Wouldn't purchasing a RoadHazard warranty in effect cover for the
manufacturer's warranty? A belt separating at speeds sure sounds like a road
hazard to me! The only drawback was the shop said I'd have to bring them
ONLY the wheels for balancing later on, and not the car. But that's okay
because the Midget wouldn't fit on their lift anyway.
adrian
Richard D Arnold wrote:
> Adrian:
>
> >This could very easily cause problems with the manufacturer
> >warranty because they couldn't write down the starting mileage...
>
> I had a similar problem with a set of tires and a chain tire store. I
> bought the tires and had them mounted, but didn't install them for about
> six months (no road hazard warranty, BTW). I only brought the wheels in,
> and when they asked about the mileage, I told the store that I wouldn't
> be installing them right away. I was told that it wasn't a problem.
>
> You guessed it: three months after the warranty expired (from time of
> purchase), a belt separated on one of the tires. I thought I was still
> within the warranty period, because I didn't put the tires on the car
> until six months after purchase. The tire store refused to replace the
> tire.
>
> My cynical nature makes me keep receipts and make notes on lots of
> otherwise mundane things (job hazard, I think). I had annotated my
> receipt with the date I put the tires on the car.
>
> I called the regional manager for the store, and when he wasn't in,
> called his supervisor, who was also gone, and eventually talked to the
> national supervisor. I explained nicely that I was told that it wasn't a
> problem when I bought the tires, that it lead me to believe that the
> warranty began when the tires went on the car, and that I was otherwise
> very happy with the tires, although I didn't think a whole lot of their
> local store. He promised to look into it. Thirty minutes later, the
> store manager called, apologized profusely, had an employee come to my
> place of work, remove the wheel from the car, take it to the shop, mount
> and balance a new one, and return and reinstall it.
>
> I still don't do business with that store, although I do use another
> store owned by the same chain.
>
> Since then I confirm almost everything in writing to avoid future
> problems ('nother job hazard). For instance, I think that if I had sent
> the store a letter thanking them for the help with the tires and saying
> something like "I was pleased that your store employees took such an
> interest in my car, even though I only brought in the wheels to be
> mounted. As they will recall, the car is my pet project and the wheels
> and tires won't even be put on the car for some time. It was nice to
> learn that this wouldn't affect the warranties on the tires. Joe (or Bob
> or Fred or Nancy or whoever) was very helpful." Had I done this, I would
> have had something to fall back on.
>
> I have used this in a similar situation (home electronics) where the item
> wasn't going to be put into use for several months. The department
> supervisor pitched a fit, but the store manager agreed with me that it
> should be covered under warranty. The letter, I think, lent some
> legitimacy to my claim (besides being fairly good proof in small claims
> court, which I was quite willing to file an action in). YMMV.
>
> The moral of the story: CYA
>
> Rich
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J. Adrian Barnes
http://user.icx.net/~adrian/midget
http://www.ravineware.com
"When there was no meat, we ate
fowl. When there was no fowl we
ate crawdads. When there were no
crawdads we ate sand."
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