Greenball Corporation Greenball Tires RV Tires Tread Seperation Multiple Blowouts $7000 damage to RV Internet

On 10/8/2009 I purchased 6 new tires for my RV from Discount Tires. They were Greenball ST225/75R15 Towmaster V, E Load. This was to replace the 6 tires that came with my rig that was purchased a year earlier that were Mission branded, D Load rated.

The investment total including the extended warranty for road hazard, mounting and balancing came to $691.65 which also included tax. These tires were then installed on 10/10/2009. The factory warranty was 3 years, and extended warranty was for the same.

From 10/10/2009 to 11/10/2011 they saw about 6000 miles, and were rotated several times and fully maintained (aired up, kept out of direct sunlight, and regular coatings of tire dressing, pretty much everything one could do to for preventive maintenance)

On 11/10/2011 it was noticed that there was delamination and tread separation occurring on all 6 tires.

They were immediately replaced with 6 new ones, 4 under Discounts Warranty and 2 I had to foot the cost for a total bill of $369.10.

I had to fight with Greenball for months to get them to reimburse me the costs. This included filing complaints with BBB, AZ Attorney General, and having my lawyer write them a letter. Finally I got reimbursement in February of 2012 for the $369.10

Now fast forward to 8/17/2012, 9 months, 7 days into ownership of the 6 new tires. The tires have had about 1500 miles on them, again had been rotated one time 3 months earlier at about the 700 miles mark, and fully maintained as before.

I was on the way to a camping trip, and the center passenger side tire failed with the entire tread separation occurring. No damage to the rig, as I was able to get stopped in time. 3 hours delay, $19.99 invested to replace the tire under Discounts warranty. I had back out on the road.

30-35 miles later, the front passenger side tire fails the same way, this time doing severe damage to the rig, ripping off sheet metal, and damaging the underbody of the RV. Call in AAA they come out put on my spare tire, and I travel about 6 more miles to Discount Tire to have them inspect the remaining tires and swap out the damaged tire and start a claim process against Greenball. Another 3 hours lost, and the investment of $215.62 to get a new tire put on and replace the spare with a new tire. They visually inspected the remaining Greenballs, and said they looked OK, but caveated that with the previous failures were internal and not able to be seen from external inspection. They sent me on the way.

2 hours go by, and 115 more miles, and bang! This time the rear drivers side fail again the same way as the other 2 did. Damage is even more severe, a bent shackle spring, and even more sheet metal and external of the rig is damaged. I called Discount and they started a verbal claim, then I called AAA to come out and get me.
 
As I was then jacking up the rig to put on a spare so that I could be towed back I found myself in a bad position of having to unhook slightly from the truck so that I could raise the rig using the jacks on it so that I would be high enough to work on. I get the tire taken off, and hear a creaking. I moved back and watched the trailer move forward about 4-6 inches bending the front stabilizer jack, and snapping the rear spring loose. This all occurred because the spring started to go allow the rig to roll forward back into the hitch of the rig. Once it started to go, that was the end of the story. I purposely only moved the truck forward 4-6 inches to provide a stop just in case this happened, and lucky me I planned ahead.

At this point I am dead in the water, call back to AAA to find out status. They tell me they are having a hard time to find a towing company large enough to come and get me. Fast forward to 11pm I get a call from AAA they located one, and he is on the way.

2 hours goes by, and I get a call from the towing company that he is about half way but just overheated and broke down on the mountain pass. He has to call his boss and get towed back to yard and get another truck to come and get me.
 
At about 3am they arrive, and after 2 hours of fussing around with the rig they finally get it in a position that it can be towed back. I had to follow in my truck. We then towed it back about 150 miles to the repair shop me finally arriving back to my home at about 8am the next day having been awake now for 26 hours straight.

Special thanks to AAA for picking up the tab for the entire towing bill, it would have been about $2500 or so.  Over the next 2-3 weeks I work on getting the tires back to Greenball, claims put in with my insurance and Greenball. This process proved to be no fun matter.

Greenball eventually accepted full liability as they determined that the failures were caused by a manufacturer defects. I am thinking at that time, great I should be made whole again, and get back the cash I have put out of pocket, storage, and other incidental expenses incurred
from this matter. 

I get the repair estimate, $6900!!!!, and that does not include the cash I have spent to date.

I am then told that I have to pay my deductible up front because they want the claim to go through my insurance. So now we are back to square one, still nothing coming back to me, and now I need to come up with another $1000 to cover the deductibles.

At this time I start my campaign of filing complaints. Finally I get Greenball to own up and cover my deductible cost, but they are still not offering to pay the other costs, mind you these are the costs of new tires that were under warranty still, mountain, taxes, as well as storage costs, etc. Keep in mind that AAA is not asking for them to cover ANY of their expenses, which saves them about $3000.

Now still I am fighting with Greenball on recovering my expenses of which I have come up with these costs :  $405.63, from Discount Tire, $198.00 for storage costs, $1575.00 for loss of use (3 months) for a grand total of $2178.63

I think that I am being more than fair with them being that I am not asking for any loss in value since the damages exceed 10% of the value of the rig which I rightfully could ask for in accordance to Arizona Insurance Laws as now if I sell the rig I have to disclose the damages, if I were to ask for that that would come to a total of $8700, which is 15% of the $58,000 value of the RV on top of the $2178.63 in losses to date.  Though if I have to take this matter into a legal situation I will be asking for the entire amounts mentioned above plus any costs incurred in doing so.

I sure hope that Greenball comes to the senses here and addresses the situation.

The individuals I have been dealing with are :  Vern the VP of Distribution, and Wendi Warranty Supervisor (Last names redacted on purpose)