Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE's!

[bwhitmore]

Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

I don't know if livid can describe what I am going through right now.

I just got a set of 18" HRE 540's for my Viper from a fellow Viper owner who was selling his car. They arrived last week, and after several hours of putting a new polish on them they looked like a million bucks. I even sprung for a set of etched aluminum center caps with the Viper logos to go with them.

Well guess what... I found a nail in the rear tire this morning, no big deal right. I called the local Les Schwab and asked if they would do a flat repair, I explained to the manager it was for a Viper rear wheel 18x13 and it was an HRE. The manager took a great deal of time explaining to me the ins and outs of making sure they would treat the wheel and tire with utmost care. So I drop it off at 9:00am.

4:45pm, granted I didn't wait in the store this whole time, but I finally get my wheel and tire back. So they stick it in the back of my truck and I drive home.

I get it out at home and find the entire inner surface of the wheel, which is just as clean as the rest of the wheel, is scratched and marred to all hell with what look like targets gouged into the surface in several places. And the edge of the rim at the back looks like it was ground across the asphalt along the entire surface.

I call the store, pissed, apparently the dismounting machine which usually uses rubber grips to prevent scratching the inner surface of the wheel, was not getting a good enough bite on the wheel, so they removed the rubber grips and let the metal grips dig into the inner rim without notifying me first. Not to mention something on the machine got caught below, hence the reason the back edge got ground down.

To add injury to insult, the manager explains to me they are not liable because any time a tire is dismounted it is possible the machine will leave a mark on the wheel. He claims this is standard policy on wheels this big. Sort of like it "comes with the territory."

What an incompetent, irresponsible excuse for management. It makes me sick just to look at the wheel, and even sicker to think people like this really exist. He needs to get me a new inner rim from HRE and I think I am going to have to take him to small claims on it.

What a hastle, I'm think I'm going to go postal!

 

[JDR]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

I've used California Small Claims before. It's fairly simple and inexpensive... just takes time to file and one day in court. Sometimes enforcing a judgement can be difficult on an indigent individual, but usually not on a business.

If you want to have some "real fun", first call their corporate office or one of their "Attorneys of Record" (this is their trademark attorney, he can't help you directly, but might be able to tell you who at Corporate Legal to talk to).

Basically, right or wrong, it's cheaper for them to replace your rim than fight you in Small Claims + all the bad press on the Viper board. It might take a court summons to get them to move... or just knowing your serious.

We all know they knew the scratched it and didn't want you seeing it when you picked it up... after all, did they come get it out of your truck when you delivered it?

Last thought - be SURE you get the manager's full name and write the whole story down in detail and date your notes... you'll need them if you have to take this all the way.

LES SCHWAB WAREHOUSE CENTER, INC. CORPORATION
646 N. Madras Highway
Prineville, OREGON 97754
541-447-4136
541-426-5263 fax

JERE M. WEBB (Their Trademark Attorney)
STOEL RIVES LLP
900 SW 5TH AVE STE 2600
PORTLAND OR 97204-1268
(503) 294-9460

Best of luck.

 

[Yellow Fever]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

Ya gotta Love this Board !! Great advice JDR

 

[drdaveSRT]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

i too feel your rim job pain. my 99 sliver RT looked great with perfect stock rims, and then , over the years curb rash and tire changes took their toll. what's worse, self inflicted *** damage or didn't grad hs damage? Actually, removing the overspray from front end repaint of large exposed yellow fiberglass area created by kissing concrete barrier at 100 sideways reminds me of your frustration of spending hours to fix something that would have taken minutes to prevent. Kinda like procrastinating fixing your teeth. Try some N2O. Either you or your engine can deeply inhale and you will feel much better.

 

[Nasty 10]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

That ***** Brian

 

[SylvanSRT]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

I agree small claims is the way to go they may even settle up if you tell them you are pursuing this remedy

 

[SapphireGTS]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

That does ****. I had the same problem when I got my forgelines. The local place did a crappy install like the one you described and they also broke the inner seal on the barrell of the wheel. They also forgot the inner seal on the valve stems so I drove to work and had 2 flat tires when I left. Luckily forgeline has top notch people working there. I shipped them my wheels and they re did them to 100% new and installed the valve-stems correctly at no cost.

Sorry about your luck. Did you contact HRE? Maybe they can do like forgeline did. Small claims may be a pain.

Good luck.

 

[SylvanSRT]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

BTW I had a local Discount Tire, who i also called and asked many questions(before w/ many specifics) if they could work on my SRT's wheels and they scratched a front. they bought me a new wheel $2,300 (yes for one wheel) OUCH!!! for a $40 job.

 

[bwhitmore]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

It is good to hear that there are reputable tire shops and wheel manufacturers out there. But the guys I am dealing with are clearly not to be trusted.

Here is what I am faced with now. I was told to the leave the wheel with the shop last night so that the manager could show them to the owner. That was a huge mistake.

I come to find out this morning that the manager is attempting to sand and polish out the damage to the inside of the wheel. I specifically told him this was unacceptable and not to touch my wheels. He seems to think that he can make the inners look better than they did before I brought them in and is willing to do the same to all four assuming I am satisified with this one. I think the guy is trying to cover up whatever mistakes were made, so that I won't have the same evidence I did when the damage was originally done.

If the wheel is not perfect when I see it, I am hoping that whatever is done to the wheel will be noticeably different than the others, so that if I do have to take the store to court I will have an example something to compare the "repaired" wheel to.

I agree the easiest thing to do is to send the wheel to HRE and have the inner replaced. This would maybe cost them $800-$900 I'm guessing, but they want to fight me on it.

 

[AJT]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

Take Pictures b/f he Fuc_s with it. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Andy

 

[ViperRay]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

I get sick to my stomach when I read these kinds of posts. Is it just my perspective or is the level of incompetence in this country growing? Then, after the apparently uncontested screw-up, the party responsible fails to respond appropriately! You deserve a new wheel! Unfortunately, you evidently did not take pictures before they began working on it so your case has been compromised. It would be a cold day in hell though before I'd let them touch my other wheels, regardless of how well the damaged wheel turns out.
Stop putting trust in people you don't know. Assume they will screw things up and behave proactively; in your case that meant staying with the wheel while they did the job. I know, this makes life more difficult but it does cut down on the aggravation.
If I exhibited anything close to this kind of incompetence in my business, there'd be dead bodies to account for and I'd be sued out of business. Whether you're fixing someone's heart or changing a tire, use some common sense and take some pride in your work for goodness sake.
Sorry about the rant but this problem is so pervasive.

 

[patgilm]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

If the inside marks aren't too bad, have them send all four back to HRE and have all of the inside barrels polished. It's only $50 a wheel through them so the total would be $200 and you would have nice polished barrels better than before.

 

[snowmann]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

As mentioned above take LOTS of pictures and post some up here if you can

 

[King GTS]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

*****!

 

[Yves]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

I'm sure their HQ will help you out.
Schwab is very customer oriented. Guess you're just dealing with a bad apple.

 

[garolittle]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

Use the legal system to kick their @ss!!!!

 

[ceieio]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

Work your way up the management chain at Schwab's. They will take care of it. Corporate HQ can be reached at:
541-447-4136

Good Luck.

 

[bwhitmore]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

For everbody as an update:

The local Les Schwab manager insisted on sanding and polishing out the scratches from the inside of the wheel. Since he had already begun without my consent, I let him finish and figured I would wait until I saw it to make up my mind on the legal action.

To my suprise he did a very good job, and matched the original satin look as best he could, which was my greatest concern. He even got all the brake dust residue out that I could not remove at home.

Since the one inner was now a little shinier and cleaner than the other three, we argued for a bit, but he ended up having to clean out and shine up all three of the other inners to the same standards, it took him all day on Saturday to do it, too.

Although I think a new inner wheel would have been the easiest and best solution, that would have come down to a fight. At least I have my wheels back, and the manager still has his job (for now).

As my last say, I do intend to send a letter to HQ to make apparent the problem and let it be known that I plan not to take my business there anymore. I might even throw in the part that I mentioned the crappy service to all of my VCA friends.

I hope to post pics this week of the finished wheels...

 

[Vic]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

Is it just my perspective or is the level of incompetence in this country growing?

Stop putting trust in people you don't know. Assume they will screw things up and behave proactively; in your case that meant staying with the wheel while they did the job.

Sorry about the rant but this problem is so pervasive.

I used to think that it was just my perception becoming more negative as I grow older, but now I think that the incompetence really is growing in this country. We are evolving into a "service sector" economy, staffed with dumb f_cks, non-English speaking people, etc. Then there are the new breed of video heads that can't put a nut on a bolt. Kids used to grow up fixing their bikes, now they get a high kill count, and extra ammo. The service sector doesn't make any real wages. Who would work in that level of employment? Only those with no other choices in life. So who will staff this new service based economy? You guessed it.....

Before any bleeding heart liberal gets all teary eyed about me alledgedly disparaging those who speak English as a second language, understand that my wife is a first generation immigrant, who at first had to take a hard, low paying factory job to stay alive. Although she had a BS degree, it wasn't useful to her here, until she learned English. Not everyone who learns English as a second language is stupid, many are college educated, hard working and ambitious. But you and I both know that the vast majority are not, and these persons staff the service economy. Pre-emptive strike over.

 

[Tusc]

Re: Les Schwab Just F----ed Up One of My HRE\'s!

It's not education or the evolving economy, it's the liberals. Everything is because of the liberals.

One of the root problems I have found with people today is that no one takes the time to think for themselves. That, and there is a general lack of common sense. I grew up addicted to TV and video games, and although I still use my computer often, I just don't watch TV anymore. Everything is spun, dumbed down, and hype. Nothing new there, I just can't stand it anymore. The only news I keep up with is national politics, international news, or business related. The only reason I know who Britney Spears is, is because of her changing bra size.

As for the rims... glad to hear that you found some acceptable middle ground. I would have pumped them for a new rim. If they couldn't do the job right, then they shouldn't have taken your business. I had bought new tires for my C5 and took it down to Town Fair Tire to get the mounting done. The manager said he wouldn't touch it because of the liability..... however, if I would like to purchase a set of tires from them he would be HAPPY to assist me. I rolled down the street to a hole in the wall place. Backlot, kind of away from the street, never as busy as Town Fair. I go in and talk to the desk guy, who turns out to be the owner. He says he'll take care of it himself, and if I ever need work done again to go in and ask for him. Another thing I liked is that they let me mess with the bolts and center cap. Maybe it's me, but I don't like ANYONE working on my car unless it's something I just can't do on my own. I've had way too many bad experiences. But this guy did an AWESOME job. Very meticulous, extremely careful, and not even the hint of a knick on any of the rims. I remember the fee being low, but for service like that I doubled his money and felt good about it.