Thankfully today I have a story of a company who has their act together and who has performed at an exemplary level on all instances of customer contact at this visit.
What is most surprising is that this is the second time I've interacted with this company, Discount Tire, and I am going to share that experience as a prelude to today's encounter.
(Invoking the voice of Sophia Petrillo from the "Golden Girls") Picture this, cold ass Virginia winter day, 2018. I had purchased two rear tires for my paid for 21 year old Ford Escort from Walmart and for the umpteenth time, one of those new tires had deflated. The tire would hold air for about a week and Walmart could never find the issue. They just had me come back, spend three hours in their torture chamber waiting room while Jethro, Ramone, Tyrone, and Marvin (random names but you get the picture that never was the same name ever working on this car) would do something to the tire (not sure they actually did anything) and had my car ready at no charge with the tire looking fully inflated only to leave me with a flat tire on a rainy day just on my way to work.
That bothered me. That whole affair with Walmart had left a bad taste in my mouth. Usually I don't have issues with the tires there, but the waiting time was horrific, and adding multiple visits to this equation made the cost to me greater than just the price of the tires.
So on that cold day in 2018 when the four horsemen of tire installation incompetence had run its course through my last good nerve, I decided to go elsewhere for an inexpensive tire. Recently a new Discount Tire outlet had been constructed and was very close by. I decided that I was not insane and that I would not repeat the steps of producing an expectation of different results, so I took my elderly Ford and raise my ass for a reaming.
Boy, was I in for a surprise.
No sooner than I had parked my elderly, no-car-payment Ford into their parking space, I was greeted by a smiling, clean cut articulate man of African descent and he welcomed me to Discount Tire. He asked me what brought me here and I pointed to the tire that needed Viagra to stay functional. He understood and looked almost empathetic as I told him about my experience with Walmart. He indicated that rather than to sell me a new tire, they'd look at the offending unit and to determine what was happening.
The fine young man walked me to the front door, opened it for me, and had me fill out some paperwork and to sign a work order to determine if the tire was serviceable or if I would need a new tire. I expected that the tire would need to be replaced so my level of expectations had gone down the road of wallet rape.
To my amazement, the young technician who had pulled my vehicle into the garage came into the showroom/waiting area and had indicated that there was nothing wrong with the budget tires that I had purchased from Walmart. The problem was with the 21 year old steel wheels - not that they needed to be replaced, but because the original installer and his four horsemen of tire incompetence had not bothered to wipe the thin layer of rust that had accumulated inside the wheel since the reign of the Liar in Chief, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. The technician indicated that he thoroughly wiped the inside of the wheel so that the tire would properly seal against the rim which the rust was preventing. He inflated the tire and told me there would be no charge and that if there was an issue after this, they'd pursue other options including replacing the tire. And since this deflation issue was new to this tire, they would not recommend a new wheel.
Discount Tire fixed the problem on a tire that they did not sell and also pulled the car out of their garage and placed it at the front door of their establishment and got out of the car and handed me my keys and thanked me for allowing them to assist me.
I am no dumb old fool. After months and months of service on that tire without any other issues, I divorced Walmart automotive and made a mental check that I'd revisit Discount Tire for my next tire purchase.
Fast forward a year and that elderly Ford had been retired for a 2016 Hyundai Elantra with 21k miles and tires with an acceptable amount of tread. One year and 11k miles later, and with the vehicle due for its annual safety inspection, the tires were at the marginal level. Just enough tread would have passed inspection, but I'd be in need of a set of tires sooner than I would have cared to do. I had the money and did my due diligence research on a myriad of tires and brands that fit into my $100 per tire all in budget (including all installation fees, warranties, expenses). I went to various tire outlet websites to read reviews about various tires and slowly eliminating brands and select tires that did not also fit my 60k mileage warranty. I am fortunate in my life now where I am no longer having to set a low budget and to deal with the consequences of penny pinching due to financial circumstance.
Ultimately I target locked onto the Cooper Evolution Tour 60k mile warranty tire that was around $64 per tire and that could be ordered and fully paid for online and was in Discount's warehouse and would be available the next day at my outlet. I ordered this past Monday and they arrived by 9 am on the next day and I was offered an online appointment schedule that I could pick and I chose to have them installed this morning at 9am.
As you can surmise, I am writing this immediately upon returning from the installation. I arrived 15 minutes early and pulled into their parking lot and there was a sandwich board (white dry erase) and it had a parking space reserved for me by my name!
I was blushing. This was just too southern of a level of service I thought!
As soon as I pulled into my "reserved spot" out of the building was a fine young asian man who greeted me by my name (this is just too precious) and said he just wanted to check the tires and asked why I was changing. He did indicate to me that the tires I had "might pass inspection" but they were at 3/32nds and I would need to change them in a few months. 2/32nds passes inspection. I inquired why I chose Cooper and seemed impressed that I had done my homework. And Cooper tires are made in America. That would have sealed the deal given all things being equal between tires of choice.
The Asian gentleman escorted me to the front door and opened it for me and then we went to the computer to pull up the order and to finish the transaction. I did pay for a three year total replacement warranty down to 3/32nds of wear for $11 each. That cost was factored into my final cost of around $100 per tire.
Even though I had arrived early, he indicated that I would not have to wait for service and they pulled my Elantra into the shop and proceeded to work on the car. I was told it would take 30 minutes. It took 22 minutes. On this car and on most new cars there aren't rubber valve stems - there are metal ones that have gaskets and are attached to the wheel to seal it from leaks. They had my old valve stems in a bag and indicated that they had replaced all of them. The young lady who was the service attendant told me that she'd pull my car to the front of the store for me and that she'd be right back.
As promised my car was delivered to the front door and the service was simply amazing start to finish.
Discount Tire is UV Approved. I totally recommend them if you have one near you.
I shall offer reviews about the actual tires as I put some months and miles on them; I do get free tire repairs for the life of the tire and free tire rotation every six months, 6k miles as well; and should the tires wear out in three years with 3/32nds left on the tread then they are replaced as well so long as I have no exceeded the 60k mile mark.
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