Complaint Review: Victors Tires

I had my Acura TL in to Victor's Tires to have new tires installed.  The tires were installed after a very long wait time, though there were few other customers. 

Upon pulling out of the lot and accelerating, the front end of the car began shaking violently.  As soon as I applied the brakes the left front wheel came off the car completely.  As it detached, the wheel slammed into the left fender, then fell under the car, with the car resting on the rim.

After exiting the car, I was amazed at how much damage was done to the vehicle.  The left front fender and liner were partially torn from the body, and the underside behind the fender (where the car was resting on the wheel) was dented and scraped.  The wheel was quite scraped up as well from impacting the car and the pavement and the brake rotor suffered a little damage from contacting the wheel as it came off.

I walked back into the office (as I was only about 50 feet from the exit) and confronted the man behind the desk, telling him what had just occurred.  He reacted as if this was not an uncommon thing to happen, and swore under his breath as he went outside with me to see the car.  He looked at it for about 3 seonds then summoned two 'technicians' to put the wheel back on the car.

Once the wheel was back on, the man informed me that I was in luck as they (Victor's Tires) have their own body shop.  I was less than enthused as I now have little faith in their ability to work on cars in any capacity. 

I argued back and forth for a little bit with him and finally reached an agreement that they would use Acura parts to repair the car (new rim, fender, liner, brake rotor) and that if I was not satisfied with the work they would fix it until I was happy with it.

They kept the car and began repairs on it.  I was called a few days later to come see the progress on the car.  I went to VT Autobody (their body shop) and was shown a new fender installed and painted.  The same damaged rim was on the car and the fender liner was missing, and the car now had a new scratch on the driver door where the fender meets the top of the door.  I pointed these items out and was told they would fix it.

Two weeks go by with no word so I call them to find out the status.  They tell me it is done and then abruptly hang up (great service).  I call back and ask if I can pick up the car today as I have been without the car for nearly three weeks and I don't want to come to pick it up unless they are sure it is ready.  They tell me that it will be delivered to me that evening, then hang up again.  I call a third time to ask if they would like my address so they know where to deliver it.  They take the info and this time actually say 'bye' before hanging up.

The car is brought back to me later that evening and I see that the same damaged rim is still on the car (how can they not notice it? it looks like its been through a war!).  I ask about the rim and am told they will bring me a new rim and tire and put it on for me tomorrow (OK fine!).

When I return home from work the following evening, there is a new rim sitting on my porch with no tire on it.  I had finally had enough so I had the rim put on at the Acura dealer.  The dealer informed me that the fender and liner were not genuine Acura parts (big surprise) and that my lug studs are damaged and someone has forced the lug nuts on (gee I wonder how that happened?).

Bottom line is this: Don't do business with these people unless you are prepared to take the risk of going through what I did.  I understand that mistakes happen but the ripoff here is not the wheel falling off, it is in how I was treated after the mistake happened.