Gnate

iTrader: (10)

Hi everyone, long time no talk. Hope you're all well.

FULL STORY

I have a bit of a predicament.

Today, I went to get some new tires put on my 2004 miata. The last time I took a rim off, was by hand, back in probably november. Everything was fine.

Today, I did not sign anything, I simply gave them my keys and they took my car back to work on it.

After about an hour and a half I am told "you should come back here... It's not good."

So, I go back there to find that they shattered two of my lug nuts and cannot get them off. I was then instructed to find a shop that can machine them off, or cut them off with a torch, which will inevitably discolor or mess up my stock rims, which, might I add, are in pretty damned good condition. Also, they scarred the rims pretty badly in trying to remove the lug nuts.

They told me that no matter what situation, if I had tried to remove the lug nuts myself, they would have shattered.

Regardless, I did not shatter them, town fair tire did.

So, my question is, is it just that I should pay for this?
Or do I call headquarters tomorrow and complain?

Cliffs
-went to get tires changed at town fair tire (chain)
-did not sign anything
-they began working on car
-shattered lug nuts and claim I need to pay someone to remove them
-I do not think this seems right

#1 STUNNA

So you couldn't spray pb blaster on the your nuts to loosen them up? Any pictures of the current state of your nuts?

Americandream

ummmmm, if i was you i would be like you shattered them not me. dosent matter if i HAD TOOK THEM OFF, CAUSE I DID NOT SHATTER THEM YOU DID. you broke my lugs and everything was fine before you touched it. then id say IS THIS WHAT YOU DO TO CUSTOMERS THAT BRING THEIR CARS WHEN YOU BRAKE THEIR LUGS?

to me their trying to get over on you, some might say different, but a shop has to honer their work. they decided to change your tires and then ran into a problem, instead of them taking care of it, their putting the blame on you (when you did nothing but bring the car to them)

thats just my two sense, hopefully you can solve this without coming out of pocket any extras...

Good luck!

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

complain to corporate. i've had an experience at a big box shop where they damaged the my rims for a simple tire install. they of course blamed it on me or whoever else handled my wheels for why they had to damage the wheels. the manager's tone was not helpful at all. i complained to corporate, went to another one of their shops with a so-called trusted manager and ended up with a brand new set of wheels, no charge out of it. suffice it to say i will never go back to a big box shop to tire installs. it's worth my inconvenience and a few extra bucks to go to a performance tuner shop where i know they will be careful and probably be just as anal as i am around my wheels. GL.

bigman

I'm in the auto service industry. It's totally their fault. Any skilled mechanic or tire guy would know immediately that the lugs a requiring too much force. You should have been informed that the lug nuts were seized. If you decided to let them proceed, (after fair warning of what could happen, and signing a release form), then it would've been your risk. Fight them, they are in the wrong.

Gnate

iTrader: (10)

Thank you!

I spoke with HQ this morning and they said they were going to call the location I had the "work" done at and get their side of the story or whatever.

We'll see if they call back...

fsttyms1

Dont take its not their fault for an answer. They were the ones working on it. Make them fix what they broke.

terdonal

I think too that the shop should accept resposibility for this or at the least split the cost. Why the lugs would break is an interesting question though. You would think they would have noticed the resistance from the lugs before they shattered. I assume that if 2 were shattered they were on different wheels? If not why would they continue after one shattered?

Very strange and very unfortunate.

Gnate

iTrader: (10)

Okay, so thanks to keeping my cool when I spoke to HQ, they agreed to pay to replace the two rims that will have to be cut off of the car with a torch, and the cost to remove said rims.

I am sure they will only offer to pay for the removal of the two wheels on which the lug nuts shattered, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that they will pay to remove all 4, since they couldn't do it... and that is their specialty after all.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

glad its working out.

iSeeYouTwo

I'd be pissed if someone shattered my nuts too.



Completely their fault. Glad HQ is cooperating!

Gnate

iTrader: (10)

All right, nearly a month later and I still don't have tires... but I do have good news!

Though they agreed to replace the two scorched wheels, they could not find any replacements. And I called to express how fed up I was with waiting. So, I got a phone call a few days ago saying "choose any wheels from our catalog, and I will buy them for you." So... long story short:

I'm getting a free set of 16x7 enkei RPF-1's!!!

I will post pics as proof when I get them. I'm off to Italy tomorrow till next Friday, so It'll be a couple weeks. Thanks for pushing me to fight back!

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

dallison

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

nice!!

Shoofin

You probably overtightened the lugs when you did it by hand, which is why this happened...In any case, glad it worked out for you!

terdonal

Glad it worked out, have a nice time in Italy.

Gnate

iTrader: (10)

There is a possibility of that, however small. I only removed one of the wheels on my miata from the time I purchased it and it was not one on which the lug nuts broke!

Thanks!

iSeeYouTwo

Even better! Haha. Let me go over-tighten my lugs. Which TFT was this again?!

onebadna1nsx

Hahah lucky you Nate!!!

Gnate

iTrader: (10)

Town Fair Tire - Leominster MA.
Although it has taken far too long, their customer service rep - Rich Allen at the New Haven, CT headquarters has been cool throughout the entire process, although I wish I had email documentation of everything. I'm kind of uncomfortable doing everything over the phone.