giant spark plug hole.. and balance.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: AVB
Originally Posted By: spk2000
What do you mean tires are a loss leader? There are very large margins on tires unless you mean the installer.
My father in law used to work for Michelin and I could get some really good buys on tires direct until he retired. Normally $120 tires for under $40 and Michelin wasn't losing money on those.
A $120 tire cost my shop $100, the margin is not huge. By buying factory direct out of the back door, you are skipping a few markups along the way to retail pricing.


Exactly, we hardly make anything on tires. They are more of an annoyance than anything.

 

[WhyMe]

i just got my tires purchased from DTD done at DT. there was no issues and i guess in my area it $19 and that includes the tpms service now. So they charge $3 more for something that was optional, is now mandatory. i ask the guy if DT and DTD were the same and he said its just the online branch of DT. they say the store and DTD compete because each store get the credit for sale so it in their interest to compete.

On costco, i had the same issue. the usual one i went to told me that they don't warranty , free repair on tires not purchased from them. since i have 3-4 Costcos within 25 miles of me i called a couple of them and ask the question of repairs. of the 3 others i called, they told me that you are paying for the service and all flats rotation etc, except for road hazard is included.

Go to another Costco if you can. or ask for the manager and ask them to show you written policy . call corporate if you need to

 

[Traction]

I don't like do-overs. So since I'm the one that would need to fix it, I try to do it right the first time. If the bead seats are corroded, they need to be buffed clean. Bead sealer is a sloppy fix which many shops do even when not needed just a feeble attempt to really seal it. But I've seen some where they glob sealer it all over everything, and actually create a bead leak.

 

[lairdwd]

Just to close the loop on this - all 3 other tires eventually developed rim leaks and I just kept pumping them up until recently. I've been back to costco two times and paid out of pocket for $16 per tire flat repair , including a do-over on one of the repairs.

Moral of the story - if you got an older car, get your point across before they install to give some polish love and bead seal if it's needed, cuz they apparently don't do it at all for customer provided tires, regardless of how bad they are. Then check pressure like a hawk and take the car back ASAP if you got a bead leak.

 

[doitmyself]

My personal experience in my area is that I can get local tire companies to get very close (sometimes better) to the price of DTD/local mounting prices. You end up with better service and better warranty without all of the hassle you went through.

Your good advice regarding wheel bead attention applies wherever you go.

Thanks for the update, but I got a different "moral of the story" than you.

 

[eljefino]

If you want the pragmatic approach, go in on a Tuesday when they're not busy and slip the tech a sawbuck when asking for the bead polishing. Yeah it "should be done anyway" but in this era of low unemployment you take care of the people you can get.

 

[mclasser]

Bead cleaning in the salt belt is necessary. I was going to have tires put on by Walmart recently but luckily, that plan fell through. I don't think those guys would have bothered cleaning up the beads. I instead went to my indy, who cleaned them and applied a sealer.