Discount Tire experience

[Oldschoolmk7]

I have ordered online 6-7 sets of tires from them in past (no local stores) and had indy put them on. They opened a store and I pulled in for my 3rd tire rotation @ 15k miles on my factory Bridgestone Potenza’s. They are showing 7.5/32. So they find a staple in one of the tires that I had pointed out was going down 3 psi every 4 weeks or so.

So they tell me they cannot put the tire back on my car due to being too close to sidewall area. I then realize my spare/backseat is out of car. So they salesmen walks back and grabs a random tire in my size and says he is going to put this Barus brand tire on my rim. Whoa cowboy! I tell him just put my old one back on and I will sort out later the tire issue.

Anywho, after talking to store manager (and not having my spare) he says “policy” we cannot put your tire back on for safety concerns. At this point I’m thinking they just want to sell me a tire (do not have my OEM in stock) and send me out the door...? I then said I’m not comfortable with having a non matching tire on my car. He them tells me he will put 4 brand new tires on for FREE. If that makes you more comfortable he said. What...? Manager tells me my safety is more important at Discount tire.

He then tells me take 1 to 4 (new offbrand $80 pop tires installed) no charge to figure out what I want to do. I told him not looking for something for nothing and the one tire is going above the call of duty at no charge. I took the offer 1 tire. So to end this story I ordered a used (same as oem) tire with 8.5/32 coming tomorrow. Will bring in and let them swap (I will try to pay) and give their tire with 50 miles on it back. Pretty crazy experience. Willing to give me 4 brand new tires no charge and let me drive off. Wow.

Thumbs up Discount tire!!

 

[SpaceGhost]

So you somehow got 4 cheap tires for free. Now if you got 4 Michelin tires for free that would be a better story

 

[Oldschoolmk7]

So you somehow got 4 cheap tires for free. Now if you got 4 Michelin tires for free that would be a better story

No 1 tire to just borrow. Lol. Nice they offered any free tires is the point.

 

[BronxBomber]

definitely very good customer service from the manager. Not many tire businesses would loan you a tire, never mind give you 4.

 

[Oldschoolmk7]

definitely very good customer service from the manager. Not many tire businesses would loan you a tire, never mind give you 4.

Absolutely. Now, I was being fairly demanding they put my damage tire back on thinking they are looking to make a sale. The manager was probably judging my reaction to the situation (not good) and then improvised to what he could do. There was other customers in showroom. Classy act regardless.

 

[Genegenie]

Good service. A pal recently got a puncture and the tyre fitters told him only holes in the centre treads can be repaired, else it's new rubber. Mirrors what I've been told. Punctures are usually pretty rare occurances but make you a tad paranoid for a while afterwards....

 

[The Fed]

Curious why you let them take the wheel off the car. You can tell if a tire can be repaired without removing it. I just went through this with a new car dealer, and didn't get the, "I can't let you out with a bad tire speech". I think they were trying to pull something.

 

[KevinC]

I've been a Discount Tire customer for decades, and I'm currently on an "advisory board" that reviews marketing ideas and other stuff before they introduce it. Not surprised to hear this story.

The founder, Bruce Halle, recently passed away. He was a billionaire and the richest person in Arizona. Incredible rags-to-riches story.

 

[Wrath And Tears]

Curious why you let them take the wheel off the car. You can tell if a tire can be repaired without removing it. I just went through this with a new car dealer, and didn't get the, "I can't let you out with a bad tire speech". I think they were trying to pull something.

Really? I know nothing about tire repair, but recently at the shop we had an 06 Audi TT with a bent rim that we were able to remove and send out to repair. To me it looked terrible, a huge deformation of the rim lip, but our sublet shop was able to do the repair (and it looked almost perfect out side of slight discoloration). A different tech noticed it, and my father (shop owner) made the call it could be repaired after talking to our sublet shop, but I don't know how he made the call.

 

[jtitocci]

I have ordered online 6-7 sets of tires from them in past (no local stores) and had indy put them on. They opened a store and I pulled in for my 3rd tire rotation @ 15k miles on my factory Bridgestone Potenza’s. They are showing 7.5/32. So they find a staple in one of the tires that I had pointed out was going down 3 psi every 4 weeks or so.

So they tell me they cannot put the tire back on my car due to being too close to sidewall area. I then realize my spare/backseat is out of car. So they salesmen walks back and grabs a random tire in my size and says he is going to put this Barus brand tire on my rim. Whoa cowboy! I tell him just put my old one back on and I will sort out later the tire issue.

Anywho, after talking to store manager (and not having my spare) he says “policy” we cannot put your tire back on for safety concerns. At this point I’m thinking they just want to sell me a tire (do not have my OEM in stock) and send me out the door...? I then said I’m not comfortable with having a non matching tire on my car. He them tells me he will put 4 brand new tires on for FREE. If that makes you more comfortable he said. What...? Manager tells me my safety is more important at Discount tire.

He then tells me take 1 to 4 (new offbrand $80 pop tires installed) no charge to figure out what I want to do. I told him not looking for something for nothing and the one tire is going above the call of duty at no charge. I took the offer 1 tire. So to end this story I ordered a used (same as oem) tire with 8.5/32 coming tomorrow. Will bring in and let them swap (I will try to pay) and give their tire with 50 miles on it back. Pretty crazy experience. Willing to give me 4 brand new tires no charge and let me drive off. Wow.

Thumbs up Discount tire!!

Back in my Jeep days, I had a set of BFG All Terrains, that I blew through. They had something like a 40k mile warranty on them, and I was nearly gone by 25k or something. Most places would have pro-rated them, if I was lucky, and even at that, probably would have shafted me in install. At the time I had several vehicles, which I used DT for, and the shop people knew me to some small extent. I brought the Jeep in, expecting to get a slight pro-rate on the next set, and the manager ended up not only giving 3/4 off the next set of tires, he also threw in road force balance, and install. I think I ended up spending $150 all together on a set of 33x10.5r15's - General Grabber AT2's which at the time were $200 a tire.

I love dealing with them, and wish I had one where I live.

 

[heiney9]

I have always had great service at Discount Tire, even the times when I hadn't bought tires from them. They've rotated for free and also fixed a leaky bead seal on tires not bought there. They told me "just think of us the next time you buy tires" and I did, twice since then.

I like the sales approach in that I already picked out what I wanted (Conti DWS 06) and of course they don't stock them. Most tire places will try like hell to steer you into a house brand or something in stock. They did not, they placed the order and had them in 2 days. I appreciate that they knew I knew what I wanted and spared me the bullshit sales pitch.

Customer for life. I even go to Discount Tire Direct and ask them to match the price there, and they do. Direct is their mail-order arm and many times the tires are a bit cheaper. They have no problem matching that price at the retail store. Last time I bought tires I got 3 different rebates and saved $170. I got the tire manufacturer rebate, a store promotion and used their 6 mos/no interest credit card w/another promotion.

 

[Oldschoolmk7]

Crazy! Great to hear I’m not the only one. Still reeling on 4 tires fo free to make me comfortable. Again, myself does not need that kinda of freebee honestly.

 

[Shane_Anigans]

A few winters ago, I limped my car in to a Discount Tire on a really cold and snowy evening (which is why I didn't bother trying to change it myself) about 20 minutes before they closed, expecting them to just plug it and send me on my way. Well, good thing they didn't; the tech took a look at the sidewall, then dismounted the tire, and brought a handful of rubber marbles from inside the tire where it had started to disintegrate. Turns out the pressure had been far too low for much too long. Lucky for me, they had an almost-matching winter tire (Blizzak WS-80 instead of WS-70) and stayed late to install it.

In short, their diligence probably saved me from a catastrophic tire failure on the freeway, which probably wouldn't have ended well for me.

 

[Genegenie]

Crazy! Great to hear I’m not the only one. Still reeling on 4 tires fo free to make me comfortable. Again, myself does not need that kinda of freebee honestly.

Hope you just said nothing and drove away. Quickly ....

 

[MonkeyMD]

I've been told the same thing. They refused to put 2 tires back on and said I had to purchase new tires. Granted, this was about 20 years ago, tires were down to steel belts on the inside of the tire. Didn't have the money for it and wanted to just get back home to put the stock wheels and tires on, which still had plenty of tread, but ended up buying tires, because couldn't leave otherwise. Can understand their point of view.

I think it's hit and miss as far as the different Discount Tire locations.
I have been a customer for 2 decades, but because of 2 recent what I consider unethical sales practices , they have lost a very loyal customer.