Juker008

Two weeks ago I took my car to Firestone to have a whole new set of tyres put on my rims. During the initial process of placing the tyre on the rim, via the machine that they use I got 4 scratched rims.
I noticed the three scratched rims with the new tyres next to the wheel balancer. And saw 5 scratches on each rim. One on each leg of the five star. The scratches are exactly on done on each rim. When I noticed the scratches on the three rims I quickly observed the last and finial rim. I saw that the fourth rims had not a single scratch on it. But when the monkey was through placing the tyre on the rim. The exact same scratches were gouged onto the rim.
I confronted the manager Friday about the situation and he told me that there was no way that his machine could have done that. I told him that I was standing right there when it happened, and that after the dammages were done that I placed my finger on teh scratches and pulled metal filling out from it. Still he flat out denied the incident happened.
My question to u guys is has this same situation wver happened to u? Has a tyre machine ever scratched ur rims? What could I do to get them to "replace" (FK refurbish, I gave him the chance, NOW I WANT NEW) my damaged rims?
And as a word of advice to anyone that this might happen to. CALL THE COPS. Have a report filied there on the spot and show the pigs the metal fileings when u touch the scratches.

Any good words will help.
Tnx in advance.

TRELOS

O-Town_TypeS

The same exact thing just happened to me a week ago at Tire Kingdom. The service manager admitted to the damage but said he wasnt gonna do anything about it. I talked to the area VP and he said to get an estimate from someone and fax him the quote and he would take care of it. The problem is I can't find anyone that I trust. I got a qoute from one guy who said he would paint over the scratches. I think that would look stupid. I have to call the VP back again and see what else I can do. It's a pain in the ass. My advice to you is to do exactly what I did. Take it to a higher level. The managers in the store are usually gonna try to defend themselves so they don't get shit from upper management. Unfortunatly as in my case...they didn't admit fault, but as they can clearly see the machine did the damage. I think you can probably use that against them.

What part of Florida are you from?

Juker008

Shit sorry to hear that. As for the rims if they were brand new GET BRAND NEW. Look at it this way. When u go in to trade in your car for that Viper that u always had ur eye on the trade in dealer is gonna look at the rims and say that there was repaired/refurbished dammage that occured. And wipe $1K off the trade-in value of the car. So now that Fire Stone decided to refurbish ur rims (lets say they did) who's gonna take up the $1K tab?
As for ur scratches. Can u take a couple of snap shots for me? And/or some measurements of how far from the lip of the rims the scratches are?
I live in SE WPB. Sry no where near Orlando. Frankly I should have gone with my gut instint and have called the cops. As for the VP how could I find out the VP for Pampano (Broward County)? If this gets to be more of a headache I will have to get my insurance company involved. If I decide to have them take care of the damages I will have to pay a $500 deductable. So lets see thats $350 x 4 = $1400. Now take $500 off that $1400 and I save $900. But they will then investagate the damages and go after them for me.
But what would the BBB do for me? I think that all that would happen from them would be an incident report. No investigation, no reimbusment for damages?
Oh and here was another questionable action. When I asked the manager about for the "Corporate" number he told me that he didn't have it avaliable. But what he did have was another number that only he, the manager could dial and use. So right there infront of me he dialed that special number on his "Bat Phone". Well u know the rest...it rang and rang, and well no one picked up, go figure. BUUUUUUUUT he did assure me that he was gonna keep calling for me and that sooner or later I would get a call from the corporation about a claim. Well I guess we can all agree that that sooner or later will only be a "never".
So if u could please tell me what more u think of this situation. And possibly snap a couple of photos of those rims. Tell me what u think of the trade in value senario. How I could get the VP number?
So hit me up again.

Tnx

TRELOS

O-Town_TypeS

I'll try to take some pics of the rims. I don't have a digital camera so I'll see what I can do. As for calling corporate. Check their web site. Thats what I did. I called the customer service # and demanded to talk to the VP. She said she would send me to VM and a day later he called me back. I don't think the BBB can do anything for you. Unfortunatly its your word against theirs. I didn't leave that place until I had somthing in writing with them admitting fault. The service manager was PISSED. I thought for sure he was gonna take a swing at me. I was raising hell hell in the store in front of all the other customers. 3 of them left because of the shitty work they did. My car was parked right out front where everyone could see.

As for resurfacing....from what I've heard and seen from a few people here...you can get it to look like it was brand new.

Red Rider

Man, everyone is having problems with wheels getting messed up. One of my brand new Volk TE-37s were scratched at the dealer when they rotated. Fortunately i had them inspect each wheel and they even wrote on the work order " be careful " 3 times. Anyway, they sent it out for refinishing and it's perfect. I was impressed.

Juker008

Frankly I've seen refurbished rims. And they "don't" look like new. What I've seen is the person refurbishing the rims grind down the face of the rim so that the scratches are grounded out and yea they look good. But u do notice (if ur anal) that the step in the refurbs have been lost. And dealers notice that right off the bat.
But what I'm gonna need is more fire-power to take on this manage-ing asshole. I would figure that the BBB would be able to jump in on this and see if there have been any other complaints and if not then file one on my behalf. So who else can I get to defend me?
And whats gonna happen if I only get to the VP and he tells me that he spoke to the manager and the manager says that his machine couldn't have done it.
I'm gonna need some more help. Any thing would help.

Tnx

TRELOS

scl23

Each state has different limits, most are up to $1000, and it's easy as hell to win since all larger corporations ALWAYS settle and you have a good case if they don't. Sue for the total cost for new rims and cost to replace the tires and put them on your car. Get 2 estimates. All you need to do is find the LEGAL NAME of the company. If it's a large national company, you find the headquarter address, find the legal name on the company (usually the ceo or somebody like that) and get the names of the guy who worked on your car. if the manager doesn't cooperate, then you can add that to your suit and talk to the higher managers. if you go through the trouble, you'll get your money back.

Some fuckers at NTB fucked up my parent's transmission and then said they didn't do it. I sued for $1000 and settled w/ their insurance company for $900 and then gave the car away to charity. you might be able to get enough money to get new rims and then sell your scratched ones for cheap.

Smitty02CLs

a few words..... TAKE IT TO ACURA, you should let the dealer do as much work as possible. It may cost a tad more but sh$t like this won't happen. Remember, 90+ % of the cars they work on are Acura's. the puck as$ dooper kids at Tire Kingdom, etc. could care less, they are used to working on Bubba's Ford

Juker008

Luckly here in Fla. I believe the minimum allowed is $100.

Now, the thought of small claims court did cross my mind. But I'm about to go through another small claims suit for a woman who hit me (car,). Well the accident report was written that there was not enough evidence to prove who was at fault. So the accident was deemed 'no-fault'. BUT, now get this wht woman was found drivign on a suspended licence for the second time. When the back-up police officer asked her where is her licence she said that it was in her other purse. But after the officer asked her the same question a couple more times, he then corrected her by saying "mam, ur licence isn't in ur purse, ur licence is in the custody of the Plantation Police Dept. . About a month ago u were found driving on a suspended licence. And to this day u are still driving to the point of getting into an accident".
So she was found driving on a suspended licence for the second time and arrested...well not. Black woman, black cop, 5 y/o child in the 'front seat', no seat belt for both, and crying her ass off. She was given a NTA (notice to appear). Now with that said u would think that if I were to take her to small claims court get my deductable back it would be a sure fire win. Woman, suspended licence for the second time, should have been on the road to begin with. Well all that still won't win me the case. Because its a case of my word against her's.
So with that said I would doubt that I would win if I were to take em to court. I mean sure I have the scratches on all rims, all in the same place same spot. And I would tell the judge that I was present when the last rim was scratched.But when he goes before the judge he would tell him/her that his machine didn't do it and I am simply scamming the company into buying new rims.
Now with that said tell me what u think and give me some more advice.

Tnx

TRELOS

Juker008

Yea thats tru.

TRELOS

NYKEEROCKA

DO NOT GO TO FIRESTONE OR GOODYEAR, when thye were putting my brothers car on the lift the guy put the foot to far under and it pushed up the passenger side floor, they denied it until my brother threatened to sue. i hate fucking auto shops, thats why i fix all my shit myself.

dmcconnell

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I had the same thing happen to my 1990 Accord EX at Avellino's (a regional tire store in PA). However, don't make the same mistake I made. I settled for not paying for the tires (~$500). New rims would have been ~$1200. What ensued was the wheels always had slow leaks due to the damage to the rims, which they sealed up with what looked like black rubberized chalk.

You should definitely DEMAND to have all the damaged wheels replaced with new wheels. You are entitled to have your vehicle restored to the condition it was in prior to your visit to the tire dealer. Normally, businesses have insurance for this type of thing, and if they don't, too bad for them. They were negligent ! Contact someone over the head of the local dealer manager at Firestone. I would not settle for having them repaired, there could be problems down the road if they were not done correctly and then you will have to go through this legal mess again. If they do not come around for taking responsibilty for their negligence, you will have to sue them. (I can almost guarantee they will be out of business within 2 years if they treat customers this way).

Nicky Pass

When I got one of my tires replace, the dickheads at the tire shop scratched the top of the lip on one of my 3 month old wheels It doesn't look that bad because it is the same color underneath!!!! BUT THAT DOESN"T MAKE IT RIGHT!!!! I couldn't say anything because I noticed it like 3 weeks later!!!!

GMAN

I know how pissed off you might be. I had a flat tire fixed at Les Shwab and also had a rim scratched. They told me that this can't be prevented. At first I got the same run around that there's nothing they can do. So I went to the dealer and asked if this happens often, they said not when they do it. So I went higher up and threaten to take this issue to Bureau of Automotive Repair. I also got a quote from the dealer on the cost of a new rim. They ended up keeping the wheel for a few days and sent it out and had it fixed. Don't give up keep pursuing it.

Juker008

Yea thats what I need to know. More Fire Power.

Tnx

TRELOS

Juker008

But see this is what I don't understand. U guys make it sound so simple. Threatin + Suit = $$$. Well that sound great but what about the investigation. I'm sorry if I didn't mention it earlier but two of my rims were scratched up to being with. So an investigation, I feel, will hamper the outcome of an investigation. I definatly have 4 scratched rims that they are to blame. 2 of the four are emaculate, while the other 2 are in poor condition. So if an investigation were to arise and the investigator saw the 2 poor rims he would turn around and say that I am tring to swindel a whole new set of rims out of them.
From what I'm understanding from u guys is that all u did was speak to the VP of the area. And explained to him/her what happened and that their establishment is to blame and if repairs aren't made pronto a suit will be filed. With that said the VP promply writes out a check and throws it into the mail-slot.
So now tell me guys what other hoops did u have to jump through with the VP or whoever in order to get rembursment?

Tnx for all teh help guys keep sending me more "Fire Power", I will need all the help I can get.

Tnx Agin

TRELOS

guji2

If you have a camcorder or a camera,

take video or picture of the rims BEFORE you send your car to the tire shop. Then AFTER you pick up your car, take video or picture of the rims again. That way, you can use the video/pictures as a proof to threaten the tire shop with or to get the insurance company pay for new rims or whatever.

I did this with my apartment before I moved in and it saved me a lot of grief with getting the deposit back in full. . .

Juker008

Well thats great but, I need info on what I can do now. Sure I have other hypothetical situations that I should have done or should do next time I get my tyres put on.

So if u know what I can do now then that would be great.

Tnx

TRELOS

guji2

Well, if you are really pissed off at them and you want to give them some grief:

Go to the shop whenever you have time and loiter around. Just before each potential customer enters the shop, stop the customer and warn him about the tire scratches and how much grief you had with the store.

This will make the potential customer more wary of the store and the store may lose a lot of business as a result. I don't know if they can call the police to make you get lost but since the facts are on your side you may be able to continue to do your protest. When the store realizes that their reputation is being affected by your activism, they may just pay you to go away. You get your money back by being a gadfly.

Juker008

Naaa that won't work. Ther've got police on their side on that one. They have a State Statue that allows them to call the police for any reason to assist persons off the premisis, for any reason.

Tnx

TRELOS