Wal-Mart rant

old

Well-known Member
Had a blow out the other day. 30-9.50R-15. I pay extra for road hazard. Well they no long have that size of tire so they order one that is close. So that is the first rant. Next they tell me I drove to far on a flat to honor the road hazard so now I get to go and argue with the manager over the price and the road hazard thing. Would not even go there but that is where I got the tires a few years ago. Ya the tire that blew was around 50% but that should cross over to a bit of a savings but they say NO
 
Getting warranty out of a tire company anymore is like asking the pope to become a Lutheran. I had several issues with the last set of tires I had on the van and I finally gave up and bought a new set from another company. The old tires pulled to the side and belts broke but the tire company had all kinds of excuses. These tires were darned near new. I couldn't even keep them for farm trailers cause they were 17's.Jim
 
I bought an 18.4 38 tractor tire one time. Got the field hazard warranty. Ran over a cultivator sweep and put it right through the face of it. Tire was less than a year old. Reputable local tire store that I do business with all the time. They wouldn't honor the warranty. Said they could boot it. I told them I wasn't going to be on pins and needles waiting for it to give out. I paid for another new one. The real kick in the pants was,they didn't want to give me anything for the ruined one,said it was too bad for anybody to even want for a dual!
 
OLD,
Don't blame wal-mart. The last time I was at a good-year store, I asked them if it was true that there warantee being good for so many years and has nothing to do with the tread life? YES.

Can't remember if it's 4 or 5 years. They said they would only repair the tire if they could, don't get a new tire after a certain time period.

Please call other places and see if I'm right.
George
 
I can top that..... years ago when I just started practicing law and didnt know any better a client came in who had gone to Wal Mart for an oil change and they drained her old oil but forgot to add new oil hmmmmmmmm she got about a mile or two from Wal Mart and the engine locked up. We figured they would rebuild her engine or install maybe a Jasper rebuilt but noooooooooooooo they were only willing to install a used junk yard engine. Believe it or not I had to take it to a full blown Jury Trial which I, or course, won but that was a lot of work and expense grrrrrrrrrr The funniest part was every time I said JUNK YARD ENGINE at the trial Wal Mart OBJECTED and insisted I call it a used engine or one from a salvage yard lol lol They hated my calling it a junk yard engine,,,,,,

John T Country Lawyer
 
Tire shops used to be able to do a section repair where it was actually vulcanized in. Likely no one can do them anymore.
 
There are no such things as junk yards anymore.

They all call theirselves dismantlers or recylcers.

All this politicly correct stuff is makeing me SICK !!!
 
I think the warranty goes by age AND wear. If it's worn past a certain point, or more than x number of months since it was installed, no warranty. Within the time limit, but showing wear, the price is prorated. I just got a replacement tire on my wife's Taurus at no cost... was on the car 7 months and had been driven about 5000 miles in that time. (Mastercraft tire from a local tire shop)
 
Had a client who bought a used motor home, supposedly a rebuilt engine. Drove it home from the dealer (20 miles), then embarked on a long-planned vacation the next day, engine seized about 10 miles from home.

He had bought an extended warranty (not cheap), and they tried everything short of armed extortion to wiggle out of it.

"He should have checked the oil before he left on the trip."
Really? Do you check your oil every 30 miles? And it wasn't low on oil anyhow.

"He was driving it too fast."
Really? He's 80 years old, and all 4 family members along on the trip were harassing him about driving too slow on the Interstate.

I finally had it towed to the most honest mechanic in town, and had him do a "forensic dismantling" of the engine- he saved the oil that he drained, took pictures of everythng. The center main bearing was cooked- the blue color from overheating was obvious in the photos.

Still they wiggled, trying to make a similar offer to yours- junkyard engine. Nope, rebuilt engine, just like you sold to my client (my mechanic questioned whether it was actually fully rebuilt, but we sure didn't go there, for obvious reasons). They finally did it, but it was like pulling teeth.
 
I would not,nor have ever bought estened warranty, It is a mugs game, like nailing jelly to the wall, they get to determine how much wear,or was there neglect on the behalf of the operator..... or any other excuse they need to find to not honour there warranty. Brue
 
Wal Mart changed over to Jiffy Lube in my area. With the change, there's a whole lo of gray area on warranties now. I work for a local Wally World and do most of my buying else where
 
Yep, and you cant say illegal alien anymore either, the PC word police will toss you in jail. "Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a drug dealer an unregistered pharmacist." Theres no more used cars, theyre "previously owned"

John T
 
Local Banrag truck tire recapper talked me into buying 8 recapped drive tires many years ago for my road tractor.Told me how great they are now,they X ray the casings,no problems,blah,blah blah.Very first trip out,didn't make it 2 hundred miles,one separated and got a football sized knot on the sidewall.Now I have to buy an overpriced used junk tire at a truckstop to make the trip,and lose the money I was trying to save,buying that crap.Took the separated tire back to Banrag,and they fought like hell,It wasn't their fault,I must have done something,hit something,etc.What a load of BS.They finally gave me another tire,but they didn't want to,never again.
 
Wife"s buddy took her fairly new car in for engine oil change. They didn"t tighten the oil filter, ruined the engine in a few miles back to her apartment. Dealer was willing to replace the filter! (Didn"t work that way)
 
Fordfarmer,
I asked both the tire barn and the goodyear store, which I do business with, they said the waranty is tread life or so many years, whichever comes first.

I was wrong on the years, I copied this from Goodyears web sight.

Additional provisions
A tire has delivered its full original tread life and the coverage of this warranty ends when the treadwear indicators become visible (worn to 2/32 in. or .16 cm), or 6 years from the date of original tire manufacture, or new tire purchase date (whichever comes first). (Without proof of purchase, the date of manufacture will be used to determine eligibility).

You get 6 years from goodyear with proof of purchase.

So OLD, how old were your tires and what brand?

George
 
JohnT,
I took the head from an old VW air cooled in to have them rebuilt. A few thousand miles the roka valve, where it was welded to the stem, broke. The shop said it's too bad, they didn't install the head, so I eat it. Roka was going to give me the cost of one valve, $2.25. The shop soon after went out of business.

Wish I had an old friend who was a country lawyer to take the case.
George
 
John, do you understand the concept called "betterment". If Walmart was willing to replace the engine with one of equal or fewer miles, they're within their rights.

When I was a Claims Adjuster working vehicle service contracts, we had several reliable sources of used engines and transmissions and we installed them all the time. We had one set rule, we never replaced an engine or transmission with one with more miles than the one we were replacing. If a customer balked and wanted a new engine, we gave him (or her) the option of paying the difference.

If they insisted they wanted a new engine, we'd point out that they had bought a used engine when they bought the car.

The courts backed us up on a couple of occasions when it went that far. All we were required to do was repair the vehicle to the same condition it was in prior to the failure. We weren't required to "better" the vehicle.
 
If I heard correctly, El Dorado has road hazard figured into the price of tire. They are supposedly cheaper tires, but I have always had good luck with them. Like you old, I am pretty fwd up with the "Mart" myself.
 
I switched tire dealers a few years ago. I bought a set of 13.6*38's for my M, from my old dealer, had him come out and install them. Less than a month later I found one of them flat. Nothing in the tire, and no sign of a puncture in the casing, just a pinhole in the tube. The dealer said it was a defective tube, and there was NO WARRANTY ON TUBES. If the tractor had been at home, after I got the run around from the dealer, I would have fixed it myself, but it was way across town at another farm. I had to eat the whole thing, road call, pump service, AND, a new tube (at cost, WHOOPEE!!). He lost all my tire business right there.

When the valve stem on the other side rotted off the next summer, I bought a tube from a different dealer, and fixed it myself. After that I swore "no more tire service calls, as long as I can stand up beside the tractor and do it myself".
 
Yeppers, as an Attorney I'm familiar with those type of doctrines and Unjust Enrichment etc etc but my duty was to my client as Wal Mart had plenty of high powered lawyers to do their bidding lol. Fortunately a jury of my clients peers who identified much more with her then big Wal Mart and fancy legal doctrines ruled in her favor.......They sorta figured Wal Mart did the damage and my client was innocent and who could best afford a few thoudand dollars, her a minumum wage employee or big fat Wal Mart?? I had an expert witness who testified a car that had a junk yard engine replacement was worth far less the one with the original engine even if the original had way more miles and that wasnt countered by Wal Mart

Fun chat

John T
 
I have a tire on my 1930 C Case that has had a vulcanized patch for as long as I can remember and I've been around the tractor for almost 66 years.
 
I hit something on the road with my old 96 van. Ruined tire and rim. I found a used rim and went back to Sams to buy another tire. The warranty covered 96% of the new one, with no hassle. I bought some Good Year high performance directional tires. They were crap that shook and bounced. Sams took them back but I had to pay one of the fees of a few dollars. Better than my local guy that shows one tire and puts on another noname.
 
(quoted from post at 10:03:16 06/28/13) There are no such things as junk yards anymore.

They all call theirselves dismantlers or recylcers.

All this politicly correct stuff is makeing me SICK !!!

I used to go to junkyards all the time. A couple weeks back I went to a dismantlers, and I can see the clear difference.

At a junkyard I would go in and search for the owner and ask if he might have a such and such year Chebby C10 or whatever with a good thingamabob. He'd point me in a general direction and go back to his beer. I'd lug my tools out into the back lot and search for the vehicle. If I was able to find it I got to fight the snakes and wasps and lay on my back in a puddle of mud trying to get the part off. Then I'd take it back up front and dicker over price. As far as any warranty, it was 30-30...30 feet or 30 seconds from where I stood, whichever came first.

At the dismantlers, Eiss Brothers in Watertown NY, I walked into an air conditioned waiting room, asked for the part, counterman looked it up on computer and advised they did have one. I waited maybe 10 minutes in a nice comfy chair and the parts was brought out to me. I inspected it and the price was announced, half of a new item. While paying I asked about the warranty and was advised it was a 9 month warranty, no questions asked IIRC on that particular part, a throttle body for my sons Nissan Altima.

Junkyards used to be fun. I kinda prefer the dismantlers these days!
 
Bought a set of Michelins for my Ford 350 van from Wal Mart a couple of years ago. They bounced and swayed and I found out after year that one was all full of gaps between the treads. Had a 40000 mile warranty and road hazard. I took it to a local Wal Mart and was tolD I had to go back to where I bought them. Then the tire manager told me that the failure was because I overloaded to van(how he would know is beyond me) After dealing with the store manager, the regional manager came in a gave me two new matching tires and fired the tire manager on the spot. Tire lasted over 80000 miles.
 
How do you substantiate the miles, the actual wear to what was destroyed ? In a perfect world an equivalent would be fine, but no 2 cars are alike, wear, maintenance and so on. I don't care what people think, if your dumb@ss employee is that ignorant not re-fill the oil to the correct level, its shear ignorance, irresponsibility and so on.

I'm going to take the salvage company's word that the mileage is correct, the wear is equal or less and that the engine is going to perform the same as the one that was lost. OK, give that to me in writing please and specify the time allowed for this to be confirmed and provide a clause that states it will be made right without hesitation or dispute resolution such as litigation. I've been to enough salvage yards, I know the owners of several, I know how they operate. Its not impressive, the amount of alcohol the employees consume is impressive though.

Now for some role playing, I'm a fool who goes to a place like this for a routine and common maintenance service, with my say 17 year old mustang cobra, and they do the same thing, its a low mileage car, high performance, hand assembled and signed engine, what then, there has to be a precedent. You won't find that engine, I was just that person that got the hungover inattentive person performing the work, and it happened which it should not period, have you ever forgot to put oil back in after a change ? In 30 some odd years and all the vehicles, never not once, not even close, this is shear stupidity and negligence. If they cannot employ responsible people, they should not be providing these kinds of services to a trusting public, what about the down time the other inconveniences and expenses that would not be otherwise incurred ?

I bring a compression gauge with with me, when buying a salvage engine, I want to see it in the car,truck or what have you and if at all possible I want to hear it run, til it gets warm, maybe not always possible, but a customer is supposed to trust, like they did walmart on performing an oil change, (look where that got them, litigation). The customer is to be assured beyond any doubt that Walmart did this with the salvage engine and that this engine is as equal or a good motor all on trust, I don't buy it. I don't see it as a free lunch, I see it as a punishment for the management/company responsible for the employee who was supposed to NOT forget to put the correct amount of oil back into the engine, or say NOT omit a gasket or DOUBLE a gasket or anything similar, the customer got hosed to begin with, had to retain counsel, pay all of that,+ down time,then stand their ground or be intimidated for something less, due to 100% negligence on the part of the service provider, as a matter of a fact its a theft of services, a breach of contract, failure to perform and or something along those lines, which has consequences in the real world, you're a big company, suck it up, learn, and don't repeat the same thing again. Business depends on repeat customers, satisfied customers, its just unacceptable what these repair shops pull today, my friend went just went through this, these people are crooks all day long and they try and indemnify themselves after making costly mistakes, providing defective or substandard parts or plainly causing a catastrophic engine failure through pure negligence, thats a great business model. LOL Fun chat though LOL ! ;)
 

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