Discount Tire Shadiness
Apparently Discount Tire has joined the ranks of businesses like rental car companies that secretly add items to your bill in hopes that you don’t notice. I got a new spare tire for the boat trailer last week and, when paying, I noticed that the cost was a bit high but when I asked the employee about it he said some stuff about installation and environmental fees and such. I went ahead and paid my bill because they don’t give you the actual invoice until afterwards. When he showed me the invoice, I saw that he had snuck a $14.95 charge for a road hazard warranty on there! I told him he had better remove that and I was very forceful about the fact that this isn’t how to do business. He said he thought I had worked it out with the previous guy. I’ll bet he did. It actually turns out that this is standard practice at Discount Tire because Tiffany got tires at another location a couple days beforehand and, upon looking back at her bill, she had been charged an extra $60 overall. After talking to me, she went back to the store and demanded her money back as well.
Overall, Discount Tire didn’t end up getting the money and they lost two customers. I actually was the one who recommended them to Tiffany because I had never experienced the sort of sales tactics there that I had seen at other places, but now I have no plans to go back without a very compelling reason. This is what capitalism in America has turned into. Having a storefront is no longer about selling a better product or service than the other guy. It’s about tricking people into paying more than they should. For one thing, these warrantees are not worth it unless you plan to drive through construction zones everyday. For another, my tire is a spare mounted to the side of my trailer. It will need replaced 7 years from now because of cracking, not road hazards. When I go to a store (particularly automotive places), I tend to know exactly what I’m looking for. I need the salespeople to give me (just) that thing at a good price with good service. Otherwise I don’t come back.