Fire in the Stone
For the past year, a nationwide tire company has tortured me through a string of screw-ups that started in Houston when I paid hundreds of dollars for a full service that didn’t actually get fully performed and continued with several too-boring-to-get-into other incidents here in Boise. Most recently they told me I needed two new tires because both tires on my driver’s side are worn. Oh, but I really actually needed three new tires … and that means having to buy four. When I asked how the unusual one-sided wear could have happened, they said it was either [a] because the tires had been under- or over-inflated, or [vii] because I hadn’t had my tires rotated! I pointed out that I take my car there every month to have THEM check the tire pressure [it's free] and that THEY do the alignments under a lifetime service package that I purchased several years ago — and said service should include rotations and balance checks — neither of which has been getting done.
Not getting anywhere with the local store, I called their corporate headquarters the other day and got a number for a district manager. I talked to him at length, detailing the various screw-ups, working my way through a laundry list of incidents … and concluding that they owed me new tires as my existing tires had “incurred premature wear due to the negligence of [their company]”. After wading through the usual Good Ol’ Boy Bullshit Network — which involves treading a delicate balance between Helpless Female ["Stop trying to bully me!"] and Scorpion in Size Six Shag-Me-Shoes ["OK, let's add 'intentional infliction of emotional distress' to the list of issues, shall we?"] — we finally came to a compromise.
I am now the proud owner of four FREE brand-new tires plus peripheral services, totalling roughly a $500 package.
The Moral of this Story: Just do things my way in the first place and nobody gets hurt!
I am Woman … see me claw!
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Just a reminder, my lovelies — if you leave a comment that includes a smiley, you have to put a hyphen in the middle, like so: :-D
March 16th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Ummm.. yeah.. The pumps got me every time…. The beautiful face and the gorgeous figure didn’t help me much either… I feel like a such a sucker….but it was worth it… Muah! Love ya Julia!
March 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
You are what they call “fierce”. I want lessons!
March 16th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
It’s the one area I feel helpless - car maintenance stuff. I always think everyone is out to take me for a ride because I’m female and don’t know much about cars. More so than if I was male. And I’m always convinced they want to do work that isn’t necessary and don’t properly take care of what IS wrong. In fact, the day I find a garage or chain who do everything competently without making me feel taken advantage of, they get my business for life. Short story - I once took the car in for an annoying but ultimately not important repair. I got a ton of spiel with big car words in it and a price. I went home not doing the repair which was more than I expected. My boyfriend took it in a few days later and told them what was wrong with it (what they told me) and they quoted him a totally different price a LOT lower than the one they gave me. Fuckers.
Good for you, getting fierce. It got you tires! YAY!
March 16th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
VTech: You tried to run and hide from me, but I stalked and found you anyway! xoxox
Myra: OK, but you’ll have to spend half your life hanging out with attorneys and memorising pointless legalese … ;-)
March 16th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
VegAss: Most of the time it’s just knowing from past experience, although sometimes I read layman’s articles on what’s necessary to get done and what isn’t … and failing all else, I call VTech who is a friend and master mechanic and who manages a non-Firestone. I was only using Firestone for a while because I used to have a credit card for them, I’ll be using VTech’s store in the future!
March 16th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
You are my absolute hero, I guess, because I’ve been screwed by so many car guys. This one place I used to bring it (my mom insisted since she had her work done there and used to bake cookies for the mechanics. WHAT? She never baked cookies for me growing up. WTF!) Anyways everytime I got something fixed there, literally within a week something else would go wrong with my car. I always felt they were secretly making business for themselves because I was a dumb, defenseless female. So a round of roaring applause for Ms. Danjeruskurves. So happy you’ll be traveling safely with your new bad ass tires! Woot!
March 17th, 2010 at 11:57 am
witty: There are definitely times when it comes in handy to be
a ball-busting bitchan assertive personality type. ;-) [The car, though, travels on it's own auto-carrier with all four wheels off the ground!]March 19th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Good for you Julia! And seriously, I know it’s an age old problem but why must mechanics/tire people/the automobile industry as a whole, treat women so completely inferiorly? It drives me up the wall. Thank god I know what I’m talking about and have a vast knowledge of automobile related crap but it still doesn’t stop them from trying to constantly get one over on me. Does having tits make you automatically susceptible to being “taken”? Glad you got the upper hand this time! Rock on sister…
March 19th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
FBee: I thnk, knowing we as women are likely to be bamboozled, that it is up to us to educate ourselves whenever possible. I’m no expert that’s for sure, but it doesn’t stop me from asking questions and keeping on asking until I feel comfortable!
March 19th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
fantastic hun. Seems to me their are too many people out there willing to really work for their jobs. I know that there are a million other people doing what I do so I “being the (PRO)” will go the extra mile for my customers. And it seems here some one was lazy and finallyLady Justice charges the right people. The Giant Tire Company who’s inept Boise staff have again cost Corperate money and maybe a customer or two.
This is great news maybe you could visit me again(not the cause of your flat tire) your pal Danger
March 20th, 2010 at 11:33 am
DDave: Ha! nice try, little buckeroo! But my flat tire didn’t occur because of tread-wear, it happened when I ran over that great big bloody nail in your JUNKYARD! :-) … besides, you guys have more reason to be in my neighbourhood than me driving alllll the way out to your place! You know, all ten miles of it …