Friday, Aug 05, 2005 at 10:13
Well you must know somebody that I don't, I am in sales myself & fully understand the attitude required to acheive the best results in regard to complaints.
I spoke initially to supplying the tyre service who basically brushed me off.
At a later date I was at the
Melbourne 4x4 show & happened upon the Australian Sales Manager, to whom I explained my problems.
His attaitude was fantastic, he told me to contact the Victorian Sales Manager, which I subsequebtly did, & arrange an inspection of the tyers at my convenience. Are you with me so far? All sounds promising?
At the meeting with the Vic Mgr, he agreed my complaint was well founded & agreed to 50% subsidy for replacement tyres, I said I will go inside, as we were at the tyre service, & order 4 new tyres. He then said, "aren't you doing anothe routback trip next year? As your tyres of no value to me, why not wear them out & get the new ones just before your trip?" I said, "if that's ok I will certainly take advantage of your generous offer" He then went in & in my presence advised the tyre service of the outcome of our meeting.
At his point we parted company in good stead.
On the way home I realised that everything had purely spoken, so I rang him the next morning & asked if I should have something in writing or a voucher, he replied it was entered in his diary & "would be no problem" & that I had his word on the matter.
A couple of months later I was leaving our campsite at Crooked River, & crossing an innocuous stretch of broken up track, level beside the river, to the amazement of those following me I destroyed both rear tyres.
This is where it gets tricky ..... When I got home I went to the tyre service to order the new tyres & they said that no way would Exclusive Tyre Service honour the warranty now, I reminded them of the earlier decision of the State Manager, & left to wait for the tyres to arrive.
To a long story well & truly short, the outcome was that the State Manager placed no value whatsoever on "his word" & steadfastly refused to honour the prior arrangement, although he had clearly stated that the old tyres were of no value to him & to "wear them out"!
As I said earlier, I am in sales myself, for the last 12 years as a yacht broker, & prior to that in the motor industry, I will also say that my word is my bond & I expect others to have the same principles.
The outcome was that I purchased Firestone Firehawk RMTs & after very similar usage, including the aforementioned outback trip, I couldn't be happier. No chipping, normal wear rate, no edge lug cracking & best of all $175.00 each!
I will never again pay the amounts demanded for cunningly advertised & overrated tyres.
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