Costco - Tires

Briah of Wilmington NC (02/28/08)
I purchased 4 new michelin tires (500 on sale) in Jan. 2007 for my 2003 325I BMW from Costco. They said they come with a warranty of 45,000 miles and did free rotation and balance. I really only needed 2 new tires but they recommended all new ones because they would wear better and said I had bent rims. So I took their word and have had them rotated and balanced as needed. Well yesterday, I'm driving down the road and hear a loud noise and pull into my driveway and can hear air escaping. Sure enough, a flat this morning. Fortunately, I have a spare and was able to get my man to change it so I could take my car to see about repairing this tire.

Costco said the tire wasn't repairable but wouldn't tell me how much it was gonna cost until the work was finished which took 1 1/2 hours to change a tire and then they wouldn't rotate or balance them even though I had my receipt with me. The guy said it would be 68 because the tire was worn, so they could only credit 60 toward the new tire. This happened at Wal-mart a few years ago and it was repaired with no charge, no problems. A normal, intelligent person would think a warranty would cover factory defects and a tire that only has 9,000 miles on it, but not only did I get charged they acted with no cares and even told me I could fill out a comment card when I said I wasn't happy and would never buy tires from them again.

I questioned his math and asked him how he figured that amount. They put a tire on my car that was 10 more than the original without even asking me. What does a consumer do when a company is this deceptive and sly/sneaky with their business? It seems as if someone has informed them every way to get around doing honest business. Well, the word will get out, and sneaky business that doesn't take care of its customers will bite them in the rear in the future! Oh not to mention them charging my Am. Express card to renew my membership without even billing me first. Shady business, Beware!

Stephen of Newark, CA February 28, 2008

Stephen of Newark CA (02/28/08)
I went to Costco Store to have 2 new tires installed on my 1996 Toyota Camry. The 2 front tires were in need of replacement, however the 2 rear tires still have some life left on them so I opted to keep them for a while longer. When I went through the process of buying the 2 new tires there was no mention that it was Costco Management policy that any new tires had to be placed in the rear of the vehicle. I was watching the tire installer and when I saw him taking the back tires off he told me that he had to do it and I could not have the new tires installed in the front of the vehicle. When I picked up the car I mentioned to the sales person that I was not told upfront of this policy. His answer was that if I wanted my 2 new tires in the front of the vehicle that I would have to do that myself or have it done somewhere else. It seems very likely that this is some sort of marketing practice to sell more tires. I sure wish that I was informed upfront of their installation practice. I have been a long time member of Costco for 15 years and have not had any problems until now. To me they were acting in a deceptive manner by not being up front with me. Sure is you look at the Costco.com site buried deep in their web pages is a blurb of this tire installation practice. How many folks take the time to read through all of their policies before purchasing? It should be mentioned up front when purchasing I believe.

Existing tires will wear out faster now that they are installed in the front of the vehicle. More weight, engine is in front, tires wear out faster. I would also think that having the newer tires would be safer. This could be more of a safety hazard.

Darrell of Blue Springs, MO December 28, 2007

Darrell of Blue Springs MO (12/28/07)
My wife and I visited our local Cosco to have her new tires rotated. We dropped our car off and went inside to shop. They said it would be about 1 hour. When we returned, we were informed they could not rotate the tires because they were bald. These tires were not bald...they had plenty of tread on them...about 5,000 miles. If you look at the tires, they had some wear on the outside edge, but there was plenty of tread on the tire. First of all, they said we voided our warranty because we did not rotate the tires when we where suppose to.

They brought up our work history on the database to show us. We had the tires rotated at Wal-mart. They wanted to see the receipts. Which we didn't have on us. After they saw that wasn't going to hold up, they switch to another reason...we didn't have our tires inflated properly. Which might account for the edge wear. However, my wife had stopped by several times after work to complain about the tire being low and was told they were fine. No tire gauge was used...they just eye-balled it.

Needless to say, we ended up asking for the manager. We talked about what was going on and she held her ground and stated that because we did not follow the manufactures guidlines we had voided any Cosco service work. That was the last dime I was going to spend at Cosco's. Their terrible service and poor attitude towards its customers, I can't see how they stay in busines?

Jeremy of Rocklin, CA October 18, 2007

Jeremy of Rocklin CA (10/18/07)
I arrived at a local Costco at 5PM today after prearranging to have a full set of 31x10.5 tires available for installation. After waiting the obligatory 2.5 hours for service, their going rate tonight, a tire center employee informs me he cannot install the tires he sold me hours ago because my truck is not stamped with those as standard equipment. After another half hours of going through assistant managers, tire center managers, and finally the store manager I came to the conclusion that not only will Costco not compensate customers in any way despite their screwups, but they will not post their policies in any way as a way to lock customers into a purchase.

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