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| - WANNA HEAR A JOKE?!?!
I recently purchased tires from Fountain Tire (Northland) and also booked an appointment for installation. On the day of installation, a guy we were passed off to (we'll call him FT Guy) proceeds to check us in for our appointment and asks us the following basic questions:
FT GUY: We'll contact you when we're done installing the tires. What is the phone # you would like us to reach you at?
ME: *Give him the phone # in a clear/slow manner*
FT GUY: Ok...*Doesn't repeat it back, just proceeds to next question*. What do you want us to do with the old tires? Throw them out? Or do you want to keep them?
ME: Throw them out, please.
FT GUY: Ok sure, throw them out. *typing on his computer*
ME: How long do you think it'll take?
FT GUY: Shouldn't take any longer than 2 hrs.
Me: Ok, great - thank you.
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NOW, the issues that occurred after this:
1) 2 hrs (as mentioned by FT Guy) passed - no phone call. I decided to wait a bit longer in case it just took them longer. After around 3.5-4 hrs later (should've just called after 2), I called them and asked if my tires were installed. They said it was all done within the 2 hrs! I told them I was waiting for a phone call like they said. They said they tried to call but the line was 'busy'. When I picked up my car, I asked them what the phone # they had on file was - turns out, it was taken down WRONG. Not just 1 digit off - 3 digits off! This could've been avoided had FT Guy repeated the number back to us to confirm it was correct.
2) At the time of payment, we were handed the machine to proceed with our credit card payment. It kept showing a message to swipe our Air Miles, to which the lady said don't worry about it. Umm... ok, but how do we proceed? Once that was sorted, she told us to go ahead and insert our card - we did - and the screen just remained showing "Welcome" with no further prompts. We kept showing the lady it still wasn't working. After trying 4 TIMES, she took the machine and tried to figure out what was happening. She then turned to the guy sitting beside her (who happened to be FT Guy!) and asked him if he knew why the machine wasn't working. He then said "Oh" and quickly pushed a button as if he forgot to push it after his transaction with a customer beforehand. Who knew making a payment was such a complicated process?
3) Transaction complete, I proceeded to my car and upon opening my trunk, guess what I found? ALL 4 OF MY OLD TIRES! I walked back into the front office to hopefully have this quickly resolved. Instead, I had to wait 5+ mins without acknowledgment from what looked like the owner, and other wandering workers behind the counter (one of them - guess who? FT Guy!). I literally had to stand there while the lady in front of me just kept small-talking with the owner. When she was finally done, I approached the counter and had to say HI to the owner before he even greeted me. I told him I originally wanted my old tires to be thrown away. He says, "Oh, I'll get someone to take those out for you".
At this point, I had to keep my cool because nothing pisses me off more than poor customer service, especially when you're paying them a large amount of money. A common factor I found with all these issues - NO APOLOGY for their failed/poor service when they were clearly in the wrong. I'm not one to expect a business to apologize for policies or protocols they have in place, if reasonable, but there is NO excuse for poor customer service, and worse off, not even acknowledging it.
There are 3 tire shops closer to where I live, but I was recommended to go to Fountain Tire (Northland) since it had "good tire selection and good service". Though I don't have issues with the tires/installation itself...yet - the lack of decent customer service is why I will not go here again, nor recommend it to anyone. Business tip from one business owner, to another: ANY TIRE SHOP CAN SELL AND INSTALL TIRES, BUT IT'S HOW A SHOP TREATS THEIR CUSTOMERS THAT DIFFERENTIATES THEM FROM ITS COMPETITION!
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