Quality of Service?

Quality of Service?

September 7, 2005

Yesterday 9/6/05 I pulled into the new Les Schwab Tire store in Placerville, CA. An attendant came out and ask if he could help, I then told him that I have a class C motorhome and wanted to get an estimate to have my tires balanced and rotated. He replied, "it's free". Standing there dumb founded, I replied, "there isn't anything free". He then said "I'll go check" and came back and said, "Yea, it's free". I then asked to schedule an appointment and was told to just show up either early or later in the afternoon of the following day. On Wednesday 9/7/05 I showed up at 6:30 am (a half hour before opening). At 7 am a mechanic had me pull towards one of the bays and proceeded to remove the front wheels and one set of the rear dual wheels of which he proceeded to balance and mount on the front. The removed front wheels were placed on the rear of the vehicle. I then asked "what about the other two" and was told "that was all they do".

I drove home experience a rolling bump that was not there before, and when I got out I heard air leaking, after checking the rears I found one of the tires leaking at the stem or the extender. Then I turned around and drove back to the tire center. The mechanic that did the work came over and ask if something was wrong, I told him air was leaking from the rear tire (almost flat by now) and that I was experiencing a rolling bump. He said the tires zeroed out on the balance.

Another mechanic came over and removed the tire and replaced the valve stem that was the source of the leak, he then started to remount the tire when I asked him "if he was going to balance the tire", which had not been done earlier. I looked at the other half of the dully on that side and the balance weight looked as though it had not been replaced. Then I walked over to the first mechanic and asked ""if the rear wheels had been balanced, he replied "no", so I asked the mechanic working on the tires to balance the other one also.

Driving home the rolling bump was gone.

The bottom line is I was perfectly willing to pay to have my tires rotated and balanced. Because it was "free" I only got 4 of the 6 tires rotated and balanced. when the rear tires were aired up he recommended 75 PSIG instead of 80 PSIG and did not bother to adjust the air pressure in the other rear tires. Not to mention a wasted day.

If their "free" offer (intended to drum up other business) is half-assed, I really wonder about the quality of the work done at Les Schwab Tire centers and their customer service. I fully intend to use a competitor in the future.

Bob

Pollock Pines, CA. Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User