It Finally Happened At My Shop Yesterday.

[tirengolf]

I get notification from Tire Rack about a customer that had dropped shipped a set of ires to my shop. I noticed the size and price they paid,I could tell they were inexpensive and closeout tires. Young lady come in , very nice, and says , do I have to pay to have tires mounted. I have been a TR installer since 1992 with very positive outcome and great reviews. This was a first for me!!! I am a Price Pledge installer for TR , the pricing is on the website so I run a ticket for the whole works OTD. She looks astonished, she gets on phone and calls, I guess her dad, she puts this guy on the phone and bam, he starts freaking out about the price, I say sir look at the website it gives you the price, I was calm at first then I tell him sir there are 10 places to go too why did you choose me. Then it got ugly. He really thought there was no charge anyway it ended with me slamming the phone up on this craaaazy guy. I am calling TR today. That may wrap up a good thing and relationship with TR. I really think that this will be what is to come in the mail order business. A lot of people just do not get it. When they have to take their car back to a franchise dealer they will understand what is happening in this quickly changing business. I have been thinking about getting out of TR network. I think this just made my mind up for me. What was good thing 20 years ago is not good today. Times are a changing my friends. I felt a little sorry for the young lady , she was in the military , I was about to give a 20% discount that I do not advertise . She said my dad has a bad temper , and apologized. I am sure I get a review from hell about this. I will be waiting on this one.

[lmcca]

i dont get it, you want to close the door on TR because one person didnt want to pay for mounting and balancing?

[xrac]

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[mspecperformance]

Don't ruin your biz for 1 idiot.

[HarrytheCarGeek]

Tire Rack has given me a great number of very high value customers. I think you are overreacting.

[carolinahigear]

I get notification from Tire Rack about a customer that had dropped shipped a set of ires to my shop. I noticed the size and price they paid,I could tell they were inexpensive and closeout tires. Young lady come in , very nice, and says , do I have to pay to have tires mounted. I have been a TR installer since 1992 with very positive outcome and great reviews. This was a first for me!!! I am a Price Pledge installer for TR , the pricing is on the website so I run a ticket for the whole works OTD. She looks astonished, she gets on phone and calls, I guess her dad, she puts this guy on the phone and bam, he starts freaking out about the price, I say sir look at the website it gives you the price, I was calm at first then I tell him sir there are 10 places to go too why did you choose me. Then it got ugly. He really thought there was no charge anyway it ended with me slamming the phone up on this craaaazy guy. I am calling TR today. That may wrap up a good thing and relationship with TR. I really think that this will be what is to come in the mail order business. A lot of people just do not get it. When they have to take their car back to a franchise dealer they will understand what is happening in this quickly changing business. I have been thinking about getting out of TR network. I think this just made my mind up for me. What was good thing 20 years ago is not good today. Times are a changing my friends. I felt a little sorry for the young lady , she was in the military , I was about to give a 20% discount that I do not advertise . She said my dad has a bad temper , and apologized. I am sure I get a review from hell about this. I will be waiting on this one.

Back in the day, a situation like this would have really bothered me, so I understand how you feel. I know that looking at the big picture is hard to do sometimes as we are working daily to make our shop the best shop, and to be really profitable, too. Especially with the shop at about 102F with 110 % humidity!! Probably if her dad had not gotten involved, it would have worked out just fine.

 

If Tire Rack has been working for you, by all means continue!!

[CAautogroup]

I would have done the exact same thing as you. Labor does not come free and for the most part, many people do not believe in this. We as a business have to run and overhead to cover. These are the types of customers who will not help pay my bills.

 

On a side note, how did you become an installer for Tire Rack?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[tirengolf]

Maybe I should clarify myself. I have been a TR installer for 25 years. The customer that I once got from TR was usually a high end guy. I have noticed a trend of bottom feeders from TR in the last 5 years, 245/45R17 tires for $50.00 @. This young lady had the tires shipped to me , she walked in the door sat down with all the other customers in my waiting room and looked at me and said , do I have to pay to get these tires installed. I gave her a price, the install was more than the tires. This is the same price that is advertised in a email she gets and I get. I showed it to her and she was lost. I went on TR website and found it a little clumsy to get a installer installation price, almost like it is being hid from the consumer. I really do not think that is there intention, I think the competition has piggybacked there installer program . They are hiding most installers now . It takes about 4 clicks to get to the installers. I maybe overreacting although I value my reputation and ethical business as the 2 things that put us on top of all the other shops in my area. I guess another thing that got me is the consumer called me back and said the lady in CS at TR said were very high on installation price. I confronted TR about this and they basically said our CS rep says anything to calm the situation down. These people had a choice , they saw my reviews but did not want to pay the price. I will say this, in 5 years our insurance companies will stop us from mounting consumer parts including tires. I do not do parts now and looks like tires are considered a part. I think the choice will be made for me by my insurance company. I am always open to other professionals opinions about the stance I took , right or wrong, that is why I posted it, I appreciate the input. The consumer is a changing although ethical business still works at the end of the day.

[xrac]

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[tirengolf]

There is an easy fix to this situation. When a customer orders tires from TR and picks us as an installer TR always send us an email notifying us of the order. I always then email the customer and tell them that I will notify them when the tires arrive. It would be very easy to also say in a confirmatory email that the installation costs would be $xxx per tire plus $xx disposal. That should help prevent a situation like this unless these folks were really computer illiterate and someone else did the ordering for them. We have been TR installers for about 17 years. We still get mostly high end customers from the TR.

Her father ordered the tires for her. I guess what concerned me was I have never had this happen , ever. I like your idea. I will be replying to these emails in the future. It is a different culture of online shoppers today.

[alfredauto]

I wouldn't take it personal or react at all over one idiot. We get people in all the time "WOW?! $20 to put my tire on WOOOWWW your really proud of your time yada yada my buddy does them for $5" ok sir take it to your buddy we charge $20. have a nice day.