While Pep Boys didn't understand the VOC, Belle Tire did and here's why they got my business.
After leaving Pep Boys with a terrible customer experience (read here for post) I knew that I needed tires so I went to the experts.
19601 Middlebelt Road
Livonia, MI 48152-2105
(248) 477-1100
Belle Tire gave me the info Pep Boys didn't.
I went to Belle Tire knowing that I had at least one faulty tire with the tread falling off.
I arrived and told them I needed at new tire for my 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe (for you tire lingo people I needed a P225/70R/16).
His first question - "Is it AWD (All Wheel Drive)?" I said "Yes". That's when I got my tire education regarding all wheel drive systems.
If you have all-wheel-drive your tires have to be close to the same diameter in size otherwise the traction control system can get screwed up.
Problem: All of my tires had a lot of mileage / wear on them so they were currently equal in diameter. If I put on a new tire its diameter would be much larger than the others.
At first I thought this was salesmen BS but then he pulled from underneath the counter a printed sheet that explained everything.
He had information/data to back up his statement. I was now smitten with Belle Tire.
He gave me a quote for $539 for all 4 tires and said he could have it done in 45 minutes. I waited happily in the customer lounge working on my blog for Cognitive Surplus and left there 40 minutes later a happy customer.
I even learned that I need to put the spare tire into my tire rotation schedule to make sure that it gets similar wear and tear.
Belle Tire treated me as a person, informed me of the issue, gave me information to back up their assessment and got the job done on schedule. They gave me value on all fronts and I am now a positive reference for their work.
It's been a few weeks since I've had this work completed and the vehicle is operating perfectly. We just had a blizzard here today and I was very pleased with how the traction control system operated.
