SIGH.......So, My father came over yesterday to put the donut tire on my car so that I could drive to Sears to get new tires. I chose Sears because they quoted me a cheaper "drive-off" price than
Wal-Mart or anywhere else for that matter. So, I arrive at Sears at approximately 1:15pm prepared to wait about an hour and a half or so. It takes about 20 minutes for someone to even help me, then another 10 minutes for me to get the point across that I had already reserved my tires and no I do not want any additional services. At this point I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the speed with which anything is happening. V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W..... Finally, they tell me to go and walk around the mall and come back in an hour. It is now approximately 2pm. 45 minutes have passed with virtually nothing accomplished. So I walk around the mall, marveling at the fact that there is a Laser Tooth Whitening kiosk as well as a
ProActiv vending machine.
Leyland of course, has started down the irreversible path towards a meltdown. So eventually an hour has passed so at 3 I start heading back to Sears. When I reach the entrance to the store, my phone rings. The seemingly
incompetent man informs me that "there was a problem". Without meaning to be rude I accidentally said "Oh Shit" into the phone. (
woops). The man proceeds to tell me that when removing the tires, they discovered that the lug nuts on the donut tire are "cross-threaded". I ask him if this will cost more money, and of course it does. So I ask him how much more and he tells me that the parts are about 20.00 and he isn't sure of the labor cost. Thinking this not too unreasonable, I told him that I would be at the counter momentarily and he could go and find out the labor cost while I walked. He agreed to do so and I continued towards the counter. Meanwhile,
Leyland is getting closer and closer to the meltdown that I have been anticipating. Once we arrive at the counter I see through the window that my car is up on the lift and my original tires are simply lying on the ground next to my car. Apparently it takes an hour to accomplish this much. The man finally comes out to talk to me after I've been waiting (impatiently) at the counter for 15 minutes. He informs me that the labor to put these three lug nuts back on will be FORTY-SEVEN DOLLARS I almost fell over!! The man working on my car tells me that whomever changed my tire put the lug nuts on cross-threaded. Unfortunately I have no frame of reference for why this is such a huge problem so naturally I call my father. Now, my father has been in the automotive business for most of his adult life (although now he is a police officer). My family ran a tune-up shop for ages. Needless to say, this was not the first time he'd ever changed a tire. So I call my dad, and he tells me that there is no possible way that he cross-threaded the lug nuts for 2 reasons. 1) This cannot be done using your fingers and tightening with a lug wrench (which is exactly what he did) It can only be done with an air wrench and 2) The lug nuts threaded very easily without force. So, I tell him that they are going to charge me an extra $67.00 to correct the problem. He offers to "speak" to the man working on my car for me. So I tell another guy to get Barry (the guy working on my car) so that my father can discuss the situation with him. So screaming
Leyland , screaming Corey, and I stand there on the phone with my dad for a good 10 minutes before Barry makes an appearance. Don't ask me what he was doing all this time, but he sure as hell wasn't working on my car! So he finally comes out and talks to my Dad... I listen while the tone of the call goes from polite to
belligerent. I can hear my fathers voice getting louder and louder and then finally I hear Barry say " I am the manager! The lug nuts are cross-threaded now!!" So then Barry hangs up and I call my dad back. Anyway, long story....long... Dad said that they were not cross-threaded when I drove to Sears and that Barry probably accidentally cross-threaded them with the air wrench. He also said that basically they have got you by the balls and you have to pay it. It takes about another 20 minutes for them to finish my car and it sits in the parking lot for an additional 20 minutes before anyone will let me check out. The check out process took about 10 minutes and by this point Leyland and Corey are in absolute DEFCON5. So ultimately, I paid $311.00 for 4 absolute bottom of the line tires (39.00 each) and spent almost 4 hours at Sears. Aren't you jealous???
