I live in Phoenix. I have purchased at least 10 full sets of tires from Discount Tire over the past decade or so, for various cars my family has owned (BMW M3, Porsche 914, Dodge Caravan, Toyota Sienna, Ford Escort).
The Sienna recently had a flat tire while we were in Phoenix (Goodyear Forteras, about 25% tread life left). My wife drove a short distance (less than 1/4 mile) with the tire flat. I was concerned that the tire might be damaged and unrepairable as a result of being driven on. The puncture was due to a screw in the middle of the tread, the screw went completely through the tire. Discount looked at it, said the tire was fine, and repaired it.
Today, we had another puncture in a different tire on the Sienna, essentially identical to the puncture we had in Flagstaff, in the middle of the tread, through the tire. My wife drove less than 200 feet on it. I brought the tire/wheel to the Discount we bought the tires from. First thing the guys says to me is, "We don't sell that tire". Well, I bought it here, I said, here's the receipt. "Oh, yeah, we do sell that.". Before he's even looked at the puncture, he's touching the sidewall, "Oh, I feel a heat bump, this tire's unrepairable". I feel the same area and feel no bump at all, nothing. He looks at the puncture. "Oh, that looks bad, it's probably unrepairable." He takes the tire, and tells me he'll call in an hour.
He calls - "the tire's unrepairable, the cut inside is very large, cords showing, etc.". I tell him I'll come and take a look at it. It's nothing more than a simple, clean, small puncture. No cords, no cuts. He pulls another guy over who says, "oh, yeah, that's unrepairable, the repair we use makes the tire like new, but when it's that bad, we can't repair it". More stuff about how bad it is. Best part was when I brought up the fact that Discount had repaired another tire on the van
2 months ago that was exactly like this puncture, no questions asked. He said, "well, that was in the past, and we don't do that today". 2 MONTHS AGO IS "THE PAST"?I told them I was dissatisfied and would not be returning for tire purchases again. I drove to the new Big O tire a mile from my house. I told them that I had a tire that needed repair, that I'd taken it "somewhere else", they said it was unrepairable, and I wanted a second opinion. I said nothing more. He went out, looked at it, and said, "why in the world would they say this was unrepairable?". They fixed it in
15 minutes, charged me nothing, and I was on my way - oh, and they have a new customer for furture tire purchases.Anyone else had this problem with Discount? I was pretty pissed, it was obvious that they were just trying to get me to buy another tire - which I'd have gladly done, if the damn thing was really unrepairable (e.g. sidewall damage, bulging, serious cord damage).