Just Tires scratched my rims

[Carl]

Yesterday I went to Just Tires to mount some 205/50/16 SP Sport FM 901 Dunlops on 2 of my oem polished alloys which were clean. I told the Customer Advisor that NTB wouldn't put them on with 50mm profile or lower, so I was glad that Just Tires would.

I get them back and one of the rims had a scratch on half of the circumference. The other had one decent scratch. I showed them to the Customer Advisor, and he said there was nothing he could do. I asked, "Where's the tech that installed them?" "It's that guy in the white shirt." I argued with the Customer Advisor for getting 2 new rims. I wanted to ask the tech that did this and the Customer Advisor said that his shift was over at 7:00. I checked the time and it was 7:15. Hmm, how convenient.

I went back there today to show the manager. He said that the machine wouldn't do the damage to the rims. The tech was, of course, not there. I told him that a friend of mine had a rim damaged at Firestone and they were "willing" to replace the rim free of charge. I guess Just Tires in Arlington Heights, IL is not for customer service.

Anyone know the District/Regional rep for Just Tires for Chicagoland? The manager said that he doesn't have one.

:bs: :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

[Sir Nuke]

sorry to hear this.....sounds like you are getting the run around and possibly screwed....

one thing that a LOT of shops do is post a sign that states that damage to "custom" rims, i.e. any alloy rim, is NOT the resposibility of the shop. which allows them to get away with this crap legally......but as we all know with the new touchless machines these days that there is no reason for this mess....and its certainly bad for customer service/business.

 

[Dismagik]

Here's What to Do

I am sorry to here that but maybe I can help, I was a claims supervisor for a large scale valet operation here in SO CA. This is what I would do if this happened here in CA. Remember that even if they have a sign stating No liability for damage caused to custom wheels this would only apply to CUSTOM wheels not OE polished aluminum wheels.


1) Look at your invoice, if the wheels were scratched before the service the tech should have marked this on all copies of the invoice. If this was not done then you have the Bullets. But you need the Gun for the Bullets to be useful.

2) They need to sign a letter that is written by you. All the letter needs to say is that Your wheels were serviced on (DATE) and received 2 scratches (DISCRIBE THE SCRATCHES). I reported this to (CUSTOMER ADVISOR TITLE AND NAME) and he informed you that there was nothing they could do for you. I was given no paperwork to fill out to show that a complaint was made prior to me leaving the complex. [This is important because if you left the property then they can say that there are no ways for them to investigate weather or not the wheels were scratched while the vehicle was being serviced.] I returned the next day and spoke with (NAME AND TITLE) and he, as well, informed me that there was nothing that could be done, never gave me paperwork, and when asked to speak with somebody else said there was no one.

You must elaborate on all of these small points with accurate times, Dates, Names, Reason you went to Just Tires, and ACCURATE quotes. If you don't remember something then don't quote it, because one bad quote will ruin this whole thing.

You need to have 4 Drafts of the letter.
Letter A) Very Descriptive w/ a lot of details and quotes

Letter B) Very Descriptive w/ a lot of details and quotes but also has a statement saying something along the lines of saying "this letter does not admit liability on the part of Just Tires Store #____ or (YOUR NAME) but simply states that (YOUR NAME) made an original complaint on (DATE) and responsible party will be determined at a later time.

Letter C) Little description only DATES, TIMES, and NAMES

Letter D) Little description only DATES, TIMES, and NAMES but also has a statement saying something along the lines of saying "this letter does not admit liability on the part of Just Tires Store #____ or (YOUR NAME) but simply states that (YOUR NAME) made an original complaint on (DATE) and responsible party will be determined at a later time.

You should be walking into the store with a folder w/ 8 sheets of paper. You want them to sign letter A first and have them only sign D as a last resort. If you get these then you have the gun but you need to be careful with these and not get cocky.

3) You need to bee humble but strong, do not yell, raise your voice, or let you temper out of control. They will antagonize you to get you to blow up if they think they can. And if they blow up because you are smarter than them then all you do is say " I don't feel that this is going anywhere may I please have your supervisors name, number and title.

Make sure that you take a pad of paper (one of those yellow legal pads, it makes you look professional) to take notes of any bad quotes of such.

Always present yourself as "GREATER" than them but with a lot of subtlety. Never sit down first and if there is only one chair stay standing. (All Great Non-Verbal Communication).

This is all I have to say to you and if you have any questions please leave on the board or E-MAIL I am always on here on the weekends. Just remember to stay calm and speak the truth because one exaggeration will blow your chances of getting new wheels.

 

[Dismagik]

Sorry for the long post

I also have those tires. I love the look of them but hate the Road Noise

 

[Heathen23]

Carl that sucks!

You don't want to deal with the tech at all. Just reach as high as you can in management and you can go with two strategies;

1. b**** so loud and hard they will have to attend to you just to shut you up.

2. Go nice anc sincere and hope they realize how much your car means to you.

#1 would be my vote, the "squeeky wheel always get's the grease".

Oh, and nice avaitar. YOu should get the "too wicked" vynl for your trans am

 

[Dismagik]

Squeeky Wheel Yes but don't be a Jerk about this I have been on the other side of the coin and I always wanted to work somthing out with the nice guy defore giving a freebee to an A**hole. And one thing I forgot to say that Hethen said do go as high as you can because the more important sombody is the less they will want to deal with petty S**t and to them this is just petty. But what ever you do never yell @them because you them loose all credibility.

When sombody starts yelling it always seemed to me that they were trying to prove somthing to themselves not to me.

 

[drumsbeloud]

it's people like Dismagik that make this site the s***!

 

[Dismagik]

Thank You I try to help.

 

[Heathen23]

Squeeky Wheel Yes but don't be a Jerk about this I have been on the other side of the coin and I always wanted to work somthing out with the nice guy defore giving a freebee to an A**hole. And one thing I forgot to say that Hethen said do go as high as you can because the more important sombody is the less they will want to deal with petty S**t and to them this is just petty. But what ever you do never yell @them because you them loose all credibility.

You are absolutely correct about being an ass to people. However, he has already received the run around and the civil approach get's results if you are dealing with people that give orders (not refer to management). The majority of people he has probably dealt with have no power to help with the problem and need advisement to take any action on amending a problem with a customer.

Also, I disagree with the logic that dealing with someone in middle or upper management is the wrong course of action. It's there JOB to take your concerns seriously. If they treat your problem as petty then they should be canned on the spot considering it's their job to set the standard for the business. It is there job to direct you to the proper person to get the problem resolved or resolve it for you.

 

[Dismagik]

I completly agree with you Hethen but he did speek with the MGR and it should be able to stop there. I also think he should go as high on the ladder as he can but the truth is that the District or Regional MGRS arn't going to want to deal with this and just tell the Store MGR to pay for the wheels.
But the first thing he has to do is show that he attempted to file a claim on the date of incident before he left the property, otherwise he will have no other recourse because they can just say sombody else did it. And he needs to get it signed by the people he dealt with.
I don't claim to know everything and I certainly don't know the Laws In Illinois but I personally have turned away a fair # of claims because the customer has left the property. In his case though he was never given the oppertunity to file any paperwork, and I can assume that that in itself is illegal in any state.

I think Fundimentily our views on the situation are very much the same, we both think it should go to the highest person possible, but we both have different views on how it gets done @the top.

I am still in MGNT and I feel that you have a great view of what amid-level mgr should be (I feel the same way thats why I don't do Claims anymore) and this is how I Manage my employees. I hope this helps you with where I am coming from and my philosophies.

 

[Carl]

Dismagik, thank you for all your advice and input. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go the legal route to obtain justice.

Heathen23, thanx for the advice and avatar props and the run around is right.

My mom and I were surfing the internet on 2 computers and my mom found this website, which was funny but true:

http://www.justtiressucks.com/

She found the regional manager for Chicagoland whom is out of Akron, OH. I went back to the store and asked the manager if he knew who Rick Rohl was. He said, "He's the regional manager." Why would he say that he doesn't have a regional manager? Fear of getting in trouble from the higher ups maybe? I also asked the tech if he scraped the rims, and he said no.

I hope that contacting the regional manager would gain some headway and hopefully get me 2 new or used rims in good shape. If Just Tires doesn't have high quality of customer service through the ranks then worse comes to worse I'll have to stop payment on the install, start the legal letterwriting wizard, and then contact the Better Business Bureau.

Scraped rims, I'm not gonna act a fool. I try to act like a professional throughout my daily life.

 

[Carl]

Here's a crappy update after I just filed a complaint with the BBB on Just Tires:

On 7/14 I went back to Just Tires to get pictures of my rims for "insurance purposes". The manager rolled the rims to the sidewalk and brought my mom and I into the shop. He purposely tried to scratch one of the shop's rims with the tire mounting machine. The manager took us back outside and took pictures of the rims. He filled out a complaint form and we went home. I looked at my rims at home and found 10 nicks in the grooved part of wheel 1 and 4 nicks in wheel 2. #$^%! These bastards must've took a hammer and a screwdriver to them!

On 7/18, all the store manager would agree to is refunding the mounting and balancing and would have the rims refinished. I said no the refinishing would probably peel off. I went to Mazda and they said it is $450.95 per wheel!!!

Soon to come: small claims court...

 

[Carl]

Victory through f/u (follow-up skills)

On November 11, 2003, Just Tires finally bought me 2 brand new wheels. I've been pingponging with them since July w/ the BBB. I've been riding on winter wheels since then (thank you ILMP5). I needed to keep the wheels they scratched off the road to preserve the evidence.

I had Just Tires to mount and balance w/ glue-ons so they could assume all responsibility. When they mounted tires on my new wheels, Just Tires managed to put 4 nicks in both grooved parts of the rims because of using steel clamps instead of vinyl ones. I said to my buddy Todd (that was my witness), "What are we back at square zero?" We both thought that this was too trivial because you couldn't see the damage from the outside of the rim and the lips were clean.

Now I'm riding on summer tires when it's almost winter. Now I can file my letters and note pad full of quotes, dates, times, etc away. Now I can get on with my life. Now Just Tires never has to see me again.

 

[Dexter]

s*** like this scares me. i cant get my rims off, but i dont want some shop doing it, i know theyll **** up my racing harts.

 

[Natey]

Sounds pretty UN"Just" to me. I'm glad you followed through and beat those guys at their little game.

 

[Poseur]

Props on the tenacity man. Granted I'd likely be of the same attitude. Your story sorta serves as a little heads-up to us all to keep an eye on the monekys. I always fear tireshop guys, they're famously uneducated, and uncaring. Fortunately for me I've got a friend at one, and he'll let me go back and at least hangout and watch while they do my stuff, but hey I even patched my last nail-hole myself. DAMN those machines are scary. EIther way, havne't needed nayhting on the p5 yet, but I'm definately watching thatmuch closer now.