Friends and Family who know me would probably categorize me as a fair and resonable guy and so I feel a little bummed being pissed off to the point that after 15 years of loyalty I'm writing off Les Schwab.

 

I've been a huge fan of thiers for years and done nearly all of my tire related business w/ them for 15+ years, and additionally continually recommended them to others when asked for advice.  However they left me high and dry today and even having followed up w/ the manager there was no attempt to make things right, only accusations pointed back at me that the latest tire drama from them was my fault.

 

So last night as Erin was on her way home from dropping off the baby sitter her tire completely blew out and left her stranded on a dark rural road without her cell phone.  A Maple Valley old timer was kind enough to pick Erin up and get her home, and then turned around and went with me and my buddy Steve to get the tire swapped out for the spare.

 

Once we got to the truck I tried to loosen the lugnuts so that I could get the blown tire off the car and found that the lugnuts were so tight I couldn't even budge them, I mean beyond imagination tight.  So using a 3' cheater bar I had to stand on top of the bar w/ all my 240 pounds to even get anythign to budge....and even w/ the right size tools and plenty of torque 3 of the six rounded off and weren't coming off.  Steve, Randy and I were totally blown away...I have never, ever seen lug nuts put on that tight.  And, of course no one has touched those tires since Les Schwab installed them.

 

But, having worked with these guys before, I was not worried...I figured I'll get it towed (it's only a mile or two away) and they'll make it right.  Well, I was wrong.  I happily payed for the pro-rated cost of the tire replacement and asked the manager what we could do about the tow bill.  Instead of trying to figure out what was going on or working with me instead he accused me of lying to him about having other people working on the tire, told me that his guys took the lugs off by hand in the parking lot and that he doesn't know what the problem was, but that he wasn't responsible.  At this point I'm not happy.  I was up until 1:00 AM getting the truck towed, used the time of three of my friends who between all of us and my 240llbs standing on the end of a 3' cheater bar he's saying they just popped right off and that it wasn't his problem.

 

So, I told him that no one else had been into the tires, 3 grown men who know how to work on cars aren't pulling his leg and that they were way over torqued.  There was no negotiation or offering to cover a portion or anything and then he got pissy with me because my insurance company didn't offer towing insurance and some how this was all my fault.  Again he reiterated to me that he can't trust me that someone else was working on those tires or I just did it wrong, even though I left my wrenches, bars and jacks int the back so he could see what'd I'd done.  So now I'm really pissed and told him that he also had zero proof that they'd put the lugs on w/ the proper torque and that he can't demonstrate that I did it wrong and can't demonstrate that he did it right giving him a chance to comprimise for the sake of customer service, and instead just continues to accuse me of decieving him and that he can't know if I had the brakes done.  So I said pull the tires off and inspect them to your hearts content and look and see what shape the brakes are in (they've never been touched since I've owned the truck) and he said, well maybe you just had them inspected but not replaced.

 

At that point I was done being called a liar by the manager of a company that claims outstanding and terrific customer service and explained to him that I'd finish out the warranty on the tires but then when I needed to replace tires or recomend someone Les Schwab was off the list.  He got all pissy and just handed me the reciept and I was heading for the door.

 

I'm going to follow up w/ the corporate office and see if they'll be a little more reasonable, but what a bummer and now I have to find a new tire company...anyone got any recomendations?!?  ; ^)