The Great Tire Saga, Part Two

So when I got to the automotive department, they told me I was finished (and it didn't look like they had JUST finished, either. So why hadn't they paged me? I WAS listening and waiting for it). So I paid, and I'm thinking, cool, they didn't charge me anything to put the tire on the rim.

So I get out there and look in the back of the car, and the tire is STILL SITTING THERE on top of the flat!!! WHAT??? So I look closely at the receipt, and down at the bottom it says, "DECLINED-TIRE DAMAGED PRIOR". Grr. So I go back in and ask the desk clerk what this means. Damaged, how? Of course she doesn't know anything and directs me to go back out and ask for Jason, who worked on it. So little me, who HATES confrontation, especially with mechanic type dudes, walks out the door and says to about 5 dudes out there, "I'm supposed to ask for a Jason?" Grrr. So anyway, Jason was nice, and he took me out to the car to show me how the tire was damaged. The lining on the inside was wearing out and he said that it wasn't safe to mount. He said he even asked his manager to be sure. Grrr. (and WHY, if they only did an oil change, didn't they page me 1 1/2 hours earlier???)

Well, this was the tire we had been riding on for two days, and I figured something was better than nothing, so I decided to go back to the Goodyear place and see what THEY said about it. If someone would put it on the rim for me, at least we'd have something to drive 20 mph on to the next exit if we ended up with another flat.

So I go in there and the manager guy was at the counter. I told him what the dudes did on Tuesday. He's like, "You mean they didn't even mount it for you?" I told him he was welcome to go out and look in the back of my car and see for himself! (I was very nice, but this is sassy for me. I HATE making stinks. If I can live with it, I will. I won't even say anything if my order is wrong in a restaurant. It has to be REALLY bad for me to say anything.)

So he goes out and gets the genius who rang me up on Tuesday. He said, we didn't know there was another tire in the back, we didn't know you wanted that one mounted. I said, Well, perhaps I should have made myself more clear, but I figured it would be a no-brainer since I specifically told you that I wanted to keep it because it's my SPARE TIRE. (OOH! Getting REALLY sassy now!! But still nice. lol)

He stared at me blankly, and said ok and went back out. ANOTHER mechanic guy comes out there (this one was very polite to me) and says that the tire is no good and wants me to come out there so he can show me. Well, not only is the lining wearing off, it's wearing off a LOT. There is about 3 cups of powder sitting in the tire from the lining wearing off. YIKES! PLUS the rim has rubbed against the tire and has almost wore holes all around the outside sidewall. Most definitely NOT safe and it's a wonder it made it as long as it did. So he asks the other guy if they have another tire in the back. I'm like, No, I can't afford another tire right now, I'll have to ask my husband what he wants to do. Turns out they were wanting to GIVE me a decent used tire to use as a spare. Apparently some rich people come in there and get new tires really often and they keep the decent ones. They don't sell used tires so they are just sitting there. And just happened to be the all-elusive right size, too!

So they put the new/old spare on the rim for me, and would have put it back on the door for me too had we been able to find the lug nuts for it. All for no charge.

So I guess since they were nice to me and made it right for no charge, even better than what I wanted, they aren't TOTAL doofbrains after all. I actually might decide to give them my business again.

Maybe.