Sam's Club Refused Flat Tire Repair Warren, Ohio

A day after the unreasonable treatment at the Sam's Club tire shop I went home and dismounted the tire, removed the temporary tire plug myself, then took the tire to  "another" Sam's Club tire shop where it was plugged and patched without issue. The tire holds air, rides fine and the tire technician didn't have any problem plugging and patching it. This did consume a great deal more of my time and effort than if Sam's Club would have acted reasonably in the first place.

I guess said;
"...remember this is an already "repaired" tire that is leaking.  Was it a bad repair or is there more damage to the tire over that week?..."

Answer; Professional tire repair shops at least look at a flat tire before deciding it's not repairable. Sam's Club wouldn't even look at the tire. 


I guess said;
"...I also wouldn't take what other dealers said over the phone as fact. Mainly because they only know what you told them.  If you took it to them, and actually wanted them to do it.  The question is would they really do it or are they just saying that so that you may go to them when you need service because they are telling you what you want to hear?..."


Answer; I've had numerous similar plugged tire repairs done over years of driving without such issues as with Sam's Club. Right after leaving Sam's Club I spoke with two different national chain tire shops IN PERSON and they both said they'd pull the plug and patch the nail hole with no problems, re; liability or otherwise. 


I guess said;
".. really your complaint comes down to this...you are complaining about a service they offer for FREE to their members.  If this ticks you off that much then go down to Sams Club, hand in your membership card and never go through their doors again.


 Answer; Complimentary tire repairs are included as part of an annual membership fee at Sam's Club and memberships at Sam's Club are not "free", they cost $40 to $100 or more per year. I also bought these tires at Sam's Club for around $700. Unreasonable treatment for the advertised complementary tire repair adds to a list of reasons that I probably wouldn't renew a membership with Sam's Club.


 I guess and other responses; it would be best if you worked more at minding your own business and not commenting unless you really have something constructive, well reasoned or insightful to say.

No response anyone writes will "apply" according to you.

But as far as I can tell based on what you SAID the repair does not appear illegal.  Most likely their "illegal" comment was due to their lack of knowledge and/or just wanting to say something to try and get you out of their hair.  The reason behind them not wanting to do it probably has more to do with liability.  After all if the tire patch didn't work..who would you be blaming?  I am sure that they probably had more than a few instances of this.  

Also remember this is an already "repaired" tire that is leaking.  Was it a bad repair or is there more damage to the tire over that week?  That may be enough of a question to say no.  Perhaps if you had taken the damaged tire in not repaired they may have done it for you.

I also wouldn't take what other dealers said over the phone as fact.  Mainly because they only know what you told them.  If you took it to them, and actually wanted them to do it.  The question is would they really do it or are they just saying that so that you may go to them when you need service because they are telling you what you want to hear?

I'm not saying you or Walmart is right or wrong.  But really your complaint comes down to this...you are complaining about a service they offer for FREE to their members.  If this ticks you off that much then go down to Sams Club, hand in your membership card and never go through their doors again.

My spare wouldn't hold air so I used a plug in place of the nail. Either way to a rational and reasonable person it shouldn't make any difference what the reason was since it was a simple matter to pull the plug out and proceed with the proper plug and patch repair.  

If the tire repair plugs sold in almost every auto parts department were really illegal to use as the Sam's Club employee said they were they wouldn't be for sale everywhere to the general public.

Fix a flat and other similar reputable products sold through major retailers today use gases that are nonflammable and non explosive when used as directed. http://autorepair.about.com/od/safetyfirst/a/fixaflat_safe.htm

Why didn't you just bring the tire in for repair with the nail still in it? Maybe their policy is to protect their staff, figuring anyone who self plugged such a tire may also have injected those canned sealants as well. Those sealants are combustible and have been known to explode on workers dismounting such tires. That could be the rationale behind their policy.

You're not dealing with master mechanics at a Sams Club. You're dealing with small cogs working for the giant Walmart engine and they do as they're told not as their reasoning ability would otherwise dictate. If thems their rules, then thems their rules.

Morey Lane,


I'm not sure where you get off with you support of Sam's Club in this instance as many of your propositions either don't apply in this case or are flat out wrong.
 
The Sam's Club folks never even looked at the tire. With more than 30 years of my driving experience I've had similar tire repairs done at a variety of tire shops and never had this problem with any of them refusing to patch a tire that I had put a plug in. 

The tires in this case are top grade Heavy duty SUV Michelins purchased from said Sam's club about 1 yr. ago and have less than 12k miles on them with plenty of usable tread left.

The approx. 1/8" nail hole is near the center of the tread and nowhere near the side wall.

The tire began leaking from the nail puncture about a week ago. The repair plug has been in the tire for less then one week and driven on for less than 200 mi..

Michelin uses stainless steel belts in their tires as do most top grade tire manufacturers. If such tires were likely to fail due to rust penetration into the belts over time then a puncture or slice that doesn't even penetrate the tire completely would also cause such "rust" failure. It's doubtful that such a situation is likely to occur or be a reasonable cause for concern. If it is for you then maybe you should quit driving with rubber tires that have metal belts i them. It's irrational and most unreasonable to suspect that rust penetration and such related weakening of the tire would be an issue especially in this case.

Sam's Club uses their own plug/patch system also so such "rusting" around their "plug" would occur in that case too if it were any kind of real concern.

I contacted several other national tire shops and explained about the plug and they said they could patch it with no problems, liability or otherwise. They said they just pull the plug out and patch the tire from the inside.

If rust is going to penetrate around a tire repair plug what are we supposed to do with this $200 tire when it gets a nail in it since all tire repairs use some type of their own plug outside / patch inside system?

If there is a concern about liability Sam's Club could require a liability waver signature. I'll bet they already have something like that already. It's hard to believe that Sam's Club knows something more about such liability from tire plugs than other national tire dealers.

The Sam's Club manager in this case is being excessively unreasonable, irrational and uncompromising .... period. 

Folks who sign up for Sam's Club memberships with the understanding that free tire repairs are one of the benefits should be informed about this and to the best of my knowledge they are not.

I don't think Sam's Club was planning anything nefarious regarding your tire repair.

If you had taken in the unrepaired tire with the nail in it, and it met the guidlines of the Rubber Manufacturers Association to make sure the hole was not in a high stress area (sidewall/shoulder) then they would have repaired it for free.

Tire 'plugs' or so called pipe cleaner repairs are for emergency use only.

Tire dealers will not 'remove' one because they have no way of knowing how long it was in the tire.

If you patched a hole that had been there a while, water or moisture could have already started rusting the belts, and eventually that could lead to a possible separation or tire failure.

They were not only protecting themselves, but you and your family.

(They also won't repair tires with less than the legal minimum tread depth remaining.)

The tire will probably require dismounting in order to pull out the plug. I plan to return today with "another" flat tire with a nail "hole" in it.

You could have walked back to your car and removed the tire plug. Then, you could have walked back into Sam's and asked them to patch the other leaky tire.

You could have walked back to your car and removed the tire plug. Then, you could have walked back into Sam's and asked them to fix the other leaky tire.