Sears Auto Center Damaged My Wheels

[timot_one]

Here's the story about how Sears Auto Center in Marlborough, MA damaged my wheels when I bought new tires a few weeks ago.  First off, I must say that this has been the worst experience ever.  It all started back on Saturday, September 4th when I needed to replace my tires because of camber wear.  I went to Sears Auto Center in Salem, NH and asked for a set of 245/40/18 BF Goodrich g-Force Sport summer tires.  They said they only had 3 tires in stock, so I waited around for an hour and a half while they tried to locate a 4th tire from another store that they could put on my car.  The entire time, all of the Sears technicians were saying they could not even get my car on a lift.  The sales lady ignored them.  I was sick of waiting for her and eventually she said she couldn't find a 4th tire, so I told them to only put on 2 rear tires and I would order the missing pair from another Sears closer to where I live.  After convincing the technicians that my car could be raised up to get my wheels off, and showing them how to, the work started.  Obviously, they were just too lazy to actually do the work to lift my car to get the wheels off.  I took my spanner wrenches and raised the rear of my car so when they set it back down, I wouldn't have any clearance issues with the wider tires.  The tech working on my car didn't have a problem with that, but some other guy did.  I get out of there and discover that they put on all season tires, not summer tires.  Fed up, I just left and called another Sears that is closer to my place and told them to order 4 of the summer tires that I wanted.

I then get a call that my new tires are at the Sears that is closer to my home, so I let them know that I will be coming in on the weekend to have them put on.  I let them know that I want to return the other tires that were put on my car because they were not what I asked for.  They tell me that they can't take returns from another store and that I would have to talk to a manager at the Sears Auto Center in New Hampshire.  Another lie that they told me because they were too lazy to do the work and didn't want to have the return affect their store's sales figures.  I know it's a lie, because they later took the tires back and refunded me after a heated conversation with the manager.  I tell them to put the tires in my car when I pick it up so I can deal with the other store.  Then I go to pay with my mother's Sears card since this was a belated birthday present and early Christmas present.  Since she lives 700 miles away, I only have the card number and expiration date.  The week before, I used it to pay for the other tires at the first Sears Auto Center and I used it to put a deposit down at this Sears Auto Center to order the tires.  The sales guy says I can pay this way, so he gets the manager.  I state my case to the manager, but logic doesn't work with him so I start to lay into him and he finally calls the CC company to find out that I had been authorized to use the card.  I leave the shop, drive 5 miles to my friend's house to drop off my car.  He was going to be watching it for the week while I was out of town.  My car remained parked and alarmed while it was at his house for the entire time.

Fast forward one week.  I arrive back from vacation and pick up my car around 9:00 PM on Sunday, September 20th, fill up the tank, and drive home.  The next day, I drive to work and work all day, then after work I do a quick once around my car to inspect it since this is the first time I have been able to see it in the daylight.  I walk around my car and get to the rear passenger's side wheel and notice a 5"x1/4" area on the inner lip of my wheel where the paint was scraped off.  I start looking at my other wheels closer and notice more damage to the lip from the tire mounting machine.  They didn't use the touch free tire mounting machine and scratched the lip on all 4 of my wheels.  Other than a tiny chip in the paint of one wheel and the normal damage that can occur around the lug area from using an impact gun, my wheels were in perfect condition.  I called the manager at the Sears Auto Center immediately to tell him about the damage and he told me to come in so he can check it out.  I show up around 7:00 PM on Monday, September 21st and it's the same dim witted manager that I had to lay into about the credit card.  He asks me to pull my car into the shop, so I pull in and show him the damage.  I explain to him that the only acceptable solution is that they pay for 100% of the repairs for my wheels.  The manager starts going on the defensive saying that they didn't damage my wheels and that they aren't responsible.  I explained again that my wheels were in perfect condition before my car came in and now they were magically ruined after getting tires.  We go back and forth for about a half an hour and I really lay into this guy and start to raise my voice.  Again, reason and logic do not register with this guy.  I see the technicians in the shop standing around in case I jump this guy because I was getting really aggravated.  He was arguing that because I had my wheels for a year and a half, that they would only pay a pro-rated repair and only give me some money to have them fixed.  Then he started with the argument that they are not responsible for a "modified" car.  I called out his bullshit and asked if they were capable of changing tires without damaging the wheels they were putting them on.  He said they could, but I quickly pointed out the damage to the paint on my wheels stating they obviously could not.  After going back and forth for a while longer, I asked them for their vehicle check in sheet.  He looked at me like I was an idiot and then I explained what that was.  Obviously, Sears Auto Center does not use a vehicle check in sheet to check and see if there is any damage to a car before they start to work on it.  At this point it's going nowhere, so I ask to speak to his manager.  He says that he is the only manager and gives me a number for a "customer relations" number.  Afterwards, I made him take back the tires that the first Sears Auto Center.

I went up to the Sears store after that and talked to a manager there.  He was at least a little more empathetic to my situation.  He told me to call the number that I was given, but also took down my info and said their Operations Manager would call me in a few days, because their Store Manager quit to work for Lowes.  I still haven't received a call back from that manager yet.  

After that, I filed a claim with Sears' insurance company and sent them pictures of the damage yesterday.  I also filed a complaint with the Attorney General's and the Better Business Bureau.  Last night before I left work, the dimwitted Sears Auto Center manager left me a voicemail message saying that he wanted to try and work something out.  I guess all the work that I put into this may have paid off.  I will not accept anything but 100% free repair though.

Here are the pictures I took of the damage.

[unclejud49348]

Sorry to hear about your rims Tim. I think you're doing the right thing filing complaints with the right companies, and I agree that you should accept nothing less than a 100% free repair. How can they say that they didn't damage your wheels if they didn't do some sort of inspection before hand? Yeah they can't, and I'm pretty sure you're going to end up getting compensated for this whole ordeal. But I'm glad you told us about this because I've never been to Sears Auto dept and I never will.

[NVA-AV6]

Damn.

[Mike]

This blows hopefully they handle this the right way.

[driveaccord]

Damn tim....I dread the day and hope this kind of situation never happens to my wheels...I take pics of my wheels now before I go in for any kind of service on my car..I just won't risk this BS....recently I had someone at work back into my front passenger quarter panel and bumper area not doing a whole lot of damage but enough where it has to go to the body shop...so I go down to the parking office and they call for a sheriff to come out...he shows up and looks over the damage and says to me "how can we be sure that the damage happened here at work"...well now I was even more pissed...I told him that I baby my car and know for a fact that there was no damage on my car whatsoever...he was just trying to get out of having to fill out a report...now not knowing who hit my car I have to pay my deductible to get my car fixed....they better pay for the repairs on your wheels...dicks

[lilmalu]

Man that sucks to hear. I could sorta understand your pain since my rims were damaged by dad.

[suleman_manji]

Damn, but hey at least you got to make them look like dumbasses haha.

[thisaznboi88]

wow Fuck them I hate when people half ass there job how did they even manage to scrape the power coating off. Like I painted my rims and the guy I knew did a good job mounting my tires. He didn't even clip the paint and he wasn't using the touchless machine..

I hope things work out for you so you.

[ibcnunv]

Coñaso Loco! Sorry to hear this and i hope you get 100% of what you're asking for...

[Milan]

Fuck, they did a number on those wheels.  I'd be fucking fuming, just like you since I managed to keep my wheels looking like new for over a year as well.  I hope those dicks pay up!

[clapton924]

That sucks Tim.  I took one of my wheels to a tire shop to patch a hole and they chipped some of the paint off my rim.  Damn 16 year-old kid working at the shop.  Bad thing is I didn't notice the chip until like 2 weeks after the work was done...

[rich]

seems like all audio installers are the same way. i would be fucking livid if something like this happened to my car. that's why when i got my car aligned. i sat outside in the blistering ass hot sun. i even had my digital cam just in case. even when i got my camber arms put on, even though i knew people at the shop, i still sat outside and watched.

but sears fucking fail for not having a pre check in list. hell we have check in lists at best buy so a customer cant say we fucked up their shit. even circuit city had it. any place that works on vehicles that doesnt have a pre check in list is just begging for a lawsuit!

hope u get this fixed

i know if this was me and it couldnt be repaired i'd say "well, i guess u owe me new rims now dont you?"

[timot_one]

If these weren't repairable, they would be replaced at full price.

[thisaznboi88]

dang time to pick out new rims TIM!! I hope you get it all worked out soon.

[timot_one]

I finally returned the manager's call today.  I guess he is a little bit S-L-O-W.  He said he couldn't offer a solution now that I have filed a claim with their insurance company that he told me to call.  This fucking moron is getting on my last nerve.  I think I need to call "customer relations" and complain that this guy is now fucking with me.  So, let's recap:

- I get my tires replaced Sears and my wheels are damaged on 09/13
- I discover the damage on my wheels on 09/21
- I go to Sears and speak to the manager to get them repaired on 09/21
- I am told by the manager to call customer resolutions to file a claim on 09/21
- I call customer resolutions and they tell me to call their insurance company on 09/22
- I call the insurance company and file a damage claim on 09/22
- I file a complaint with Sears, The Attorney General's Office, and the Better Business Bureau on 09/22
- I receive a call from the insurance company on 09/23 and play phone tag until 09/24
- I speak to the insurance company about the incident at depth on 09/24
- I send pictures of the damage on 09/25 in the morning
- I receive a call from the manager saying he wanted to "work something out" at the end of the day on 09/25
- I call the manager back and I'm told that he can't help me because I already filed a claim on 09/28