this morning on the way to work, i followed some sort of truck-van vehicle with a large portrait of Admiral Hap E. Smiles on the back of it.
if you're bored enough to be reading this, you're bored enough to hear my tire story.
i went to walmart on saturday morning to buy some new tires for the neon. the ones that were on there came new with the car and a 40,000 mile warranty. the odometer was at 39,262 on saturday and the tires were bald as can be. i mean worn all the way down to the little indicator bars. they're predicting snow flurries soon, so i figured it would probably be as good a time as any to replace them.
i showed up at the tire & lube center at about 11:15. i told the girl (dana) i wanted four new tires installed. i picked out the goodyear viva 2, expecting to pay about $250 total after the installation and everything. dana told me it would be about 2 hours, so i went out shopping and had my first superhero sighting.
an hour and 45 minutes later, i went back. they told me my car was almost done, so i sat down and waited. it took them another 45 minutes to finish it, but finally i went up to pay. the guy behind the counter, lorenzo, told me my total was $201.07.
me: wait a second, could you tell me that again?
lorenzo: $201.07.
me: for four tires and installation?
lorenzo: yeah.
me: for four goodyear viva 2s and installation?
lorenzo: yeah. four of 'em. $201.07.
me: ok, that's just cheaper than i thought it would be. great!
so i paid $201.07. as i was walking outside, i started looking at my receipt, which clearly listed 3 tires, 3 valve stems, and 3 installations. hmmm. well, i thought, maybe there is some sort of discount deal going on that i don't know about. glad i came today!
i got out to the car, ready to kick my new tires... and discovered that i had three (3) new tires. and one old bald one on the driver's side rear. riiight. so i went back in and found my buddy lorenzo.
me: excuse me, you only put 3 tires on my car.
lorenzo: what?
me: THREE (3) TIRES. you only charged me for three, which is cool and all, but i need four tires.
at this point, dana pipes up.
dana: oh yeah, see, what happened was, somebody came in right before you and needed 2 of the same kind of tires. and we only had 5 in stock. so we gave you three.
(as if this is obviously the best solution to the problem. don't bother telling me that you don't have the four tires you've promised to put on my car. just give me three and hope i don't notice.)
me: so how do i get my fourth tire?
lorenzo and dana: *blank stares*
me: i'm not just going to drive around like this! that fourth tire is bald! i need a new one!
finally, lorenzo tells me that they're getting a new shipment in on monday at 11 a.m. he promises me (in writing) that if i come in on monday, they'll give me a goodyear viva 2 for $30. a pain in the butt, but whatever, holiday cheer, i'm nice about it. i tell him that i'm going to be there at precisely 5:30 p.m. on monday for my 4th tire, and that i didn't want to have to wait 3 hours to have it installed.
lorenzo starts to write down my information, to make SURE that whoever was working would know i was coming at 5:30 for my viva 2. looking off my receipt, he first writes CAROLYN PACK. i said, "no, it's hack. with an H. not a P. HACK. H-A-C-K." (i get a strange déjà vu at this point, because i had spelled it exactly the same way to dana 3 hours earlier.)
lorenzo: but the receipt says Pack.
me: but my name is Hack.
next he writes my phone number, finishing with 75.
me: seventy. not seventy five.
lorenzo: *blank stare*
me: it's a ZERO. seven-zero.
lorenzo: but the receipt says 7-5.
me: the receipt is wrong!
lorenzo: who checked you out?!
me: *points at dana, a foot away* SHE DID.
deflated, i go home with Baldy and the Vivas.
fast-forward. 5:30 p.m. monday. i arrive at the tire & lube center. i tell the girl at the counter (not dana) that i was here on saturday morning. i asked for 4 tires and was given 3. lorenzo and dana promised me that i could have a goodyear viva 2 for $30 (here it is in writing), and that i wouldn't have to wait, since i waited for 3 hours on saturday. she walks off to find someone else.
in comes another guy (not lorenzo).
guy: i'm going to have to have a talk with lorenzo and dana. they just don't have the authority to tell people they don't have to wait and can just jump in front of 8 other people.
he takes my key anyway and disappears into the garage. i sit down with my iPod to drown out the trashy people yelling at each other on some staticky court show on the TV. about 15 minutes later, the girl comes over to me.
girl: did they tell you those tires would be here today?
me: yes. lorenzo said they'd be in at 11 a.m. he even said i could come on my lunch break today if i wanted to, but i told him i'd be here at precisely 5:30, which i was.
girl: cuz, well, we didn't get any of those tires today.
me: *blank stare*
girl: so do you want like a better tire instead? cuz we'll give you a better one if you want.
me: no, i don't want a better one. i want TWO. i won't have tires that will wear unevenly. so, i'll need 2 better ones. you can put them both on the back. and i'm not going to pay any more than $30, because i'm not satisfied with the level of service i have received so far.
girl: oh. ok.
then a little kid came over to play with me. he was probably about 4. he was wearing a hat with very long strings hanging off the ear flaps that he said were spider legs. he kept "tickling" me with them. then he went to get a drink at the water fountain. he came back and told me that santa claus was flying above the ceiling. i didn't believe him. i told him i thought he was still making toys at the north pole. then he went to get another drink at the water fountain and went home with his mom, who had bought him (or some other kid?) a box of something called "ele-phun."
i sat there until 6:45, but didn't feel too bad because there was a couple there who had come in for an oil change and tire repair at 2 p.m. they were still there when i left.
and that's how i ended up with a pair of 80,000 mile warranty tires for $30. VIVA LA NEON!!! :D
Posted at 9:43 PM | Comments (6)
sounds entirely too annoying, but at least there was a happy ending!
By 
, at
1:25 AM
enTIREly too annoying? eh? eh? :D
OMG CHEESE
By , at
1:25 AM
I have a funny walmart tire story wish I would have studied before I bought them in the first place. Firstt I bought two viva 2 tires for my car. I turned down the road hazzard thinking that would be kinda silly my husband friend has a shop he would plug them for nothing. Then 20 days later I ran into a rose stem. A ROSE STEM! This piece of flower punctured the sidewall of my tire. So back to walmart slowly. I talked to the guy at the counter. His first thing he said was it was a thorn. I said yes a piece of a rose bush maybe, but not a huge thorn. So he went to get the manager on duty. She knew nothing about tires. She said cant you patch it. It is sidewall damage patching is never recomended on the sidewall.I said this is a 20 day old tire I haven't even put 1000 miles on it. How is it safe if you run over a stick and it punctures your tire. So the lady offered me 20 dollars off a new tire. I said no way I am not paying for a new tire when I bought the new ones less than 3 weeks ago. My friend came in and said she was going to contact the news station for their shady dealings and the law states you have 30 days to return your tires. Anyway I guess the people got tired of hearing us be upset and said they would give me a new tire. I said ok, but you have to give me the chance to buy the additional road hazzard. She said sure so for less than 20 bucks if I hit another piece of wood they can fight me a little less to fix them. However they prorate if its longer than the 3 weeks.lol. Well I will know now not to buy tires from walmart. They are supposed to warranty the viva 2's goodyear doesnt offer any warranty on them.
By , at
9:30 PM
ok so i work at a wal mart tire and lube express and i just came across this post while looking at prices of tires other places. first of all, if the tire and lube express put 3 tires on your car and did not replace the fourth that is a violation of walmart policy. tires under 3/32 treadwear cannot be left on a car after doing tire work. also, walmart will not replace only one tire on an axel unless the old tire is the same one. so unless the previous tires were viva 2's, the workers at the walmart you visited were violating state laws and their own job laws.
and a comment to anonymous...you bought tires but you turned down the road hazard. you have 30 days to return tires if you carry them out of a store and do not have them mounted on your car. the mileage warranty that the tires come with are from the manufacturer so once walmart sells you the tire and you drive off, if something happens walmart is no longer obligated to do anything for you. thats why walmart offers you a seperate warranty. also, the manager that told you the tire could not be replaced obviously knew something about tires because she was in fact correct. no automotive store will fix a puncture on a sidewall. it creates an unsafe driving condition and could possibly damage your rim and other parts on the tire.
a wal-mart garage is the same as any other garage in the area, except they strive to keep you happy with low prices. all of the techs that work in the garage have been to school and are certified mechanics. so im sorry that those workers did that to you but that is not walmarts fault, that is the workers failure to follow guidelines.
By , at
12:41 PM
You're very lucky that it worked out for you. I bought 2 new tires for my vehicle and was told repeatedly (by 3 different people, Assist. Manager, Support Manager and Associatate) that the roadside assistance was included. I had a defective blowout in my driveway and when I took the tire back to Walmart they refused to honor the roadside assistance and refused to look at the tire and see that it was a defect. So I walked out, after 2 hours of fighting with every manager I could, with nothing and a broken tire that I couldn't even drive on.
By , at
3:02 PM
