Quick Lane attempted to fraudulently upsell me

Hermann

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Went to Quick Lane on Saturday for the "Works" package. All was normal, (4th time going there for this service) then I am informed that the tire that is moving to the FL position is out of balance. I was their 1st customer of the day at 6:30am.

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?
 
How did they notice it was out of balance if they didn't throw it on the balancer? Sounds like they did 90% of the check and then tried to upsell when one wheel was off a little.

I call Scam. Nice job declining. That said, they still have a business to run and most QL's usually upsell. Maybe scam is a little harsh.

I have an Atlas tire machine and computer balancer at my house. I have checked the balance of wheels here and there and corrected as needed, but my wife or I never felt anything out of the ordinary. If a wheel is a quarter ounce off, technically it's "out of balance". You can make that go away by brushing rocks out of the tread or sometimes repositioning the wheel on the machine. Computer balancers are nice, but they all have a percentage of error, like any other machine.
 
They took the weights off or moved them
lol.gif
 
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Originally Posted by Zaedock
How did they notice it was out of balance if they didn't throw it on the balancer? Sounds like they did 90% of the check and then tried to upsell when one wheel was off a little.

I call Scam. Nice job declining. That said, they still have a business to run and most QL's usually upsell. Maybe scam is a little harsh.



Maybe a bit harsh but gets the idea across. At almost $60 out the door, they are making a fair profit IMO, considering they are using Motorcraft bulk oil. They do use Motorcraft oil filters.
 
Originally Posted by DuckRyder
How, precisely did they determine the tire was out of balance? (this BTW, would have been my question to them)


This is my question also, that is why this screams of unneeded upsell. When I told them I hadn't noticed anything, and declined the balance, were basically the last words I said while I was there. Check out was chilly. Just paid and left.
 
Originally Posted by SevenBizzos
Wait. Are you saying an auto place tried to perform service that wasn't necessary?

That never happens.



Yep. My son-in-law was the Parts Mgr for a certain dealership for 2 years. He left and found out later
he was never considered for the Service Mgr position because he was "too honest." I am only referring
to this one particular dealership so don't get your undies in a wedgy.

LOL
 
I ran into the same thing this weekend!

Took my as-new 2019 Silverado in for its first car wash - guy tried to get me to pay an extra $1 for the underbody flush. Truck's only seen pavement!

I declined
 
Originally Posted by tblt44
They took the weights off or moved them
lol.gif


I put 'orange' paint around my weights/rims to know if any ever fell off / would also be good to know if any Shop decided to remove them.

With the way the economy is today, I think there will be a lot of 'upselling' in ALL business's.
 
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They probably balanced them anyway, maybe the "new guy" did it by accident, by not reading the R.O. closely, and then they tried billing you for it.

Some places do rotates, some do rotates & balances, and mechanics move around with old habits.

It seems like a wasted effort to mount a tire to a balancer then not do anything with the weights, particularly if they then move it to the new position on your car, only to "maybe" later get to re-do everything.

I don't see it as a scam, and I would still trust them with your/my business. I'm thankful that a tire balancer can measure and correct imbalance more minor than I can feel the symptoms of. If you hadn't seen the balancer readout (of 0.25 oz or whatever) you can't be sure this was "fraudulent."
 
In my experience 9 out of 10 tires are out of balance when doing tire rotations, so I always balance to avoid comebacks.
 
Originally Posted by Jimmy_Russells
Originally Posted by IMSA_Racing_Fan
Dang a whole dollar.


My thoughts exactly


No doubt. For an extra buck I would've gotten the full meal deal. I'd rather keep it clean rather than having to clean it off.
 
Originally Posted by Hermann
Went to Quick Lane on Saturday for the "Works" package. All was normal, (4th time going there for this service) then I am informed that the tire that is moving to the FL position is out of balance. I was their 1st customer of the day at 6:30am.

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?



I get my tires rebalanced/rotated evey second or third oil change and the ride of my vehcile is always noticeably smoother after it's done. t's one of those things you will not notice if you don't have it done-but will notice if you do.

A rebalnce at $10.00/wheel is a great price BTW.
 
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Originally Posted by IMSA_Racing_Fan
Agreed. I think the issue is the sales pitch by the service adviser.


It's a quick lube place, no? Upselling is pretty much the business model.
 
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