David
Portland,#2Author of original report
Sun, October 01, 2006
Update: credit has been issued, yet they still deny having had anything to do with the damage. Robert, Here's my response to your comment. #1. It seems like you don't believe what I'm saying. I was physically present when the they did the installation, I have no doubt in what I saw. They use exactly the same machine for both steel and alloy wheels. The only revision made is a polymer "lid" that slides on the arm that rotates with the center post. If you come across a Les Schwab, I would suggest you go take a look. #2. ForceMatch isn't quite the same. The machine tells the technician exactly how far to turn the wheel in relation to the wheel, not blanketly turning half a turn. My wheels were in immaculate conditions when I washed the car only a few days before the visit to this Les Schwab. Seeing I'm the only driver and I have NOT curbed the wheel, driver error is ruled out. If you look at my wheel, you'll see that the alloy is not damaged at all, but it is just the clearcoat and the silver-painting beneath it that got abraded away. Very similar to what happens to a vehicle body panel when it is abraded against plastic, such as a bumper from another vehicle. #3. My complaint with Les Schwab isn't that they didn't perform the service. It is that they failed to perform a service w/o inflicting damage to my wheels.
Robert
Jacksonville,#3Consumer Comment
Tue, September 19, 2006
1-NOBODY, and I do mean NOBODY, uses the type of tire buster you described. "Rim-Clamp" tire machines have been the standard for 20 years. The machine you decsribed is ONLY used by shops who still think it's the 1970's, and they are ONLY designed to be used on steel rims. Using a center post machine on an aluminum rim is an invitation to damage. That said...no shop is going to be held liable for any damage done to a non-factory rim. Also, no shop is going to be held liable for any damage that consists of garring the outer lip of the bead area. This "damage" is not possible to eliminate entirely, as even a plastic covered bar will eventually cause scoring on that area. Any damage done outside the rim(where it can scrape curbs, etc) is driver error, and in no way the fault of the tire machine...no matter what type is used. 2-The extra service you paid $80 for, is known as the NORMAL WAY to maount/balance a tire. On any tire/rim combo, if the assembly requires too much weight, the tire is broken down, and turned 180 degrees. Then it's rebalanced. This process is repeated, until the weight requirement is correct. All tires come with two dots on the sidewall. If the dot is placed at the valve stem, the tire will require very little added weight. You got robbed of $80, as this process is simply part of NORMAL mounting/balancing procedure. "Trueing" is a different process, in which the tire is made round, and involves a lathe to shave the tread until it is perfectly round. This process wastes negligible amounts of rubber, but the cost is usually prohibitive. 3-You bought the tires at one place, then paid LS to pretty much redo what the 1st shop did. When you tale #2 into account, your real complaint is with the 1st shop for not mounting/balancing the tires correctly to begin with. Get your money back...not from LS, but from the shop that did not correctly mount/balance your tires. THEY ripped you off, not LS.
David
Portland,#4Author of original report
Tue, September 19, 2006
The location manager, Steve, contacted me. The manager's word is the same as the inspecting employee, Tom. Completely denies his store having caused the damage. Manager's argument to clear coat damage on my wheels is that "your wheels are not clear coated, because clear coated wheels don't scrape up like that, they peel". I'm sure some readers have expertise in the art of wheel coating and I'll leave it up to you to interpret his statement. He is simply refunding my money for the service because "you're unhappy with it, even though we've provided a serivce and worked on your car for well over an hour" That Les Schwab is not getting my business anymore and I let the manager know that. He responds "then I really don't have an incentive to give your money back, do I?". However he did confirm he will hold his word to issuing the refund for the service, so I will keep checking my credit card records until the refund is posted.