Complaint Review: Tread Quarters

     My son purchased a set of tires in June of 2010.  When Treaquarters installed the tires he was asked if he wanted an alignment. He asked the technician installing the tires if the vehicle needed an alignment and he informed my son that it DID NOT.  The reciept(not contract) that was signed stated that an alignment must be done to keep the warranty from being voided.

   My son was traveling down the interstate and ran over debris in the road.  This punctured one of the tires. He had purchaced a road hazard warranty.  He returned the tire to the store and had to wait a day to recieve the tire. He had to pay an extra 22 dollars to get the tire the next day. 

       He was not informed or warned about the possibility of the car being out of alignment because of the blowout. The manager or tech should have warned my son of this instead of assuming that he would know this.

    After about a month and a half my son noticed wear on the outside of the right front tire.  I told him to take it back to Treadquarters and ask about what can be done. He was told that the car was out of alignment and the warranty would not be honored.This was on the reciept( not contract) and it is his fault for not reading it.

     My wife called the store, without identifying herself, and asked about thier warranty. She was told that they did not let anyone leave with new tires without the alignment numbers being in spec. She then identified herself and asked why they let her son leave without checking the specs., when he purchased the tires and after a blowout.  The manager just kept repeating he declined the alignment.

     My son said he was told he didn't need one and they told me my son was lying. He did decline the alignment but he was told he did not need one.  They also informed my wife that everbody knows that you must have an alignment when new tires are installed, this is a very large assumption that can lead to a warranty becoming void.

     The manager was rude and very shady in his dealings.  Ninety dollars to align the vehicle every 5000 miles would be 1552 dollars to be paid during the life of tires.  Is this what the warranty actually costs??  What a rip-off.

    My son called a cooporate representative and they said if he got the car aligned and took it back to the store they would offer him a replacement tire at 30% off. My son took the car to an alignment shop, that we have always used for twenty years, and had the car aligned.

   My son and I (his father) went to the store and were spoken to like we were illiterate and mentally challenged.  Then the manager called the cooporate rep. and said we would have to wait for approval of the alignment. He made it sound like Treadquarters were the only people who knew how to align a vehicle.

   The alignment shop that we went to has been in business for at least 20 years and Treadquarters has been in business at this location for how long, 5 to 10 years with employees that are 25 to 30 years old. The manager then said that the alignment shop that my son went to was now responsible for those tires unless we let them check them and possibly have them align the vehicle. The cost of their alignment is 90 dollars.

    I could see that this place has requirements to keep the warranty on these tires, the vehicle would have to be taken to this store and a 90 dollar alignment would have to be done every 5000 miles. For the same amount of money three sets of tires could be purchased.

      Good business would dictate that all of these details be pointed out to every customer purchasing tires from this store.  The rudeness and lack of integrity presented by the manager  of this location is inexcusable and it is my feeling that he should be terminated for representing this company in this manner.

    The customer service at this location is very, very bad and if the other businesses are ran in this manner this company will be out of business in a short time.