Walmart Express Tire & Lube Center tire center mistake they were trying to get out of admitting Akron Ohio

Chris, thanks for your post. To explain and possibly clarify why I would let a "McDonalds Reject" work on my car: My tire blew out on the expressway on a Friday evening. The closest OPEN place was Walmart. I had never gotten any car work done there previously, and had not found this site prior, therefore I didn't have prior knowledge of the caliber of their auto service people. Just because they pay their cashiers & floor personnel crap wages does not mean they pay their auto people on the same scale (but of course I found out that they do just that). That being said, their behavior after the fact is what invoked my ire. When I returned with a written statement from Sears (which is what they asked for) I did not deserve to be cussed at by the very person who requested that statement. Yes I have learned a valuable lesson. And I hope that my explanation clarifies how & why I ended up at Walmart in the first place.

I've been selling and servicing tires and automobiles for about 30 years, and I have mechanics that I pay good money to do quality work.

Why would you allow a Wal-Mart McDonalds Reject work on your car and put you and your familys life in risk? Next time you take your car in for repair, weather it be tires or an oil change think about how much the person working on your car is being paid.

Hi Kristy, thank you for your comments. I do understand what you are saying with regard to directional tires, because until this issue came up, I had never heard of them myself. That being said, I must say though, that I do feel that it is the company's responsibility to ensure that the people who work for them are knowledgeable about the products they are dealing with. For example, I work for a company that manufactures lockers and storage equipment, and it would be unnacceptable for me not to know about the product I am working with. Therefore, those who are employed as technicians in their Tire & Lube Express Centers should have knowledge about the products they are selling to the consumer. Had I have had an accident as a result of those tires being mounted incorrectly and injured or even killed someone as a result I don't think "I didn't know" would be an acceptable excuse.

It was just very unprofessional to have two people (one of whom was manager on duty) stand there and tell me that the words "mount this side in" had no meaning. As I stated in my original report, my CAD drafting instructor worked as a tire designer for Firestone prior to becoming a teacher, and stated on more than one occasion (illustrating a point) that designing tires was very difficult because of the balance issues. For each letter you see on a tire, there has to be another element designed in, in order to counterbalance the weight of the letter being put onto the tire, so I find it highly unlikely that they would arbitrarily put words on a tire for no apparent reason. If that was the case, they could put "eat at joe's" or anything on there.

I also stated that when I went back to Sears to get a written statement, I had occasion to talk at length to the 2 technicians that worked on my car earlier in the day. While they stated that my car was out of alignment, they indicated that the way it was out of alignment, most of the tire damage should have occurred to the tire mounted on the passenger side, not the driver's side as was the case. They also stated that although in truth it was out of alignment, I should have gotten at least 15,000 to 20,000 miles out of them before they would've needed to be replaced, not the 3400 miles that were on them.

The biggest problem (as both had stated, since they both at one time had applied for jobs at Walmart previously) is that Walmart does not want to hire anyone for their Tire & Lube Express that has any sort of credentials (ie. ASE certifications) because they do not want to pay high wages for their techs. It's easy to get people who are willing to work for $6.50 an hour rather than the rates that ASE certified techs would require. Therefore they are getting alot of kids fresh out of high school with no real experience (the Sears techs stated that the only training they would've gotten would have been to watch 2 videos). I chose Walmart to purchase tires because at the time I had an unrepairable flat tire and they were the closest place open at the time. Their price for the least expensive tire was comparable to what I was charged at Sears for their tires, so it isn't like I was expecting a high quality tire at a dirt cheap price. I knew upfront that the tires I purchased from Walmart were not the highest quality and that I would have to replace them sooner than I would have if I had chosen a higher quality/more expensive tire. But that being said, I did not expect to have to replace both tires within a month & a half.

My biggest complaint (not even getting into the safety issues) was the manner in which I was treated by not only the lead technician on duty, but the manager. I was not looking for a fight, and I was not looking to be treated like I was an idiot simply because I am a woman. And that is precisely what happened. And when I returned with the written statement that the manager told me was the requirement for a refund, I feel the technician (the manager had left for the day) was way out of line in the way he handled it. He took the paper, read it, then walked over to the phone, made the call to customer service, then proceeded to tell me to "go up front and get my f*cking refund". At no time had I used any profanity, although I do admit to raising my voice as they had raised theirs during the initial interaction with them. I did speak to the store manager on duty and told him that I did not appreciate being cussed at by an employee of the store, and that I hoped proper steps would be taken so that this type of behavior would not be repeated with another customer. Whether or not anything happened is anyone's guess.

I happen to work for Wal-mart, being there 4 years this year.Beforehand, I was a technician at a Ford dealer. I don't currently work in the tire shop, but I do have about 6 years or so experience . I can also say,that while I am sorry that the tires where mounted wrong,some techs(the newer less trained ones) may not have heard of directional tires.They really aren't that common,seeing only 2 or 3 cars with them the whole time I worked at Ford. But, I really hope the techs at Sears(seeing plenty of mistakes and other examples of people pushed into buying things they"needed" from various Sears stores)let you know,that if you know the vehicle needs an alignment,get the alignment done FIRST,before getting any new tires put on the front end. Depending on the alignment,how bad it was out of whack,3400 miles would be enough to do some damage to the tires. The techs just mounting the tires wrong side out , and on the wrong side of the car just mainly, as you said, reduces traction,which can be dangerous in inclement weather.It would not , however be the main factor in the tires being worn down to the cords.