Costco Tire Dilemma - Help!
03-08-14, 07:49 AM
#16
Lexus Fanatic
Should I share it with Costco and expose them for their bold face lie? I am mad.
Road force balancing and specifically the Hunter machine is so well established and touted, that I doubt ANY tire company would put themselves in a position that says their tire cannot hold up to the machines testing.
1010tire, tirerack, etc all use roadforce balancing and they handle all makes of tires.
03-08-14, 01:08 PM
#18
Pole Position
Well, we now know that Costco was wrong. Here is Michelin's reply to me:
Should I share it with Costco and expose them for their bold face lie? I am mad.
Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.
In regards to the email you sent stating:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Does the use of a Road Force type balancer, like the Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System, damage Michelin tires? I have a set of Pilot HX MXM4 tires and the dealer I bought them from is telling me having it done voids warranties of Michelin tires and causes belt separation issues. Is this true?
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No, the Hunter GSP9700 Road Force Balancer should not damage or harm your tires. Also, using this type of balancer will not void the warranty.
We value your business and thank you for choosing Michelin.
It is our goal to ensure that your issue has been resolved or your question answered to your satisfaction. If we can assist you further, please respond to this email or call us at 1-866-866-6605 (toll free) between 8:00AM and 8:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday or between 8:30AM and 4:30PM Eastern Time on Saturday.
Sincerely,
Consumer Care Department
Certified Michelin Product Expert
In regards to the email you sent stating:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Does the use of a Road Force type balancer, like the Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System, damage Michelin tires? I have a set of Pilot HX MXM4 tires and the dealer I bought them from is telling me having it done voids warranties of Michelin tires and causes belt separation issues. Is this true?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
No, the Hunter GSP9700 Road Force Balancer should not damage or harm your tires. Also, using this type of balancer will not void the warranty.
We value your business and thank you for choosing Michelin.
It is our goal to ensure that your issue has been resolved or your question answered to your satisfaction. If we can assist you further, please respond to this email or call us at 1-866-866-6605 (toll free) between 8:00AM and 8:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday or between 8:30AM and 4:30PM Eastern Time on Saturday.
Sincerely,
Consumer Care Department
Certified Michelin Product Expert
Should I share it with Costco and expose them for their bold face lie? I am mad.
03-09-14, 08:11 PM
#21
Driver
Thread Starter
Here is the latest:
The replacement tire was installed by Costco yesterday. As they were finishing up I asked to speak to the tire manager. He came out of the shop and I politely said "You got a minute?" He asked what I needed. I said that I appreciated him getting my car in and fixing the tire on a busy Saturday morning. I went on to say that I had done some research on the whole slipped belt/warranty issue. He stopped me and said, "You know the tire we replaced didn't even have a slipped belt." Which obviously doesn't help his argument. I said "Really? The other tire shop, which had no dog in the hunt said it did and the Road Force machine indicated it was out of round due to it." I kept going, "I spoke to Hunter and Michelin and they said there was no problem using a Road Force machine to balance the tires and it didn't void any warranty and couldn’t cause a slipped belt. Would you like to see the email responses from both companies? I have them here on my phone." At that point he just turned and walked away between the stacks of tires towards the front tire desk. Thinking he was going to check on something or get my key or paperwork, I spoke to his backside as he approached the tire desk, "All I really need to know is do I still have a tire warranty or not?” He didn't respond. I said it one more time as the customers and the Costco worker at the tire desk just watched with open mouths as he continued to ignore me. He did not answer again and kept walking. And kept walking…..past the tire desk and out the tire entrance door. I am sure I looked stunned to the customers at the tire desk as he exited. I thought, what an a$$. But I kept following him because I wanted an answer.
He ended up stopping at a vending machine near the main entrance membership desk. By then, I was smoking hot and thought to myself, “Screw it, I will just talk to the store manager”. So I just stopped at the main store membership counter and was in line to ask the next available Costco person to help me find the manager. After the tire manager proceeded to get his potato chips from the vending machine, he turned around and saw me at the main desk. I am sure he panicked a little because he made a beeline right over to me and said, “Do you need anything else?" I said, "Listen, all I need to know is if I have a warranty or not?” Like a jerk, he said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Two days ago you and the assistant manager told me that I no longer have a tire warranty since I used a Road Force machine. I need to know if I have a road hazard warranty or any tire warranty at all.” He said, “We already replaced your tires once (which is true, I hated the first set of Michelin Primacy’s and returned them two days after install due to the road noise). And we just replaced this tire, we have rebalanced your tires twice, so like I told you the other night we won’t replace any other tires.” I said, “So no tire warranty or road hazard?” He said "yes you have those warranties, just no warranty coverage for a slipped belt. We follow what Michelin says on their website.” He then walked away and said “Have a great day." I waited for a few minutes to decide if I wanted to hunt down the manager, but decided to just go. I had wasted too much of my Saturday.
By the way, after the tire was replaced, the car drives like a dream, no vibration at all. My days at Costco are over...after I fire off a letter to the Costco manager and corporate office. I do not expect a response. They didn't respond to my first email asking for clarification after the first go round.
The replacement tire was installed by Costco yesterday. As they were finishing up I asked to speak to the tire manager. He came out of the shop and I politely said "You got a minute?" He asked what I needed. I said that I appreciated him getting my car in and fixing the tire on a busy Saturday morning. I went on to say that I had done some research on the whole slipped belt/warranty issue. He stopped me and said, "You know the tire we replaced didn't even have a slipped belt." Which obviously doesn't help his argument. I said "Really? The other tire shop, which had no dog in the hunt said it did and the Road Force machine indicated it was out of round due to it." I kept going, "I spoke to Hunter and Michelin and they said there was no problem using a Road Force machine to balance the tires and it didn't void any warranty and couldn’t cause a slipped belt. Would you like to see the email responses from both companies? I have them here on my phone." At that point he just turned and walked away between the stacks of tires towards the front tire desk. Thinking he was going to check on something or get my key or paperwork, I spoke to his backside as he approached the tire desk, "All I really need to know is do I still have a tire warranty or not?” He didn't respond. I said it one more time as the customers and the Costco worker at the tire desk just watched with open mouths as he continued to ignore me. He did not answer again and kept walking. And kept walking…..past the tire desk and out the tire entrance door. I am sure I looked stunned to the customers at the tire desk as he exited. I thought, what an a$$. But I kept following him because I wanted an answer.
He ended up stopping at a vending machine near the main entrance membership desk. By then, I was smoking hot and thought to myself, “Screw it, I will just talk to the store manager”. So I just stopped at the main store membership counter and was in line to ask the next available Costco person to help me find the manager. After the tire manager proceeded to get his potato chips from the vending machine, he turned around and saw me at the main desk. I am sure he panicked a little because he made a beeline right over to me and said, “Do you need anything else?" I said, "Listen, all I need to know is if I have a warranty or not?” Like a jerk, he said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Two days ago you and the assistant manager told me that I no longer have a tire warranty since I used a Road Force machine. I need to know if I have a road hazard warranty or any tire warranty at all.” He said, “We already replaced your tires once (which is true, I hated the first set of Michelin Primacy’s and returned them two days after install due to the road noise). And we just replaced this tire, we have rebalanced your tires twice, so like I told you the other night we won’t replace any other tires.” I said, “So no tire warranty or road hazard?” He said "yes you have those warranties, just no warranty coverage for a slipped belt. We follow what Michelin says on their website.” He then walked away and said “Have a great day." I waited for a few minutes to decide if I wanted to hunt down the manager, but decided to just go. I had wasted too much of my Saturday.
By the way, after the tire was replaced, the car drives like a dream, no vibration at all. My days at Costco are over...after I fire off a letter to the Costco manager and corporate office. I do not expect a response. They didn't respond to my first email asking for clarification after the first go round.
03-10-14, 10:35 AM
#22
Lexus Fanatic
You done good Gov. In fact, you did better than good, since you apparently were able to maintain your composure throughout his insolence. I personally would not let it go. I would follow up and demand some response from Corporate. But that's me.
Glad it all worked out well for you in the end!
Glad it all worked out well for you in the end!
03-10-14, 11:44 AM
#23
Pole Position
Time to deal with the tire shops instead of Costco. Time is $$ and what Costco purported to save you by their "wholesale prices", they robbed you in your time, peace of mind, and confidence in their store operations. Time to move on...and follow up with Costco Corporate, as roadfrog suggested. But I wouldn't hold my breath about getting any satisfaction from Corporate.
Unless you are bleeding from their neglect or a faulty product, I doubt that they will care...sad to say. I really do hope I'm wrong about that. Truly.
Unless you are bleeding from their neglect or a faulty product, I doubt that they will care...sad to say. I really do hope I'm wrong about that. Truly.
Last edited by 1BlinkGone; 03-10-14 at 11:49 AM.
03-10-14, 04:32 PM
#24
Costco could not eliminate a slight vibration during my first rotation of the Pilot HX MXM4 I bought from them in December 2013. They tried twice to balance them on a traditional balancer. No luck.
I went back to Costco to have it replaced figuring it was covered under the manufacturer warranty or Costco's road hazard warranty. Well....they are going to replace it, but only after some arguing.:
I went back to Costco to have it replaced figuring it was covered under the manufacturer warranty or Costco's road hazard warranty. Well....they are going to replace it, but only after some arguing.:
Here is the latest:
The replacement tire was installed by Costco yesterday.
He said, “We already replaced your tires once (which is true, I hated the first set of Michelin Primacy’s and returned them two days after install due to the road noise). And we just replaced this tire, we have rebalanced your tires twice, so like I told you the other night we won’t replace any other tires.”
By the way, after the tire was replaced, the car drives like a dream, no vibration at all.
The replacement tire was installed by Costco yesterday.
He said, “We already replaced your tires once (which is true, I hated the first set of Michelin Primacy’s and returned them two days after install due to the road noise). And we just replaced this tire, we have rebalanced your tires twice, so like I told you the other night we won’t replace any other tires.”
By the way, after the tire was replaced, the car drives like a dream, no vibration at all.
After having to replace 4 brand new Michelin (not a cheapie generic brand) tires because you "hated" them, he then replaced a fifth tire (certainly legitimately) because it was defective. Trying to look at this from both sides, he seemed to have bent over backwards to satisfy you. I am not aware of any major tire dealer who will replace brand new tires simply because the owner decided he hated them. I've been buying all my tires from Tire Rack since 1990. They are probably the largest dealer in the country and you can't drive on the tires and then return perfectly good tires because you didn't like them. I checked Discount Tire and they have the same policy.
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them. From what I can see you were treated very fairly. Of course I will revert to my first post on this thread where I stated I would never buy my tires at Costco, it simply isn't their area of expertise, as the manager clearly demonstrated.
You can write letters of complaint, but what do you want them to do? Gov, I can appreciate that you are so close to this, rightfully frustrated with the whole episode, and I'm not excusing the manger's behavior, but from what I can see Costco did all right by you (and I only heard your side of the story). I would just forget about it and move on. Heck, I've learned more expensive lessons than this one!
03-10-14, 04:54 PM
#25
I was going to shut up, but I just can't help but comment. I've read all the posts carefully and tried to look at everything objectively. I've quoted what I think are very pertinent excerpts. I am setting aside the manger's demeanor and only focusing on the issue.
After having to replace 4 brand new Michelin (not a cheapie generic brand) tires because you "hated" them, he then replaced a fifth tire (certainly legitimately) because it was defective. Trying to look at this from both sides, he seemed to have bent over backwards to satisfy you. I am not aware of any major tire dealer who will replace brand new tires simply because the owner decided he hated them. I've been buying all my tires from Tire Rack since 1990. They are probably the largest dealer in the country and you can't drive on the tires and then return perfectly good tires because you didn't like them. I checked Discount Tire and they have the same policy.
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them. From what I can see you were treated very fairly. Of course I will revert to my first post on this thread where I stated I would never buy my tires at Costco, it simply isn't their area of expertise, as the manager clearly demonstrated.
You can write letters of complaint, but what do you want them to do? Gov, I can appreciate that you are so close to this, rightfully frustrated with the whole episode, and I'm not excusing the manger's behavior, but from what I can see Costco did all right by you (and I only heard your side of the story). I would just forget about it and move on. Heck, I've learned more expensive lessons than this one!
After having to replace 4 brand new Michelin (not a cheapie generic brand) tires because you "hated" them, he then replaced a fifth tire (certainly legitimately) because it was defective. Trying to look at this from both sides, he seemed to have bent over backwards to satisfy you. I am not aware of any major tire dealer who will replace brand new tires simply because the owner decided he hated them. I've been buying all my tires from Tire Rack since 1990. They are probably the largest dealer in the country and you can't drive on the tires and then return perfectly good tires because you didn't like them. I checked Discount Tire and they have the same policy.
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them. From what I can see you were treated very fairly. Of course I will revert to my first post on this thread where I stated I would never buy my tires at Costco, it simply isn't their area of expertise, as the manager clearly demonstrated.
You can write letters of complaint, but what do you want them to do? Gov, I can appreciate that you are so close to this, rightfully frustrated with the whole episode, and I'm not excusing the manger's behavior, but from what I can see Costco did all right by you (and I only heard your side of the story). I would just forget about it and move on. Heck, I've learned more expensive lessons than this one!
Having said that, I just got my Michelin AS3's installed from Costco and they ride pretty sweet so no complaints so far, but I got an awesome deal, lol and I got my receipt, so if things go south, I'll go back and bring my homeboy Bubba to do the talking, lol. BTW my car feels faster with the AS3's.
03-10-14, 06:06 PM
#26
Lexus Fanatic
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them.
Lets face it....the tire manager tried to pull a fast one on the OP and it backfired....simple as that.
Pretty sure COSTCO will follow up. Customer satisfaction is their forte.
Last edited by roadfrog; 03-10-14 at 06:09 PM.
03-10-14, 09:47 PM
#27
Driver
Thread Starter
I was going to shut up, but I just can't help but comment. I've read all the posts carefully and tried to look at everything objectively. I've quoted what I think are very pertinent excerpts. I am setting aside the manger's demeanor and only focusing on the issue.
After having to replace 4 brand new Michelin (not a cheapie generic brand) tires because you "hated" them, he then replaced a fifth tire (certainly legitimately) because it was defective. Trying to look at this from both sides, he seemed to have bent over backwards to satisfy you. I am not aware of any major tire dealer who will replace brand new tires simply because the owner decided he hated them. I've been buying all my tires from Tire Rack since 1990. They are probably the largest dealer in the country and you can't drive on the tires and then return perfectly good tires because you didn't like them. I checked Discount Tire and they have the same policy.
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them. From what I can see you were treated very fairly. Of course I will revert to my first post on this thread where I stated I would never buy my tires at Costco, it simply isn't their area of expertise, as the manager clearly demonstrated.
You can write letters of complaint, but what do you want them to do? Gov, I can appreciate that you are so close to this, rightfully frustrated with the whole episode, and I'm not excusing the manger's behavior, but from what I can see Costco did all right by you (and I only heard your side of the story). I would just forget about it and move on. Heck, I've learned more expensive lessons than this one!
After having to replace 4 brand new Michelin (not a cheapie generic brand) tires because you "hated" them, he then replaced a fifth tire (certainly legitimately) because it was defective. Trying to look at this from both sides, he seemed to have bent over backwards to satisfy you. I am not aware of any major tire dealer who will replace brand new tires simply because the owner decided he hated them. I've been buying all my tires from Tire Rack since 1990. They are probably the largest dealer in the country and you can't drive on the tires and then return perfectly good tires because you didn't like them. I checked Discount Tire and they have the same policy.
From the merchant's standpoint, what are they supposed to do with those two day old tires? They certainly can't sell them as new. They have to take a huge write off on them. From what I can see you were treated very fairly. Of course I will revert to my first post on this thread where I stated I would never buy my tires at Costco, it simply isn't their area of expertise, as the manager clearly demonstrated.
You can write letters of complaint, but what do you want them to do? Gov, I can appreciate that you are so close to this, rightfully frustrated with the whole episode, and I'm not excusing the manger's behavior, but from what I can see Costco did all right by you (and I only heard your side of the story). I would just forget about it and move on. Heck, I've learned more expensive lessons than this one!
We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. The following must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund: televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, touchscreen tablets, MP3 players and cellular phones.
Tires are no different than any other consumer good in Costco's eyes. Mine too. And Costco set the policy, not me. To their credit, they honored it. I just don't like the fact they threw it back in my face when the second set had one tire with a defect. Costco shouldn't try to use that return policy to justify any warranty position. It is a non issue IMO. It was a separate transaction. They refunded my money on the first set and I purchased different tires. He was trying to guilt me into feeling like they had already done MORE than they should. No, Costco did what they were suppose to do, by their own policy. In other words, don't complain when I use your return policy to fix an issue.....with your product.
Simply said, the tire manager got caught in a bold face lie, provided horrific customer service and worse yet, didn't care. If he was one of my employees, I would want to know how he treated a customer. So they shall. Thanks for the feedback. I will write the letter to management when I have some time on a plane this week.
03-10-14, 10:51 PM
#28
Gov, you have acted correctly and with full justification in every respect. You gave the tire manager an opportunity to redeem his atrocious behavior; he refused to take it and instead went off on you all over again. You are well within your rights to let Costco management know they have a problem employee who requires retraining at a minimum and possibly the opportunity to pursue employment elsewhere, perhaps car sales...
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10-24-14 04:33 PM
