National Tire and Battery

[Don M]

I had a bad experience with NTB Sat. afternoon.

I go in to the store to get my new tire and wheeels balanced because the truck had developed a bad shake on the highway.

One month ago I purchased all new tires from NTB and new Alcoa wheels from southwest tire in Dallas. I had NTB mount and balance the set and away I drove. All was good for a few days and then the shaking began. I noticed they balanced the wheels on both sides or used lead weights on both sides of the wheel the day I got the truck back. That was not really visually appealing but, at least they were balanced the better way. After two days the outside wheel weights were slung off on one side and the other side had one left and it was barely hanging.

I was out of town and super busy when the trouble started and never had the time to get them rebalanced until Sat.



First off I ask the guy to make sure the truck did not have an out of round tire or maybe a bad wheel. He walked away and mumbled something like I was stupid. Saying an out of round tire would shake all the time and not at highway speed only.



After the truck was pulled into the shop... It was like a drag race to get the thing finished. There were five guys all attacking the truck at once. 3 could speak broken english and the others were barely 18 years old. I was getting worried!

After all the wheels were off the truck and it was time to reinstall all the wheels the fun began... .

The first guys dropped the front wheel face down on ther floor and the front wheel sticks out past the tire on a daully. It got scrated in the drop but, not too bad. More of hickey ding thing.

I asked the main guy originally if he knew how to install the center caps on Alcoa wheels and he said "yeah we do aluminum wheels all the time"

Well after watching and seeing the one guy was trying to beat the center cap over the lug nuts I went out in the shop area and showed him the best way I could... I could not explain to him how because he could only speak spanish and I am not oo good on my spanish.

After I showed him the correct way..... he had to remove the lugs to install the center cap. The lug nuts hold the center cap on in an Alcoa wheel install. Well before I could get past the screaming kids in front of the waiting room door to the shop area he had already tried to beat the cap on with the palm of his fist. Putting a large dent in the cap.

Now to the rear of the truck where the other guy is using the impact gun to install boh rear wheels. Instead of picking the wheels up and aligning them he used the gun to do it for him!

I was freaking out. He also had to be told how to install the center caps he was pounding the cap over the lugs as well. Once he was figuring out what I was saying he removed the daul rear wheels and put on the wheels and cap in the correct order and once again used the impact gun to slam them on the hub. I was freaking out by now and ready to blow a gasket.

I had not even seen the damage his extension and socket was doing to my rear center cap.

After the whole thing was done I pulled my truck out and drove it around the front to get it out of the shop area because one f the 5 guys nearly dropped a jack handle on the rear quarter.

After I showed the damaged wheels caps to the manager he wanted to argue with me about the damage after I has sat there and watch it all happen. He tried to say the dent and scratches looked old to him... which I replied they were the guys who originally installed the whole thing 1 month earlier. Everywhere there was a lug nut on the hub you could see where the socket and extension banged on the center cap. They look 10 years old now!

After about a 30 minute heated discussion he agreed to buy only rear center caps and I could forget getting new ones for the front and he walked away mumbling again. I was standing there feeling like ( add your thoughts here).

After looking back on the whole thing it was about 1 hour before the doors were to close and the whole competition to get me out the door in a hurry is evident. By the time I got around to the front door to show the manager the damage... they were closed and asked me to come back tomorrow. I said no way... get a manager out here to inspect this damage. After about 20 minutes he shows up and this is what I get.



Now what? The truck still shakes and the only thing I could think was I had a bad tire or wheel. I came home and jacked the truck up and put it in 4th gear to get the tires spining and you can see that one of the tires is definately shaking from side to side. Not up and down but side to side. The rims are all running straight.



So... . like I asked the know it all manager to look at in the first place I have a bad tire. Since the tires came from them I am concerned about the care they will give my vehicle if I can even get them to replace the dern thing.



Don~

 

[John_P]

Don:



I am real sorry to hear about your problems with the new

wheels and tires.



I am writing to let you know that one tire CAN be out

of round or balance to where it absolutely will not balance

right.



On the last set of "B. F. G's" I had installed on my 96' I

also had a "shake" from the right rear tire. I immediately

took the truck back to the tire shop ("Buffalo Tire") and

they took it off to check it. The guy I had is pretty sharp

and he said the tire did roll funny on the balancer. They

deflated the tire, turned it 360 degrees on the rim, re-

balanced it and put it back on the truck. We took a ride

but it still had the shake, however, not quite as bad.

We went back to the dealership and believe it or not

they took the wheel and tire off, took the bad tire

off and replaced it with no questions asked with another

brand new "B. F. G. ".



No problems after that! I would DEFINITELY go back

to that dealership and get some names and numbers

of the BIG bosses in that organization. I would also

call the BBB and report the incident to them and see

if they have other complaints on them.



Good luck to you! I hope you get it worked out.

It seems as though so many businesses are like

that today.



-----------

John_P

 

[work2muchplay2little]

Don, that really stinks. As John advised, it's time to go to the top. I'd take pictures, get at least two copies, write a detailed accounting (names, dates, times, location) of the incident, ask for a very specific solution (replace caps, wheel, tire, etc. ), inform them that a duplicate letter has been sent to the BBB, and that you have been in contact with an attorney and will seek a legal remedy if they aren't willing to help, sending it via registered mail. I've only had to do this kind of thing a couple of times, but it has brought about new "motivation" to get things resolved.

 

[Ragin Ram]

Don,

Sorry to hear about your problems with NTB. I bought a set of tires from them before and quickly got the impression that they are pretty much worthless. I buy my tires from Discount Tire now and will never buy from anywhere else. You might want to take them to another NTB branch to see if you can get this resolved. You didn't get them from the Richardson branch, did you? Sounds like the same people I dealt with.



Good Luck.

 

[Briar Hopper]

it's happened to me too

My sympathies to you, Don... I know how you feel. I had a set of Mickey Thompson ALCOA wheels completely ruined by a local tire store, S & S Tire, a few years ago. Many, many, many tire stores all over the country employ such people, young, foreign, inexperienced, underpaid... .

I have known since I was 10 years old to seat my lug nuts by hand, and not to play NASCAR with the air gun. Steel or aluminum alloy, I do 'em all the same. By hand. I've had to forcibly remove my dually from the lift rack of two separate tire stores, on two occasions, almost coming to blows with the air gun idiot in question on the second occurence... all I wanted was a simple tire rotation. I got plenty of damage, and tires worn out prematurely, simply because I can't find a reliable garage to do it the right way.

Something needs to be done about these tire places, I wish we as a group could come up with a solution to educate these clowns...

 

[Deezul1]

NTB is not interested in customer satisfaction. I took my car in there for a wheel alignment and after the bozo gets done rolling around on the floor getting his shirt and pants dirty he crawls into my 6 mo old car with tan cloth seats and no seat protector, manager says oh no we never do that but I watched him do it. It was easier to clean it myself than argue all day. Discount Tire is awesome they treat me so good and everybody else I talk to says the same.

 

[Bob Cochran]

I have got to agree I have bought lots of tires from Discount Tire with no problem. If there is they have fixed it right away to my satifaction the tire was defective. Of course I go to the same place and when they see my name on the computer and number of tires I have bought their already good manners gets even better. Not to say they don't work fast but at the same time seem to care. I only wish the where in every state!!!!

 

[Steve G]

I've got to echo what everyone else said about Discount Tire. I was there yesterday to put two new on the front. After talking to them, they told me to save my money and just rotate the fronts to the back and I would be okay for several more miles. The point is, they could have sold me two tires but they didn't. I will only buy tires from them.



Steve

 

[wyosteve]

I'll throw in my . 02 on Discount Tire as well. Great place. Went to the one in Albuquerque on Alameda. Looking for new Michelin 265's. Quoted very good price, but the real treat was that they offered to let me "trade in " my old tires with 54,000 on them and would give me $30 per tire discount. As it turned out, I bought a set of BFG's from a local TDR member, but would go back to Discount in a second.

 

[Briar Hopper]

See my other thread on Pirelli tires, this forum... I found them at Discount Tire, on the internet... www.tires.com

Called the store in Columbus, Ohio (closest one to me) and they have both the Pirelli & Michelins I want, in stock, far, far cheaper than any place else I've called...

So it's great to see the "thumbs-ups" from all of you on this tire store, maybe I'll have found what I need in level of service... I'll let y'all know after I go up there and get my tires...

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I've bought all my tires and wheels from Discount tire for the last 12 years. I've always had great service from them except for the last set of tires I bought at a different store than I usually buy from (3 months ago) they screwed up on the balance BAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I stopped in at another Discount tire on the way home and even though it was 45 minutes past their close time and I had bought the tires from a different store they took the wheels off and rebalanced them - no problem.

 

[John_P]

Don:



I second what all the other members said about

"Discount Tire. " I used them exclusively when I

lived in Texas and NEVER had a tire or wheel problem.

The wheels on my truck now were bought from them.

I wish we had one in Wilmington or Jacksonville. The

closest one to me is in Charlotte.



---------

John_P

 

[Todd T]

Don as you might Know ford uses Alcoa wheels on thier dually's



a few years ago I had six new tire put on our dually and as in your case it was late in the evening. the next day I was heading out of town (flying) for two weeks. that was the whole reason I got the tires on that night was to not have to worry about my wife getting a flat or what ever.



so anyway, we got the tires and left. two weeks later when I got home a was out washing the truck, and I find these huge scratches all the way around the rim, starting at the center cap and heading straight out, to the lip of the rim. so I'm thinking "what the #@!@ did she hit" of course blaming my wife for it. a few minutes later I worked my way around to the otherside and it has the same scratches.



OK what the !@#$ has happened to these wheels. so i went back to NTB. I got the manager explained to them why it was two and half weeks later and what the problem was and he agrees to come out and look at it.



he looks at one side and says "it looks like your wife hit a curb with it" now the scratches are running up and down the rim and a curb check would be around he rim, right? that is what i explained and he still says "what do you want me to do, how do i know Our guys did that"



I took him to the other side and showed him the exact same marks on that wheel and asked how she could have hit a curb on the drivers side and make it look just like the one she hit on the other side.



to make a long story longer we went round and round and finnally when i aske d for the district managers name and contact he took me back inside and agreed to have a autobaody shop repair them. I told him no I want new wheels and he did finnally agree to buy me 2 brand new $600 dollar wheels from the ford dealer of my choice.



I wouldnt darken thier doorstep again to get away from the grim reaper.