Sears Auto and Tire Center Restocking Fee

On 8/30/20009 I purchased 4 X 275/60/20 Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10 tires online at Sears.com (though ultimately I did speak with a live representative on the phone for the actual purchase because the online facility was not working correctly). Because the online associate advised me that �due to the size of the tire it would be a special order, requiring payment in full�, I agreed to his terms and paid in full ($881.25) for the purchase. I also purchased an install of the tires, a 4 wheel alignment, and setup an appointment with Sears for the install on 9/10/2009. On 9/4/2009 a representative from Sears (Mr. Timothy Marsh) called me and advised that my tires were in and that I could come in and get them installed when convenient so I went there after work on Friday to have the work done.

Upon arriving at the Sears location Mr. Marsh re-calculated the purchase for some reason and advised me that I owed him around $1100.00. When I asked why the price difference he advised that he wasn�t really sure but offered 3 possible solutions.

1) Taxes were not added in the online price.

2) I had not been charged for the alignment.

3) The price for the tires that I received online was simply a quote and did not indicate the actual price of the tires, even though I had paid in full for them previously.

Not only did he re-calculate the total bill, but wanted me to pay the full $1100 right then and there, not even taking into consideration that I had already paid the $881.25.

Initially I gave Mr. Marsh the benefit of the doubt, assuming that we would be able to work it out and agreed to pay an extra $69.99 for the alignment as I couldn't readily assert from my online confirmation where I had in fact been charged for the work because the confirmation email was not itemized in any fashion, but I got very frustrated when Mr. Marsh and another of the Sears mechanics tried to tack on more money for the tires I had already purchased by insisting that my vehicle required �high pressure valve stems� since they apparently had my truck listed as a GMC Sierra 2500 on the online confirmation, which would require the costly valve stems due to the extra weight of the vehicle; however, my vehicle is in fact NOT a GMC Sierra 2500 it is a GMC Sierra 1500 which does not require high pressure valve stems. At this point (45 minutes into the transaction) I pleaded with the Mr. Marsh to simply cancel my order and refund my purchase price so that I could take my business elsewhere.

At this point Mr. Marsh insisted that he would have to charge me a 15% restocking fee for shipping the tires to the store (which would amount to around $135) regardless of the reason for the refund because, he said �we have to make some money on the deal, because we paid to ship the tires to this store for you� so even more frustrated I advised Mr. Marsh that I would deal directly with Sears online in this regard to see if they could straighten this out and left the store.

That evening I drafted an email to Sears�s online customer service which then prompted a phone call from Mr. Marsh on 9/5/2009. During this conversation Mr. Marsh advised me that they had discovered �the glitch in the computer system� and that he was not sure what had gone wrong but, they had seen where I paid for my install and alignment, and that they were now able to see the correct price for the tires and agreed that I did not owe them any more money outside of the $881.25 that I had already paid in full. Mr. Marsh asked me to come down and drop off my truck on Sunday 9/6/2009 for the work to be completed.

Upon arriving at the Sears location again, Mr. Marsh claimed that Sears.com had in fact OVER charged me by about $50.00 and that I was due a credit to my American Express card for the oversight. I advised him that I was not interested in the refund (because, honestly, I thought it would just complicate issues more) and that I simply wanted my tires and alignment done. Around 12:00 my wife and I dropped of my vehicle and went to lunch while we waited for the work to be completed.

Around 12:30 Mr. Marsh called my mobile phone and advised that they had ordered the wrong tires, and that the tires they received would not fit my truck at all. I told Mr. Marsh that it wasn�t a problem if they could just order the correct tires for install at a later date, and that I would just come and pick up my truck in the meantime. Upon arriving at the Sears location again Mr. Marsh advised me that Sears did not even carry tires that would fit my truck in Hankook tires (though they had them on the internet and I had ordered them from an individual at Sears.com on the phone, who advise that he would order them specially) and that he would have to contact Hankook directly to see if they could sell him some tires but the price would be considerably more than what I had already paid. In fact, Mr. Marsh told me that they would be MUCH more expensive, but he couldn�t tell me how much more because Hankook was closed for the holidays and the earliest he could get them ordered would be Wednesday 9/9/2009, Which would not work, because at this point I need tires badly. Mr. Marsh simply kept pointing at the Sears.com item number on the invoice as to insinuate that I had somehow ordered the wrong size tires.

Frustrated, I again pleaded with Mr. Marsh to process a full refund so that I could take my business elsewhere. To which he automatically replied that he would have to charge me the 15% restocking fee and that he would not consider waiving it regardless of whose fault the errors were. Mr. Marsh also advised that it was never a good idea to order tires from Sears.com, and that if I wanted tires I should have come to him in person to get them. He also advised that this was the first time he had done any business with the �online people� and that he wasn�t surprised it had gone wrong. So, for the second time I left the store angry and went home to contact the online customer satisfaction line. Upon contacting the online forum, I was instructed to wait 2 business days to give the manager of the store an opportunity to resolve the issue. I wrote back to the online forum and advised of my entire ordeal and advised that I had waited much longer than two days, to which they again instructed me to wait two business days. To date, customer satisfaction now refuses to contact me directly via phone, they refuse to escalate the matter and insist that I provide the store manager from the Sears location an opportunity to deal with this issue, even though he has failed to do so thus far.