Get a load of this--- from your friends at a

[bepperb]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Once I took a steak to my favorite restaurant and wanted it medium well. They wanted to charge me the same price as if they were supplying the meat.How dare they try to make money off me.,,

the analogy doesn't work.
a tire shop should be HAPPY to install carry in tires;
1. they don't have to warranty the tires
2. they didn't have to stock the tires
3. the labor is alot higher profit margin that materials cost
the shops that partner w/ tirerack understand this, the old shops (the ones that also close at 5pm and only open til noon on sat)don't 'get' it.


btw, I really don't understand not calling out the shop by name.


Funny, that's exactly what the indy shop by me told me. They like being a tire rack installer, and now all they keep on hand is the cheapest tires they can find since that's all people who walk in want anyway.

 

[ddean]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
And although Wal-Mart is unpopular with some people, I've had carry-in tires mounted, balanced, and installed w/new valve stems for only TWELVE DOLLARS EACH with ZERO grief as long as they were new tires. No additional charge for alloys w/stick-on weights either.

Your mileage may vary depending on what Wal-Mart you end up using and who is on duty at the time. Both a friend and my brother in law have found this out buying Tirerack tires and then trying to have them mounted and balanced while still tagged and wrapped in plastic. One store was like oh no we can not do that with four or five techs standing around doing nothing and the other store 5 miles away was like fine after we get the five other vehicles in front of you done (and in nice time). Not sure what their corporate policy is but each store tends to do whatever they please around Dayton.

I have another ripoff story dealing with snow tires. A Dayton-Springfield/Middletown Ohio local chain tire store (starts with a G) is a Firestone/General dealer as well as other brands. They have a bad reputation but how can you screw up installing winter tires and the tirerack was running low or out of many common tires for the season. I wanted to check to see if they could get either Winterforce or General Altimax Arctic in P205-65-R15. They steered me to the Nokian WR G2 all season which is probably a decent all season, but cost $150 each (and I did not ask if that included mounting and balancing). But I wanted a real winter tire and they could not get the General. So they had to manually call in to check the price for the Winterforce tires because they had not sold a winter tire in over "ten years". These tires are $70 from Tirerack so I had a very good idea about what to expect price wise (the now out of business Firestone down the road was only $10 more expensive than Tirerack with my last set including tax). So I heard a $266 price over the phone and they set about calculating everything out. $266 for 4 tires before markup is a good price considering shipping cost though taxes tend to make it cost more. They quoted me $1440 for a set of Winterforce tires! At least that was for a set of 4 tires and not just a single tire.

 

[mpvue]

my experience has been that the local guy will, after all is said and done, be a better deal than tirerack. I have a local guy around the corner who I don't go to anymore, but he would give a very fair deal (although honest, he wasn't up w/ the latest technology, didn't understand why I wanted FOUR 'snow' tires, smh...)
my favorite place now is a chain here in PA, Jack Williams tires. no garbage sales pitches, lots of selection, and one out-the-door all inclusive price that was substantially cheaper than if I got tirerack to drop ship tires to an approved installer.

 

[onebigunion]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
my experience has been that the local guy will, after all is said and done, be a better deal than tirerack. I have a local guy around the corner who I don't go to anymore, but he would give a very fair deal (although honest, he wasn't up w/ the latest technology, didn't understand why I wanted FOUR 'snow' tires, smh...)
my favorite place now is a chain here in PA, Jack Williams tires. no garbage sales pitches, lots of selection, and one out-the-door all inclusive price that was substantially cheaper than if I got tirerack to drop ship tires to an approved installer.


Wow, your experience with Jack Williams is a lot better than mine. They stock a lot of tires, but low to low-mid end mostly. Never could get any satisfaction with a tire that simply would not balance. Prices were OK a few years ago, but they seem to have gone up quite a bit. Add in PA sales tax and I doubt they'd beat Tire Rack on the same tire. i wouldn't go back to them anyway.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
And although Wal-Mart is unpopular with some people, I've had carry-in tires mounted, balanced, and installed w/new valve stems for only TWELVE DOLLARS EACH with ZERO grief as long as they were new tires. No additional charge for alloys w/stick-on weights either.


Same here! This is the only place I go for tire installation. And they(W*M) don't care where you bought your tires. 4 tires mounted, 1x balance, new valve stems, all fo $51.86 including tax. And they throw away your old tires without charging $2.50/tire($10/4 tires) NYS tire disposal. You can also opt for the $7.50/tire($30/4 tires) for lifetime balance which will include tire rotation. Flat repairs, your on your own. $5.00 to plug a tire.
But, I have a PepBoys Rewards Card which covers Free Flat Repairs(plug only) and they don't care where you bought your tires either. And PB's and W*M are right next to one another.

 

[Torino]

Originally Posted By: river_rat
The problem with this kind of thing at major or minor chains is that the bean counters cannot count lost revenue from customers that no longer come in.
It is not in the accounting equation....only old time business sense...which has died in a lot of places.
BINGO!! John--Las Vegas.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: onebigunion
Originally Posted By: mpvue
my experience has been that the local guy will, after all is said and done, be a better deal than tirerack. I have a local guy around the corner who I don't go to anymore, but he would give a very fair deal (although honest, he wasn't up w/ the latest technology, didn't understand why I wanted FOUR 'snow' tires, smh...)
my favorite place now is a chain here in PA, Jack Williams tires. no garbage sales pitches, lots of selection, and one out-the-door all inclusive price that was substantially cheaper than if I got tirerack to drop ship tires to an approved installer.


Wow, your experience with Jack Williams is a lot better than mine. They stock a lot of tires, but low to low-mid end mostly. Never could get any satisfaction with a tire that simply would not balance. Prices were OK a few years ago, but they seem to have gone up quite a bit. Add in PA sales tax and I doubt they'd beat Tire Rack on the same tire. i wouldn't go back to them anyway.

I forget the exact prices, but the Continental extremecontact DWS's (say that 3 times fast) from them a few months back figured out to be about $8 cheaper per tire than tire rack, PLUS they give free rotations and nitrogen fill for life.
I worked many years in retail, and have had my share of bad experiences as a customer too, so I'm sure Jack has made more than a few people upset (they messed up my alignment also, but made good on it went I went back, so it's fine).
just saying, don't always write off the local guy, they may surprise you.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
What is XXX? I grew up in Bergen county and do not know who you are speaking of.


I'm gonna take a wild guess that it is Srauss Auto Stores (formerly R&S Auto Stores), MANY of which seem to be closing around here (Union & Parsippany to name two).

 

[saberz]

Strauss tends to be a rip when it comes to service. I did enjoy there 50% oil filter promo's. Getting 2 M1 filters for 10 bucks or 2 puro's for less than $4. Then they all changed over to a "service" only business and offer nothing but a 6x2 rack with over priced oil and over priced services.