Quick Lane attempted to fraudulently upsell me

Originally Posted by ka9mnx
$40.00 for a 4-wheel balance is a good deal too.

Don't disagree with the price, when it is needed. Normally they charge $49.95 for rotation and balance 4 four wheels. The rotation is part of the "Works" package. I think I will go out and check the oil level now that has settled for over 24 hours. The trust factor has been lowered.
 
I dont trust most mechanics at shops like that, most are forced to become salesman.

thats why you end up with slashed axle boots, unbalanced tires, leaks, worn clutches, missing screws/bolts/caps, unhooked ac wires, I can go on and on...
 
Originally Posted by Hermann
...The order writer asks me if I wished to balance the tire. I ask how much to balance that tire. His response was that they only balance all four tires and it cost $40. My response was that I had not felt anything out of sorts. I declined.

Yesterday morning I took a morning drive on some newly laid pavement at speeds up to 75mph. There was the usual difference in steering feel after a rotation, which normally goes away after a few drives. The rotation was part of the "Works" package. I felt no vibrations either through the wheel or the seats. Unhooked the sun visor and it did not do a dance.

I truly believe they tried to scam me. Before taking the truck there I noticed nothing out of sorts. When doing rotations is checking of balance a normal thing? Probably will not go back there as I no longer trust them. Would you?


Something doesn't add up here.

Did you see them balance and rotate the tires?

After a road drive you then assume they did a balance and rotation?

What items on the ticket leads you to this conclusion?
 
Don't feel too bad, last time the company van went for the "free" Works package, they didn't even bother to do the requested rotation (I can tell BC they never reset the TPMS & I have to do it myself the next day)! If I ever find a Ford dealer I can trust, I would go there exclusively-haven't found one yet...
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One thing that annoys me is having tires replaced and finding the pressures not bled out after the bead is set. Happens more often than not.

Work ethic is no more.
 
Originally Posted by MolaKule
Originally Posted by Hermann
...The order writer asks me if I wished to balance the tire. I ask how much to balance that tire. His response was that they only balance all four tires and it cost $40. My response was that I had not felt anything out of sorts. I declined.

Yesterday morning I took a morning drive on some newly laid pavement at speeds up to 75mph. There was the usual difference in steering feel after a rotation, which normally goes away after a few drives. The rotation was part of the "Works" package. I felt no vibrations either through the wheel or the seats. Unhooked the sun visor and it did not do a dance.

I truly believe they tried to scam me. Before taking the truck there I noticed nothing out of sorts. When doing rotations is checking of balance a normal thing? Probably will not go back there as I no longer trust them. Would you?


Something doesn't add up here.

Did you see them balance and rotate the tires?

After a road drive you then assume they did a balance and rotation?

What items on the ticket leads you to this conclusion?


During the tire and wheel rotation part of the "Works" package, they came to me and said the one tire going to the left front position was out of balance. They offered no info beyond that. I paused for a couple seconds and then said I hadn't notice any vibrations. And declined the balancing. The was no pushback from the service writer. If they would have been willing to balance just the one I would have done it. My thoughts were they wanted me to pay $10 each for the other 3 that must have concluded were fine.

The tires were rotated. I declined the balance service.

The next morning I went to a newly repaved stretch of Interstate and could not feel any vibrations up to 75mph. I dont drive faster than that anymore. There was none before I went there.

I saw them remove and move around the wheels. My sight line to the shop was not the best.

There was nothing on the ticket other than I declined their offer to balance the wheels and tires. Balancing is not included in the "Works" package.
 
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All of my vehicles in our family including when my company had many Aerostar work vans, we always rotate and re-balance tires at 5-6,000 miles. 75% of the time the tires were off enough it showed up on the machine. I use Americas Tire so I get the lifetime rotation and balance which by most shops pricing pays for itself in 2 rotations/re balancing. Rides are always smooth and I believe I get the max out any given tire. Regarding the OP I have no problem with Ford suggesting re-balancing the tires..with the exception of saying one being out of balance. The service writer just should have suggested the re-balancing and if it jogged your memory to have it done then fine..If not..On to the next customer. If they re-balanced before/without getting permission they should have just eaten the minimal cost
 
Originally Posted by ka9mnx
$40.00 for a 4-wheel balance is a good deal too.



This.

It's amazing how cheap people are these days, and they wonder why everything is made in China and doesn't last. $40 for a 4-wheel balance, I'm sure the tech doing the balance makes under $20 an hour, the shop has overhead fees, taxes, and other expenses. Of course shops and other places will up-sell, how else will they stay afloat, by giving away free balances and selling tires for $20? This isn't the 1960s anymore. I know taxes and running costs in my area are through the roof, and many of the local tire shops have closed because they can't afford to keep up with the big chains who undercut them by paying workers minimum wage. I'm sure the guy making $10 an hour fresh out of high school really knows what he is doing...
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Your front tire might have lost a weight, so they felt it needed to be balanced, who knows. Up-selling isn't really a scam compared to the actual scams some places run like charging for work they didn't do, or recommending parts be replaced that aren't worn.

For what it's worth I lost 2 stick-on weights on a front passenger wheel on my BMW, and it didn't mess with the balance enough for me to notice.
 
If you just pay to have one tire balanced, would you be back the next day to complain of imbalance in what you're sure is that tire, but really the odds are one in four?

Allowing that would be a nightmare for the service writer and tech who has to keep bringing a car in, over and over.

They have the right to refuse half-baked work, just as you have the right to shop somewhere else.
 
Can't complain about what was never there in the 1st place. I still feel I made the right decision to defer any balancing. My guess is they have an old static balancer for a quick check and sell from that that reading. There was no way they were putting each wheel on a fancy machine, I was in and out in 30 minutes.

At least they got the oil level correct. Just slightly above the max fill marking.
 
Sounds like they have a loose definition for out of balance. This is like how alignments work -- there is a range of acceptable values, and cheaper places will get the alignment to read in the green because that's the quickest way / is "good enough" for many people.

Vote with your feet.
 
Originally Posted by Hermann
Can't complain about what was never there in the 1st place. I still feel I made the right decision to defer any balancing. My guess is they have an old static balancer for a quick check and sell from that that reading. There was no way they were putting each wheel on a fancy machine, I was in and out in 30 minutes.

At least they got the oil level correct. Just slightly above the max fill marking.


Well, this is only your side of the story and the salient facts support the conclusion that the recommendation for balancing APPEARS to be without merit.

Others including you and my own time as a mechanic have already stated that without test driving, doing a balance or physically seeing some type of defect/missing weight- theres no way that determination could be made with any degree of confidence.

Claiming it to be a "scam" might be going beyond the evidence at the moment.

Not knowing and not being there, the mechanic may have seen something that wasn't related to you, the service writer was inexperienced or simply wrong or possibly a few other "innocent" errors.

In no way am I impugning your account or attempting to give the business a pass or excuse the recommendation.

This is one however I would bring to the attention of the facility manager and see the outcome before I would go to the level of a scam.

I think that reasonable.
 
$40 for a 4 wheel balance is a good deal... IF you get a good balance.

Did they check the balance on that 1 wheel? Who knows. Why the only do 4 policy on such a cheap service? Who knows.

Too many unknowns here. Nothing wrong with saying "no", though.
 
Originally Posted by ABN_CBT_ENGR
Originally Posted by Hermann
Can't complain about what was never there in the 1st place. I still feel I made the right decision to defer any balancing. My guess is they have an old static balancer for a quick check and sell from that that reading. There was no way they were putting each wheel on a fancy machine, I was in and out in 30 minutes.

At least they got the oil level correct. Just slightly above the max fill marking.


Well, this is only your side of the story and the salient facts support the conclusion that the recommendation for balancing APPEARS to be without merit.

Others including you and my own time as a mechanic have already stated that without test driving, doing a balance or physically seeing some type of defect/missing weight- theres no way that determination could be made with any degree of confidence.

Claiming it to be a "scam" might be going beyond the evidence at the moment.

Not knowing and not being there, the mechanic may have seen something that wasn't related to you, the service writer was inexperienced or simply wrong or possibly a few other "innocent" errors.

In no way am I impugning your account or attempting to give the business a pass or excuse the recommendation.

This is one however I would bring to the attention of the facility manager and see the outcome before I would go to the level of a scam.

I think that reasonable.


Agree,

Something as honest and innocent from the tech as "tire has got a lot of weight on it, we could maybe improve it with a balance" could easily turn into "tires out of balance" from SA. SA are salesmen, pure and simple. Plus, ever play that telephone game?

My experience with Quick Lane has been for the most part positive, though they never seem to remember to reset the TMPS (and sometimes not the TP which is not the same front to rear.). Other than that they do what they say, I've been in them from NE to SC and many spots in between...

I'm not defending them, and agree you should talk to management, but scam and fraud might be a little strong at this point and if you think trying to upsell a balance from a rotate is a scam, wait till you step in some of the other places.

IME though, properly balanced once when mounted is fine barring an "event" doesn't need it again for a long time, maybe not till the next set of tires.
 
I would bet if the tires were moved back to their original positions, the vibration will return. The rear is more forgiving than the front. Still puzzled? Go look to see if there are shiny new weights on your rims. I doubt they are going to give you a free balance job.
 
Originally Posted by Lubener
I would bet if the tires were moved back to their original positions, the vibration will return. The rear is more forgiving than the front. Still puzzled? Go look to see if there are shiny new weights on your rims. I doubt they are going to give you a free balance job.


Prior to going to having the service done, there were no vibrations. There are no vibrations now. I have never had a steering wheel shimmy, vibration in the seats or a dancing sunvisor when taken out of the clip in the 14K miles I have owned this new truck.

They were creating the vibrations by telling me I had a tire and wheel which was out of balance. The balance may be off a smidge and they thought they could get $40 extra to start off the day.
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
$40 for a 4 wheel balance is a good deal... IF you get a good balance.

Did they check the balance on that 1 wheel? Who knows. Why the only do 4 policy on such a cheap service? Who knows.

Too many unknowns here. Nothing wrong with saying "no", though.


That's what I did and more convinced than ever that this was simply an attempt at AAR
 
I'm fortunate in that I have an SA, who tells me things like "You have a power steering hose seeping a bit, I wouldn't replace it until it starts to drip- and that probably won't happen for another 50,000 miles."
 
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